(I do not own any of these characters. They are all the creation of the fabulous Ms. Janet Evanovich)

CHAPTER 3

I wish that what I was seeing in front of me was an irregular occurrence but unfortunately for some reason these things always happened to me. Why me? I asked myself for the second time today, I had that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that this wouldn't be the last time I would ask myself that today.

"Okay! Does anyone want to explain how this happened?" I asked, swinging an arm around me gesturing to not only the many emergency vehicles, a blackened building, a man in cuffs, and a big yellow chicken costume laying on the ground which was still smoking. I could also swear I saw some kids crying.

Lula had squeezed herself into a zebra print skirt and a bubble-gum pink stretch tank top. Her top had somehow shifted sideways showing off her bra which was a lovely shade of green. Her skirt was burnt around the bottom hem and she had a couple scrapes on her legs. Giving her a final once over, the only thing that surprised me was that she was actually wearing a bra. Not that it really contained anything anyway.

"Are you wearing a bra?" I asked, forgetting about the whole scene in front of me.

"Damn straight. It's a new thing I'm trying out on account of men are supposed to be more attracted to me when I wear it" she replied looking down at her barely covered breasts. "That's what the sales person told me" she said looking back at me. "Is it working?"

"I think so" I replied looking around and catching the stares of almost everybody around me. Almost everyone in the parking lot was staring a Lula's chest which she by now had puffed out to the extreme.

"I got myself one too!" My grandma piped up. Shifting my focus from Lula to her I noticed she was wearing a black spandex dress. I also noticed that her chest was about three sizes bigger which I'm guessing had to do with the bright red bra straps I could see showing underneath the dress. I was more concerned about the dress. How was I supposed to take her home to my mother? Even I wouldn't wear this dress! I could see things! Things a granddaughter is never supposed to see!

I could feel my eye starting to twitch.

"What happened?" I asked once more.

"Kenny was the man in the chicken suit!" Lula started "After you hung up the phone I went up to him to tell him he better not run on account you were on your way and that if he tried to run you would shoot him."

"Wait! You told him I would shoot him?" I asked.

"Do you know what that sucker did?" My grandma jumped in, completely ignoring my question. "He ran!" she yelled across the lot, getting carried away with excitement.

"So we chased him down. Thats what we bounty hunters do, we can't go making exceptions for anyone!" Lula said.

The more of the story I heard the less I wanted to know. I was one sentence away from clapping my hands over my ears and singing yankee doodle.

"It's not our fault he ran into the back! Who knew his costume was so flammable." My grandma said jumping back in.

Wait. What?

"His chicken tail was flopping around everywhere! I think it was Lula climbing over the counter that finally did him in. She was halfway over and she might have flashed him, although it's hard to tell by what he yelled. Anyway he turned around so fast that his chicken tail dipped into the oil!" She rambled on pausing to take a breath.

"His tail just sorta lit up. It didn't help that he ran around like an idiot after. I yelled at him to stop, drop, and roll! Everyone knows your supposed to do that. His tail lit everything else on fire! When you look at it though I think it was a pretty successful capture, considering he's in cuffs and all. He even get's a police escort!" Lula jumped in finishing the story, giving me a thumbs up at the end of it.

I stood there dumbstruck for a moment. "Do you think I still have to go down to the police station with him?" I asked.

"I dunno but I know I'm not! I still have a lunch to finish" Lula replied turning around and walking back into the fast food joint with my grandmother in a close follow.

After finally clearing some stuff up with the police, I headed down to the station to fill out some paperwork and collect my body check.

When everything was said and done, I finally headed back to my apartment. It was only 3 pm and I wanted to take a nap before I had to go out tonight. I parked and locked the SUV and walked into the building. There was no Mrs. Bestler in the elevator tonight. It felt lonely without her there but everybody deserves a night off every once in a while.

Turning the key in my doors lock I could already hear the TV going. Pete must have gotten off work early. Swinging the door open I walked into the kitchen and threw my stuff onto the counter.

"Hello?" I called out.

Pete walked into the kitchen running his hand through his hair. I gave him a once over. Pete was 6 foot something, solid muscle, short brown hair, fair skin, and a killer smile to match a few light freckles on his nose.

"How was work?" I asked. Pete was a lawyer, a good one too.

"I got out of the court room early today. It was an easy open and close case. I thought I could drop by and go grab some dinner with you" he said.

"I was actually just going to take a nap. I promised Ranger I would go help him out with a skip." I replied carefully choosing my words.

"I'm sure Ranger will be fine without you. Just call him back and tell him you can't make it." He said. Pete wasn't suggesting, he was telling me what to do.

"I already told him I would. I'm not backing out now. Besides how do you know he doesn't need my help?" I asked starting to feel a little pissed off.

"Stephanie please. It's not like your a grade A bounty hunter. He has an army at his disposal, he doesn't need you. Now lets go, I'm getting hungry. What are you feeling tonight?" he said, tapping his foot, putting emphasis on how impatient he was getting.

"I'm not feeling anything and I'm certainly not going anywhere with you! Ranger called me and asked and I said I would. I'm not changing my decision." I said my voice starting to raise with frustration.

"Fine." He replied. Grabbing his jacket he walked out my front door and slammed the front door behind him. Hard.

Sometimes Pete could really push my buttons.

I still felt angry as I made myself some toast. I was slamming things down everywhere. I made a couple of dents in the bread and almost broke my toaster. This day was turning my emotions into a tornado of fury. Burning my toast was the last straw. Grabbing it I turned and threw it against the wall.

It sailed right passed Rangers head and hit the wall with a thunk and fell to the floor. I almost passed out upon seeing Ranger. He hadn't been there a moment ago. I had been making so much noise I didn't even hear him come in. I probably wouldn't have heard him anyway because Ranger always moves like a cat.

We stood there for a while just looking at each other. I could feel my eyes start to well up with tears. I willed myself not to cry in front of Ranger. What was wrong with me today? Things like this never affected me this much.

Ranger walked over to me and pulled me into him wrapping his arms around me in a hug. Breathing his scent in I felt myself relax.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, my question half masked by his body.

"I heard a small amount of what happened with Lula and your grandmother. I came for the full story. I could use a laugh."