Page 62 of Ranger's Rise

Oh fuck. “I’m so glad the universe decided before you threw negative energy around!” She tackles me and I’m wedged between the table and Victory.

“Fuck! Move or you’re breaking my ribs and I’m dropping you!”

She pulls me up and hugs me tighter while crying. “I won’t be here for the biker-married party!”

Seren tries pulling her off me. “It could be next week.” She gives up and sits.

Victory holds on. “Cort sent Prospects last night and it’s all done. A truck with Badass on it will have it in California Tuesday.”

Damn. I squeeze her. “No matter where in the universe you are...”

“You love me and want me to be happy!” She starts bawling all over me.

I wish the universe would help me out here. “You know it, sista. Ranger likes that you’ll visit. When you get settled and need to see me, call and I’ll send you a ticket.”

“I’ll miss you, but I’m so excited!”

Seren laughs. “Stop blowing your snot all over her and clean your face. Sit, have some coffee and tell us about your new place.”

She lets me go and sits grabbing tissues. Lorelei is laughing watching me. I shake my head and sit. “It’s completely green and off the grid...”

I listen again and still think it’s a Gilligan’s Island sitcom in the making, set in modern times. Moonlight has a store that she can sell her hippy shit from and they’re right off the highway with a mountain pass blocking their valley in. That sounds like the beginning of a horror movie to me, but she always loved that shit. While she rode her bike like Mary Poppins picking flowers, I was driving all over the state at fifteen. Because I’m tall, I got away with everything. Fake IDs were my best friend.

Seren laughs. “So, you have electricity, it’s just solar power.”

“It’s stored in batteries. I’ll have enough to buy batteries for life.”

I shake my head. “Don’t buy batteries until you get there. They need to be a certain size to store the energy. It’s a special-order thing.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you told me, I was going to stock up on the way.”

Seren and Lorelei are cracking up.

“Make sure Marley helps you with the electric. He’s got solar on the house so he knows what to do.”

She doesn’t believe me. “We have electricity at night and I pay the electric bill.”

“On the store. There’s no bill for electric on the house. They send a check for the electric they buy back. Ask Marley for help. I paid the bills for the house. You paid for the store.”

She looks disgusted with me. “You stuck me with the electric and you didn’t pay electric?”

“You just bought me out of the store like three months ago. I paid half of all the bills there. I pay the taxes, trash, gas and water on the house. You’ll need to tell Marley to call and shut the utilities off.”

Now she’s surprised. “Do I owe you money? You paid half for the store and I didn’t pay half for the house.”

“No, we’re good.”

“You didn’t even live there.”

Lorelei jumps in. “She lived above the store. Since she didn’t pay rent, it comes out even.”

Victory’s hand hits her chest like she’s stopping a heart attack. “Oh, good.”

Seren cracks up and I kick the bitch.

~

Ranger