"That's bullshit. She never touched that girl. Why can't they just leave her the fuck alone!"
"It's a twisted political game. The good news is the case probably won't be overturned, there was no evidence to go to trial with in the first place."
"When is all of this suppose to happen?"
"It's probably already happened. I quit my job at the District Attorney's office last week, so I'm not sure. Look Libby, I never meant to be a part of any of this. I didn't become an attorney to ruin innocent people's lives. I wanted to put criminals behind bars. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt Scooter…I'm…"
"I think you've said enough. I need to go check my email and see if my sister knows when she's coming home."
Chapter 22
Scooter was pissed when she found out that Layne told her sister all about the pending appeal for her case and all of the issues that were still being brought up by the Senator and the District Attorney. She was sitting on the sub waiting for port clearance so she could release the crew. They had been back almost an hour and everyone was itching to go ashore and see their families. She knew Libby wouldn't be there since they arrived a day early and she didn't want to bother her to change her schedule at the bar. Scooter was use to not having family waiting for her. She and the captain were usually on the sub hours after the crew was dismissed.
She jerked her head up from the paperwork she was completing when there was a knock on her stateroom door. She jumped up and pulled the skinny door open.
"We've been cleared, you can dismiss the crew," CAPT. Undell said from the doorway. "Oh and you're dismissed too."
"Excuse me sir?"
"You heard me Commander. You're dismissed. We both know you're caught up on your deployment reports. Besides, you'll be back bright and early to debrief anyway. Go be with your family."
Scooter saluted him. "Thank you, Captain." She shook his hand.
When CAPT. Undell left, Scooter decided to leave and pack up her belongings when she returned in the morning. She made a quick phone call, changed into her Dress White Uniform, and disembarked with a smile on her face. She had no idea what to expect coming home, but she was glad to see there were no MP's waiting for her this time when she walked down the gangplank.
~~~
Layne was standing by the fence watching the female officer walking through the crowd of families towards her. She knew it was Scooter by the subtle way her hips moved with a sexy sway that she was sure no one else noticed. Scooter pulled her dark sunglasses off when she noticed her.
"What the hell do you want?"
"I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for everything. I tried to get released from the case when I realized it was you."
"Yeah well you still continued on the case didn't you, so you obviously didn't try hard enough. You probably believed the girl."
"Of course I knew you didn't do it, that's ridiculous. You will never know how sorry I am, Scooter."
"You're a little too late for sorry, Ms. Carmichael. You very nearly made me lose my career. In fact, I'm not even sure it's not over. I'm being reviewed by the Pentagon, but I'm sure you don't know that or you would have relayed that to my sister like you did everything else. Thanks a fucking lot by the way. She's been through enough with all of this and you have to go and make it worse for her. Will you please just leave me alone? You've done enough to me, my career, and my family because you didn't trust the military to make their own decisions about one of their own."
"I'm sorry. I thought your sister knew. And anyway, I won't be a part of any witch hunt to sabotage your career. In fact, I won't be forced to take a case I disagree with ever again. I resigned from the D.A.'s office, effective last week."
"Oh how nice, you quit your job after you help the idiots you work for try to ruin my life."
"I did it because that is not the person that I am. I was a coward and I should have quit in the beginning, I know that."
"As I said it's too late." Scooter turned around to walk away.
"Damn it Scooter…" Layne wiped the tears running down her cheek. "I never meant to hurt you. I'm in love with you."
Scooter turned back towards Layne and put her sunglasses back on. "That's nice," she said just before she walked away.
~~~
Scooter slid into the soft leather bucket seat of her midnight blue Porsche Boxster Spyder and slammed her hand on the black leather steering wheel. She was so frustrated with seeing Layne waiting for her. What did she think she would accomplish by trying to tell her side of the story? There was nothing she could say that would make Scooter want to listen. Then to tell her she loved her, what kind of sick joke was that? It was like cutting open a closed wound with a sharp knife and watching it bleed. Scooter slammed the steering wheel again and tossed her Garrison Cap against the passenger window.
The quick call she made before leaving the sub was to Beasley. She didn't want to alert her sister of her early arrival, but she needed her car and she trusted Beasley to bring it to her.
Scooter pushed the convertible top back and turned the key. The sports car roared to life and Scooter grinned, all thoughts of Layne and her mayhem were drowned out by the horsepower under her. The car was her one and only vise and she treated it like an exotic lover.
She stayed in second gear and obeyed the speed limit as she drove across the base. She was itching to get out on the open road and feel the wind in her hair and the speed under her. She trusted Beasley to keep her secret from her sister, so she had a few hours to kill just driving around. She hadn't felt free in so long she forgot what it actually felt like. She wished she'd stopped at home to change into civilian clothes, but it was too late, she was already an hour away from home testing herself and stretching the speed limit with the wind blowing through her dark curly hair and enjoying every minute of it.
The next thing she knew, Scooter was parked at a cliff in La Jolla overlooking the Pacific Ocean. She was tired of running, tired of looking over her shoulder and waiting for the shoe to fall, she was just plain tired of being tired.
"Damn you, Layne. Damn you for even coming into my life." She slammed her hand on the steering wheel again and leaned her head back. "And fuck you for saying you love me. If you loved me, you never would've continued with that heinous case against me. Damn you!" she shouted. She wished she had never met Layne Carmichael. She was a mistake that had come back to bite her on the ass and top it all off she couldn't forget that night or the powerful connection she shared with Layne. Memories of that incredible night and Layne's beautiful body were forever burned into her mind and invading her dreams.
Chapter 23
Libby was sitting on the couch when she heard the garage door go up and saw the headlights in the driveway. A minute later, Scooter walked in through the kitchen and tossed her keys and wallet on the counter. Her usually crisp tan uniform was completely disheveled with the first two buttons open. A look Libby had never seen on the polished officer.
"I heard the Lincoln made port this afternoon. I rushed home to find the garage empty. Want to talk about it?" Libby said as she gave her sister a hug.
"Not really. It's good to see you though."
"You worried me, that's not like you to take off."
"Layne Carmichael was waiting at the dock gate for me," she said, as she sat down on the couch in the den and opened the beer she pulled from the refrigerator.
"Oh really. How did that go?"
"Probably like your conversation with her I would imagine." She took a long swallow, leaned back against the soft cushions, and put her feet up on the coffee table.
"Not all that good then."
"Nope." She finished the beer in the next swallow.
"Care to elaborate?"
"She was apologetic and trying to explain herself. I didn't want to hear it."
"Yeah, that's pretty much how it was with me. I wanted to choke the life out of her, but she looked so upset, hell she was crying at one point. I just don't understand why she d
id it, she could have easily said no."
"She told me she loves me."
"What!" Libby jerked her head in Scooter's direction. Scooter just shrugged. "Well, what did you say to her?"
"That's nice."
Libby laughed. "I'm sorry that's not funny. It's just ironic I guess."
"Why?"
"I wanted you to meet a nice girl and fall in love and you finally do and she tries to ruin your career."
"I didn't say I love her."
"You didn't have to." Libby patted her sister's leg and went upstairs.
"I hate her," Scooter said to an empty room, knowing it was a lie.
~~~
Layne sat on her couch contemplating her second bottle of wine when her cell phone rang. She was in no mood to talk to anyone, especially not Tabitha. No, she wanted to wallow in her own sorrowful, self-pity party. She had fallen in love with someone and ruined her life in the same sentence. Scooter hated her that was obvious. She had every right to. Layne didn't blame her. She would be the same way if the circumstances were turned around. She just wished it didn't hurt so damn much.
The only thing she could do at this point was throw herself completely into her new venture and try her damndest to get over the woman that walked into her life and took her breath away in a single night. The woman who's rock hard body, silky smooth touch, and ocean blue eyes haunted her dreams every night. The woman who hated her.
Chapter 24
Libby was standing behind the bar when she saw Scooter walk in wearing jeans, a tight black tee shirt, and Doc Martens. Her hair was still wet from her shower and she smelled like soap mixed with the sea breeze. She had a grin on her face and wiggled her eyebrows as she walked up to the bar in front of Libby. She had watched her sister transform from quiet and sad to furious and finally somewhat cheerful in the past three weeks. She threw herself into her job working ten hours a day on the base. Somehow, she found a place to bury all of the gloom that seemed to follow her around. Libby wondered if this was a good thing.
"You look like you're on the prowl," Libby said when Scooter slid onto the stool.
Scooter smirked and sipped the beer Libby set in front of her. "Maybe I am."
"And this is a good thing?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Just asking," Libby said. She wished she knew where her sister hid all of the pain she had been carrying around for the past six months. Seeing her with a somewhat genuine smile on her face made Libby almost forget how sad Scooter really was, almost.
Scooter was halfway into her beer when a lithe little blond wearing tight jeans and a revealing white spaghetti strap top slid onto the stool next to her. She looked like a college student. Scooter raised an eyebrow when she felt a hand graze her thigh.
She stilled it just before it reached the inner seam. The blond leaned over enough to rub her perfect round breasts on her arm. Scooter was use to women coming on to her and it had been so long, too long since she last accepted the challenge. That's what it was to her, a challenge to see if they would finish what they started or simply fold like a cheap house of cards.
When the hand she was holding squeezed her thigh, warmth breath tickled her ear.
"You're so fucking hot."
Scooter grinned and met chocolate brown eyes. The pure lust she saw in those eyes lit a fire in her blood. She snatched the blond off of her stool and moved to the dance floor. She pulled her into her arms, their thighs and stomachs pressed together. The blond was a couple inches shorter than Scooter, but she was tall enough to skim her lips along Scooter's neck and tug the short curls on the back of her head as their crushed bodies ground together.
Scooter ran her hands down the blonde's back to her tiny little ass squeezing as her thigh slipped between her legs. She felt her tremble against her and knew she could easily make this girl come in her pants. That thought made her grin, her fire was finally back, and this young piece of ass was fanning the flames nicely.
~~~
Libby tore her eyes from the dance floor and looked at table three. Layne Carmichael was sitting there with her two sidekick friends. They all had their eyes glued to the dance floor. Most of the women were dancing seductively to the pounding music, but Scooter and her little plaything were on display. Libby had a feeling her sister was finally getting back to her old self. She almost felt sorry for Layne, but she didn't blame her sister for running away.
~~~
Layne took a deep breath and forced herself to turn away. Watching Scooter obviously moving on with her life and with some young girl to boot was making her stomach roll into knots. She fought back tears, refusing to let them fall. She found the thread of strength she was looking for when she finished her second Margarita from the pitcher.
"I can't believe she's out there dancing like that with someone else," Denise said with a shake of her head.
"I can." Tabitha shrugged. "Women like her get what they want when they want it. I'm not surprised she's all over some girl on the dance floor."
"Wasn't she accused of raping someone?"
Layne snapped. "She was falsely accused, Denise!"
"Well, what's she doing now still can't be good for her reputation. Isn't she a Naval Officer or something?"
"Yes she is. And I needn't remind you that it wasn't that long ago I was out there with her doing the same thing to her."
"How can we forget? You took her home!" Tabitha added.
"Don't remind me. I do enough of that myself." Layne couldn't take anymore of the seductive display Scooter was putting on. She had a hard time forgetting that not long ago she did the same thing and picked up the same woman. She hoped deep down that it was just a fluke that they happened to meet under those circumstances, but as she watched the dance floor she realized this type of action was probably very familiar territory for Scooter. Was she really just another notch on her belt? She knew Scooter hated her. Did she even know she was there? Maybe she did see her watching and this sexual show was meant to get back at her. Make her jealous. Layne was driving herself crazy she had to get out of there.
~~~
"What kind of car do you drive?" The blond asked with her tongue rolling around the edge of Scooter's ear.
Scooter knew this was probably not the best idea she ever had, but she was so lost in her own world, and for the moment this young tight body rubbing against her felt good. Her mind was beyond rational thought. "Why?" she asked.
"Because I want you to fuck me on the hood of it," the blond said as she grabbed the crotch of Scooter's jeans and squeezed.
"How do you know I don't drive some rusty piece of shit?"
"A woman like you has a hot car. I read you from across the room. Every inch of you exudes power, sex, and speed. It's like the devil's pheromones. The whole place was watching you."
Scooter didn't reply, she simply grabbed the girls hand and pulled her towards the door
Chapter 25
Layne saw Scooter come out of the bar with the young girl wrapped around her arm. Her stomach churned, threatening to spill its contents all over the parking lot. Neither woman acknowledged her presence as they walked by.
"Scooter." She was surprised to hear her own voice.
Scooter grabbed the blond by the waist and turned around. Layne was standing next to a black BMW a few feet away. She had no idea she was even at the bar. She hadn't noticed her inside, but then again she was preoccupied and hadn't been looking for her.
"Can I talk to you?"
"Leave me alone. I have nothing to say to you," Scooter growled as she turned back around and headed across the parking lot.
"Fine. Go fuck your little bimbo. She can't make you forget!" Layne yelled just before she got into her BMW and peeled out of the parking lot throwing rocks in all directions and very narrowly missing the car she pulled out in front of.
~~~
"Who was that?" The blond asked as she ran her hand up Scooter's chest between her breasts.
"Someone I want to forget, but unfort
unately I can't. I'm sorry," Scooter said as she ran to her Porsche and hauled ass out of the parking lot after Layne. The white speedometer was pushing ninety when she watched Layne glide right through a red light like it was glowing green. She scarcely missed the side street traffic beginning to move through their green light as she sped over a hundred to pass Layne and swerve in front of her at the next intersection. Layne was forced to take the next right, that or smash into the dark sports car that cut off her off and hit the brakes.
Layne came to a stop on the side of the small, darkened alleyway and the sports car screeched up behind her. Scooter dove out of the car and ran towards her.
"What the fuck are you doing? Trying to kill yourself!" Scooter screamed at her.
"None of your god damn business!" Layne screamed back. "Where's your little bitch? Done with her already?" She spat as she squinted in the dark to see if anyone was sitting in the car.
Scooter snatched her hand and pulled her over to the car to see that no one was in it. She backed her up against the front fender of the Porsche and slid her hands under the purple silk blouse Layne was wearing. "I never got started," She groaned as she squeezed one firm round breast and tugged on the nipple of the other one.
Layne moaned and tried to pull away. Scooter tugged harder.
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