Chapter 25

We woke up with me laying on top of Carlos and Julie pressed into our side. I could hear giggling from beside us. "Momma, daddy not a pillow," Julie said.

"I know Baby. Did you already go to the bathroom?" I asked.

"Yup. I get back and daddy your pillow," she replied. I was relieved I didn't roll over her. "I got school... hurry daddy. You help." She was pulling on his arm. If I moved off him, she would see the tent he was threatening to pitch.

"Jules... time for breakfast," Jeanne Ellen called down the hall.

"Okay Auntie Jee Jee," she called back. "Morning Daddy." She gave Carlos a kiss on forehead before running from the room. My bedroom was on the main floor of the house, beside Julie's room. Jeanne Ellen had a room upstairs on the opposite end. The guest room was directly above mine.

I quickly shut and locked the door before climbing back on top of Carlos. He ripped my panties off before pulling me onto his erection. We attempted to stay quiet. When I started to scream his name, he caught my mouth with his to swallow my screams. It wouldn't be wise for Julie to listen outside the door. "Every time with you gets better," he whispered. "Te quiero, mi amor, mi amigo, te amo, mi novio, amor joven and siempre tuyo." Those were the same words on the picture frame I gave him ten years ago.

"I love you Carlos." With a final kiss I climbed from our bed to take a shower.

"Come to work with me," Carlos said wrapping his arms around me. "After we take Julie to school."

"Sure. I want you to meet the principal and Julie's teacher."

He nodded before asking Julie, "Is it okay for your papa to drive you to school?"

"Yes!" she squealed. She started talking so fast we couldn't understand more than the occasional word.

We had to use my car since Carlos didn't have a car seat or a backseat for Julie. The principal was pleased to finally meet Julie's father. After an introduction to her teacher, who flirted with my husband, we talked to Principal Simpson. "Flirting with me is not acceptable," Carlos sternly stated. "It was both unprofessional and disrespectful. I'm a married father of her student. I expect her to behave in a respectable and professional manner in front of me, my wife and my daughter."

"I'll speak to her," he stated.

"Now for the other matter at hand. Yesterday my daughter was lured by a man with a puppy. The students need to learn how to recognize dangers within the neighbourhood. For the next few weeks, Rangeman security will be on the school property to ensure student safety. My daughter will have a security detail on site at all times," he calmly stated. We discussed our daughter's safety on our way home last night. I completely agree with my husband. If anyone heard how easy it was to lure Julie, others may try. I don't want to lose another child especially when it's avoidable. "A list of my men with descriptions will be provided."

"Is this really necessary?" he asked. Carlos didn't answer. After reading my husband's face he said, "I see it is necessary."

"You see Mr Simpson, all the children will be protected as long as my daughter's guards are on site," I explained. "It's a win-win scenario."

I heard Carlos' phone chime. He removed it from his pocket to read the message. "Check your email Mr Simpson. A file with names and photos is attached." Carlos nodded before grabbing my hand.

We waited for Manny and Binkie to arrive before we headed towards Rangeman. I sat with the team to discuss ways to gain favour with the TPD and build our revenue. When I was helping Jeanne Ellen, we discovered there wasn't enough qualified BEAs to capture the higher bonded criminals who skip.

Ranger called a core meeting. We discussed ways to increase revenue besides providing commercial and private home security. I offered to meet with both Les Sebring and my cousin Vincent Plum to negotiate a contract. We spent time to hammer out exactly what we're hoping to receive. A minimum bond of 60000 and we want at least 15% of the bond. For bonds greater than 200000 our fee is 20%. I had a basic contract on hand outlining our requirements. Jeanne Ellen was good at her job, but even she couldn't handle all the FTAs on her own. An FTA is a person charged with a crime, posted bail and failed to appear at their court hearing. It's the responsibility of the BEAs to track these men or women down to return them to the system.

I used our apartment to change into my Rangeman standard uniform. Mama ensured I had enough uniforms to take some home with me too. She stocked the dresser with gym clothes too. Before I planned to meet with the bond offices, I purposely went to the gym to spar with Tank. "Why are we doing this Little Girl?" he asked.

"Most of you know I can handle myself. Rangeman protocol dictates I need to win a sparring match between Lester, Ranger or you. Since I don't really want to fight my husband, you're my number one choice," I smiled sweetly. He had no idea I learned more skills over the last three years.

"It would be my pleasure to help you school these boys," he replied.

"No pulling punches," I added.

He visibly paled. "Boss will kill me if you get hurt," he groaned.

"Trust me Tank. I'm not going to be the one getting injured," I insisted. He nodded and led the way to the gym.

We did a few stretches before removing our weapons and shoes. I climbed into the ring and waited for Tank to enter. After circling each other for a few minutes, he took the first swing. I used his momentum to flip him over my back. He let out a deep breath as his back slammed into the mat. Tank got back to his feet and started circling me again. I watched him feign a punch and went to plant a roundhouse kick to my side. Catching his move, I quickly moved out of his way. I flipped around and landed a solid kick to his chin. He fell to the mat completely knocked out.

"Holy Shit Bomber!" Cal yelled. "You totally kicked his ass. The last time you fought him, he had to pull his punches."

"Does anyone else want to take me on?" I asked. My husband entered the gym. He removed his weapons and shoes before entering the ring. Ram and Bobby pulled Tank out to treat his injuries.

"Let's see what you've got Babe," he whispered. We sparred for nearly an hour before he managed to pin me. Neither of us pulled punches. I'm going to have a bruise on my left thigh, but it was worth it to prove myself to his men.

I gave him a kiss and yelled, "I give up. You win boss."

He helped me to my feet and wrapped his arms around me. "You've been training. Proud of you Babe." We returned to our apartment for a sexy shower. I dressed in clean Rangeman standard uniform before looking for my partners.

Lester and Tank were assigned to assist me today. Tank found me first to sign a Rangeman contract. The salary was more than reasonable. In the fine writing, it also included me as a core team member. If we receive any grief from either Vinnie or Sebring, Carlos wanted me to call him. We decided to handle my family first. Tank parked the SUV outside Vinnie's office. "I'm sorry Tank," I apologized for knocking him out.

"You did warn me Little Girl." He blew off my apology. We exited the car to meet with Vinnie. I called the bonds office on our way to ensure Vinnie was in the office. The woman who answered the phone, Connie Rosolli, assured me he was in his office.

I entered the office with Les and Tank flanking me. The woman sitting behind the desk has short dark hair and large brown eyes. Her bust size must be 38DD. She resembled an Italian Betty Boop. "Hi Connie, I'm here to see Vinnie."

She looked up from filing her nails. "Stephanie Plum?" she asked.

"It's Stephanie Guzman now. I'm here to see Vinnie," I replied. I wanted to leave my husband out of the equation for now.

"One moment," she said as she lifted the phone to call his office. I heard a phone ring in the room beside me. After a few grunts and a banshee like scream, he answered the phone. "There's a Stephanie Guzman here to see you." A few seconds later she said, "She's from Rangeman with two guards." I saw her smile when we heard a chair topple over and another feminine squeal.

I've heard many rumours about his sexual activity. One story says he had a sex with a duck. I'm not even sure how that's even possible. He's always been a bit of a deviant. His wife Lucille probably doesn't know about his sexual activities. Lucille's father, Harry the hammer, probably knew what he was doing but ignored it for now. He was likely using Vinnie's deviant sexual behaviour as a way to keep him in line.

A woman wearing tight leather, big boobs and red hair exited Vinnie's office. I recognized her as Joyce Barnhardt. She's a lot skinnier than grade school. Also she had a lot of upgrades to her body using plastic surgery. I must admit it's working for her, but you can't use surgery to remove skank.

Joyce saw Lester standing behind me and made a bee line directly to him. She tried to rub up against him but he was trying to get away from her. I heard the door open behind me. "Move along skank," Jeanne Ellen said.

"Fuck off bitch," Joyce retorted before stomping out the door. Jeanne Ellen winked at me after she grabbed her files from Connie.

Vinnie was buckling his belt when he exited his office. He slicked back his office before approaching me. "I'm Vinnie," he held out his hand.

I sneered, "I know where that hand was last and there's not enough bleach in the world to sanitize my hand."

"Stephanie Plum?" he asked.

"I'm Stephanie Guzman," I replied. "I haven't been a Plum since I was adopted. I'm not here to discuss my life. Rangeman recently opened an office in Trenton. You have more FTAs than your current staff can handle and we have men willing to keep more money in your pocket. Are you interested?"

"Let me hear your plan," he said as he pointed towards his office.

"We're fine here," I said while sitting on the faux leather couch.

He pulled a chair from his office to sit on. "You take the higher bonds at 10%," he offered.

"No deal. We take the 60000 to 150000 at 15% commission and anything higher at 20%," I negotiated. He was making a motion to refuse my request. I leaned forward and whispered, "I know about the duck, the boys and Madam Zaretski and her whips and chains. What do you think your wife would say when I tell her? Should tell Harry the Hammer instead?"

His face blanched as he reached for the papers in my hand. I made a small correction to change the 200000 to 150000. We initialed the change and he signed the one year contract.

"Thank you cousin, someone from Rangeman will drop your copy by tomorrow. It's a pleasure doing business with you," I sweetly stated before leaving the office.

Lester waited until we were in the car before asking, "He's your cousin?"

"Unfortunately. Our BDs are brothers," I answered.

Tank asked, "What's a BD?"

I started laughing, "Sorry, that's what I started calling my biological dad after I lost Stephan."

"Because he put you up for adoption when your poor excuse for a mother asked him to?" Lester asked.

"Yes, but my incubator doesn't deserve the title of mother," I stated. They both knew my story and couldn't understand how a mother could be so horrible to her abused daughter. It made perfect sense to me. I was a girl when she told all her friends I was a boy. After I was born, she had an emergency hysterectomy and couldn't have more children. Not only did I sin by being a girl, I ruined her chance of giving her husband a son. I did everything wrong from the day I was born. I've been living in Trenton for eight months and haven't seen that vile woman yet.

We parked in Sebring's parking lot. I changed the range on his document too. Lester passed me an extra pad of paper to negotiate the terms. I didn't have an appointment with Les Sebring, but I knew he would be willing to negotiate.

An attractive blond was sitting at the reception desk. The office appeared more professional than Vinnie's bond office. "Welcome to Sebring Bail bonds. How can I help you today?"

I looked at her nameplate. "Hi Brandi, I'm here to see Les Sebring. I don't have an appointment."

"Okay," she paused to check his calendar. "He's available. Who should I say is here?" she asked.

"Stephanie Guzman from Rangeman."

She raised an eyebrow before lifting the phone, "Hi Les. I have Stephanie Guzman from Rangeman here to see you... she's wearing black with Rangeman embroidered on her shirt... two men one dark blond with green eyes and a huge black male with his head shaved."

I almost laughed from her description of Tank. She hung up the phone and smiled at us. "Take a seat and he'll be with you in a moment."

"Thank you Brandi." I sat on the soft couch beside Lester.