Tee'd Off

Chapter Seven

A/N: Includes Rangeman week 33 challenge response #1.

Bailey was in the shower when my brother knocked on the door of our suite. I answered in nothing but a pair of black silk boxers and an afterglow.

Anthony looked me up and down as he stepped past me, and dropped his laptop bag on the couch. "I'm not even going to ask what you have been doing, brother."

I shrugged. "Good choice, man. Let me get dressed and then we can collate intel."

"Cool, we could do with a fresh game plan before dinner this evening."

"Dinner?" I asked.

"At seven, in the restaurant, with dumb and dumber and their wives, girlfriends, whatever. Shit, what am I, your P.A as well now?" he grumbled.

"I can't afford your hourly rate," I teased as I left him poking around in the now rather sparsely furnished mini bar.

Bailey looked up and smiled as I entered the bedroom. "Hey."

"Hey yourself, babe. You okay?"

She nodded. "Peachy keen, Ric. Anthony ready to go over the intel?"

"As soon as I'm dressed."

"Cool," she responded as she tossed the towel on the floor and tugged on a black thong, a pair of ratty jeans and a tank top. "With a bit of luck we should be able to wrap this up tonight."

I frowned as I pulled on a pair of basket ball shorts and a Rangeman t-shirt. "You sound very sure about that."

Bailey shrugged. "Yeah, call it a woman's intuition."

"Let's stick to cold hard facts, babe."

"Whatever," she called out as she walked out into the lounge. "How's George and his teal wallpaper, Tony?"

"Fuck you," Antony muttered.

Bailey laughed. "You are no fun, Antonio."

"Vengeance will be mine, just you wait, little girl," he shot back.

I re-entered the living room and stepped strategically between my brother and my girlfriend. "Children, now is not the time for petty bickering."

"She started it," Anthony bitched.

"Fuck you, I did not," Bailey shot back.

"I'll make you both stand in opposite corners of the room for five minutes if you don't quit it," I snapped.

"Oooh, testy," Bailey giggled.

"And I thought he'd be mellow after sex," Anthony quipped. "Guess you did something wrong, babe."

Bailey growled and tried to step around me, but I checked her progress with my arm. "Sofa. Sit. Now."

Anthony smirked, but I glared at him. "And you, go plant your ass on the armchair. That is an order, both of you."

The pair of then sat down begrudgingly, and I joined Bailey on the couch. "So let's get down to business. Anthony, what have you found out?"

Anthony switched into banking mode and motioned for his laptop. "Do you want the bad news, or the really shitty news?"

I passed over the slim bag. "Crap, start with the bad and then follow up with the shitty."

He removed his computer, placed it on the coffee table and booted it up. "Well, like you said, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the jewelry side of the business at all. Well financed, strong turnover etc. But what I'm worried about is the rest of Phil's investments. He's made a lot of mistakes in the last couple of years, and if the shit hits the fan in a couple of months, which I strongly expect it to do, then he'll end up dragging the jewelry business down to pay off a lot of the debts as he's still the main share holder in that. You could do the work for him and it would be all above board, but there is no guarantee that Rangeman would ever get paid. So with that in mind, I have to admit that I agree with Bailey's comments and that, worst case scenario, he could be trying to set up some sort of insurance scam."

I nodded. "Okay, what about you, Lee?"

Bailey curled her legs under her and rested her elbow on the couch arm. "His wife is a moron and she's being duped. She spent a lot of time telling me how wonderful Phil is, the designer clothes he gets her all the time, the amount of jewelry he chucks at her. Well, last night's dress was a cheap knock off; as was the one she wore today. She thinks that they're the real thing, so Phil's obviously lying to her. Why is he doing it? I suppose he's got money worries and he's trying to keep the truth from her. You don't buy your woman a knock off dress and tell her it's the real thing unless you're either A. broke, B. a bastard, or C. both. Well, that's what I reckon anyway."

I stretched my legs out in front of me and dragged my fingers through my hair. "Yeah, it's not looking good, is it, guys?"

"Hate to tell you this bro, but I wouldn't touch this guy with a ten foot pole," Anthony replied. "What do you think, Lee?"

Bailey cocked her head and looked at me. "Can you say big pile of steaming shit? Yup, it's certainly ten foot barge pole territory, Ric."

"So Rangeman walks away," I stated.

"Finish playing nice this weekend and then call him next week and tell him that your accountant uncovered some financial irregularities," Anthony suggested. "That way he doesn't lose face in front of Hank or Jessica while we are here, nor does it damage Rangeman's reputation."

"That's a plan," Bailey agreed. "And that means that I can naff off home 'cos I needed to assist George with his hall carpet options, or some such bollocks."

Anthony grinned, "And as you're P.A, you will no doubt need my assistance. I'll drop you off in Trenton. Or, we could pop down the coast to my beach house and catch a few waves and then Ranger can collect you on the way home."

Bailey's face lit up like a kid's at Christmas. "Hell yeah! We've not been surfing in months. If we get a wiggle on then we could still catch a few waves tonight, have a bonfire on the beach, sink a few beers and then catch some choice waves at dawn as the sun comes up. Perfect. I'll go pack."

"Whoa, just hang on a second here guys! If the pair of you think that you can abandon me, then you both have another thing coming," I growled.

"The mission parameters have changed," Bailey stated smoothly. "We could negotiate. The price would be high."

Anthony shifted in his seat and then clicked a couple of buttons on his laptop. "I never signed on for anything in the first place, and I do believe that my work here is done. Unless, that is, I'm needed to keep the pair of you out of trouble with the hotel management."

"I'd rather not have to finish this charade off by myself," I said quietly. I couldn't believe that the pair of them were so swift to leave me here by myself.

"Like I said, I'm open to negotiations," Bailey reiterated.

I ran my hands though my hair, then rested my elbows on my knees and put my head in my hands. "Fine. Name your price."

"I get to skip dinner tonight because I have a migraine, I don't have to spend any more time at the spa with Jessica and I get my quality time in a hot tub of my choosing. In return, I'll play nice at dinner tomorrow night – that's it, no more and no less. Oh, and I want a week off to go surfing."

"Make the pre-dinner drinks tonight and then cry off with a migraine and you can have a week off to go play in the surf," I countered.

Bailey pouted.

"I'll come over to your place every night for a whole week once you get back."

"Fine, it's a deal. You drive a hard bargain, Manoso."

"Okay. So, what about you, brother?" I quizzed

"I'll play a round of golf tomorrow, but I'm not going to dinner with those people, now way, no how. Oh, and I'm moving out; there's an empty villa that's come up by the pool," he said as he looked over at my girlfriend. "I'm due some down time, kiddo; we'll hit the surf on Monday for sure."

"Well, it looks like that everything is settled," I said.

Bailey frowned. "Shit, I didn't pack my surfboard!"

"You can borrow my spare," Anthony offered. "You bring the beer and I'll bring the boards."

She nodded enthusiastically. "Deal, Antonio."

I frowned. "Hang on; I thought that you wanted a few days off with a hot male once this job was over, babe."

"Anthony's hot," Bailey said with a cheeky grin.

"He's my brother," I shot back.

"And my ex. So what, Ranger? Besides, chances are that you'll be too fucking busy anyway. I'm better off opting for a week of surfing as that's more likely to happen. If I agreed to spend a few days with you afterwards then I'd be left high and dry after twelve hours as you'd have run off to save Gotham city from the Joker again or some such crap."

I sighed. "Whatever you want, babe." The sad thing was that she was probably right. My life was not my own.