Spellbinding His Ranger

by Shannon Pemrick

  “That was nothing compared to everything else that needs to be done. Please, I…” She sighed, her shoulder sagging. This tough-woman act wasn’t easy for her to hold up. “I need something to do.”

  Her father gazed at her with sympathetic eyes and then spoke into the phone when his rep came back on the line just then, keeping the computer out of her reach. Mercedes, feeling defeated, exited the room. There was no fighting her father.

  Scanning the shop, she found everyone doing something, even the teen employees who showed up after school. Wait, school is over? She whipped her phone out to read the time. Three-twenty. Her phone also showed two messages from Takashi. Shit!

  She read both; one stated he’d gotten off the plane and the other was him showing his concern because she hadn’t sent him any message acknowledging his first. He wanted her to voice chat with him the moment she got his text.

  So caught up with everything, she forgot to message him about what happened. Shira knew because Mercedes had called to cancel lunch plans, and that meant Jasper and Zach found out. And Ajax found out when she called Narissa to let her know she may need to postpone their project. Ajax happened to be there getting a fix done on his arm, and offered to come up so Narissa wouldn’t have to postpone her projects. Mercedes’ father had told her he wanted her to still go through with the project plan this week, but she wasn’t sure she could. There’d be too much to do. It also means I’d have to cancel on Takashi, too…

  She decided to plug in her earbud and see if Takashi was still up. A part of her hoped not, so he’d get some sleep after his long flight.

  The in-game party chat rang three times and then Takashi’s groggy voice answered. “Mercedes?”

  “Did I wake you?” She frowned, her brow knitting. “I’m sorry.”

  “No, don’t be.” He sucked in a long breath as if he were stretching or stifling a yawn. “I wanted you to call the moment you could. I didn’t mean to fall asleep while waiting. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “Mercy.”

  Her heart skipped a beat at the nickname he’d started calling her recently. “It’s been a long day.”

  “What’s going on?”

  She found a place to sit down where she could keep an eye on everything going on around her. She couldn’t stop a sigh from escaping her lips. “Short answer, I came in early to make sure I’d get all my work done before I headed out for L.A. tomorrow, and found the shop vandalized. Smashed cars, graffiti, and building damage.”

  “Shit… How bad?”

  “I’d say at least a quarter million in damage because of the vehicles.” She sighed. “The officers I spoke with believe this is connected with a few other vandal situations that have happened the last few days.”

  “What makes them think that?”

  “Most of the graffiti said ‘she’s mine,’ ‘you can’t have her,’ or ‘don’t go near her again.’ I guess all the other businesses and homes have been hit by the same graffiti. I’ve grilled all my employees about exes and friends that could potentially provide a lead, but nothing came of it, so I don’t know if it’s connected or not. I do know, with all this damage, I don’t think I can go to L.A. now.”

  “Mercedes…”

  She chewed her lip. The disappointment in his voice hit her harder than she wanted right now. It made her feel guilty, even though she knew this was the right choice. “It wouldn’t be right. My dad needs me here, even if he thinks I should still go down. He and the others think it’d be best if I continue this project, but this is more important.” Her gaze lowered as if he were there with her. “It’d be nice to feel in that arm again, but it’s not like my life depends on it. My life does depend on this shop, though. It means everything to me…”

  Takashi didn’t say anything, and a part of her worried she’d said too much. Or he fell asleep.

  “It would mean I’d have to rain check with you.” She figured if he was still awake, it’d be best for her to bring this up, even if she had said too much. “You said you’d be coming back up here after the seminar, so maybe we could do lunch then.”

  “You should come down to L.A.” he said.

  His suggestion took her aback for a moment. “Takashi, I—”

  “The others are right, you shouldn’t postpone the project.”

  “Takash—”

  “I know you feel obligated to be there during this issue. That you feel you need to be strong for everyone so it all blows over easier. I know you well enough to know that’s going through your head right now. But, Mercedes, think about it. If you continue with your plans, you keep everyone’s spirits up in this hard time. It helps them think this is business as usual instead of letting this event get the better of them.”

  She thought she could hear him smile. “And it’ll make you smile. There’s nothing more beautiful than your smile, and that’s motivation enough to take on this task for you.”

  Her heart skipped. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and bit her lip. “You mean it?”

  “I’d never lie to you.”

  Mercedes took a deep breath. “Okay. Plans will stay the same, then. I’ll drive down with Ajax tomorrow and pick you up… you never told me when you were arriving in L.A.”

  “Thursday. By the time I get my luggage, it’d be around three p.m.”

  “Okay, then I’ll see you around three. I should let you go sleep now.”

  “I’d like to stay on and talk with you some more, if that’s okay.”

  She smiled. “All right.”

  The two continued to chat. Takashi hopped in-game to do some work. She managed to snag a cleanup job by getting a few of her employees to take a break and continued to chat with Takashi, helping the time pass.

  Ajax and Shira returned, but neither interrupted. Mercedes expected the conversation to only last fifteen minutes or so before he’d finally listen to her and get some sleep, but it ended up being a two-hour chat.

  She finally managed to convince Takashi to sleep when he started slurring his words. She didn’t want him losing sleep because of her. At least, not unless it was for more fun reasons. Stop it, Mercedes. Behave yourself.

  Mercedes looked up from her sweeping job to find Shira and Ajax approaching, the latter’s tan skin rippling with muscle as he walked. Shira’s service dog, Snake, a black German shepherd, followed beside Shira, keeping close.

  Ajax—not his real name, but only Narissa knew his name and she’d been sworn to secrecy—was a brick house of a man. He prided himself on his workout routine, Narissa claiming she’d seen him stress out if he missed even a day of it.

  When he wasn’t working out, he was as busy as Narissa, working in the gaming pod industry. Also like her, he didn’t have a whole lot of time to dedicate to Lusara Fates these days.

  Mercedes couldn’t get over how genetically gifted these two were. Shira, even with her prosthetics all over her right side, looked like someone straight from a magazine. It was unfair how she couldn’t keep modeling.

  Shira stole her broom from her. Both her friends had goofy grins on their faces.

  Mercedes looked between the two. “I don’t trust those smiles.”

  Ajax continued to smirk, his dark eyes glittering with mischievous intent. “Enjoy your chat with loverboy?”

  Mercedes threw her head back and groaned. “Don’t start.”

  Shira laughed. “You spoke with Takashi for two hours. What did you expect we’d say?”

  “I was hoping you’d come over just to see how I’m doing.” Mercedes had said Takashi’s name enough; she knew it wasn’t a secret she’d been talking with him. But she hoped she could go at least ten minutes without any teasing for once.

  After the events over the past couple of days, she couldn’t keep telling herself she hated the idea of m
aking them more than friends, especially with how Takashi had been acting around her lately. But there was still a strong part of her that couldn’t jump on board with it. Friend material and romantic partner material are different qualities. And I’m more friend material…

  Ajax nudged her. “We have to keep you on your toes.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” She pushed him, though due to his larger size, she only managed to push herself backward instead.

  Ajax ran his false limb hand through his dark hair. “The two of us were thinking it might be good to call it a day. It’s been a long one, and we’ll need you to stay calm before all your tests tomorrow.”

  Shira looked at Mercedes with apprehension. “You are still going down, right?”

  Mercedes nodded. “Yeah, Takashi talked some sense into me.”

  Shira threw her hands into the air. “Finally!”

  Snake wagged his tail in approval of the positive energy.

  Mercedes shook her head and headed for the office. “I’ll let my dad know we’re heading out.”

  Ajax pulled out his phone. “I’ll tell Narissa to still expect you tomorrow.”

  Mercedes entered the office to find her father staring at the computer, the phone in his hands. He looked at her when she knocked on the doorframe. “What’s up?”

  “Shira, Ajax, and I are heading out, if that’s okay,” she said.

  Her father nodded. “I was going to start sending everyone home soon anyway. We can pick this up tomorrow. Have you decided about your trip?”

  She nodded. “I’m going to continue the project.”

  “Good.” He stood up and came over to her, planting a kiss on top of her head. “Don’t stress over this. We’re going to be fine. I want you to come back smiling.”

  She smiled at her father. “I’ll keep you updated and let you know if I need to stay longer than expected.”

  “Take all the time you need. This is important, for more than just you. You’re doing a great deal of good for so many people.” Her father smirked. “As much as you don’t believe it, I can keep this business afloat just fine while you’re off playing with your friends.”

  Mercedes laughed and then said her goodbye. She relayed to the employees they were free to leave for the day before rejoining her friends.

  “So, I thought it’d be fun if I came over your place too,” Shira said.

  “Shira and Narissa keep talking about all the old games you’ve got,” Ajax said. “Three of us could play some, since you only have one game pod. Great way to relax.”

  Mercedes laughed. “You may not think that way when you play some of these games. They’re frustrating at times.”

  He smirked. “Wait until you see my skills.”

  Mercedes and Shira looked at each other, brows raised in disbelief. “We’ll see about that.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Mercedes pushed the rotating door and walked into the lobby of Cybro Industries. The receptionist, Amy, a mousey young woman with thick-rimmed glasses, smiled when Mercedes flashed her badge. There wasn’t a need these days, since much of the staff knew her, but she figured it best to follow at least some part of the protocol.

  She and Ajax had arrived two days ago, and Narissa hadn’t wasted any time settling her into a hotel down the street and getting the health screening out of the way. Yesterday, preliminary testing began, and today wouldn’t be much different. The two wanted to make sure her body could handle the process before going forward with it tomorrow.

  Mercedes hopped into an elevator and pressed the button for the eleventh floor. She sipped her coffee and looked at her phone. 9:05 a.m. Takashi would be landing in five hours, and the thought sent butterflies fluttering about in her stomach. The prospect of seeing him excited her more than this project. She never thought that would ever happen to her, and it wasn’t like they were dating, either. Not that I’m all that opposed to the idea anymore…

  She struggled to run from it anymore. Mercedes wanted a close bond with someone, and that someone had been right in front of her the whole time. With everything that happened over the weekend, and how much attention he’d paid her until he had to hop on that plane, it was hard to deny they had potential. She just wasn’t sure she was good enough.

  The elevator came to stop at her floor and the door opened. She exited and walked down the long hall of glass-enclosed offices and laboratories. She stopped at a door with a plaque that read “Dr. Narissa Okafor, EVP,” but she didn’t enter. The room was occupied by two people who were focused only on each other.

  Narissa, a curvaceous woman with umber skin and long dark hair, stood in front of Ajax, who sat in a chair, his artificial limb extended on a tray attached to the chair, in pieces. Looks like he busted his arm… again.

  Neither Narissa nor she knew what he was doing to bust his arm up so much. He wouldn’t tell anyone when asked. It annoyed Narissa, since she had to fix it, but since he paid for such repairs, she couldn’t be too mad. Shira theorized it was so he could see Narissa more often. To most in the guild, it wasn’t much of a secret he had a thing for her friend. Sadly, their tech-savvy friend either didn’t notice, or ignored it, preferring to focus on her one true love, cybernetics.

  Narissa looked to be reprimanding Ajax. No surprise there. Ajax, of course, had a cocky smirk on his lips, and spoke back to her a few times. Mercedes noticed Narissa’s cheeks reddening after a while. Ah, so his tactics do have an effect on her.

  She couldn’t understand Narissa’s insistence on staying single. She had been married once, and that resulted in one hell of a messy divorce. But Mercedes couldn’t see how one failed marriage would cause her friend to bury herself in her work.

  Ajax grabbed Narissa’s wrist and pulled her closer. He must have tugged bit harder than she expected, because the woman fell into his lap. Ajax grinned at her, making some comment Mercedes couldn’t hear, and Narissa’s face reddened. A wicked idea formed into Mercedes’ mind. Knowing they hadn’t spotted her yet, this would work wonderfully.

  She whipped out her phone and looked down before pushing open the door and looking up just as she spoke, “Hey, Narissa, I’m h—”

  Narissa held up her hands. “It’s not what it looks like!”

  Mercedes looked between the two and then pointed out the door with the hand holding her coffee. “If I’m interrupting something, I can go to the lobby and wait.”

  The two answered at the same time, both conflicting.

  “If you could, that’d be great.”

  “No, you’re fine, there’s nothing going on here.”

  The pair looked at each other, Ajax grinning and Narissa’s face reddening more. She smacked him in the chest and stood.

  She looked at Mercedes, smoothing out her clothes. “It’s not what it looks like. He’s just being his usual weird self. Make yourself comfortable. I have to fix his arm… again. Shouldn’t take too long.”

  Mercedes decided to take a seat in Narissa’s executive chair behind her computer desk and focused on her phone. She checked in with her father, remotely played a few auctions in Lusara Fates, and even messaged Takashi. She let him know how much she was looking forward to seeing him. To her surprise, he messaged her back. Apparently, even though not an ideal speed for connecting to the game, he paid for the internet access so he could focus on making some money to make up for the time he’d spend in the seminar.

  A goofy smile spread across her lips as she messaged with him. Unfortunately for her, the others in the room noticed.

  “Talking to loverboy?” Ajax asked.

  Mercedes’ eyes narrowed, but before she could spit out a reply, Narissa jumped in on the teasing. “If you want, I could show you a room where you’d have more privacy.”

  Mercedes tossed a pen at her friend, who laughed and went back to fixing up Ajax’s arm. She lo
oked to be nearly finished. Though her “patient” wasn’t making it easy on her.

  Mercedes watched the two, unable to stop herself from finding amusement in their banter. A grin spread across her lips and she snapped a photo when the two were exceptionally close, sending it to Takashi and then deciding to send it to Shira as well.

  Takashi got back to her first.

  Ha, keep that for blackmail.

  Then Shira.

  Get me more! I need to hang these over her head. And to distribute to the others in the guild. I can see my wording now.

  “Main healer and tank getting cozy after raid night.”

  Jeez, what great friends I have. But she wouldn’t expect anything less from them. If only I’d thought to get a snap of what I walked in on. She had more opportunities this week. Ajax made it easy.

  Some paperwork caught Mercedes’ eye when she spotted Shira’s name, and her nosey side kicked in. Narissa didn’t leave confidential information lying around, so she knew she wasn’t doing anything wrong on the legal end of things.

  Her brow rose when she found it to be a formal letter of request and contract—a modeling contract. She looked to Narissa, wanting to ask her about it since Shira refused to allow her photo taken anymore, but noting her friend’s concentration while she worked around Ajax’s hand, she decided to hold off until Ajax left.

  Twenty more minutes passed before Narissa “finished.” According to her, she needed to do some more work, but Ajax insisted it would be fine, and hinted that he would potentially return in a day or two with it all busted again. When he refused again to explain what he was doing to put him in this situation, Narissa ragged on him for another five or so minutes about the hazards of these kinds of repeat damages. Mercedes got a snap shot of that, but the two noticed this time.

  “What are you doing?” Narissa asked her.

  Mercedes grinned. “Making you ask questions.”

  Ajax used the distraction to his advantage and slipped over to the door. “And allowing me to get out of here. Send me the bill.”