Chapter 10 Undercover

"What the hell?" Lester asked as he looked at Tank and Stephanie. He got dragged into their plan and demanded to know everything between his two friends.

"Okay, I will explain this, Lester. While Steph and I were undercover in New York, we had one night together. Now Stephanie might be expecting. The baby is mine. As you can tell, Morelli is obsessed with little one. So we got married, Lester. I love little one, and I have for a long time. We want to be together. Yes, Ranger will be furious, but we deserve a right to be happy. Don't you think?" Tank explained.

"Lester, please, try to understand. I am not Ranger's property. Morelli, as you had witnessed earlier, is being a dick." She moved closer to Tank and added, "I want to be with Tank."

"Okay, I get it, I really do, but how do you think Lula would react when she finds out?" Lester asked. Lester had seen Lula's reactions when another hooker tried to replace her. It was not pretty for the other woman. He didn't want anyone to harm his best friend.

"Right, well, let's get going. We can stop by the bond's office and tell everyone about us. Vinnie needs to know that he has to find another bond agent for a while. Do you know you can't work right now? At least not until we get some answers, Little one," Tank came up to her and put a strong arm around her waist.

"I know," Stephanie told the men. They got into the Rangeman SUV and left for the bond's office.

As soon as they arrived, Tank parked the SUV in front of the office. Stephanie nervously glanced in the window, barely suppressing the shiver running down her spine. Her fear was well placed when they saw Lula looking like a homicidal woman. If looks could kill, Stephanie would be dead many times over.

"You witch!" Lula screamed and ran right to Stephanie. Before Lula could touch Stephanie, Tank stepped in front of Lula.

"How did you know Lula?" Tank asked.

"Morelli just left. He told us that white girl here married you," Lula snarled. Stephanie always thought Lula was pretty, but at this moment, Lula's jealousy made her unattractive.

"Yes, we did get married," Tank replied, not wanting to lie to his ex-girlfriend. "Lula, I can't explain the reason for our haste nuptials right now."

"This would not have happened if Ranger had just stayed," Lula told them, giving away more than she should have.

"What that is supposed to mean?" Stephanie asked.

"Oops, I said too much," Lula told everyone.

"Lula," Tank said.

"Okay, I have been paying him to be overprotective of her. It was for white girl's own good," Lula said, then added, "Damn, look at the time." She ran out of the Bond's office.

Tank looked at Stephanie, who was stark white. He walked up to her and wrapped Stephanie in his strong arms before looking at Connie. Tank needed answers, and he wondered how much Connie knew about Ranger and Lula's arrangement.

"Vinnie is in his office. It is locked, as usual," Connie told them.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tank asked as he released Stephanie to look into her eyes.

"Yeah, let's go speak to Vinnie," she said as she looked back into Tank's warm brown eyes.

Lester, Tank and Stephanie walked to the door of Vinnie's locked office door. "Vinnie, we need to talk. If you don't let us in, I will tell Lucille about what you did on my wedding day to Dickie." Stephanie shouted through the closed door.

Stephanie heard the door lock disengage before Vinnie pulled it open. "How long are you going to hold that over my head?" Vinnie asked.

"For as long as I can get away with using it," she answered honestly. "I want you to know that I have to take some time off, and you will have to find someone else to collect the skips," Stephanie.

"Rangeman will pick up as much as we can Vinnie," Tank stated.

"Helen will be pissed when she finds out you married him," Vinnie said and shut his door and locked it again.

"Okay, so what do you want to do now?" Stephanie asked her husband.