Turning Tables (WeHo Book 3)

by Sherryl D. Hancock

  "Okay," Jovina said, nodding.

  "So that means I'm going to need to drive down to San Diego and talk to her about it." Jovina looked worried instantly.

  "What babe?" Cat asked, "What are you thinking?"

  Jovina hesitated, Cat leaned into kiss her again, her lips holding Jovina's an extra few moments.

  "Tell me babe," Cat said, her voice soft.

  "I'm afraid she'll get you to stay," Jovina said.

  Cat frowned, then she shook her head slowly, "Oh honey..." she said, her words mournful, "I really have done a shitty job here, haven't I?"

  "What do you mean?" Jovina asked.

  “I haven't shown you enough to know that I love you, and that I'm not going back to her or Sable, or anyone else. I'm with you, and that's where I want to be."

  The look on Jovina's face was so beatific it was actually painful to Cat, she really hadn't been doing a good job at showing Jovina how she felt.

  "Oh honey..." Cat said, again, pulling Jovina into her arms, kissing her deeply.

  She spent the next two hours doing everything she could to show this woman that she was committed to their relationship. Afterwards they both fell into a deep sleep.

  Cat was still deeply asleep the next morning, even when Jovina got up. She was so deeply asleep that when Jovina tapped her on the shoulder she jumped.

  "I'm sorry to wake you," Jovina said, "But..." her voice trailed off as Cat turned over, looking at Jovina.

  "But?" Cat asked.

  "Sable's here," Jovina said, grimacing.

  "Say her name and she appears, just like the Devil..." Cat said, grinning, "It's okay babe, I'll deal with her. Just let me throw some clothes on and I'll be out, okay?"

  "I'm not going back out there," Jovina said moving to sit down on the bed, "She scares the shit out of me."

  Cat laughed out loud at that, "Okay," she said moving to get up and reaching for the clothes she'd discarded the night before.

  She pulled on jeans and reached into a drawer for a tank top. Then taking Jovina's hand she lead her back out into the living room where Sable lounged in an arm chair. Her bodyguard Jake stood near the door just behind her.

  “Hey Jake,” Cat said, nodding to the bodyguard.

  “Cat,” Jake said, inclining his head to her as he grinned.

  “Sable…” Cat said looking at the rock star.

  Sable held out her arms to Cat, but Cat moved to perch on the arm of the couch across from where Sable sat. Jovina moved to sit on the couch right next to Cat.

  “Oh, I see,” Sable said, nodding as she dropped her arms.

  “What do you see?” Cat asked, her voice calm.

  Sable looked at Jovina for a long moment, then turned her eyes to Cat’s “A new girl, how cute.” She said, her tone condescending.

  Cat narrowed her eyes slightly even as her lips curling into a wry grin, “The girl,” she said, emphasizing the word ‘the’ as she did.

  "And what does that mean?" Sable asked, her gold eyes, similar to Jovina's but so predatory at that moment, that they were very different.

  "That means that I'm with Jovina now and that this thing between us is done." Cat said, her tone no-nonsense.

  "I see," Sable nodded, her look unconvinced.

  Cat gave her a wry look, "I'm thinking you don't." she said.

  Sable sighed, "Jovina, Elizabeth, Kana...whoever else..." she said, her tone unconcerned as she waved her hand airily in Jovina's direction. Then she gave Cat a pointed look, "They'll never be me."

  "Maybe that's a good thing," Jovina said then, her gold eyes glittering.

  Cat and Jake's eyes connected as both of them thought the same thing 'Oh shit!'

  Sable's lioness eyes trained on Jovina then, "I don't know who you are," she said, her tone dripping with vitriol, "But why don't you sit there and shut up like a good girl while the adults talk? Hmm?"

  "Because you're sitting in my apartment, bitch," Jovina snapped, her finger poking the air in her agitation. "And if you're talking about adults, I'm the same age as Cat, so then you must be talking about yourself. Let me tell you age doesn't make a person an adult." By this time, her head was moving, in what Cat would call her "ghetto personality".

  "And now you've pissed off the Latina in the room," Cat said, not looking the least bit apologetic for Jovina's comments.

  Sable narrowed her eyes as she moved to sit forward, Cat’s chin came up, as she sensed the threat, as did Jake.

  “Don’t do it Sable,” Cat said, her tone warning.

  “What are you going to do?” Sable asked, her tone haughty now, “Jake would just stop you.”

  Cat canted her head, her eyes flicking to Jake, then back to Sable, “You sure about that?”

  Sable's brows furrowed, Jake was ex-IRA and mercenary, he was about as dangerous as they came, certainly Cat didn't think she could beat him... Then a thought occurred to her and she turned to look at Jake. He crossed his arms, shaking his head slowly at her. Jake genuinely liked Catalina Roche' and he had a lot of respect for the girl and he would not harm her for defending her girlfriend.

  "Are you kidding me?" Sable snapped at Jake.

  He only grinned and shrugged.

  "Fucker!" Sable barked, then looked at Cat again, "So, this is how it is, huh?"

  "This is how it is," Cat said.

  "Some random stranger..." Sable said, her voice trailing off as she shook her head.

  "Cat's belonged to me since we were kids, cadela estupida." Jovina said, her tone calmer now, even when calling Sable a ‘stupid bitch’ in Portuguese.

  Sable pursed her lips, then sighed. She moved to get up. Stepping over to Cat, she looked down. at this girl who'd she'd been obsessed with for almost two years. Her eyes searched Cat's, and then she leaned into kiss Cat's lips softly. Cat broke the kiss after a moment, her look at Sable chiding.

  Sable simply nodded, then turned and walked out of the room. Jake nodded to Cat again, then followed his employer out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

  "I thought she scared the hell out of you?" Cat said to Jovina, looking down at her.

  Jovina shrugged, "She pissed me off.”

  “Never piss off a Brazilian girl,” Cat said, shaking her head.

  “We break all the dishes!” Jovina said, grinning.

  “Patir a loica toda,” Cat repeated in perfectly accented Portuguese.

  “Right!” Jovina said, laughing.

  Jovina loved that Cat knew her language. She couldn’t speak it fluently, but she understood all of it when it was spoken, and could say certain things, and she seemed to be learning more every day. She understood Brazilian customs and traditions and Jovina’s love of soccer. It all reminded Jovina of when they’d been younger and Cat had been the first one to accept her as a friend, embracing her Brazilian culture fully, almost as if it had been her own.

  After another two days in the hospital, Jericho was itching to get out. She’d asked Zoey to bring her “normal clothes” tired of the hospital gowns. Zoey had brought her sweat pants, a jog bra and a tank top. After a much begged for shower, Jericho was starting to feel human again. Unfortunately, it also made her anxious to leave the hospital once and for all. However, she’d spiked a fever the night before, so the doctors wanted her to stay an extra couple of days while they put her on a round of antibiotics. The good news was that they had lifted the ban on only family members being allowed to see her, so people were planning to come down that day.

  That morning before hand, however, Zoey got the opportunity to see what a penned up Jericho was like; she reminded her of a panther in a cage. Jericho was moving around better, still wincing now and again when she moved the wrong way. Zoey watched her constantly reminding her not to overdo it.

  Jericho had gotten Zoey to bring in her iPod and mini speaker so she could at least listen to music, the doctor's still hadn't cleared her for work, so Midnight had forbidden anyone from bringing her work laptop to her. This was much to Jericho's chagrin.
<
br />   Interestingly enough right as the song "Turning Tables" came on, there was a knock on the open door, and Kelly stood there. Jericho was sitting on the hospital bed; her knees bent, feet planted on the bed, her arms over her knees. There was still a bandage on her right arm, and the other bandages still encircled her from waist to collar bone, but they were mostly covered by her clothes.

  Kelly took in the sight of her soon to be ex-wife, and realized once again what a mistake she'd made in letting her go. She didn't know how she'd forgotten how beautiful Jericho was, but seeing her again now, knowing how close to death Jericho had come, seemed to make her see her with new eyes. Even as she walked in, Jericho was singing the song on the speaker.

  Jericho sang the line "I won't let you close enough to hurt me, no I won't ask you, you to just desert me, I can't give you, what you think you give me, it's time to say goodbye to turning tables..." her blue eyes on Kelly as she walked in.

  Jericho saw Zoey look up from her laptop, but put her hand out to forestall Zoey moving to stand. They'd already discussed the fact that Kelly had decided to show up at the hospital this time, versus the time in El Paso. Zoey had been adamant that Jericho not be disturbed by her ex-wife while she was still recovering. At this point, Jericho was strong enough to handle Kelly, which was what Jericho was saying by holding out her hand. Zoey nodded, and went back to working on her dissertation, she was damned if she was leaving the room to make Kelly comfortable. ‘Tough’, Zoey thought.

  "You look like you're bouncing back," Kelly said, her tone very familiar,

  "Weeks in a hospital will do that for a person," Jericho said, her tone even.

  Kelly nodded, glancing at Zoey, obviously wanting the girl to leave.

  When she looked back over at Jericho, she saw that Jericho was shaking her head. Her look saying, 'don't do it', Kelly read it plainly on her face.

  Kelly moved closer, actually reaching her hand out to touch Jericho's cheek, her eyes looking into Jericho's.

  "I miss you," Kelly said, her tone soft.

  Jericho looked back at her, her look narrowed, even as she noted Zoey's eyebrow go up, her lips pressed together. Jericho imagined it was taking a lot of effort for Zoey to control the urge to say something.

  "Don't look at me like that," Kelly said her tone chiding.

  "Like what?" Jericho asked.

  "That suspicious cop look," Kelly said. "I know that look," she said, then, smiling,

  Jericho's lips curled in a sardonic grin, “Then you should know it means I don't trust you…”

  Kelly nodded, looking circumspect.

  "I know I screwed up, Jericho," she said, her tone apologetic.

  Jericho nodded, refusing to tell Kelly that it was okay, because it wasn’t.

  “Are you ever going to be able to forgive me?” Kelly asked, giving Jericho a sidelong glance.

  “What difference does it make?” Jericho asked her tone mild.

  “I don’t want you to hate me," Kelly said, looking sad for once.

  Jericho looked back at Kelly, after a few moments she shook her head slowly, "I don't hate you," she said, "I just hope that you actually find happiness at some point."

  "I was happy with you," Kelly said.

  "No," Jericho said, shaking her head, "You were settled with me, but you weren't happy. You need to be happy, Kelly."

  Kelly looked back at her for a long moment, but then nodded slowly. She moved to hug Jericho, kissing her on the cheek.

  "I'm really glad you're okay," Kelly said, then whispered, "I'm sorry.”

  Then she turned and left the room. Jericho stared after her, her look considering, then she glanced at Zoey, who was looking up at her.

  "You okay?" Zoey asked, her look concerned.

  "Yeah," Jericho said, twitching her lips in consternation, then she leaned over, reaching out to touch Zoey under the chin, grinning. "Love you." She said, smiling.

  "Love you," Zoey replied.

  Another round of visits came that afternoon, but by the time they all left Jericho was tired. Zoey had her rest.

  Two days later, Jericho was released from the hospital. By this time it had been determined that Abdi had been working alone in his campaign against Jericho. He'd hired people to help him, but those had been the two men he'd killed in the house Cat had been

  attacked in.

  Devin had even discovered how Abdi had made his way into the offices undetected. There had been a side door at the building that employees used to go and smoke at the back of the building. The door was locked from the outside, but unfortunately it didn't always close all the way. The last employee to use the door hadn't noticed that the door didn't close behind her. When no electronic security badge was used on the door and it stood open too long, alarms went off. It had been those alarms that had sent the team up to Jericho's floor.

  It had also been determined that Zoey Cabbott was cleared of shooting Abdi Farazan with Jericho's gun. She'd known about the gun being in Jericho's top desk drawer, she'd seen Jericho put it there often enough to know it was there. Jericho had started to open the drawer when she'd stood up, but hadn't been able to grab her gun to use against Abdi due to the threat to Sally. When Abdi had stabbed Jericho, Zoey had grabbed the gun, but had to wait for a really good opening to shoot, because she'd been afraid she'd hit Jericho by mistake. She remembered what Jericho had said about the caliber of the gun and the ammunition. The last thing she had wanted to do was hit Jericho when she made the shot. It was also determined that Zoey's shot had mostly disabled Abdi, but Sebastian's first shot had actually killed him. Sebastian was also cleared of the shooting, as he was doing his job in protecting the life of the Director of the Division of Law Enforcement. The case was all wrapped up, the tables had been turned.

  THE END

  Epilogue

  Julie Thompson stood staring open mouthed at the women lounging against the wall to the entrance of dance room. She'd never seen so many butch lesbians in that area before, and they were all looking at her, with varying degrees of malice. None of them said a word to her though, so she just waited for Natalia to come in like she'd planned to do. Julie was very butch too, right down to the short cropped hair and the masculine dress.

  Natalia Marquez walked into the gym, waiving to the girls at the front desk. She wore her usual workout gear for her class, her black and hot pink capris leggings, with the exercise bra in hot pink and the black ribbed tank with slits all the way down the sides, exposing a fair amount of honey brown, toned skin, with just a hint of a tattoo peeking out. Even her Nike training shoes coordinated. with. her outfit, they were black. with hot pink splashes of color. Her long straight black hair was back. in a ponytail and her warm chocolate brown eyes sported long black lashes and hot pink accented eye shadow. She had the perfect dancer's body, and everyone that took her class strived to achieve a body like hers. Natalia was always smiling, except lately, lately things had gotten very hard for her, and she did her best not to bring that to work.

  As she turned the corner, she saw that her ex-girlfriend, Julie, had been the one to bring the difficulties to her work. Natalia's smile disappeared immediately when she saw Julie.

  “What are you doing here?” Natalia hissed, her Mexican accent clear.

  “I told you we need to talk,” Julie said, reaching for Natalia’s arm.

  Natalia yanked her arm away, backing up, accidentally backing into someone. She turned seeing Catalina Roche′.

  “So sorry baby,” Natalia said, turning to apologize to Cat.

  “Oh, that’s alright,” Cat said, smiling, her blue eyes sparkling as she moved to hug Natalia, giving her an extra squeeze and whispering “Go with it,” into her ear before releasing her.

  “You remember my friends right?” Cat said then, taking Natalia’s hand and pulling her along, pointedly looking back at Julie, her look a very serious scowl.

  “Jericho!” Natalia said, smiling brightly as Jericho moved in to hug Natalia, “I’m so glad you look so he
althy! So gorgeous!” she said, rubbing Jericho’s arms affectionately.

  Jericho stepped back, giving Julie a pointed look, much like Cat had.

  “Skyler!” Natalia said, starting to understand what was happening and doing exactly as Cat had told her, ‘going with it’, throwing her arms around Skyler, hugging her tightly.

  As Natalia moved on to Quinn, Skyler repeated the look at Julie.

  Quinn hugged Natalia and did the same.

  "Kana Sorbinno...." Natalia said, stopping to look up at the tall intimidating Samoan.

  Kana reached out hugging Natalia, actually picking her up off her feet, as her dark eyes connected menacing with Julie's as well.

  "I think you get our point," Jovina said from behind Julie.

  Julie turned to look at Jovina who stood with Xandy, Jerry, Devin and Zoey. She nodded, swallowing convulsively and moved to leave the area.

  Class was particularly fun that day, and Natalia spent a lot of time harassing the girls, while the bois looked on.

  "You girls are loca!" Natalia told them later that morning at lunch. "You all came out for me..." she said, shaking her head in wonder. "Maravilloso!" she said then, saying 'wonderful' in Spanish, her smile beaming.

  "If she gives you any more trouble," Cat said, "You let us know."

  "Some of us are cops you know," Jericho added.

  “Ah, si," Natalia said, nodding. "You have more important things to do though."

  "Well, you're important to us too," Quinn said, "And I'm not a cop, but I’ll come kick her ass for you.”

  Natalia's eyes shone brightly as she smiled, she wasn't used to this kind of support. She had hangers on from the class, what Julie had called her "groupies" but not true friends. These girls going out of their way to help her had been so unexpected. Of course she knew them, many of the girls took her class, and their girlfriends had all been introduced at some point. But she'd never expected or dreamed of such a show of support from them. At that moment she felt very loved.

  "You should come to the house tonight," Jericho said, looking over at Zoey who nodded, "We're having a party."