Rowena slammed her hand against the radio button, leaving the car in silence.

Lorena, her cousin, held back her laughter. "Are you seriously still mad?"

Rowena narrowed her eyes at her favorite relative. "I haven't eaten all day and I wore my stretchy pants! I thought you said we were going to a steak house."

Lorena couldn't stop herself. She laughed aloud and said, "No, I said we were going on a stakeout. Big difference."

"Whatever. I still expect an expensive steak before the night is over. Luckily for you, I have a stakeout bag ready for emergencies."

Lorena's brows rose as she watched Rowena pull a pair of binoculars  from a black backpack. "This isn't your first stakeout, is it?"

Rowena pulled a pair of walkie talkies out of her bag and shook her head. "Do you remember Logan Myers?"

Lorena's face scrunched in thought. "Wasn't he the boy you dated in middle school? Rowena! Please don't tell me you've been spying on your boyfriends since then!"

"Carmen said she wanted to steal him away from me. Of course I spied on him."

Lorena shook her head. "You are insane."

Rowena rolled her eyes. "Considering how you promised me a steak dinner to help you spy on your husband, I'd keep the judgemental tone out of this conversation."

"I didn't promise you a steak dinner."

"Well, you should have."

"Rowena, would you be serious for once?"

"Lorena, I am serious. I'm an expert at this. I'm worth at least a steak dinner and you clearly said, 'Rowena, let's go to a steak house tonight. I think Donnie is cheating on me.' Why would I make that up?"

"I said, 'let's go on a stakeout.' Why would I randomly treat you to an expensive steak house? You know my shop isn't doing well."

Rowena huffed in annoyance. "Fine, but I thought you wanted to cheer me up. Gino broke up with me."

Lorena grimaced. "Gino, the used car salesman? He dumped you?"

"Again with the judgemental tone," Rowena muttered, shaking her head. "You do realize I'm doing you a favor right now? I could be eating ice cream while burning Gino's pictures and signing him up for male enhancement subscriptions to his workplace right now."

"Gino, who always uses too much hair gel?" Lorena asked.

Rowena shrugged. "The Arizona heat makes his hair frizzy."

"Gino, who only wears silk shirts?"

"He said they felt good against his skin-- like constantly being hugged by a lingerie model."

"Gino, who served time for hot-wiring cars with our cousin Felix? That Gino? He seriously dumped you? He did you a favor, Rowena. He's a total sleaze." Lorena waved her hand as if the subject didn't matter.

"Lorena!" Rowena snapped. "I get that Gino isn't a prize but that doesn't mean my sadness shouldn't count. My therapist said I need to constantly acknowledge my feelings."

"You're right. I'm sorry, Rowena. I just can't believe he dumped you or that you're sad about it because you're so much better than him."

Rowena pulled a stick of beef jerky from her bag. "He dumped me because he thought I was cheating on him with Hector."

"Who is Hector?" Lorena asked, taking the piece of jerky Rowena handed her.

"The cousin of my boss. We ran into each other at Sweeter Homes and Gino saw us. Apparently, Hector leaned in too close and gave me the 'I want to jump your bones' look."

"Gino shops at Sweeter Homes?" Lorena asked, a tone of disbelief in her voice.

"He was there to borrow money from me."

Lorena groaned before clearing her throat. "Sorry, I'm not judging but what a jerk."

Rowena rolled her eyes again. "You are judging but he is a jerk. He saw Hector and assumed we were having an affair. Then Hector asked him if he was projecting because he was the one cheating. Gino got all red and sweaty."

"He wanted to borrow money while he's been cheating on you?" Lorena gasped.

Rowena gave a single nod.

"I have a concoction that can make his hair fall out," Lorena said. "We can send it to him. Tell him it's a new hair gel."

"No need. Hector slashed his tires. I was going to do it myself but he said I'd only get caught and arrested again."

"Hmmm," Lorena hummed, tapping her stick of jerky against her chin. "Maybe this Hector guy really is into you? Slashing tires for someone is akin to sending flowers these days."

"One, did you just use the word 'akin?' Two, if I get arrested again, I'll miss work. Rodrigo would probably bug Hector to find me. If Hector wasn't related to my boss, Rodrigo, I'd probably make a play for him. Lord knows I've sent him plenty of those I want to jump your bones looks." Her shoulders slumped. "Last time I gave him that look, he asked if I had gas."

"What does he look like?"

Rowena grinned. "Hector? He's handsome. Rodrigo said he's a vigilante but he runs his own security firm. He has a ton of celebrity clients."

"Why don't you date Hector?"

Rowena laughed. "I told you. He's related to Rodrigo and guys like Hector don't date women like me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Ignore what I said. I just wish I could meet a good guy who is totally devoted to me. If he was handsome with his own house and a good job...it would be a dream come true."

Lorena sighed. "Isn't that what we all want? I thought Donnie was the one. We even started talking about trying fertility treatments."

"You and Donnie were struggling to have kids?" Rowena asked before biting into her jerky.

"Yeah, and then he started working late. I asked him about it and he said the department is short-staffed right now. He said all the guys are working overtime."

Rowena pulled a bag of chips from her backpack.

"Then, I noticed he kept getting calls from someone he labeled as C on his phone. I asked him about it. He brushed it off and said it was dispatch." Lorena shook her head, her hands gripping the steering wheel of her car. "It made no sense."

"Nope." Rowena shook her head.

"So, I went to the station one day to surprise Donnie with lunch. He wasn't there."

"Oh, hell no," Rowena gasped, pulling an ice cream cone from her bag.

"You have ice cream in there?" Lorena asked, shocked.

Rowena nodded. "So, where was he?"

Lorena sighed, her eyes on the police station's entrance. "The other officers said he went to have lunch with the 911 department."

"That lying sack of--"

"So, I walked myself to the 911 area. There's only one emergency operator, Rowena. It's not a department. It's a person. One person. A woman named Collette."

"Is that a French name?" Rowena asked.

"Who cares? She's having an illicit affair with my husband!"

Rowena nodded. "So, that's why we're in the police station's parking lot late at night instead of at a steakhouse eating yummy steaks and fully loaded baked potatoes?"

"Enough with the steakhouse, Rowena! My marriage is falling apart."

Unfazed by her cousin's outburst, Rowena lapped at her ice cream. "Lorena, what are you hoping to find tonight?"

Lorena's brows rose. "What?"

Rowena leaned forward. "Are you hoping Donnie isn't having an affair? That this Collette isn't some sort of French skank?"

'Rowe--"

"No, I'm serious," Rowena insisted. "If we do this, and he's innocent...you'll look bad. If he's cheating, your marriage may be over. Are you ready for the consequences?"

Lorena turned her head. "I need to know."

Twenty minutes and an ice cream cone layer, Donnie exited the police station. Rowena watched as a woman in a short black dress followed him. He looked back at her, smiling.

Lorena gripped the steering wheel. "That's her! That mother-fu--" 

"Calm down, Lorena. It could be totally innocent." Rowena held her binoculars to her eyes. "I'm reading their lips."

"You can do that?" Lorena asked, shocked.

"I learned it from an FBI agent."

"You know an FBI agent? Why didn't you tell me?"

Rowena's mouth tilted downward. "Do you tell me the job of every person you know? Besides, he wasn't really an FBI agent. He was a conman impersonating an FBI agent." She leaned forward. "Stupid Donnie is mumbling but I think he either said, 'whore face' or 'your place.'"

"He's going to her place?" Lorena screeched.

Rowena lifted a shoulder. "Or he's calling her a whore-face. Maybe it's her nickname at work?"

They watched as he texted something on his phone. Seconds later, Lorena's phone dinged.

"He just told me he's working late," Lorena whispered, her face pale.

Rowena pulled out a metal baton from her backpack. "It's time for step two of the stakeout. This is where we beat them until they cry. Lorena, you're going to have to follow him."

"I don't know if I should do this," Lorena said, shaking her head. "Maybe ignorance really is bliss."

Rowena groaned. "Fine, but if he is having an affair and knocks up another woman while you go through fertility treatments and you end up on the six o'clock news for murder when you find out, don't say I didn't warn you."

"I wouldn't murder him," Lorena protested. "I'm not you!"

"That's right. Be mad at the person trying to help you," Rowena muttered, putting away the baton. "I'm not sure why I even like you. You're so judgemental."

Lorena pressed the button to turn on her car. "Fine. We'll follow him. It's probably nothing. She's not even his type. I am."

Rowena scoffed.

They watched as Collette pulled out of the parking lot and Donnie followed her. A few minutes later, they both pulled up in front of a small pink house with a white picket fence.

"Now what?" Lorena asked.

"You stay in the car while I check it out. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, text Donnie a picture of Collette's house."

"What do I say?"

"Nothing. Just send a picture of the house with no text. If he calls don't answer," Rowena said. "Consider it psychological warfare. You not responding will freak him out."

She didn't wait for Lorena to respond but looked out the window before opening the door and rolling out with a grunt.

"Ow...there was a rock here," she muttered.

Rowena looked around and walked down the street, keeping her head down. As she came up to the pink house, she looked around and pulled a baseball out of her bag.

She tossed the ball into Collette's yard and whisper-shouted, "Oh no! My favorite baseball. Let me go grab it."

Rowena strode to the backyard, picking her ball up along the way. There was a window looking into Collette's living room. Donnie was sitting on the sofa, a bottle of beer in front of him on a coffee table. Next to him, sat Collette.

Rowena pulled out her phone and snapped a picture before turning on the record button.

She watched as Collette leaned forward, her hand on a smiling Donnie's chest. She tugged at his shirt, pulling it off. Rowena gagged at seeing her cousin-in-law's bare chest. He smiled, placing his hand on Collette's waist.

Collette's eyes closed as her lips pressed against Donnie's.

A loud bark startled Rowena into dropping her phone. She cursed, falling to the ground to pick it up. A bulldog came running toward her, barking.

"Get back, demon!" Rowena hissed.

The porch lights to Collette's house turned on. Donnie came running outside with his shirt back on.

"Rowena!" Donnie cried, his voice sounding strangled.

The dog ran to Collette, who was wearing a robe.

"Who are you and why are you at my house?" Collette yelled. "He's a cop, you know."

Rowena scoffed, pulling a black wallet from her backpack. She flashed a badge before tucking it away. "I'm agent Flores from the health department. We had a report a married man was spreading Herpes to 911 operators."

Collette's cheeks turned red as she spun to Donnie. "You have Herpes?"

"What? No! You can't believe her. She's my wife's crazy cousin." He turned to Rowena. "Nothing happened. If you say something to Lorena, it'll only hurt her."

Rowena growled, "You were half-naked and making out with another woman, Donnie! I'm not the one hurting her. You are!"

"As if she'd even believe you. Lorena knows I love her."

"You have a horrible way of showing it."

"Can you both leave now?" Collette demanded. "You've ruined my night."

"Sorry, I ruined your plans of being an adulterer, " Rowena spat. "I already sent the video of you two having an affair to the police chief along with a strongly worded e-mail on work relationships and morals."

"Rowena!" Donnie groaned. "How could you do that?"

She shrugged. "It was easy. I just used my phone."

"This was a mistake," Donnie groaned tugging at his hair. "I was just feeling pressured because Lorena wanted a kid. I'm not ready."

"Then you should have said something!" Lorena shouted.

Her voice caused them all to turn. Tears fell down her face. "How could you, Donnie?"

"She kissed me, that's it," Donnie admitted. "Nothing really happened. I don't even like her. She said her boyfriend Gino was cheating on her with some ugly chick who worked at Sweeter Homes. I felt bad for her."

"Gino?" Rowena turned to a scowling Collette. "Ugly?"

Collette sneered at Rowena, "What are you looking at?"

Rowena didn't bother to answer. She pitched the baseball still in her hand through Collette's window before running toward the robed woman and tackling her to the floor.

"I am not ugly, you dirty homewrecker! You can have Gino but I am not ugly!"

Two sets of arms eventually pulled Rowena up from Collette's unconscious body. Red and blue lights danced around her.

"Not you again, Flores," an officer said, shaking his head. "We should've known it was you when the neighbors called to report a crazy Hispanic woman with big hips attacking their neighbor. Judge Myers said you'd have to write out the handwrite constitution ten times the next time you got arrested."

Rowena tossed back her tangled hair and lifted her chin as the officer escorted her to the police car.

As she entered the back seat area, she grinned back at the officer. "Do you think we can make a pit stop on the way to the station?"

He chuckled. "For a regular like you? Sure. You give us job security. Where did you need to go, Flores?"

She leaned back, placing her hands on her stomach, a smile on her face. "A steakhouse."

Thank you for reading! This was just a quick bonus chapter I wrote. Book II is completed with book III coming soon.