Kenneth immediately let go of Charmaine and jumped off the sofa but not before Charmaine slapped him with full force across his face.  “Don’t you dare try that on me again!” she warned, her eyes blazed with fury.

Keeping his eyes on Kenneth, Raymond repeated, “What’s going on?”

“What are you doing here so early?” Kenneth asked with a nervous giggle hoping to divert his attention.  “Shouldn’t you be at Smashbox.”

“I was around this area and decided to stop in here first,” Raymond answered causally.  He glanced over at Charmaine, who was still glaring at Kenneth, “Luckily I did.  Fred told me that a Madame Sheh was looking for you and I was curious to know about this ‘personal’ business between you guys.”

Charmaine finally looked at Raymond, the hatred for them clear on her face, “Don’t try to pretend that you don’t know anything about this.”

“I don’t,” Raymond answered firmly.  “But I would like to find out what went on just now.”

Ignoring Raymond, Charmaine Kenneth, “Where is she?”

“Who?” Raymond asked but Charmaine didn’t pay him any attention.  She kept her eyes trained on Kenneth and repeated, “Where is she?”  Kenneth was saved from answering when her cell phone rang.  She looked at the caller ID and was confused, “Selena?”

“Charmaine, when will you be home?” Selena asked innocently over the phone.

“Have you been home all night?” Charmaine croaked, her eyes flashing to Kenneth and when she saw the cocky smile on his face she knew she had been tricked and thoroughly played.

“Of course, where would I be,” Selena said.  “Come home quick.  I saved you dinner.  I also made soup.”

Muttering “Ok, Bye,” Charmaine returned her phone to her pocket and when she glanced over at Kenneth the sight of him smirking at her ignited her fury once again.

“Hope you don’t mind giving this back to Selena.  She dropped this when she was here earlier,” Kenneth said in a soft cajoling voice then held a phone out to her.

Charmaine snatched the phone out of his hand all the while glaring at him.

Raymond looked from Charmaine to Kenneth then asked “Can you tell me what the hell is going on here?”

By now, Kenneth had regained his composure and with his trademark grin said, “We were just having a little fun.”

“Fun?” Charmaine retorted hotly, “If you think that was fun wait until I take you back to the station.  Then you’ll know what fun really is.”  She advanced towards him, her hands reaching behind for the cuffs which hung on a small clip at her waist.

Kenneth backed a step and gave her a sheepish grin and said apologetically, “I must have had too much to drink and wasn’t thinking clearly.  Sorry if I came on too strong.  I’m usually not like this.”

“Explain that to the Judge,” Charmaine said sweetly.  She held the cuffs out and said matter of factly, “I’m arresting you for assault on an officer and attempted .”

Before Charmaine could reach Kenneth, Raymond blocked her path, “I’m sorry but I won’t let you arrest him.”

Charmaine looked up at him with annoyance, “You can’t stop me.”  When Raymond refused to move out of her way, she seethed, “If you don’t step aside I’m going to arrest you too with resistance of arrest.”

Raymond laughed, “You have no proof.  It’s your word against his.  Plus, he has an advantage of a witness.”  He then pointed at his own chest, “Me.  I will tell the Court that you barged in here while I was having a drink with my partner in our own bar and threw these bogus charges on us.”

Staring straight at him, Charmaine said in a deadly tone, “You could lie all you want to the Court but I am still arresting him now.”

“No, you’re not,” Raymond countered calmly and when she took a step around him he followed.

“Get out of my way!” Charmaine fumed.

“It won’t do you any good to pursue this,” Raymond reasoned quietly, “You won’t be able to make the charges stick.  Why waste our time and yours when I’m sure there are more important things waiting for you to do.”

Charmaine had always prided herself for being a logical person and knew he was right but nevertheless that didn’t mean she didn’t have the right to be mad.  She remained silent weighing her options then knowing it was best to drop the incident said, “I’m going to let this one time slide but I’ll be keeping a close eye on you guys.”  She slammed out the room seconds later.

Relieved that it was over with, Kenneth sank down on the sofa and picked up his pack of cigarettes, “Thanks Ray.  You certainly know how to handle her.”  The look Raymond him stopped him from lighting his cigarette.  “W-What?” he asked nervously, squirming under Raymond’s scrutiny.

“You really think I didn’t know what happened,” Raymond asked with his usual calm.  Only the slight twitching of his eye told Kenneth just how angry he was.

“I had too much to drink,” Kenneth whined.  “She came in here looking for me and I couldn’t help myself.”

“Don’t let it happen again,” Raymond warned softly.  He headed for the door and stopped when he had reached it, “I’m only going to say this one last time, don’t bring any more trouble to the bars.”