Despite Ranger encouraging her otherwise, Toni went back to work the following Monday. She needed to get back into her “normal”. Or a normal that didn’t include her going home, living in a club trailer, and having a boyfriend who liked to show up randomly throughout her day to give her a rejuvenating orgasm or three.
Toni thought she was going to die of humiliation after Gwen casually reminded her that the walls of her office were not soundproof.
Dr. Rutenberg also supported Toni’s decision to return to work, saying it would help her mind to process her grief and worry in natural stages. Toni was all for distractions at this point. She didn’t know who the man was who’d been impersonating her father and trying to extort her, and she was all too happy to let the club handle keeping him away from her. Whatever they’d done had worked, because she hadn’t seen or heard from him since that day that he’d showed up at her office.
Just in case, though, she’d hired Keys’ security firm to set up a new security system at her office. He’d offered to do her home too, but Toni was holding off on that. If her home felt too safe, she’d lose her excuse to get to stay in the trailer longer. She did, however, offer to hire Keys’ firm to find her mom. She knew he was doing it through the club, but she felt funny not offering him compensation for that work when it turned out to be more difficult than they’d all originally thought.
But Keys refused, saying that family never paid.
Toni didn’t know when she’d become “family” to the club. It wasn’t like she and Ranger had discussed anything in their relationship beyond being exclusive. The ol’ ladies had explained what that title meant, and Toni certainly wasn’t wearing Ranger’s cut. She doubted she would be any time soon, either. While it did make her wonder if Cameron had, Toni found she was too chickenshit to ask.
Maybe that was an answer she didn’t need to know.
* * *
137 Days Sober
As much as Ranger hated being beholden to rules, he couldn’t deny how much structure helped him. It brought him back to his military days, the ease of completing one task before moving on to the next. He wasn’t good at downtime, and even cleaned the entire clubhouse from top to bottom during one particularly bad day, much to their housekeeper, Yelizaveta’s, astonishment. But he needed the grueling task while Toni was busy in court, Becks and Ghost were at a doctor’s appointment, and every single cage in Mount Grove seemed to be in working order. Even Crosshad been busy on a personal matter. Rather than bothering his brothers, Ranger had chosen to distract himself, proving that he could.
Plus, the clubhouse had never looked so clean.
* * *
142 Days Sober
“Are,” gasp, “you,” gasp, “fucking,” gasp, “kidding me?!” Toni leaned heavily against a tree. “You said,” gasp, “that we,” gasp, “were nearly there,” gasp, “thirty minutes ago!”
Ranger stared down at her from his place further up the mountainside. “Wearenearly there.”
She pointed an accusatory finger at him and his stupid even breathing. “No!” she huffed out, feeling like a chain smoker. “You are not allowed to use that phrase anymore. Where are we and how much longer?Exactly.”
“If you would just notice how beautiful it is out here, the time would go by much faster,” Ranger encouraged her.
“It’s hard to enjoy ‘the beauty’ when this place keeps trying to kill me!” Toni argued, pushing herself off the tree. She thought she’d been so prepared for this hike, even having gone out to get new shoes and a camelback backpack. Ranger had assured her he would carry all the heavy supplies, like a first aid kit, extra water, and snacks, in his much bigger backpack. Yet, it hadn’t taken long for Toni to realize just how unprepared she was for this journey. “I have walked into three cobwebs, slipped on some moss, got a splinter, not to mention the bird that shit right in front of me. If I hadn’t paused to sneeze, it would have landed on my head instead of my shoe!” She lifted her new shoe like a childat show and tell, even though Ranger had already seen the white stain on the canvas as he’d wiped most of it off for her.
Ranger just grinned down at her as she listed off her complaints of the Great Outdoors. Though Toni was glaring at him for his obvious delight at her woes, she still accepted the hand that he held down to her to help her up to his level.
“You claimed this was theeasiestof the trails, Liam.”
He wrapped an arm around her waist, dragging her closer to him. “It is,” he promised her. “You just need practice.”
“I think I need to find a new boyfriend,” she grumbled. “One who’s more of a couch potato.”
The sound that emanated from him sent chills down her spine. “No couch potato boyfriend can fuck you like I can,” he growled, their noses nearly touching. “Nor can they show you a view like this.”
Ranger shifted his body, and Toni gasped as she noticed the thinning trees. Rushing forward, Toni crested the ridge and stared down at the valley of orange, red, yellow, and green leaves below them.
She didn’t know the cardinal direction instinctively like Ranger did, but could see the edge of Mount Grove just visible through the trees below them. It was small enough from this height that she could cover the visible buildings with her hand. The valley stretched out in shades of green, and in the opposite direction of the town, she could make out the small clearings she knew were Amish farmlands and pastures. The river curved through the green like a thread of pulled silver, catching light wherever the trees parted enough to show it.
Beyond the valley, more mountains rolled toward the horizon, layer after layer, each one slightly paler than the last until the farthest ridges blended into the sky. A large bird, maybe a hawk, circled somewhere over the middle distance. She hoped whatever it was hunting was fast enough to escape.
The breeze, smelling of warm pine and the crispness of stone, sent a chill over her exposed skin. She understood why Ranger had encouraged her to bring a jacket, immediately feeling the cooler temperature now that she wasn’t huffing and puffing her way up the side of the mountain.
Arms snaked around her from behind. “Told you it was beautiful. Any view a couch potato would offer you wouldn’t do this justice.”
Toni, begrudgingly, had to admit he was right about that. As beautiful as a scenic picture was, it couldn’t incorporate all the senses like the real thing could. Even the throbbing in her feet somehow made the moment better, more surreal.
“Fine. You win. This is pretty awesome.”
