Author's Note: Forgive me for the short responses to your reviews. I wanted to reply to each one of you but I'm not feeling all that well. Hopefully y'all will like this chapter. Next chapter should be Hector & Steph finally getting together.. however.. to be able to smut, I need a happy muse and my muse and me are anything but happy at this moment. So I might throw in an off the work chapter...

Until then... Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-One

Steph was dreading this talk with Lula and Connie. But she was most definitely ready to get it over with it. She had a very important… event to get to. She had been battling her attraction to Hector for a while now and ridiculously fighting the urge to jump his bones whenever they were together. Which was all the damn time. She deserved a damned medal for resisting that urge to rip off his clothes and have her dirty way with him.

Not that she believe he would complain but she didn't want him to think she was using him. She wanted him to know that it was him. All him and only him that she wanted. And she did want him. Soft and sweet and down and dirty, she wanted him.

She gave a slight shiver at the thought of getting dirty with Hector and put her car into park. She took a deep breath and got out of the vehicle. She could see Lula and Connie through the window and immediately regretted not bringing donuts, pizza, chicken, deli sandwiches, bacon, or just plain meat. Steak, hamburger, pork chops, anything. Just lots of meat to distract Lula from the news she was about to tell her.

How would Lula handle it? Would she flip out that Steph hadn't confide in her? Would she understand and be there for her? Or would she never talk to Steph again? Her stomach hurt just thinking about it.

She took a deep breath, shook off her fear, and opened the door to the bonds office. She was immediately met with polite heys but neither one paid attention to her. Steph frowned at this but she didn't let it get her down. Instead she cleared her throat.

"Damn. Next time, I'll make sure not to forget the donuts. At least then I'll feel a little love."

Both Connie and Lula jerked their heads up and grinned. "She's back!" Lula shouted before crushing Steph into a hug.

Steph shook her head in confusion as she felt the life being squeezed out of her.

"It's about damn time, white girl!" Lula exclaimed loudly and in her hug. "We was missing your lily white ass."

Connie chuckled softly at the bewildered look on Steph's face. "You don't remember, do you?" Connie questioned.

Steph shook her head. "Remember what?"

Lula pulled Steph to the couch and they sat down while Connie returned to her desk. "Lula, you wanna tell her or should I?"

"You can. I'm too excited to tell it. She probably won't understand me anyway. And besides you tell it better anyway, right?" Lula replied, rolling her eyes.

Connie laughed. "I tell it without flare. It's called the truth."

Lula just rolled her eyes again, making Steph's brows furrow in worry.

"It was the beginning of July, I think. We were sitting here, talking. You were quiet, like really quiet. You had been abnormally quiet for a week or so by then. So we just kind of let it go." Connie shook her head. "We probably should have pushed for an explanation but we didn't. Anyway... Vinnie walked in, carrying take out and almost instantly you threw up all over him."

"It was fucking hilarious." Lula interrupted, clearly tickled that Steph vomited all over Vinnie.

Connie nodded in agreement. "It was funny until I saw the fear on your face. Vinnie was screaming at you but you paid him no mind at all. You were shaking and heaving so violently. We tried to get you to talk to us, but you ran out of here so fast. We tried to stop you from leaving, scared of you driving in the condition you were in, but you practically screamed at us to leave you alone and you left. You didn't return for weeks, Steph. You wouldn't answer your phone or your door. No one else had seen you for weeks either. It was like you dropped off the face of the earth."

"Yeah, it was fucking freaky. And Ranger and his fine ass were acting even weirder." Lula added.

"Him and the rest of RangeMan said they hadn't seen you and we knew that was fucked up too."

Steph didn't know what to say. Once again she was struck speechless. She had been a total mess and while she thought no one noticed, they had. Maybe not Ranger or the Merry Men but then again she avoided them like the plague. If she had been around them too much they would have noticed too. So why did Hector noticed if none of the other Merry Men did? She would have ask him.

"I'm sorry guys. I… um… I was raped back in June."

Both girls just blinked at her, looking at her like she had grown two heads. She glanced at Lula, scared of what to see. It wasn't anger she saw, or even pity. What she saw was understanding. Suddenly she was pulled into a hug by Lula and then Connie joined them. Together they wrapped their arms around Steph and cried with her. Steph wasn't sure how long they stayed there like that, but when they finally stopped crying and cleaned their faces, they were closer than ever before. Steph told them the whole story, starting with Benjamin Kelly and how with Hector by her side she learned to conquer her fears and she went after her rapist and put him behind bars.

"You're a role model for many of us, Steph." Lula admitted quietly.

Steph glanced at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You got to go after your rapist, Steph. You got to feel that little bit of satisfaction that most of us don't. Heck you went after mine as well. You're tough shit, Steph. I'm glad to call you my friend."

Steph smiled. "Ditto."

"We should have a girls' night." Connie announced.

Steph laughed. "Mary Lou suggested the same thing. With Hector as our body guard."

Lula whistled. "I'm all for that."

Steph giggled at the look of lust on Lula's face. "I'll talk to him as soon as I get home."

Lula's eyes got huge. "You live with that hunky man?"

Steph slowly nodded. "I guess I kind of do. He quit RangeMan and that's where he lived so he left and he's been living with me since, but we haven't done anything. He's taking it slow, wants to make sure I'm ready."

"That's fucking sweet."

"Why did Hector quit RangeMan?" Connie asked, picking up on that part first.

Steph sighed and went into explanation. While they listened with rapt ears, Steph wondered if Hector would ever come to resent her for him losing the job he loved. Her life was finally falling happily into place. She was finally close to her mom, and her family. She had an even stronger bond with Mary Lou and just forged an even closer friendship with Connie and Lula. She finally had a man that loved her, with a condom and a ring. He protected and supported her in every way. Would she lose him because he lost his job because of her? Would this happy feeling she had go away? Would she lose it all?