“Soon to be a doctorate,” Jericho added, winking at Zoey.
“School of hard knocks,” Quinn said, grinning.
“That’s in house lifting, isn’t it?” Cat asked with a grin.
“Funny,” Quinn said, giving her a dirty look.
Cat noticed that Raine remained silent during the exchange. The girl had two degrees, she should be bragging about them, not keeping quiet. Cat figured she had her reasons, she just wasn’t sure what they were.
The waitress came over then handing them all menus. When drinks were ordered, Jericho announced that the first round was on her.
Everyone ordered beers or mixed drinks with relish. When the waitress got to Raine, she ordered bottled water. Everyone looked at her shocked.
Raine looked around seeing that everyone was staring at her. She shrugged, “I don’t drink,” she said simply, which had a few of the women looking at each other in shock.
“Leave the kid alone,” Jericho said, “Not everyone is a lush like us.”
“Speak for yourself,” Quinn said, grinning.
“You’re Irish,” Xandy said, winking at her girlfriend, “By definition a lush.”
There was a round of “ohs…” that ensued, but it easily distracted everyone from Raine. Cat noted the relief on the girls’ face. Unfortunately, when the food everyone ordered showed up, once again the focus went back to Raine. Everyone else was eating burgers, fries, and any number of other fried foods, Raine had ordered a Seared Ahi Tuna salad.
“That looks, uh, healthy,” Skyler commented.
“I didn’t know Hamburger Mary’s even made anything healthy,” Devin said, looking surprised.
“Not much,” Cat said, trying to figure Raine out and failing to do so.
“It looks good,” Natalia said, she’d ordered a salad as well, but she was sharing Nachos with Zoey too.
In the end, everyone figured out that Raine wasn’t really good at getting poked at, so they made a point of not teasing the girl. Cat sensed that Raine was fairly intimidated by the group, although she did seem to enjoy the banter between the women, she just didn’t get involved in it. She seemed to be more of an observer.
After dinner, they all walked out to the parking lot together. Everyone said goodbye to everyone else. Cat did a last check on Raine.
“Okay, you’re sure you’re good to get home?” Cat asked, although she hadn’t seen any issues during dinner.
“I’m sure,” Raine said, nodding.
“Okay, then I’ll see ya tomorrow,” Cat said. “Thanks Nat for taking her back to the gym.”
“De nada,” Natalia said, smiling at Cat.
The drive back to the gym was quiet for a little bit.
“You’re not used to being around so many people, are you?” Natalia asked Raine.
Raine shook her head, “No, not really.”
Natalia considered that for a long moment, “You seem… como se dice?… solitario, lonely?” She said, not sure if she was using the right word. “Kind of… triste, sad.”
Raine looked over at Natalia, her light blue eyes considering, even as she shook her head.
“No,” she said, “I just… I’m not good at social situations,” then added, “No saliente.”
Natalia looked shocked once again, Raine’s accent was perfect.
“I thought you only understand,” Natalia said, her tone shrewd, “You are what my mother would call aguas profundas.”
“Deep water?” Raine replied.
“Muy profundo,” Natalia said, her look serious, but sad in a way that Raine didn’t understand.
Back at the gym, Natalia got out of the car to grab her gym bag to move it to the front seat of her car. She surprised Raine by reaching up to hug her goodbye. Raine felt completely awkward but hugged the smaller girl back. Natalia watched as Raine climbed onto her bike, putting her helmet and then her riding gloves on and started the bike with a rumble. She backed her car out, and waited for Raine to walk her bike back, then watched as she put it in gear and road off. Raine Mason definitely made an engaging figure on her motorcycle, dressed in jeans, a black leather riding jacket and black leather riding boots. The Honda Shadow was sleek and low with sapphire blue on the tank and wheel fenders. It was a difficult picture to erase from her mind as she drove home to her apartment in West Hollywood.
“How about Brentwood?” Sierra said, as she climbed into bed next to Kashena a week after they’d learned of the move to Los Angeles.
“Expensive,” Kashena said, she was sitting on their bed reading a report.
Sierra looked back at her wife, a strikingly beautiful woman with long blonde hair and deep sapphire blue eyes. She wore black shorts and a grey tank top with the Marine logo on it, her hair was up in a long ponytail.
“Not if we sell this house,” Sierra said, gesturing at the house in general.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Kashena asked.
“I bought this house with him,” Sierra said, moving to lay on her side and levering herself up on her elbow to look up at Kashena, “I want to buy something with you.”
Kashena quirked a grin at her wife, “Okay…” She said, “But how much are we talking in Brentwood, hon?”
“We don’t have to have something huge; it’s just the three of us.” Sierra said.
“And how much does not huge cost in Brentwood, babe?” Kashena asked, looking down at her wife.
Sierra moved to sit up, knowing she was likely going to have to catch Kashena when she fainted dead-away.
“Well,” she said, her look cautious, “Anything decent is going to run between one point eight and two…”
Predictably, Kashena’s mouth dropped open.
“I’m sorry…” She said, blinking a couple of times, “Is that one point eight million?”
“Yes, but wait, wait, wait,” Sierra said, holding up her hands as Kashena started to laugh.
“Babe, we don’t have that kind of money,” Kashena said.
“Well, wait,” Sierra said, “If we put down $500,000, the payment would only be about $7,000 a month.”
“You’re insane,” Kashena said, “I love you, but you’re crazy.”
“We make enough,” Sierra said.
Kashena looked back at her wife, “Why do you want to live there?”
“Because it has a great school district, and it’s a safe neighborhood.”
Kashena looked back at her wife for a long moment, her look pointed.
“It’s a really nice neighborhood too, you said so yourself,” Sierra said.
“Yeah, for the people who make a lot more money than me,” Kashena said.
“But it isn’t just you, now, Kash…” Sierra said, her tone soft.
Sierra had a point, Kashena was so used to be the breadwinner in her relationships. Sierra as a Chief Deputy Attorney General actually made more money than she did. It was something she wasn’t used to and she still really hadn’t made the adjustment.
Kashena blew her breath out, shaking her head, “I’m sorry, Sierra, you’re right.”
“I’d like to look there,” Sierra said, putting her hand on Kashena’s chest, “But if you don’t like anything, or you feel like it’s too much we can check out other areas, okay?”
Kashena smiled, knowing that Sierra was trying to keep her from freaking completely out, while also respecting that Kashena wasn’t used to a partner that made more money than her. It was the nature of a lesbian with a butch personality to expect to provide for her partner, the fact that Sierra didn’t need the support didn’t change Kashena’s desire to provide for her.
Kashena’s reconciliation with the financial situation was that she was Sierra and Colby’s protector. She took care of them. She also handled anything physical in the house, with Colby’s assistance, because she was raising him to be a good man. If something broke, Kashena either fixed it or made the arrangements to have it fixed. She also handled all maintenance of the vehicles, and took care of the yard.
Sierra knew that Kashena was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and she loved her more than she could ever explain to anyone. What she did do was try to be the best wife she could possibly be, doing her best to support Kashena in every way possible. She also knew that it meant that sometimes she’d need to compromise what she wanted to keep Kashena from feeling inadequate as a provider. For what she got with Kashena, compared to how her marriage to Jason had been like, Sierra was willing to walk through fire.
Jason had been a Marine, like Kashena had once been. That was where the similarities between the two ended. Jason had been a foul mouthed, overly aggressive sexual pig of a man. Kashena rarely cussed in front of Sierra, always speaking to her with respect and love. On the very rare occasions when they’d disagree about something, Kashena would take the time to explain her thinking and why she didn’t agree with a situation. She rarely raised her voice and when she did it was usually at Colby, and always when he was doing something that she knew could hurt him.
One such time he’d been standing on a ladder and over-reaching farther out than he should have been. Kashena had barked a short order to “Stop! Look!” at him, scaring both him and Sierra, but it had made an impression on Colby when he’d realized how dangerous his action had been. He’d been positioned over the pointed edges of the rod iron fence, had he fallen he would have been impaled and likely killed.
When it came to sex, Kashena was always respectful and in some instances downright reverent of Sierra. As was a butch lesbian trait, Kashena always made sure that Sierra was completely satisfied during their lovemaking. Fortunately, Sierra had such a sensual effect on Kashena, she was usually quite sated by their lovemaking as well. They were well matched sexually and it made Sierra feel very complete to know that she’d found someone like Kashena who understood her in every possible way. Kashena knew when she just needed to be held and told that everything would be okay. She also could sense when Sierra wanted to lock their bedroom door and be ravaged and Kashena was always happy to oblige that desire as well. As far as Sierra was concerned, their relationship was perfect, and she wouldn’t change a thing about it.
Natalia had been avoiding Julie for weeks again. She’d met her that night at the café as she said she would, but had refused to take Julie back. Fortunately, Julie wasn’t willing to cause a scene in public so she’d finally left in anger. Natalia had become quite grateful for the consistent presence of Cat, Jericho, Raine and the other ladies at her classes. It seemed to keep Julie in check for the most part. The bruises on her arm the night she’d gone to dinner with the group had finally faded, and she’d been able to go back to the tank tops she was used to wearing for her classes. Thankfully her Latin skin didn’t hold onto bruises long.
Raine had become a regular attendee of her class. Natalia had made a point of regularly checking on her, tell her to slow down if she felt Raine was over doing it. It hadn’t taken long for the girls in the class that were easily threatened to become jealous. On one such occasion, during a routine that called for the dancers to move backward at a fairly good pace, one of the girls had purposely crowded Raine. Natalia had seen it and had moved to correct the person, but she’d caught Raine’s quick shake of her head. Cat had seen the move as well and found herself watching carefully to see how Raine handled things. The next time the routine called for a backward movement Raine purposely didn’t step back for the first step, and when the girl who’d crowded her the first time attempted it again she ran into Raine’s forearm and elbow, and had fallen forward, barely keeping herself from actually making facial contact with the floor. She’d snapped her head around to give Raine a dirty look. Raine’s look had been pointed and essentially said, ‘don’t fuck with me’. The girl had limped off to the side of the dance floor, and that had been the last time she’d moved in on Raine.
“Nicely done…” Cat said, from just behind Raine.
Raine grinned, glancing back at Cat, “Not the first time I’ve dealt with a bully in a dance class.” She said, her tone wry.
Cat laughed, nodding, she imagined that was true.
There’d been some smack talking after that, and three of them had the temerity to follow her out to the parking lot. It was obvious they hadn’t been informed that Raine was a police officer. Raine had walked over to her bike, the three girls following her.
“Hey puta!” One of the girls snapped, pushing up to Raine.
Raine, who stood a good six inches taller than the Mexican girl and was by no means intimidated, quirked her lips in a grin.
“High School Spanish really?” Raine said her tone derogatory.
“What do you know about Spanish?” the girl snapped.
“Probably a lot more than you.” Raine had replied, canting her head, even as she kept the other two girls in her line of sight.
“I’m Mexican, stupida!”
“Y yo soy Americano, cual es tu punto?” Raine said, her accent dead on.
“That means she’s American, what’s your point?” Natalia had said from behind them.
The girls had immediately looked repentant, “Nat, we’re sorry,” said the one who’d been trying to intimidate Raine, “She’s just so gallito!”
“She’s got a lot to be cocky about,” Natalia said, winking at Raine, “She’s the best dancer in the class. Mi estudiante numero uno.” She said, calling Raine her number one student.
The girls mouths had dropped open in shock, they’d left then and hadn’t returned to class for a couple of weeks. When they did return they didn’t even look at Raine again.
Natalia had gotten so used to seeing Raine in her class; she was surprised when she didn’t come for a week. When another couple of days passed, she found it necessary to ask Cat about her. Cat hadn’t been around much either.
“We’ve been killing it on a case, doing hours and hours in the office and then going out on raids.” Cat said, looking chagrinned. “Last night she must have been too tired, she got into an accident when an impatient driver cut her off.”
“Aye dios mio!” Natalia exclaimed, “Is she okay?”
Cat nodded, “Yeah, but she’s probably not going to be here for a bit.”
“Can I check on her?” Natalia asked, looking very worried.
“Sure,” Cat said, glancing at Jovina who raised an eyebrow.
“Can you text me her address?” Natalia asked, noticing that everyone was waiting for her to start class.
“Will do,” Cat said, nodding, even as she and Jovina moved to get into one of the lines of the class.
“Oh my,” Jovina said, grinning.
“Tell me about it,” Cat muttered.
As it turned out, Raine lived literally down the street from where Natalia lived in Pasadena. It amazed Natalia that she’d never run into Raine in the area. Raine lived in a complex called Terraces at Paseo in Pasadena, it was a ten minute walk from Natalia’s apartment complex Villas of Pasadena. Walking through the lobby, Natalia could see that it was a nice upper scale apartment complex. When she walked up to the door to the apartment she found that she was nervous. She knew it was silly, because she was simply checking on a friend, but her inner voice said Really? Is that all?, she pushed the voice away. That was just silly, she didn’t even know if Raine was gay, let alone interested.
Lifting her hand she knocked on the door. She was shocked when a man answered the door, although she realized she shouldn’t be, Raine was a beautiful girl. The man was tall and skinny with ratty dirty blonde hair with dull brown eyes. He wasn’t in the least bit handsome; he was plain more than anything else. He wore a dirty white t-shirt and faded ripped jeans on bare feet that look like they needed a good scrubbing.
“Hi, I came to see Raine,” Natalia said, feeling stupid suddenly.
She had pictured Raine living alone, and being alone after her accident. Now she felt incredibly presumptive and foolish for her thoughts, she really didn’t know anything about Raine Mason at all.
“She’s in there.” The man s
aid, hooking his thumb toward a door in the apartment.
With that, the man walked away. Natalia walked into the apartment, glancing around. The apartment was nice, but sparsely furnished. As she walked toward the door the man had indicated, she saw that he was laying on the couch watching TV and eating from a bag of fast food, dropping ketchup on his shirt as he did, he didn’t seem to notice. He also paid Natalia no more mind. Now she was confused.
She knocked lightly on the door, hearing a muffled “Yeah?” from inside the room so she opened the door. She immediately heard music as she opened the door, she saw a Bose speaker dock sitting on a nearby dresser. The music was soft, but definitely hip-hop top 40 type stuff.
Raine sat on her bed, wearing black shorts and an Army green shirt that had an “LASO” badge on the right front pocket area, her feet were bare. Her hair was in a coiled braid at the back of her head. And she was looking at Natalia in surprise.
“Oh, hi,” Raine said, her tone reflecting her surprise, “I thought you were my roommate again, he keeps trying to foist his extra burger on me.” She said with a grin.
“Not hungry?” Natalia asked, stepping into the room and closing the door.
“Don’t eat that stuff,” Raine said.
“You don’t eat hamburger?” Natalia asked her eyes looking around the room, then over at Raine.
“Not from a fast food place, no.” Raine replied, her tone casual.
“But you’re not a vegetarian?” Natalia asked.
“No,” Raine said, shaking her head, “Why are you?”
“I ate steak on my salad, remember?” Natalia said in answer.
“Oh, true,” Raine said, nodding.
“Aye dios mio…” Natalia breathed as she stepped closer, seeing the bloody rash on Raine’s left forearm.
Raine glanced at her arm, shrugging, “It’s just a little road rash.” She said her tone casual.
“It looks painful,” Natalia said, moving to touch Raine’s hand to lift her arm to get a better look.
“I’ve had worse,” Raine said.
“Que esto?” Natalia asked, wanting to know if Raine meant worse road rash than that.
Marking Time (WeHo Series Book 4) Page 4