Thanks for all of you who left reviews and messages letting me know your preference for Bryan or Manuel. I rewrote this chapter thinking Stevie needed more interaction with the men in her life besides Hector and her "boys". Let me know if you think Bryan and Manuel should meet up further along in the story? I am thinking it might be interesting to see how they would interact. Hope you enjoy the chapter

We were in the office going over our repos for the day when I slid the offending DVD and folder across the desk to show Hector. "What the hell is this?" He said a little too loudly.

I squeezed my eyes shut as his words seemed to echo off my skull. The apple martinis were good going down, but the after effects were killer. I didn't tell Jeff and Jason about the contract killer. I didn't want them to worry. We stayed up way past our bedtime doing karaoke and ended up falling asleep on the living room floor. I almost drunk dialed Bryan in a horny fit, but the boys for once were sensible, and talked me down. I missed him.

I woke up to hear Jeff and Jason talking about wanting to molest Bryan who apparently was in the society section of the paper looking gorgeous. When I walked into the kitchen they tried to hide the paper under the table. After I wrestled Jeff down to the ground and yanked it out of his hands, I knew why they didn't want me to see it. Bryan was in a tuxedo looking as if he blonged on the cover of GQ. He was with Lizzy Stockwell who looked very pleased with herself being seated next to him. I bet she didn't talk about shaving videos to perverts. My hangover just got worst.

After that charming addition to my morning, I dragged myself into the office looking like an extra from a zombie flick. And now I had to hear Hector moan about the after effects of the martinis.

"Girl, are you hung over again?" Hector said leaning over to take a whiff then scrunched his face up in disgust. "Damn! What's up with that?"

I made an attempt to roll my eyes, but stopped mid eye roll when the pain became too much.

"I went over to Jeff and Jason's last night," I said as way of an explanation.

"What the fuck? Is that all they ever do is drink and cook?"

They also exercise and get butt implants. "No," I said defensively. "They work too."

"Sh…ee…it then I need to get their fucking jobs so I can go in smelling like a booze hound and not get fired," he said.

"I smell that bad?"

"Hell yes. And you might what to do something with this," he said motioning to his bald head. "I don't think your hair should have all those fucking lumps in it."

I felt around my head and groaned. I had tried to put my hair up in the car on the way over. Apparently I wasn't good at multi-tasking. I pulled a brush out from one of drawers in the desk I use to store my girlie things and tried again. Hector nodded his approval then shifted his attention back to the folder and DVD.

"I got that from the Davies apartment last night," I said. Then told him the whole story, but omitted the part about Manuel being there. I trusted Hector, but I didn't know how Mystery Man would feel about it.

Hector's face twisted up. "Sh…ee…it," he said. "That is seriously messed up."

I nodded.

"You going without me and this sick fuckin' thing," he said pointing at the DVD.

"Do you think we should watch it?" I asked choosing to ignore his comment about not taking him with me last night.

"Maybe there was some kind of clue on it about Davies and Mrs. Howard."

He rubbed his stomach making it jiggle around. "Man, I just ate my fucking breakfast."

"What if it isn't what we think it is?"

"Yeah right. You think that prick taped himself watching fucking T.V. with her?"

"No. But we need to be sure,"

"Sh…ee…it the only thing we are going to be sure after watching that crap is the size of his fucking dick."

Yuck!

"You don't need me to watch for any fucking clues," he said.

He was right, but I didn't want to suffer alone.

"What happened to us being partners and all?" I asked raising my voice and crossing my arms across my chest.

"Damn girl! You don't have to get all huffy and shit," he said "I'll watch the fucking thing. But if I have to look at someone's abuela doing the nasty you're buying me one of those cinnamon rolls again."

"Deal."

Hector and I went into Harry's office and put on the DVD. We both had our hands poised ready to cover our eyes. I felt kind of bad watching Mrs. Howard doing something so private, but if I wanted to help her I knew it had to be done.

The back door slammed and a gust of familiar perfume wafted through the air.

I looked towards Hector.

"It's okay. She'll probably actually want to see the fucking thing," he said.

I glanced around the office and was reminded about her décor. Hector was probably right.

"Hey asshole! You and Goldie could have warned me," she said taking a seat at her desk.

I made a mad face at Hector. You got it wrong partner.

"That way I could have gotten to work a little earlier. I missed the whole damn foreplay," she said taking out a pair of cat eyed glasses from her desk and putting them on.

Hector started laughing and mouthed, "I told you."

"Don't worry Harry there wasn't that much to begin with," he said grabbing some candy off her desk while keeping his eyes on the screen. "Gramps likes to get straight to the fucking."

"You're sick," I mumbled looking down at the ground.

The pounding in my head went full throttle when their moans starting coming from every corner of the office. I wanted to smash the speakers with my bare hands. Who would have thought Harry would've had surround sound?

"Do you think she knows she is being filmed?" Hector asks.

"No," I said. "She isn't self-conscious at all. No woman is that comfortable with her body." Especially when her skin looks like it has been replaced by crepe paper. I stared down at my hands and reminded myself to use sunscreen. "And besides she never looks in the camera's direction. But see how Davies can't stop smiling at it."

We both went back to watching just in time to see him give a wink to the camera.

"What an asshole," Hector mumbled shaking his head. "Do you think he used this shit to get cash out of the old ladies?"

"I don't know," I said. "But I know someone we can ask."

"Mrs. Howard?" He asked.

I nodded. "I wonder if that's the reason he was murdered."

"People get clipped for a lot less than that shit," Hector said.

He was right. After seeing all the stuff at his apartment I was surprised someone hadn't gotten to him earlier.

When their moans hit a crescendo and the geriatric porn finished Harry said, "Very disappointing ending."

I wondered what kind of ending she expected.

"Okay, shit head go earn me some cash. You too Goldie."

We cleared out of her office shutting the door behind us only to be met by Gus and Victor. By the looks on their faces they obviously had been listening outside the door.

"I gotta give the old guy credit. He lasted pretty long," Gus said.

"It's called Viagra dumb ass," Hector said giving him a head slap.

Gus and Victor got their repo slips and left. After saying good bye to Harry, Hector and I went out to the parking lot and got in Baby.

"Here," Hector said tossing a phone to me.

"What's this?"

"Manuel told me to give it to you in case you need him."

Need him? I wanted to get up and do a little happy dance. "I can call him anytime?"

"Fuck no. It's not for you to call him up to discuss recipes and shit. It's in case there is any trouble with the freaks you seem to attract."

"Yeah, I am around a lot of freaks," I said looking directly at him. He was ruining my buzz about my phone and having a direct line to Mr. Hottie.

"Shit girl. I walked right into that one," he said.

I couldn't wait to tell Jeff and Jason about the "hottie phone". I went to put it into my purse when I saw Mrs. Howard's DVD sticking out.

"You know we're going to have to give this back to her," I said to Hector holding it up for him to see.

"Hell no, we ain't," he said shaking his head.

"Why?"

"'Cause I don't want to," he said sounding like a toddler.

"What's the big deal? We will just swing by and drop it off," I said.

He made a sour face. "Yeah? What are we gonna say? Hey Nana lady we found this DVD at that dead guy with the big dick's apartment after Stevie broke into it. We thought you might like it back 'cause your naked ass is all over the place in it. Hell no. I ain't doing it."

Hector had a point. It could be awkward, but I didn't want to lug around with me in my bag. I wanted to get rid of it and pretend it didn't exist.

"She doesn't have to know all that stuff," I said. "We can just hand it to her saying we found it and thought she should have it."

"Why don't you just throw the fucker away," he said.

"I thought of that, but I really think she should know. What if there is a copy out there somewhere. Or if she dates another jerk like Davies. She needs to be more careful."

"I get all that shit. But there is still no fucking way I'm going with you. I'll drive you, but I'm waiting in Baby," he said.

"Fine," I said. I knew when to let it go. I didn't blame Hector for being uncomfortable. After watching Mrs. Howard play hide the snake with Davies I felt awkward seeing her too, but I wanted to get rid of this thing. I felt residual slime just being near it.

When we pulled up to Mrs. Howard's house I got out of the car with a sense of dread. It felt like every step I took was carrying me forward to a place I didn't want to be. When I got to the door I glanced back at Hector who had slid so far down in the seat I could barely see his eyes over the steering wheel. He gave a downward wave with his hand telling me go on. I faced the door, took a deep breath and rang the bell. I heard Mrs. Howard behind the door looking through the peek hole. She opened it and greeted me with a quizzical look.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said.

Except you've made a sex tape and didn't know it. I swallowed what seemed like a baseball size wad of air and yanked the DVD out of my bag and gave it to her. "This is yours."

She turned it over in her hands. "What's this?"

"I'm….really…don't," I stumbled out.

I was going to say I didn't know and make a run for it, but I didn't want her to have a heart attack when she watched it for the first time.

"It's a tape Davies made of you two having sex," I blurted out. "I thought you should have it."

Mrs. Howard's eyes lit up and she grasped the DVD tighter.

I've never given birth, but I imagined the relief at expelling that baby from your body mirrored how I felt at this moment.

"Thank you for giving this to me," she said clutching it to her chest.

I was confused. This wasn't what I expected. "Did you know about the DVD already?"

"No," she said.

"Really?" I asked. I wasn't convinced she was telling the truth.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to go," she said and shut the door.

I walked back to Baby and told Hector what happened.

"Sh…ee…it you got off easy girl," He said.

"But don't you find it weird that she wasn't shocked or anything?"

"Who the fuck knows?"

"I'm telling you Hector it seemed like she already knew about it."

He shrugged. "Maybe. But do you really want to hassle an old lady about whether she knew she was making a sex tape or not? I mean who the fuck cares?"

"Something doesn't feel right," I said.

"What doesn't feel right is I want my fucking cinnamon rolls," he said. "All this shit is making me hungry."

I slid my eyes over to him. "This is making you hungry?"

Hector was always hungry.

"Yeah. Now let's go find me some fucking donuts," he said.

"Fine," I said. "But I'm telling you Mrs. Howard is hiding something."

"Right now I don't give a fuck," he said.

I sighed knowing why. His mind was clouded by cinnamon rolls.

"And besides who gives a shit if she knew about the tape or not? What difference would that make? Maybe she was into that sort of thing and was embarrassed and shit."

"I don't think so," I said. "Remember she never looked at the camera? And she wasn't self-conscious at all."

"What are you getting at?" He asked.

"I don't know yet, but I'll figure it out."

"Sh…ee…it Goldie can't you ever let it go?"

"No."

I was sucked into all this for a reason and I wasn't about to let it go now.

Hector and I were sitting in Baby in a parking lot in Marina Del Rey.

"How could you not notice it was a boat?" I asked staring down at the paperwork. "A very large boat."

"Fuck if I know," he said shoving a piece of cinnamon roll in his mouth.

I was sure Yolanda was going to figure out the gift thing and would put a stop to Hector's cinnamon roll rampage. But until then I was his donut dealer. I was ambivalent about keeping him supplied. He did need to lose weight, but a sugared up Hector was far easier to deal with than a hungry one.

"And it's in the water," I said pointing out the obvious. "How are we going to repo that?"

Hector took another donut out of bag. "Damn these things are good," he said ignoring my question and shoving half of one in his mouth.

I snatched the bag out of his hand. "You are on donut restriction until we figure out how we're going to get that boat."

He narrowed his eyes and reached for the bag, but I saw it coming and slapped his hand away.

"I'll tell Yolanda," I threatened holding the bag out of the window.

"Damn girl, what happened to partner loyalty and shit?"

"I'm saving you from a sugar induced coma," I said. "You're ignoring our predicament."

"I don't know what the hell you just said."

I put the bag in the backseat. "How are we going to do this," I said shoving the paperwork on his lap.

We had one hundred percent repo success rate and I didn't want our average to go down.

"I bet Baby could pull that shit," he said.

"Please," I said rolling my eyes. "It's almost the size of a cruise ship."

"So?"

I gave him the death stare.

"Are you having that fucking PMS thing? Or is your hangover making you so freaky? Cause you've been all jumpy and shit," he said.

Another opportunity to give him the death stare. I was in the PMS zone. I was also hung over. But I was jumpy because there was some scary guy who wanted me dead!

Hector cringed when he saw my expression. Yolanda must have taught him a lot about dealing with women who were on the verge. Instead of harassing me he got out his phone to call Harry and told her what was going on.

"Well?" I asked.

"We have to drive the fucking boat to the marina in Newport Beach," he said getting out of the car. "She'll have someone drive us back to get Baby."

"Why didn't she tell us this morning?" She could have given us some warning.

"She said she was distracted seeing gramps doing the nasty and forgot," he explained.

Hector and I went to the entrance and were met by a locked gate.

"No problem," he said whipping out his tools and within a couple minutes his gift kicked in. We walked down the ramp and immediately took a right. Our mark was the biggest boat in the marina. "Snatch Shack" was painted in big red letters on the side.

I really loved my job. A boat with a name like that deserved to be repoed.

I glanced around as Hector and I made our way around the side furthest from the parking lot. There was only an older couple two slips away enjoying a midday drink on the back of their boat. They already looked sloshed. Hopefully they'd be too busy topping off each other's drink to notice us.

"Are you going to be able to start this thing?" I asked staring up at the huge monstrosity in front of us.

"Hell yes. My gift keeps on giving," he said laughing to himself.

Hector's ego was growing as fast as his waistline.

"How are we going to get up there?" I asked, looking for an easy entry. The only way up was to hoist ourselves across the rope and fling ourselves onto the deck.

Hector's eyes mimicked mine and I could see a look of terror crease across his face. "Man I shouldn't have eaten those last three cinnamon rolls," he said rubbing his stomach as if that was the only reason he couldn't heave his three hundred plus pounds across.

"If only," I said sarcastically. "I'll go then. I'll see if I can unlock the side door from the inside."

"Okay, but be careful Goldie," he said. "I don't want to have to save your ass if you fall in the fucking water.

Being rescued from a guy the size of a boulder didn't bring me any comfort.

"You're a good swimmer?" I asked finding it hard to imagine him frolicking in the water.

"Fuck no. I meant I'd get a big stick or something and haul your ass out."

That's what I thought.

Hector stood watch while I grabbed the rope and wrapped my legs round it. The rope was rough and my hands were getting scratched as I inched my way across. When I got to the end I stopped. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it over the side of the boat. I was in decent shape. Jeff and Jason made sure of that, but I didn't exactly have bulging biceps.

"Shit Goldie. It ain't time to take no rest," Hector hollered.

That half eaten cinnamon roll in the car was definitely going in the trash.

"I don't know if I can do this."

"Girl you can haul your skinny ass over that railing. No problem," he said.

How pathetic. Being called skinny brought me such inner joy.

"We could always call Gus and Victor for help," he said. "But we'd hear about it for the rest of our fucking lives."

Our two partnerships were friendly, but hyper competitive. Every night we compared repos to see who had swiped the biggest and the most expensive. We were pretty even, but this monster would tip us to the win column. No doubt.

"No way," I said. Then gripped the rope, turned around and pulled myself over using my feet to help push off from the side. I heard Hector yelling his guttural shit cheering me on.

"Not bad Goldie."

I told him to untie the ropes while I went down the stairs, opened the door and lowered the ramp. Just as we were pulling it back up a short balding man in his late fifties rounded the corner with a woman who was almost wearing a dress and looked like she wasn't old enough to vote.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He screamed.

Hector and I looked at each other for a beat. We knew if we had to deal with the owner this repo would take forever. He'd call the police. We'd have to explain. There would be lots of drama. Sometimes avoidance was the best choice.

"Run!" We both said charging up the stairs and racing down the deck. Even though Hector was the size of a wooly mammoth he was surprisingly fast. We slammed to a stop when we got to the control room door. When we opened it we stood there with our mouths hanging open staring at all the gadgets and dials.

"It looks like that fucking ship on Star Trek," he said.

He watched Star Trek?

"Do you think you can drive this?" I said.

"Hell yes," he said and ran around. "It has an engine doesn't it?"

"Fuck yeah," he said smiling as it roared to life.

Just then we heard gun shots. Hector and I both ducked down.

"What the fuck?" Hector yelled.

"Hold on," I said. "I'll go take a look."

I crawled doggie style to the side of the boat. Then peeked over the railing. The owner had pulled out what looked like a mini machine gun and was riddling the control room with bullets.

"Mr. Snatch Shack is very mad," I shouted over to Hector.

Who carries around a gun in a beach bag like that?

"Goldie get your ass back in here. I think I can get this fucker moving."

I could hear the engines start up. And apparently so could Snatch Shack because he ran closer and started firing away. I flattened myself as close to the ground as I could and tried to make my way back to the control room. Unfortunately my ass couldn't flatten enough and I felt a sharp sting in my left butt cheek.

Shit!

I lay flat until Hector had pulled far enough away.

"That guy was such a dumb ass," he said pushing what looked like the throttle. The boat jolted forward knocking me off my feet onto the floor.

"Fuck! Sorry Goldie," he said bending down to help me up. "This baby has more power than I thought."

"Is there a towel around here," I asked, holding my butt.

Hector looked down and saw the blood seeping through my jeans. "Fuck. Are you okay?"

I nodded. "I think so."

"Is the bullet in or out?"

"Out," I answered. I was no expert, but I certainly didn't feel anything else in there.

"Good. Then lay the fuck down and we'll get your ass seen to when we dump this shit."

I found a bench and did what he said.

"Try not to hit anything on the way out," I said. "I'm guessing that would eat into our profits."

"Don't sweat it. I just had to feel her juice."

"Use less juice," I said. "It's going to be a tight squeeze until we get into the main channel."

Hector pushed the throttle again and gingerly eased the boat further out.

"Man I could do with one of these. How fucking cool is this?" He said waving to the older couple as we passed by. They waved back clearly enjoying their cocktail hour while exchanging questioning glances.

Hector gave me a big smile obviously enjoying driving this monster of a boat. I sighed letting him have his moment. The sky was blue, the weather was a perfect seventy degrees and I had to agree with Hector it was pretty cool even with my bleeding ass. When I glanced back towards the marina, my stomach dropped. Scary looking bar guy was sitting in the Ferrari parked next to Baby staring in our direction as we went deeper into the channel.

Crap!

I stared back wondering what type of person got paid to kill people. Then I started to get mad. I didn't do anything! The more I thought about it the angrier I got. I stood up by the side of the boat, and gave him a big wave. He looked even less pleased than before. I watched as he pealed out of the parking lot.

"You know you're gonna have get your ass stitched up don't you?" Hector asked.

I made a face. Not only did I hate needles, but I hated the idea of a big hospital bill even more. Not to mention Bryan would not be overjoyed. He would surely find out. When you show up at a hospital with a gunshot wound it's not like they just send you on your way.

"Harry is gonna be mad when she finds out how we got the boat," he said. "She'll see the police report you know."

"We didn't steal it," I protested.

"That is kinda what you call a grey area," he said. "She don't like us not doing the proper procedures and shit."

I glanced down at my purse and saw the "hottie phone".

"I have a feeling someone might be able to help us," I said holding it up.

"Fuck yeah," Hector said giving me an approving nod.

I went to the contact list and saw only one number programmed in. Manuel picked it up after the first ring.

"What's up, Goldie?"

Damn he had a sexy voice.

I told him what happened and wasn't too pleased that by the end of the story his voice had gone from concerned to amused. I didn't tell him about Ortiz yet. I figured when my butt was hanging out it would be something to distract him with.

He asked me to put Hector on the phone. I listened as Hector went into Spanish speaking mode. I certainly didn't need to know the language to understand he was laughing with Manuel at my expense. Couldn't I have got shot in the leg?

Hector got off the phone. "No problem Goldie. Manuel has got it worked out."

And?

He went back to singing some Spanish song and blaring the horn.

"Well?"

Hector made a face. "Sh..ee..it girl why do you have to know now? You're gonna find out soon enough?"

I glared at him. "I guess I am impatient that way," I said my voice rising with every word. "Considering my ass is bleeding and I want to know how it is going to be fixed?"

Hector knew I was ready to lose it.

"Shit, don't get all pissy Goldie," he said. "We're going to go to his place and he'll have someone meet us there who will fix you up."

I could barely conceal my excitement. "We're going to Manuel's house?"

"That's right."

Maybe getting shot in the ass wasn't so bad after all.