Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Janet Evanovich owns everything. The only one I own is Peter Atolo (he'll show up in a bit. be patient)and the skip in the first chapter, and if anyone can get JE to agree, I'd gladly trade them for Ranger. Fantastic deal for her, really, a 2 for 1 special… ;)

Oh yeah, and this is based after EOT, which I didn't say in the first chapter. I'm not planning on putting any spoilers in, but they might slip in. So, if I ruin the ending of the book for you, you can't blame me (sorta) because I'm warning you here.

Thanks to my reviewers :) I hadn't even remembered about the whole 'Morelli guilt' thing, and I suppose she should have been more conflicted about sleeping with Ranger, so sorry about that. tobydog, I didn't want to have any smut details and I guess I overcompensated by having very few details. Sorry about that. I'll try to work on it. I've now gone back and editted it. And I'm sorry that this chapter is so ridiculously short.

I glared at him. "What do you mean 'when'? What makes you think I'll need a new car?"

The corners of his lips lifted. Definite amusement but not quite a smile. "Babe, you've had this car for four months and you haven't blown up anyone else's cars or garages or places of business or any such thing in all that time. Something is overdue to explode."

I was still trying to figure out what to say to defend myself (not much I could say; I'd been thinking the same thing a few days ago) when he walked out the door.

Chapter 2

I ran to the door, wanting more information, or to say goodbye, or to argue more about my car. To do something and not end the conversation like that. By the time I had the door open, though, he was already gone. Figuring there was nothing I could do about it, but by no means happy about it,I went back to bed, furious. I lay in bed pondering the annoyances of life (the fact that something was definitely going to explode soon, the fact that Ranger never told me anything and had just left) for a while, and then I fell asleep.

I woke up around ten the next morning and decided that it would be a good time to get the few things that were still in Joe's house back to my house. I'd moved back to my apartment as soon as Valerie had moved out. Because I'd left right after a fight, I'd been too busy storming away in a huff to grab all my things. Thus, I still had some clothes at Joe's house. Since I had nothing better to do other than sulk about Ranger, I figured today would be a good day to get my clothes. Or, more specifically, right now would be a good time to get my clothes.

I pulled up in front of Joe's house and noticed absently another car parked there in addition to Joe's car. It was black and cool-looking. Sort of a Ranger-type car, except, of course, Ranger didn't hang out with Joe. I didn't really care about whose car it was, so I just walked up to the door and opened it. I'd gone a few steps towards the stairs when I heard a muffled moan. I stilled and my whole body tensed. I've been told several times that I have great instincts, and my instincts were currently informing me that something was wrong. Come to think of it, I'd felt the same way when I'd seen the extra car, but it hadn't mattered much. Now, as I walked towards the kitchen, I was getting a sinking suspicion of who that car belonged to.

My suspicion was confirmed when I saw Joe and Terri Gilman lying on the table. Or rather, Terri was lying on it, Joe was lying on Terri. Neither were wearing clothes, and both were, apparantly, enjoying themselves.

I must have made some noise, because Joe, whose eyes were closed, suddenly looked at me. Shock, then horror flitted across his face. Ironically, however, he just froze, and made no move to um…separate himself from Terri. Terri made a sound that indicated her frustration as his sudden stillness and then seemed to realize something was wrong. She opened her eyes, saw Joe's horrified expression, and followed his gaze. Seeing me, she gasped. Not a guilt-filled, remorseful, repentant, apologetic gasp (although maybe I'm making that up; I can't remember ever hearing that kind of gasp. Probably just wishful thinking.), more of a 'oh crap, we got caught' gasp. In the next instant, she seemed to realize that she and Joe were still…together, and she shoved him off her (and off the table), causing him to topple to the ground and hit it with a very satisfying 'thunk', followed instantly by a quiet groan.

The sound snapped me out of my shock, and I turned around and hurried to his bedroom, where I quickly gathered my clothes and then carried them out to my car. I was trying to figure out what to do about Joe when he ran out of his house (wearing jeans now. Too bad, sort of. I'd have liked him to get arrested for indecent exposure).

"Cupcake, wait! I can explain! It's not what it looks like!"

"So, what you're telling me is, you and Terri Gilman, weren't having sex on the dining room table?" I was almost tempted to try to raise one eyebrow, but I was pretty sure I'd fail, and I didn't want to ruin my image. Or, what I was hoping was my image: justifiably angry girlfriend who is serious and refuses to let scumbag boyfriend weasel his way into getting forgiven.

"Well…I guess so. Yes, yes we were." The whole thing was said reluctantly and slowly. Obviously, he didn't want to admit it. Maybe I was being more successful at cultivating the desired image than I'd thought. He tried to think of something to say and, apparently couldn't think of anything good. "We're on a break!"

Clearly, he thought this made it ok. Technically, we were broken up. We'd had a fight about me leaving his house and then about my job with RangeMan, and once I agreed to quit and go back to my other job, about me being a bounty hunter. The usual. And, to be fair, I'd slept with Ranger just last night and also once before, but both times we were on a break. Of course, I was now being completely hypocritical; it was ok for me to sleep with someone else on a break, but not him? "This isn't the first time though, is it? I bet you've been sleeping with her before. Even while we were together!" Not to mention, even when we were broken up, it wasn't all that real. People had made remarks to that effect before and it had made me mad, but it was true. We weren't really broken up, we were just angry for the moment. Or rather, we hadn't been really broken up until today. I planned to remedy that.

Judging by Joe's guilty expression, I was right about him and Terri being together even while Joe and I were together. "Goodbye Joe." Suddenly furious, not only with him, but with all men in general, I pulled back my fist and punched him, as hard as I could, in the nose. I was rewarded with a bellow of pain and the sight of blood pouring from his nose, and then I turned to my car, got in, and drove away.

By the time I got home, I'd bought a tub of Ben and Jerry's and I now carried it, along with my clothes that I'd brought from Morelli's house, into my apartment. I was crying by now, though not sobbing. Really, Joe could have at least used a bed. The fact that it was the dining room table was just adding insult to injury. I suppose I should be grateful it was Terri, and not Joyce. As I got a spoon, sat down on the couch, and started eating my ice cream, though, I wasn't feeling like being grateful for small favors. Men suck.