“Oh yeah,” Raine said, “You don’t ride motorcycles without getting a few road rashes in your time.”
“Mierda!” Natalia gasped, “There’s more?” She asked, seeing Raine’s thigh had a nasty looking bloody rash on it as well.
Raine accommodated Natalia’s investigation by dropping her knees to the right, a move that demonstrated a great deal of flexibility that most people didn’t usually have. Natalia noticed it, she also noted that Raine’s toes were pointed like a ballerina’s would be, but didn’t comment not wanting to put Raine on the defensive.
“The doctor left it uncovered like this?” Natalia asked aghast at such lax behavior by a doctor.
She caught Raine’s abashed look and gave the girl an admonishing one of her own.
“You didn’t go to the doctor did you?” Natalia asked her tone accusing.
Raine didn’t answer for a moment, then she made a sucking sound through her teeth, “I don’t like doctors.”
“No one likes doctors, mija,” Natalia said, “But they can make sure there’s no infection!”
“I can make sure of that,” Raine said, shrugging.
“Como?” Natalia asked, her hands on her hips.
“By making sure it stays clean,” Raine said, her tone sure.
“And how do you do that?” Natalia asked, not swayed by Raine’s confidence.
Raine looked back at the other woman for a long moment, “By taking regular showers and washing it.”
“Aye!” Natalia said, throwing up her hands in dismay, “That isn’t enough!”
Raine grinned bemusedly at the other girl. She had to admit, it was nice that someone cared about her. Cat had asked her if she needed anything, but having someone just show up to check on her was kind of cool. Even if she was being a bit fussy about it, it was still nice.
She realized that Natalia was standing with her hands on her hips giving her the evil eye.
“What?” Raine asked, honestly perplexed, her look completely guileless in her confusion.
Natalia found herself smiling despite her ire at the girl for taking such poor care of herself. Raine had an innocence about her that was far too engaging. At that moment, her light blue eyes seemed to glow, like a halo, Natalia thought to herself.
“Por el amor de dios!” Natalia muttered, saying ‘oh for God’s sake’ as she shook her head, then she gave Raine a pointed look, “Donde esta el bano?” she asked, wanting to know where Raine’s bathroom was.
Rained tried not to grin as she pointed to the area behind where Natalia stood. She saw Natalia’s eyes narrow dangerously, so she pressed her lips together to keep the grin from growing. Natalia all but marched toward the bathroom, and Raine could hear her going through cupboards.
“Do you have peroxide?!” Natalia called.
“Probably,” Raine said, not sure if she did or not.
“Where is the first aid kit?!” Was the next thing that was yelled.
“Um,” Raine stammered.
Natalia’s head poked around the corner of the wall as she looked down at Raine, “You don’t have one?” She exclaimed in the form of a question.
“No?” Raine replied, grimacing.
“Aye dios mio!” Natalia exclaimed, followed by a lot of muttering that Raine couldn’t complete hear, but she did hear the words “policia” and “desprevenido” which meant police and unprepared.
By the time Natalia stalked back into the room, Raine was near tears she was trying so desperately not to laugh. She hand her hand in front of her mouth, her eyes shiny with the unshed tears of hysterical laughter. Once again Natalia narrowed her chocolate brown eyes.
“I am buying you a first aid kit tomorrow!” She exclaimed, setting down the items she had in her hands in a huff.
It was all Raine could take, she began laughing, holding her hands up in front of her defensively when Natalia stepped towards her, but it only made Raine laugh harder.
When she finally regained control of herself, she could see that Natalia was amused as well. What she didn’t know was that Natalia found Raine’s laugh absolutely delightful, it was the first time she’d heard the woman laugh so happily and it warmed her heart.
“Can I do this now?” Natalia asked, holding up a tube.
“Do what?” Raine asked suspiciously.
“I need to put this on the rash and then wrap it with this,” Natalia said, holding up the tube and a roll of gauze respectively as she spoke.
“I like my idea better,” Raine said, indicating with her hand that she meant what she was currently doing for the rash.
“Ya veo,” Natalia said, “Que pena.” She said, telling Raine that she could see that’s what she wanted to do, but that was too bad.
Raine chuckled again.
“Do you realize how often you speak Spanish?” She asked Natalia, her head canted slightly.
Natalia looked taken aback by the question, and thought about it, finally she shrugged, “Con usted, mucho.”
“A lot with me,” Raine repeated in English, her nose twitching, “Why?”
Natalia looked back at her for a long moment, her own look perplexed, “I don’t know.” She said, honestly sounding like she didn’t.
In truth, Natalia hadn’t realized how much she was speaking Spanish to the other woman. She never spoke Spanish to an American unless she was angry or trying to teach them Spanish, like some of the girls in the class. She wondered if she’d automatically counted Raine as a fellow Mexican because of her background and her ability to understand Spanish. In any case, it was definitely something to think about.
Natalia narrowed her eyes at Raine again, “You are avoiding the subject…” She said, suspiciously.
Raine laughed softly, “I wasn’t trying to, honestly, I was just curious about that.”
“Well I am too,” Natalia answered, “But I also want this,” she said, gesturing to Raine’s injured arm and leg “To heal, so… Con tu permiso?” She asked, seeking permission.
Raine sighed mightily but nodded.
To Raine’s surprise Natalia climbed up on the bed, kneeling to Raine’s left side opening the tube of ointment.
“This might hurt,” Natalia said, biting her lip in concern.
Raine nodded, smiling softly at the worry on Natalia’s face.
“Esta bien.” She said, telling Natalia it was okay.
Natalia smiled, hearing Raine’s perfect accent again and marveling at it, she really wanted to know exactly how fluently Raine Mason spoke Spanish. She knew it was likely going to drive her crazy.
As Natalia applied the ointment she noticed that Raine didn’t even flinch. Her brown eyes looked up into Raine’s.
“This doesn’t hurt?” She asked, surprised.
Raine shrugged slightly, “It hurts, but it’s not a big deal.” She said, her voice soft.
“But you’re not reacting at all,” Natalia said.
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt,” Raine said.
“So when do you react?” Natalia asked, ever confounded by this woman.
“When something really hurts,” Raine said, her eyes staring back into Natalia’s eyes.
Natalia gave her a sidelong look, “Si tu lo dices…” She said, saying that if Raine said so, but her voice trailing off indicated that she wasn’t sure she believed even that.
Raine’s lips twitched in a quick smile, she had no way of knowing how baffling she was to Natalia.
When Natalia was all finished applying ointment to the rash, she carefully wrapped the gauze around Raine’s arm and leg, while Raine patiently looked on, her eyes sparkling in amusement.
“There,” Natalia said, nodding with finality.
“Feel better?” Raine asked.
“Si,” Natalia said, in affirmation.
“Thank you,” Raine said, her smile genuine.
“De nada,” Natalia replied.
Moving to sit next to Raine on the bed, she looked around the room. She saw that Raine wasn’t big on deco
ration, in fact there was almost nothing decorative in the room. Her furniture was decent in a dark wood, but not in the list bit opulent or ornate. The walls were painted a soft grey, but the plantation style blinds were uncovered and the comforter on the bed was plain navy blue cotton. There was also no television.
“No TV?” Natalia asked, surprised by that realization.
Raine shrugged, “Nope,” she answered simply.
“You don’t watch TV?” Natalia asked.
“Not really, I listen to music more often.” Raine said, gesturing to the Bose speaker.
“Ah, si,” Natalia said, understanding that, her life was about music. “I always have to have a radio on.” She said.
“Me too,” Raine said, smiling.
“It always drove Julie loca,” Natalia said, making a face.
“Julie?” Raine asked.
“My ex-girlfriend,” Natalia said, “I thought Cat would have told you about her.”
Raine shook her head slowly, she hadn’t even really been aware that Natalia was a lesbian.
“Oh,” Natalia said, nodding, “Well we broke up months ago.”
Raine nodded, not sure what to say at that point.
Finally she asked, “She didn’t like music?”
Natalia drew in a deep breath, blowing it out in a sigh, “Well, a lot of what I listen to is the kind of music I use in class, and she hated my class, so…”
Raine looked surprised by that. “She hated your class?” She asked, sounding truly shocked.
“Well, mostly she hated the girls in the class.” Natalia said.
“Why?” Raine asked.
Natalia looked back at Raine for a long moment, trying to determine if she was serious in her question. She could see that she was indeed serious.
“Because a lot of them are interested in me.” She said, her tone completely free of ego.
“Oh…” Raine said, once again shocked, it made the invasion of her space and the aggressive women make much more sense now.
Natalia looked back at Raine, her look amazed “You didn’t know that I’m gay, did you?”
Raine shook her head.
“Does it bother you?” Natalia felt the need to ask.
“No,” Raine said, her tone strong, “I just didn’t really realize it.”
Natalia smiled, once again astounded by the contradictions to this woman.
“But we’re still amigas, right?” Natalia asked, wanting to know if they were still friends.
“How could we not be? You just put icky gooey stuff all over my leg and arm,” Raine said, smiling.
Natalia laughed at that, nodding. It was definitely an interesting night.
CHAPTER 3
“I love it,” Sierra said, her eyes bright.
They were standing by the pristine pool, on the second level of the back yard of a house in a canyon near San Vincente Mountain. The house was a decent size hacienda style home with four bedrooms. It had a lot of amenities that Kashena had been surprised by such as a newly remodeled kitchen, the pool, and even a small creek running through the back yard. The 2500 square foot home sat on an unheard of full acre of land. In addition to the pool there was a barbecue area. It was definitely the house for entertaining. The price tag wasn’t extreme, still more than Kashena would have ever dreamed of paying for a house, but they’d gotten a fairly quick offer for Sierra’s house that would net them a tidy sum, plus what Kashena had in the bank from selling her house a year before. They could make a sizeable down payment and the payments wouldn’t be too difficult.
There was a charter high school just down the way a bit, conveniently located on Kashena and Sierra’s way to work. The drive was a significant hour each way, which was a factor, but since they would drive together most days it wasn’t too bad of a hardship. The housed wasn’t in Brentwood proper, but the privacy and land made up for that fact. It had been the first house they’d seen that Sierra had been completely over the moon about.
“Then let’s make an offer,” Kashena said, smiling.
“Yay!” Sierra said, throwing her arms around Kashena happily.
Raine shocked Cat by showing up for work the day after her accident.
“How did you get here?” She asked, knowing that Raine’s bike was in the shop for repairs from the accident.
“Bus,” Raine answered simply.
Cat stared back at the girl in shock, then she nodded, “Okay, but I’ll drive you home.” Cat told her.
“Ma’am,” Raine started to protest as she shook her head.
“I’m not asking Deputy,” Cat said, her tone no-nonsense, causing the other members of the task force to grin.
“Okay,” Raine said, docilely as she made her way over to her desk.
The other five members of the task force had agreed that they very much liked their new boss. Catalina Roche′ knew her business, but was also good at giving direction as well as taking in information. She didn’t try to act like a know it all, she was willing to listen and learn from all the members of her team. It was refreshing. The previous manager had been nearly useless, he’d been biding his time until he retired and everyone knew it. Cat liked to kick ass and take names. It had been a great change for the unit. It had also been why Raine had been afraid Cat would get rid of her, she’d been afraid she didn’t know enough to stay.
“I can’t believe you took the bus, little one,” Aiden “Papa Bear” said to her as she walked past his cubicle.
“What’s wrong with the bus?” Raine asked.
“It’s not a smart way for a cop to travel,” Aiden said.
“I turn my badge around and make sure I wear cover for my weapon,” Raine said.
“Doesn’t matter,” Aiden said, “If you’re made for a cop you’re not safe.” Aiden responded, sounding very fatherly indeed.
Raine drew in a breath and blew it out slowly, nodding her head. She already had so much on her mind, this was just one more thing. She’d been awake half the night, tossing and turning. Finally at 4 AM she’d made a decision to talk to Cat about something, but she knew she needed it to be off duty. Maybe it was perfect that Cat was driving her home that night. She spent the day going over and over in her head what she wanted to talk to Cat about.
That evening Raine followed Cat to her car, still debating the logic in talking to her. While Cat was very cool, she was also her boss, what if it crossed some kind of line? Would Cat want her to leave? Raine just had no one else to talk to and had to talk to someone.
Cat could tell that Raine was worried about something, but she also knew that asking the girl too many questions tended to send her into hiding, so she waited to see if Raine would bring up whatever was bothering her.
“How’s the arm and leg?” Cat asked after a couple of minutes, figuring that was safe.
“Oh, good,” Raine said, nodding, “Can I guess that it was you that gave Natalia my address?” she asked grinning.
“She asked if she could go check on you,” Cat said, “What was I supposed to do?” She said with a grin. “I take it she came by?”
“Yeah,” Raine said, grinning, “She got mad at me for not going to the doctor.”
“You didn’t go to the hospital after the accident?” Cat asked, surprised too.
Raine shrugged, “I know nothing’s broken,” she said, “I’d know. It’s just road rash and you just basically need to keep it clean.”
“Hmmm…” Cat murmured, wondering if Quinn and Jericho would agree with that.
Both women road bikes, and had their share of accidents from some of the stories they’d told.
They were both silent for a few minutes as Cat pulled out of the parking garage and headed for the freeway.
“Can I ask you something that isn’t work related?” Raine finally blurted out.
Cat smiled, glancing over at the younger woman, “Of course,” she said.
Raine bit her lip, still debating the prudence of this conversation, but blowing her breath out and plunging ahead
.
“How can you tell if you’re gay?” Raine asked.
Cat raised her eyebrows, staring straight ahead.
“Well I guess that solves that mystery,” Cat said grinning.
“Huh?” Raine asked confused.
Cat curled her lips in a grin, “Everyone wanted to know if you were gay or not,” she said, “I told them I didn’t know, that my gaydar was jammed. But it’s not, you don’t know if you are either.” She said winking over at the girl.
“Gaydar?” Raine repeated.
“Yeah, radar for gay people, you’ve never heard that term before?” Cat asked, surprised.
“No,” Raine said shaking her head, “Of course I don’t have that because I had no idea Natalia was gay until last night.”
Cat’s head snapped around as she stared at her open mouthed, “And how did you find out?” She asked, her tone slightly raised in her anticipation, her look expectant.
“Well, she mentioned her ex-girlfriend,” Raine said, her look befuddled at Cat’s obvious excitement.
“Oh,” Cat said, looking crestfallen.
“Did I say something wrong?” Raine asked worriedly.
Cat sighed, “No, I was just daring to hope.”
“Hope ma’am?” Raine asked, thoroughly confused now.
“Never mind, hon,” Cat said, waving her hand as if to erase her comment. “You were asking how you can tell if you’re gay?”
“Yes,” Raine said, nodding.
“Well, are you attracted to women?” Cat asked.
Raine thought about the question for a long minute, “Well, I’m not sure…” She finally answered.
Cat looked at her quizzically, “How do you not know?”
“I look at women and think they’re beautiful, or they have a great body or whatever, but I’ve always thought I was just jealous of them.”
“But now you don’t think that?” Cat asked.
“Well, since I’ve been around you and your friends, I see how you all are with each other and your girlfriends, and I think that maybe it’s not really that…”
Cat nodded, “Okay, probably a really good person to talk to about this would be Xandy.”
“Why?” Raine asked.
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