“It’s disgusting, you know,” Ashley said when Jet didn’t say anything for a bit.
“What is?” Jet asked.
“The fact that you don’t need makeup at all,” Ashley said. “It’s just not fair.”
Jet grinned. “Wouldn’t know what to do with makeup anyway. I have been known to put on eyeliner if the whimsy takes me,” she said, her tone wry.
“Really?” Ashley asked. “Do you know how long it takes to get my makeup to look like this?”
“But it looks really good,” Jet said, winking at her.
“Oh shut up,” Ashley said, laughing.
Jet laughed too.
After a few more minutes, Jet pulled onto the freeway. Zipping between cars, the Maserati’s engine purred with leashed power.
“So,” Jet said, glancing over at her, “what are the stories you’re running down while you’re here?”
“Some law enforcement pieces,” Ashley said.
“What department?” Jet asked, grinning as she saw that Ashley still held her badge.
“Oh!” Ashley exclaimed, seeing Jet’s eyes on the badge in her hand. She handed it back to Jet who pocketed it. “Sorry,” she said, smiling.
“S’okay,” Jet said. “So what department?”
“Oh, the State DOJ,” Ashley said. “I’m hoping I can score an interview with a couple of fairly high-level people.”
Jet grinned. “Like who?”
Ashley had no idea what Jet’s grin meant. “Well, if I get really lucky, the State Attorney General herself, but I’m also hoping to talk to one of her newest directors, Jericho… Te… damn I can never remember her name!”
“Jericho Tehrani?” Jet said, her tone amused.
“Yeah,” Ashley said, nodding. “How did you know that?”
“Well, I work for her, indirectly,” Jet said.
“How?” Ashley said, surprised.
“I work for a DOJ task force, called LA IMPACT.”
“I thought you worked for the LAPD…”
“I do,” Jet said, “but about six months ago I got asked to join LA IMPACT.”
“And what do you do for them?”
“The same thing I did for the Army; I develop informants to feed us intel,” Jet said, her tone so casual that Ashley had to stop and think for a minute about what she’d just said.
“Wait, you were in the Army?” Ashley asked, and then nodded. “Wait, I think I did hear that somewhere along the way you joined the Army.”
“Not too long after high school,” Jet said nodding.
“And you did that for the Army?” Ashley asked.
“Yeah, I was Military Intelligence,” Jet said.
“And what did that involve?” Ashley asked, curious.
“Basically I developed and analyzed intelligence on targets and groups,” Jet said. “I kind of had a thing for languages, so I ended up working in a lot of different areas.”
“Languages?” Ashley asked, gesturing at the stereo, another Spanish song was playing. “Like Spanish?”
Jet grinned. “Spanish, French, German, some Farsi and some Arabic.”
“Wow!” Ashley exclaimed.
Jet shrugged. “No big deal.”
“Maybe not to you,” Ashley said, shaking her head.
“So you’re still in Lynwood, huh?” Jet said, changing the subject suddenly.
Ashley blinked at the sudden change in topics. “I, yeah, I am.”
Jet nodded. “So married?”
“Yes,” Ashley said.
“House, but no kids, right?”
“Right,” Ashley said, grinning.
“Oh, speaking of houses,” Jet said, as she smoothly exited the freeway, “don’t be too impressed with the one I live in,” she said, her tone wry. “It’s not mine, it belongs to my parents.”
“Is this Brentwood?” Ashley asked, looking around her.
“Yeah,” Jet said her look unimpressed.
“Your parents don’t live in Edmonds anymore?” Ashley asked.
“They do. This is like their winter home type thing,” Jet said, her tone sounding disgusted with what she perceived as her parents’ excess.
“Oh…” Ashley said, nodding.
Over the years in high school she’d heard a few times that Jet Mathews’ parents were rich, but she’d never really known what to believe. Jet had never acted like the rich kids at the school. She’d always been down to earth. In fact, she knew that Jet had worked on her own vehicle, instead of taking it to a mechanic. She’d seen Jet working under the hood of her own car once after school.
The hood to the flat black ’67 Mustang Fastback was up. Jet was under the hood, her jeans filthy with grease, one black combat booted foot stuck out from the side of the hood, as she reached across the engine for a tool.
“Car trouble?” Ashley asked, as she walked up.
Light green eyes, made lighter by the fact that she had black grease on her face, sparkled humorously at her.
“No, I heard engine grease was great for the skin,” Jet replied winking at her and smiling, showing a set of very white, very perfect teeth.
Ashley laughed, shaking her head at the other girl.
“Anything I can do?” Ashley asked.
“Know anything about Mustang engines?” Jet asked, her tone wry.
“Um, no,” Ashley responded with a shake of her head.
“Then you can sit there, look pretty and keep me company,” Jet said, chuckling.
“Well, I can definitely sit here and keep you company,” Ashley said, setting her backpack down.
Jet raised an eyebrow at the elimination of ‘look pretty’ but said nothing.
Ashely moved to sit on the ground.
“Whoa, wait!” Jet said, holding up hand to forestall Ashley’s movement.
Straightening from the car, Jet reached into the car window, and pulled out her jacket. She turned to lay it down on the ground next to Ashley’s backpack. Ashley looked surprised.
“The pavement’s still wet,” Jet said in explanation. She stepped back over to the car and began working on it again.
Ashely smiled, as she sat down, thinking that Jet Mathews had some seriously old world manners, but they were kind of cool all the same.
“So what’s wrong with it?” Ashley asked.
Jet craned her neck to look back at Ashley. “Her,” she said simply.
“Huh?” Ashley replied.
“Her,” Jet repeated. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Oh…” Ashley said, widening her eyes. “What’s wrong with her?”
Jet grinned, nodding her head. “Oh, she’s just being temperamental, looking for some extra attention, like most girls.”
Ashley laughed. It was an interesting hour, listening to Jet talk to her car, cajoling, sweet talking, even cussing. In the end, Jet gave her a ride home.
“You were an excellent assistant,” Jet told her, grinning, still a smudge of grease on her left cheek.
“Not really,” Ashley said, reaching her hand up to rub at the grease on Jet’s cheek. “We didn’t get it all off.”
Their eyes connected for a second, and Ashley would swear that her heart stopped for a moment. Later, she was sure she’d imagined the heated look in Jet’s eyes, but the moment passed and Jet simply grinned at her, as she reached up rubbing at the grease on her cheek herself. Ashley chided herself that whole night, Idiot! Jet Mathews the most popular girl in school isn’t gay!
Jet turned onto a tree-lined street. She reached up to touch a button on the rearview mirror, and Ashley noted a garage door start to open. As the door opened and Jet pulled into the driveway, Ashley saw the black Mustang in the garage.
“Oh my God you still have her!” she exclaimed happily.
“Of course,” Jet said. “Couldn’t get rid of my first, best girl.”
Well, that’s true, that would have been wrong,” Ashley agreed, smiling.
It was a three car garage; Ashley noticed there was a motorcycle in the op
en area, near the work bench. It was a nicely appointed garage, with coated floors and finished walls. Tools hung neatly on racks and hooks.
“I see your working conditions have improved,” Ashley said, smiling.
“Oh yeah, don’t have to stand out in the rain anymore,” Jet said, grinning as she turned the car off and got out.
She immediately walked around to open Ashley’s door, and then pulled the suitcase out of the trunk. She gestured forward for Ashley to precede her. Inside she had to brush past Ashley to get to the alarm to turn it off.
“Sorry, forget the damned thing is on half the time,” she said..
“No problem,” Ashley said, smiling.
“Okay,” Jet said, walking into the foyer of the house, “follow me. I’ll show you the guest rooms, you can pick from five of them,” she said, winking at Ashley.
“Oh my,” Ashley said, smiling as she widened her eyes melodramatically.
“Yeah, big house. It’s kind of a pain in the ass,” Jet said.
Jet showed Ashley to one guest bedroom and told her where the others were in case she wanted to check them out.
“I’m going to go take a quick shower and change,” Jet said. “Make yourself at home.”
“Thanks,” Ashley said, smiling.
An hour later, Ashley wandered out into the backyard and found Jet watering plants with a hose and smoking. Ashley noted that Jet had changed into black shorts and a black tank top and was now barefoot. There was music playing loudly, which Ashley would come to find was a regular thing with Jet.
“I was beginning to wonder if you’d disappeared,” Ashley said, grinning.
Jet looked over at her, reaching over to pick up the remote for the stereo so she could turn the music down.
She took a long drag on her cigarette and shook her head.
“Nope. Just back here payin’ my rent.”
“Huh?” Ashley queried.
Jet gestured to the yard that had various bricks, yard tools and pots lying around. It looked like it was under construction.
“I’m re-doing my parents backyard to pay for the privilege of staying here,” Jet explained. Seeing Ashley’s look around the yard she added, “It’s not done yet.”
“I certainly hope not,” Ashley said, with a raised eyebrow.
Jet narrowed her light green eyes at her. “I’m holding a hose, woman… you might want to be careful.”
Ashley laughed. “It actually looks pretty great so far.”
“Eh, we’ll see, I’m no gardener,” Jet said, shrugging.
Ashley sat down in one of the chairs near a table that had an umbrella. A few minutes later, Jet turned off the hose and walked over to her.
“Want a drink?” Jet asked.
“Sure,” Ashley said. “Whatever you’re having.”
“Okay,” Jet said and she stepped into the house.
A couple of minutes later she walked back outside, handing Ashley a bottle of Shock Top. Ashley glanced up at her.
Jet shrugged. “It’s light, most people like it.”
“Thank you,” Ashley said, taking a drink and nodding her approval.
Jet sat down, lighting another cigarette and setting down her lighter. Ashley picked up the lighter, it was a classic Zippo with a black cross on it.
“Where’s this from?” Ashley asked.
“Germany,” Jet answered. “I was stationed in K-town.”
“K-town?”
“Kaiserslautern,” Jet clarified.
“Oh,” Ashley said, nodding. “This is an Iron Cross, right?”
“A true Iron Cross, yes,” Jet said nodding.
“True?”
“Yeah, before the Nazi’s perverted it with a Swastika in the middle,” Jet said distastefully.
“Oh,” Ashley said, nodding.
They were both silent for a few minutes. Jet pulled one foot up to rest on the chair she sat in, resting her arm on her knee as she smoked, looking completely relaxed. Ashley was looking over at her when something on Jet’s ankle caught her eye.
“What’s that?” Ashley asked.
Jet looked over at her, and then down at where she was looking. “It’s a tattoo…”
“No shit,” Ashley said, narrowing her eyes at Jet. “Can I see it?”
Jet obliged by putting her foot on the arm of the chair Ashley sat in, canting her leg so Ashley could clearly see the tattoo. It was two horizontal lightning bolts in the colors of a rainbow, between which was the word “Pride” in black script lettering. Ashley looked over at Jet, her look shocked.
Jet looked back at Ashley for a long minute, a slow grin starting on her face. “You didn’t know I’m gay.”
“I…” Ashley stammered. “Well, no, I didn’t.”
Jet nodded her grin still in place.
“Stop it!” Ashley said, starting to grin too. “It’s no big deal, I just didn’t know, that’s all.”
“Okay,” Jet said, her tone unconvincing.
“It’s fine if you’re gay, it really is,” Ashley said.
“Good thing, ’cause I am,” Jet said, smiling now.
Ashley gave her a dirty look. “Stop it.”
“What am I doing?”
“You’re being a brat, that’s what you’re doing,” Ashley said.
Jet chuckled, leaning back in her chair, and setting her foot on the ground again. They were both silent for a few minutes.
“I really should have known…” Ashley said.
“That I’m gay? Why?” Jet asked, her look curious.
“Because you were always so chivalrous,” Ashley said, smiling softly.
Jet looked back at her cynically. “How?”
“Like that time at camp.”
Jet sat up a little straighter, taking a drag off her cigarette, her look considering.
“Are you going to try to say you don’t remember camp?” Ashley asked her.
“I remember it,” Jet said, nodding. “But for some reason, I’m not sure I remember it the way you do.”
“Do you remember saving my ass there?” Ashley asked.
“I remember some stupid chick being a bitch. It wasn’t cool.”
“And do you remember being the one to help me up?” Ashley asked.
“Was I supposed to let you lie there on the ground?” Jet asked, her eyebrow raised.
“Other people would have,” Ashley said.
“Other people are assholes,” Jet countered.
“And you never were,” Ashley said, “No matter how incredibly popular you were.”
Jet made a face at that phrase.
“What?” Ashley asked, seeing the expression.
“Popular,” Jet repeated. “That doesn’t mean squat in the real world.”
“Well, it meant a damned lot in high school,” Ashley said, “and that’s where we were.”
Jet nodded, seeing that this was important to Ashley.
“I don’t think you realize how much that time at camp changed my life,” Ashley said, her eyes shining.
“Ash, I didn’t really do anything,” Jet said, shaking her head.
“Oh my God, yes you did,” Ashley said. “You were nice to me,” she said, her look serious, “when all those other people weren’t. They looked up to you, they followed your lead.”
Jet looked back at Ashley, honestly shocked by what she was hearing.
“Tell me,” Jet said softly, her look searching.
“When you were nice to me at camp, even changing your cabin to stick with me, people saw that,” Ashley said, knowing she probably sounded like a crazy person just then, but needing to get out what she’d wanted to tell Jet for so long. “After camp they stopped making fun of me, they stopped picking on me. I even made friends after that. And you were always around, saying hi, or eating lunch with me… People saw that Jet, and they figured if you liked me, I must be worth something.”
“Ash…” Jet said, her voice affected, “you were always worth something. You were great. You were funny an
d sweet; you were smarter than most of those people put together. Why do you think I had anything to do with that?”
Ashley blew her breath out, shaking her head. “Because you did, Jet, you did.”
Jet shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now anyway. Look at you, what you’ve done; you’re a writer now, just like you wanted. On top of that, you’re beautiful as all get out, so fuck them.”
Ashley smiled softly. “You’d never understand…” she said quietly.
“Ash, it doesn’t matter, that was high school,” Jet said.
“But it did matter.”
“But it doesn’t now,” Jet said. “You can be whoever the hell you want to be now. You don’t need anyone’s permission for that.”
Ashley looked back at Jet. The woman had self-assurance coming out of every pore, but she didn’t think she could ever be like that.
“Did you know you were gay in high school?” Ashley asked.
Jet hesitated, narrowing her eyes, and then nodded. “Yeah, I was figuring it out then.”
Ashley nodded, biting her lip.
“What?” Jet asked, grinning at the hesitant gesture.
“There was this one time… I thought… well…” Ashley started to say, but then shook her head.
Jet chuckled softly. “I know exactly when you’re talking about,” she said, taking a long swig of beer. “It was the day you kept me company while I fixed my car.”
Ashley nodded, smiling.
“And then I drove you home,” Jet said.
“And for a second I could have sworn you were going to kiss me,” Ashley said.
Jet grinned. “That’s because for a second I was going to kiss you.”
Ashley looked shocked by that admission and Jet laughed.
“That surprises you,” Jet said.
“Yeah,” Ashley said, nodding. “I thought that I must have been delusional.”
“See?” Jet said, her look warm. “What you thought wasn’t always right, was it?”
“No, I guess not,” Ashley said, then she looked back at Jet. “So what stopped you from kissing me?’
Jet smiled, shrugging. “I liked that we were friends, I didn’t want to fuck that up.”
Jet Blue (WeHo Book 5) Page 2