Chapter 5

As I waited for the elevator I nervously paced back and forth in front of the elevator door. At the same time I gave myself a mental head slap the "Ding" announcing the elevator's arrival sounded. I smiled smugly to myself during my quick two floor ride down. Going into the Rangeman offices was going to be a piece of cake compared to going to the bonds office after I had sex. I still don't know how they always knew when I got laid, but Lula and Connie were never shy about asking who, what, where, when and how many times. Even that pervert Vinnie seemed to sense when I had sex. Well, there was no way the Merry Men were going to know. After all, they're guys. Unless they were involved in said sexual activity themselves they probably didn't care. And it's not like Ranger would have told them. Right? Right?

The elevator doors opened and I stepped out. First I heard Lester saying "Good Morning Stephanie" in a singsong voice. Then I passed Tank in the hall. I heard his deep "Morning, Steph", but he didn't look me in the eye like he usually does. Then walking down the hall to my office I met up with Bobby who was leaning against his door jamb. He smiled at me and winked as he said "Good Morning, Beautiful."

I walked into my office with my chin hanging down. I couldn't believe it. Ranger told them! I was getting angrier by the minute, imagining him putting it as an agenda item for their morning meeting. "And lastly, I'd like to announce that I finally boinked Stephanie again. Hal, it looks like you won this pool." My blood was boiling. Yeesh, I hadn't even had a chance to call Mary Lou yet. And men say that women are gossips! They should look in the mirror sometime!

I tried hard to contain myself, but I couldn't. I wanted to confront Ranger and find out what exactly he had told his men. I stomped down the hall to his office, not caring who saw or what they thought. When I arrived at Ranger's office his door was closed. I had a clear view of him through the window. There was a very serious, uneasy look on his face. I could only see his profile, but I could tell he was on the phone. My anger turned to concern. Ranger usually kept his blank face on at work. The fact that I could see he was troubled worried me. I turned around and went back to my office. I sat there looking at the computer screen for a few minutes, unable to focus on the search I was currently working on.

I was yanked out of my reverie by my ringing phone. I could see it was Ranger calling, so I answered with a "Yo." "Babe. Can you come down to my office?" There was no hint of what was going on in Ranger's voice. I told him I'd be right there.

When I walked in Ranger stood from his seat and came around to the front of the desk. He leaned back against the desk, half sitting on it and crossed his arms across his chest. "Babe, you wanted to see me?"

"Well, I, uh…"

"Babe, a few minutes ago you looked like you were on a mission and nobody better get in your way."

"Yeah, I guess I was. But when I saw how serious you were on your call I figured it could wait."

"Why don't you tell me now what's on your mind?" Ranger asked.

"Don't you have more important Rangeman business to take care of?"

I could see Ranger trying not to smile as he said "I won't know until you tell me what's going on, Babe."

"Well, the truth is I can't believe you told the guys about last night."

With a raised eyebrow Ranger asked "What makes you think I told anyone about last night? Babe, you know how private I am about my personal life."

I relayed my encounters with Lester, Tank and Bobby.

This actually got an almost smile from Ranger, and a "Babe" as he shook his head. "Did you think there may have been other ways they could have found out?" Now I shook my head. "For starters, Big Blue never left the garage last night. While that car is obvious where ever it is, when it's in my garage surrounded by my all black fleet it stands out like a sore thumb"

"Oh. Yeah…"

Cal was on monitor duty last night. He probably couldn't keep it to himself that he saw you go up to the seventh floor last night and that you never came down."

I was beginning to blush.

And then there's fact that Lester probably watched you leave my apartment and take the elevator down a few minutes ago."

Crap. I got myself worked into a frenzy over nothing. "Sorry Ranger. I should have known better."

Ranger just continued looking at me. "So do we have that resolved, Babe?"

I nodded. "Good, because there are a couple of things I need to discuss with you." Ranger had his serious look back on.

Gulp.