Chapter 25

After receiving a thunderous applause and tips thrown haphazardly upon the stage during her performance, Marissa was working her way through an adrenaline rush.

"Holy cow!" she exclaimed to Joe as they made their way off the stage. "I did it! I thought I was going to throw up, but I did it."

"You did great." Joe confirmed watching her with smiling eyes as they walked back to the dressing rooms.

"Are you kidding me? We did amazing. Look at this." She held up a wad of crumpled bills to his face. "I'm sure there's at least three hundred dollars here."

"You earned it." Joe said. "You definitely earned it. You're more dangerous than I thought. I have no idea where you learned to dance like and neither do I want to know. Something tells me it might involve circus clowns and midgets, and I don't think my brain is ready to wrap around that story."

She smiled wide at him. "Stop it. Here." She thrust the money in his hands. "I believe I promised to get you your money back from Mike. It's not five hundred, but it's a start."

Joe pushed her hand away lightly. "It's your money."

"A promise is a promise Morelli." she said shaking her head and handing him the bills again.

"You already paid me in full with that lap dance. Plus, we have company."

He was looking over her shoulder with alert eyes and Marissa sensed their jovial mode was about to end.

Ranger stood a few feet in front of them with a blank look on his face. But it was the way he was standing that tipped Marissa off to his mood. His hands were on his hips and he stood in a rigid wide-legged stance. He was angry. Well too bad, she thought. She was angry with him. She felt Joe at her back and heard him sigh.

Tank, Lester and Bobby stood off to the side with matching blank looks on their faces. They looked intimidating, and several of the dancers scurried past them with diverted eyes on their way to the stage. Marissa however wasn't fooled by their tactics.

"Are you guys here to have a good time or to give me a hard time?" Marissa asked as she approached them.

Ranger was the only one who answered. "We need to talk."

Marissa eyed him wearily. "Now is not a good time. I'm wor..."

"I wasn't asking Agent Carter." he interrupted stonily.

She stiffened at his tone, but continued to stare at him. He knew his intimidation tactics didn't work on her and she briefly wondered if it was all for Joe's benefit.

"S it would seem Mr. Mañoso." she grounded out.

He visibly flinched but said nothing. The line was now officially drawn in the sand.

"Is there a problem here?" She felt Joe's hand on the small of her back. His touch was meant to reassure, but because of all the exposed skin she was currently displaying it looked possessive and sexual. No one missed the way Ranger's eyes narrowed as his gaze locked onto where Joe was touching her.

"Get your hands off of her." Ranger growled. The other three Rangemen shifted behind him. They were well aware that other than a small amount of professional respect between the two men, the gloves were off when it came to personal property. Joe however was not fazed by the small army of men in black. Like it or not, he was still an officer of the law and would wield that power if he had too...and it wasn't going to take too much for him to go in that direction either.

Lula and Stephanie chose that very moment to appear.

"Hey, you guys move fast. We were trying to follow..." Lula stopped talking when she saw the void looks on everyone's faces. "Who died?"

Stephanie however wasn't interested in finding out that question. What she wanted to know was why Joe's hand was looking so comfortable on Agent Carter's curvy hip. She didn't get time to finish her train of thought because movement caught her eye and she saw Ranger step closer to Joe and Agent Carter. Uh oh. Ranger was not looking happy. Not that he did most of the time. He wasn't big on projecting his feelings, so seeing him throwing daggers with his eyes at Joe was throwing Stephanie for a loop.

Marissa however had no trouble deciphering Ranger's body language. Either he was going to get his way now or there would be hell to pay later. God, she hated when he turned manipulative. She was impressed by Joe playing the part of the hero though. Good to know she had someone watching her back, literally. But she didn't want him getting hurt because of a situation she was the main focus on.

Joe was a good guy, and while his gallantry was appreciated, this was her fight...disagreement, or whatever the hell it was. She didn't understand why Ranger was so mad at her though when he was the one caught with his hands in the cookie jar...or should she say lips on the cookie. How dare he follow her here and then try to use intimidation to get his way. Arrogant bastard. Well fine. If he wanted to talk, then talk they will.

With one last glare she brushed past him and made her way to the dressing room door. "Give us five minutes." she said over her shoulder, knowing that Joe would try to follow. "I just need to clear some things up with Mr. Mañoso."

Ranger followed closely behind her, and she heard him say to Tank. "No one comes through the door."

As soon as the door closed behind them Ranger spoke. "Have you lost your damn mind?"

His voice was low and even. Even in anger he always tried to be in control of his body language and the tone of his voice. "Does the Bureau even know what you're doing?"

"Is that really what you brought me in here to find out?" she asked as she sat down in a nearby chair.

"Since when is being half naked a part of Bureau policy?'

Why was he questioning her methods? For all the years she had known him, and through all the operations they had done together, never once had he questioned her capabilities.

She stared at him. "What's this really about Carlos?"

"Your behavior out there was inexcusable and worse yet you put Morelli in a bad position that could get him in trouble with the TPD."

A dry, humorless laugh escaped from her. "Since when do you care about Morelli's well being? Maybe you put that act on for Stephanie and respect whatever boundaries you think she would understand, but don't stand their feeding me some bullshit line about looking out for Morelli's best interests. Last time I checked he was quite capable of doing his job."

"And you grinding all over him out there was part of his job?" Ranger growled.

"We're undercover. Maybe you forgot, but the reason I'm even in Trenton is to work on a case, and right now that's what I'm doing. There's a gang out in the audience that I'm trying to infiltrate. But you and your...possessiveness are making that kind of hard for me right now."

"Maybe it's because I can see how what you're doing is a bad idea."

"What is your problem? Since when have you doubted my instincts?"

"Look, just be glad I haven't rip Morelli's arms out of his sockets. This is me being nice."

She narrowed his eyes at him. "Nice? You call barging in here acting all Neanderthal, nice? I don't buy that Carlos, because something tells me you're trying to cover up your real intentions for being here. Why are you following me? Because of what I saw happen at RangeMan earlier on?"

His jaw clenched. "That was something you..."

"Wasn't supposed to see?"

His eyes held hers. Something dark flashed within them. "I was going to say something you wouldn't understand."

She made disgusted sound. "You're fucking right I don't understand."

He dropped his gaze.

"I'm not the jealous type. But I don't like being lied to. You said nothing was going on between you and her. You told me her uncertainty about how she felt about you made the decision to move on with your life easier."

"I didn't lie to you." he said softly but firmly. "What happened wasn't planned."

Marissa let out a bitter laugh and shook her head. "Does it even matter at this point? I could understand that you still have strong feelings towards her. I don't expect those to just go away after you've felt them for so long. But what I don't understand is why tell me you're ready to move on with me, and then the minute you think you can get away with it you turn around and wrap your lips around her tonsils. Help me understand that."

Ranger didn't know how to. Explanation of his feelings and emotions to other people were just a nonexistent factor in his life. Marissa took his silence for disregard, and brushed past him and made her way to the door.

Ranger felt as though all the air had been sucked out of the room as he watched her open the door and leave.

How was he going to fix this? The bigger question, and hardest of them all was, was it even fixable?