Gray Skies (WeHo Book 8)

by Sherryl Hancock

  “Lyric, have you seen… Oh, Dakota, hi!” she said smiling.

  “Hi,” Dakota said, smiling brilliantly at Savanna.

  Lyric recognized Dakota’s look, it was the same one Cody used to get when she would arrive at the group home to pick her up. Savanna’s eyes connected with Lyric’s who raised her chin slightly and then canted her head toward Dakota as the younger girl was walking toward Savanna. Savanna caught the message, almost telepathically, and smiled again at Dakota as she motioned her inside.

  “Let me know what you decide on the car,” Lyric called.

  “Will do,” Dakota said, grinning.

  “What? Car? Huh?” Savanna asked as they walked into the house. “She’s not trying to trade you for that Bugatti is she?”

  Dakota laughed. “Her car’s pretty awesome, but it’s not even close to being worth what the Bugatti is.”

  “So, then…” Savanna asked, her tone leading.

  “Oh, Lyric said she’d help me work on restoring a Ferrari of my own if I wanted to do that.”

  Savanna nodded. “Oh, yeah… Be careful there though, Lyric really makes you do the work. She’s all about the work being yours.”

  “That’s cool, I think it would be fun,” Dakota said, grinning.

  “Well, I know she and Cody definitely bonded over Cody’s car. They spent hours out there working on it, and going to the yard to pull stuff or pouring over the computer to find the right do-hickey to go with the thingamajig. And yes, I know I’m being very technical, but I’ve had a lot of practice,” Savanna said, winking at Dakota, even as she looked at her arm. “This looks really good,” she said, smiling.

  “Uh-huh,” Dakota said, grinning.

  “What?”

  “Did I really need to be checked again?”

  “Well, it isn’t a bad idea,” Savanna said, looking chagrined.

  “But it wasn’t necessary,” Dakota said, not looking displeased.

  Savanna grinned. “Okay, you caught me. I just wanted to check in with you, see how you are.”

  Dakota smiled softly, somehow completely disarmed by this woman’s kindness. She didn’t want to be open to these people, but something kept compelling her to be just that. It was really frustrating.

  “I’m alright,” Dakota said, smiling.

  “Good,” Savanna said, smiling too.

  Dakota spent another hour at the Falco house talking to Savanna about whatever came to mind. She found that she really liked Savanna. She asked questions, but didn’t push too hard about anything. It was obvious she was used to dealing with damaged and skittish kids. Dakota never got the feeling she was being ‘handled’ though, she felt like Savanna honestly cared. It was an odd feeling.

  Chapter 7

  Rayden was in her office, it was an insanely busy day. There’d been an officer involved shooting that morning and there were meetings to go to and people to meet with. Rayden was on her fourth cup of coffee of the day, and she’d been in the office for four hours. She was typing furiously on her computer, muttering to herself about, “Budgets being blown all to hell,” when there was a light knock on her open door.

  “Hold on,” she said, with her back to the door as her phone rang. “Black Wolf… Yeah? Well what the hell are they doing there? No, no, you can’t let them past, it’s still a crime scene… Jesus Christ, seriously? No, tell them that… They what? Oh like I care about their rights at this point. No… Just tell them no. Okay, okay, good. Thanks.”

  She hung up the phone and went back to typing. She heard a clearing of a throat and only then remembered that someone had knocked on her door.

  “What is it?” she said as she turned around.

  Then suddenly she couldn’t breathe. In her doorway stood a dead woman, and she simply stared.

  Grayson stared back at Rayden, her slate-blue eyes shining with unshed tears, her hands held out slightly from her sides plaintively, like she had no idea what to do or say.

  “Gray?” Rayden breathed, as if not wanting to say it too loud, lest what she was seeing disappear.

  Grayson nodded woefully.

  Rayden blew her breath out loudly, putting her hands on her knees and bending forward in an effort to catch her breath. It was obvious she was going into shock. Grayson closed the office door and then strode around Rayden’s desk. She got down on her knees, looking up into Rayden’s face. Rayden’s eyes were open, but she was closing them every so often, looking like she was about to pass out.

  “Ray…” Grayson said gently. “You need to breathe slower or you’re going to pass out… And that won’t be good at all.”

  Rayden was shaking her head. “How… how…” she started to say through gasping breaths.

  Grayson reached up and touched Rayden’s face. Rayden closed her eyes, breathing out slowly, her lips trembling. When she opened her eyes again, there were tears in them.

  “I buried you…” Rayden said, her voice tremulous.

  “No…” Grayson said shaking her head slowly. “No you didn’t…”

  Rayden let out a sob then, and Grayson hugged her, holding her tightly as Rayden grasped at her as if she was drowning. Grayson held Rayden in her arms, her own tears falling on Rayden’s hair. When Rayden finally moved back, she kept her hands on Grayson’s arms.

  “Come… sit…” Rayden said, moving her gear bag off the chair near her desk and pulling it forward.

  Grayson got up and sat in the chair. Rayden moved her chair to sit right in front of her, putting her hands on the arms, and just stared down into Grayson’s eyes. She had a million questions but no idea where to start.

  “Tell me how you’re here,” Rayden said, still in total disbelief.

  Grayson took a deep breath. “When my plane went down, I didn’t go down with it,” she said. “I got out… I was badly hurt, and honestly was sure I was dead… I got to the surface, but then I blacked out.”

  Rayden lowered her head, putting it against Grayson’s chest. Grayson smiled fondly and put her hands to Rayden’s head, stroking her hair as she told the story.

  “From what I could understand some fisherman got me out of the water and took me back to his island. It was some island off of Madagascar. I was in a coma for more than eleven months. No one there seemed to know what to do about telling anyone, so they didn’t.”

  Rayden raised her eyes. “Eleven months?” she asked. “Then…”

  “It took some time until I could leave,” Grayson said. “And when I got back to D.C. I tried to find you… The house… The Service… I even tried to get ahold of Tyler and Shenin… Your former commander in the Service was finally the one that could tell me where you were.”

  “Shenin and Tyler are here,” Rayden said, feeling a sense of absolute surrealism at that moment. “They came here about two months after…” Her voice trailed off as she swallowed convulsively.

  “Oh,” Grayson said, nodding. “I guess I have a little bit to catch up on.”

  Rayden nodded, still looking completely shell-shocked. She sat back in her chair and stared at Grayson.

  “So how long have you been back in the States?” Rayden asked.

  “About two weeks,” Grayson said.

  Rayden nodded, looking like she wanted to ask a question.

  “You want to know why I didn’t contact you sooner,” Grayson said.

  Rayden nodded her look grave.

  “This needed to be in person, Ray…” Grayson said. “What was I going to do? Call you and say ‘oh hey it’s Gray, I’m alive.’ You’d have hung up on a nut.”

  Rayden grinned. “True,” she said. But then she shook her head. “God… I can’t even… this is going to take me some time…”

  Grayson bit her lip, her slate-blue eyes shining. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Rayden sat and stared at her for at least fifteen minutes. The ringing of her phone dragged her out of her trance. Even then, as she reached for her phone, her eyes were on Grayson, like taking her eyes off of the woman would make her dis
appear.

  “Black Wolf,” Rayden answered. “Hey Jericho, yeah… I’ll be there… I know, I have it… I, uh… Yeah…” she said, stammering as she grinned at Grayson who was watching her closely. “Hey, is Shenin around anywhere up there?” she asked then, winking at Grayson who started to grin. “Great, can you ask her to come see me? Perfect, okay, yeah, I’ll see you there.”

  Rayden hung up the phone, tilting her head at Grayson. “This ought to be interesting…” There was a knock on her office door a couple of minutes later.

  Rayden looked at Grayson as she called. “Come!”

  “Ray, Jericho said…” Shenin began as she walked into Rayden’s office. Then she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the woman sitting in the chair near Rayden’s desk.

  “Oh my God…” she breathed. “Gray!” she exclaimed moving to hug Grayson, who stood up to do just that.

  Rayden smiled, watching the two hug. They’d been pretty good friends back in D.C.

  “How is this possible?” Shenin asked.

  “Long story,” Grayson said. “Suffice it to say, I’m not dead.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Shenin said, beaming.

  Shenin looked over at Rayden, smiling sadly. She knew what Rayden had been through, and knew that she needed to tell Grayson that part of it, but she also knew now was not the time.

  “I’m gonna leave you two alone, you probably have a lot to talk about,” Shenin said, hugging Grayson again. “I’m so happy to have you back.”

  Grayson smiled. “Thanks.”

  As Shenin left, Grayson sat back down and just stared at her wife. Her beautiful wife who she’d fought so hard to get back to. For a few minutes they both just sat, watching each other, almost as if they were examining each other, making sure everything was still the same. Rayden just couldn’t believe she was looking at her wife. She’d dreamed of this moment every night since she’d ‘died.

  Rayden’s phone rang again, bringing them both back into the present.

  “Damnit!” she growled, reaching over she picked it up.

  Grayson watched Rayden talk on the phone. She knew that Rayden was having a really hard time with everything. She couldn’t begin to imagine how she’d feel in Rayden’s position. Grayson’s eyes moved over Rayden; she’d lost weight, she could see that much. She was wearing jeans and boots, and a blue button up shirt; it was a really good color on her. Her long black hair was loose and it was obvious she’d run her hands through it a number of times already, but it still look like black silk. At one point during the call, Rayden stood up with her back to her, and Grayson could see the holstered weapon at her back. She’d already seen the badge clipped to her belt. It was so strange to know that a year had passed and things with Rayden had changed and she didn’t know about every minute of it.

  When Rayden hung up, she looked over at Grayson apologetically.

  “I’m sorry, today is absolutely crazy, and I have a meeting later I can’t get out of… We can go have lunch somewhere…”

  Grayson nodded. “We can do whatever you have time for.”

  Rayden looked at her watch, another new thing Grayson had never seen.

  “Yeah, let’s go now,” she said, standing up and reaching for her jacket that was slung over the back of her chair.

  As they walked out to Rayden’s car, Grayson was looking for the Copperhead. She was surprised when Rayden walked over to a blue Jaguar.

  “Uh…” Grayson stammered, as Rayden opened the passenger door for her. “What happened to the Viper?”

  Rayden rolled her eyes. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you, promise.”

  “Okay,” Grayson said, nodding.

  Rayden started up the car and music flooded the interior. It was Rayden’s usual rock music. She turned it down with a grin.

  “Good stereo system,” Grayson said, smiling.

  “Oh yeah,” Rayden said, nodding.

  As she pulled out of the parking lot, she looked over at Grayson, still unable to believe that she was alive. As she drove down the road, her mind kept turning over and over the incredible news.

  Grayson watched Rayden drive the sports car, and remembered the day that they bought the Viper.

  “Am I about to be sorry I let you get this?” Grayson asked, one eyebrow raised at her wife.

  “What? Why?” Rayden asked, grinning.

  “’Cause you’re already a major speed demon, now you’ve got a really fast car…”

  Rayden laughed, her eyes sparkling as she drove the brand new Copperhead Viper. She stopped at a light and glanced over at her wife.

  “Oh, and that…” Grayson said, making a face.

  “What?” Rayden asked, looking perplexed.

  “Coming up on your left,” Grayson said, her eyes narrowed.

  Rayden glanced to her left as a red Mustang pulled up. The woman was looking over at her with very definite interest. Rayden stuck her hand out the window of the Viper, and waggled her left ring finger with the black wedding band on it. The woman shook her head ruefully and blew Rayden a kiss before she drove off.

  “What?” she asked, as Grayson gave her a disapproving look. “It’s not like I can control women looking at the car…”

  Grayson pressed her lips together. “They aren’t just looking at the car, Ray, they’re looking at the hot woman driving it too… I don’t know about this…”

  “Stop it,” Rayden told her. “I’ve mated for life, babe, no one else exists.”

  Grayson nodded, her slate-blue eyes sparkling. “You better remember that.”

  “I always do,” Rayden said, smiling.

  Rayden’s phone rang then. She put her Bluetooth in her ear and answered it.

  “Black Wolf,” she said.

  Grayson could only hear her side of the conversation, and she watched her wife closely, always astounded by the incredibly beautiful strong woman she was lucky enough to be married to.

  “I, yes, yes sir…” Rayden was saying. “I am, yes… You do? Okay… I… Yes, yes I’m very interested… You’d… I’m what?” Rayden asked, her eyes widening slightly. Then she was nodding, glancing over at Grayson. “Yes, I can, of course sir…” she said, smiling. “I will be there… thank you.” She disconnected the call then and looked over at Grayson.

  “What was that?” Grayson asked.

  Rayden looked at her for a long moment, then a slow smile spread over her lips. “That was the Secret Service… I got it…”

  “Oh my God, you did?” Grayson asked, her eyes shining with excitement.

  Rayden nodded. She’d applied with the Secret Service as she was due to get out of the SEALs at the end of the month. She really hadn’t expected to get it, but she had and there was more than that.

  “Babe, I got Obama…” Rayden said then, her tone awed.

  “Are you serious?” Grayson asked.

  “I am,” Rayden said, looking shocked herself.

  “Oh my God, Ray, I am so proud of you…” Grayson breathed, reaching across the console and grabbing Rayden’s hand to squeeze it.

  Rayden was smiling from ear to ear. Things were looking up.

  Grayson was very surprised when the song on the iPod changed and the next one that came on was an Adele song. She looked at Rayden, shocked.

  “Yeah…” Rayden said, wincing slightly. “The last time I updated my iPod it loaded your playlist too… I couldn’t delete it… I just couldn’t.”

  Grayson grimaced. She could see and hear the pain Rayden had been in and was so sorry for it. She took Rayden’s hand in both of hers.

  “I’m so sorry, Ray…” she said quietly.

  Rayden squeezed her hand slightly, nodding.

  When they reached the restaurant, Rayden got out and strode around to open the door for Grayson. Inside they ordered some food, and Rayden also ordered a shot and a beer. She drank the shot as soon as it arrived and Grayson noticed that her hand was shaking. She reached out and touched Rayden’s arm, her slate-blue eyes searching
Rayden’s face.

  “What happened there?” she asked, gently touching the still healing cuts from the accident.

  “Same thing that happened to the Viper,” Rayden told her.

  “Tell me,” Grayson said.

  Rayden blew her breath out, knowing there was a lot to tell her, and not sure how to do it.

  “Some guy took a shot at me, missed, but shattered the driver’s side window… he then forced me off the road, which totaled the Viper.”

  “How long ago was this?” Grayson asked looking shocked.

  “About two weeks,” Rayden said.

  “But you’re okay…”

  “Yeah, bruised up, but fine otherwise.”

  Grayson nodded with relief. “Why was he trying to take a shot at you?”

  Rayden looked back at her for a long moment, blowing her breath out.

  “He doesn’t like me dating his ex,” Rayden said, her lips twitching slightly.

  Grayson was doing her best to understand.

  Rayden lifted the beer to her lips, draining the bottle and signaling the waitress for another. She set the bottle down and looked over at Grayson. She had her eyes down and was biting her lip.

  “Gray…” Rayden said, feeling aggrieved.

  “It’s okay, Ray,” Grayson said tearfully, still not looking at Rayden. “It’s been a year, and I know that… I knew that this was possible.”

  Rayden grimaced, wishing that she could make things easier, but she had no idea how to do that. So she waited, knowing that Grayson would ask questions.

  “So, who is she?” Grayson asked softly.

  “Her name is Jazmine,” Rayden said. “I knew her from before I ever went to Iraq.”

  “So you came back here to be with her?” Grayson asked, feeling knives stabbing her heart as she did.

  “No,” Rayden said immediately. “No, babe, no…” She could see the pained look on Grayson’s face and wanted desperately to take it away. “It was pure coincidence that I ran into her. I kind of had to rescue her from some guys who were trying to hurt her.”

  Grayson smiled sadly, nodding. “Always saving damsels in distress, aren’t you?”

  Rayden didn’t answer, pressing her lips together in consternation.