“Oh,” Ashley said, nodding.
Jet looked back at her for a long moment, saying nothing, her light green eyes searching.
“So,” Jet said then, her tone informational. “Tomorrow is Friday, and if you really want to meet Jericho, you should come out with us tomorrow night.”
“Okay,” Ashley said. “Who’s us?”
“The women I hang out with these days, they’re pretty cool. Jericho’s usually there…” She said the last with a sardonic grin.
“What’s that look about?” she asked, seeing Jet’s grin.
“Well, it’s a gay club, and you know she’s gay, right?” Jet said.
“Ah,” Ashley stammered. “Well, no, I didn’t know that, but it doesn’t matter, everyone seems to be gay these days,” she said, winking at Jet.
Jet laughed at that, nodding her head. “Oh honey, everyone is only straight, till they’re not.”
Ashley looked back at her openmouthed. “Oh my God!” she said and laughed at the comment.
Jet only chuckled.
Chapter 2
The next morning, Jet needed to go into the office to get a few things done before she took the rest of the day off. She said that Ashley was welcome to come in with her or wait for her at the house. Ashley was curious about where Jet worked, so opted to go in with her.
Ashley noted that Jet was dressed casually, with jeans, lace-up flat black boots and a black baseball style jersey shirt. The shirt had a picture of a skull wearing a baseball hat that said “POLICE” on it. The words “LAPD” were above the skull and the words “Help Donate Blood – Run” were below the skull, both in large silver-gray letters. It was an interesting shirt.
“Nice,” Ashley said, gesturing to the shirt.
Jet grinned. “Gotta have a sense of humor, right?”
“Do they run a lot?” Ashley asked.
“All the damned time,” Jet said, her tone exasperated. “I tell them every time, ‘don’t run, you’ll just go to jail tired.’ But they don’t listen.”
Ashley laughed. Once again she was finding that Jet had a really great sense of humor. She always had in high school, always making some funny comment or pointing out things that were ironic.
In the kitchen, Jet poured coffee into a large thermal cup, then gestured to Ashley.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t even think to ask, do you want coffee?”
“Sure,” Ashley said, nodding.
Jet reached for another cup, but then hesitated. “I should warn you, this stuff is kind of strong. Is that okay?”
“How strong is strong?” Ashley asked.
Jet handed her a cup, and poured a little bit into it.
“There’s cream and sugar there,” Jet said, gesturing to the counter where two containers sat.
Ashley added some sugar and cream and then tasted the coffee.
“Oh my God, I think my heart rate just shot up,” Ashely said, making a face.
Jet laughed. “Yeah, sorry, it’s Arabian coffee, it’s designed to be strong.”
“Holy cow, you’re not kidding!” Ashley said, setting down the cup.
“There’s a shop at the office, we could grab you some there,” Jet said.
“That works,” Ashley said, smiling and nodding.
She then watched as Jet put the lid on her coffee, without added any sugar or cream.
“You drink that stuff black?” Ashley asked.
“Yep!”
“So, quite literally Jet fuel,” Ashley said.
“Ha!” Jet said, pointing at her. “That’s good!”
They walked out to the garage then, Jet opened the passenger door for Ashley. Once again, Ashley realized she should have known that Jet’s gallant ways had to do with her being gay. Women weren’t usually so attentive to such things with other women.
As Jet started the car the stereo came on and she immediately started tapping her fingers to the beat.
“You’re always listening to music, aren’t you?” Ashley commented. She’d noted the night before Jet had music going even in her room until she’d apparently gone to bed.
Jet grinned, nodding. “I gotta,” she said as she backed out of the garage and then reached up to hit the button to close the garage door.
Ashley canted her head. “You mean that, don’t you?”
Jet nodded. “Yeah, it keeps the ADHD at bay.”
“You have ADHD?” Ashley asked, surprised.
“In spades,” Jet said seriously. “Adderall doesn’t really do a lot, but I didn’t like the Ritalin, so… I deal with it other ways too.”
“You had it in high school too?” Ashley asked, knowing that it was a disorder that usually started in childhood.
“Oh yeah,” Jet said, nodding. “They said I was ‘highly intelligent’,” she said, using air quotes to indicate what she thought of that statement. “So that’s why it didn’t affect my school work. I got stuff done before my brain got bored and moved on.” She shrugged to indicate that she didn’t really believe that.
“Well, highly intelligent sounds right,” Ashley said.
“Does it?” Jet asked, grinning.
“You were the number one in the class, Jet, you know it does,” Ashley said her tone chiding.
Jet looked back over at her, narrowing her eyes slightly, then shrugged. “Anyway the music gives my mind a place to focus so I can pay attention to other stuff. Otherwise it’s like a pack of wild dogs off the leash, running everywhere at the same time.”
Ashley nodded, thinking that must be exhausting. It was yet another thing she’d never known about the dynamic Jet Mathews.
“Isn’t that hard?” Ashley asked Jet.
“What?” Jet asked, her mind elsewhere already.
“Having your mind run everywhere at the same time,” Ashley replied, using Jet’s words.
Jet looked back at her, her look considering, then she shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s how my mind has always worked, so I’m used to it.”
Ashely shook her head, thinking she didn’t think she could handle something like that in her daily life. She watched as Jet reached over to pick up her coffee and then take a drink.
“Doesn’t that make it worse?” she asked. “All that caffeine.”
“Actually, caffeine calms ADHD down, that’s what Adderall and Ritalin are: stimulants. For whatever reason it has the exact opposite effect on the ADHD brain.”
“Really?” Ashley asked, surprised. “You know a lot about this disorder.”
“Gotta love the demon to manage him.”
Ashley was surprised by that statement, but then Jet was surprising her a lot on this trip already.
“So you actually like the ADHD?” Ashley asked, knowing there was more to that statement.
“Oh, I love it,” Jet said, her eyes sparkling. “It’s who I am.”
“Who you are?” Ashley asked.
“The off-the-wall, passionate, nut that I am,” Jet said, grinning. “That’s the ADHD.”
Ashley looked back at Jet, watching her as she drove and seeing how she moved all the time, feet or hands, fingers or head, she was very energetic. There was a definite pull to Jet. She had a way of drawing people in to her, she’d always been that way in high school, Ashley had seen it time and time again.
Physical education was murder for fat people, was all Ashley could think when the teacher wanted them to run laps. Surely the woman was trying to kill her. Jet, who’d already run the required four laps in a ridiculously short time, was kicking around a soccer ball. As Ashley came around from her first lap, she saw a quick grin flash on Jet’s face.
“Heads up,” Jet said, kicking the ball toward her.
Ashley had astounded herself by managing to kick the ball back in Jet’s general direction.
“Come on,” Jet said, dropping into an offensive stance, passing the ball back and forth between her feet.
“I gotta… laps…” Ashley gasped.
“Screw that,” Jet said, grinning. “Come on…” s
he said, again, her black eyebrows waggling mischievously.
“Okay,” Ashley said, happy to stop running and she walked over to where Jet stood.
“Go over there,” Jet said, gesturing to the other short side of the field.
Ashley did, grinning as others stopped running and started to watch. Jet started to move, kicking the ball and moving and swerving, she then surprised one of the spectators by passing the ball to her. The girl stopped the ball with her hand and looked back at Jet quizzically. Jet nodded to the girl, grinning.
“Come on,” Jet said, gesturing to the girl with her fingertips.
The next thing Ashley knew, she and Jet were defending against the ball. Others kept joining in, some on Ashley and Jet’s side, others on the opposing side. In the end, the PE teacher attempted to break up the game.
“Why?” Jet has asked the teacher, always more than happy to challenge authority.
“Because I told you to run, Mathews,” the teacher said, annoyed. Jet Mathews was forever challenging her authority.
“Well, in case you weren’t aware,” Jet said, gesturing to the field. “We were running. Soccer involves running, just not in stupid circles.” She said the last with a smug look in her eyes.
Everyone in the class cheered at that point. The teacher looked at her students, even the ones that were usually good students were standing there with Jet Mathews.
“Mathews in my office!” the teacher snapped, then turned and walked away.
Ashley looked over at Jet and saw that her look hadn’t changed. Jet’s eyes connected with hers, and she winked at her.
“Guess class is over, huh?” Jet asked her tone flippant, as she started to follow the PE teacher.
Someone started a chant then. “Jet! Jet! Jet!” And the whole group joined.
Jet threw up a V for victory sign over her head, causing everyone to get louder. Ashley stood watching Jet go, shaking her head.
Later, she saw Jet in the hallway. “What happened?” she asked, having been worried that Jet would get into trouble.
Jet grinned. “She’s going to call my parents about me inciting a rebellious act in her class,” she said, in her most officious tone.
“Are you going to get into trouble?” Ashley asked, thinking her own parents would kill her if they got a call from the school.
Jet laughed. “Yeah, if she could even get ahold of my parents,” she said. “They wouldn’t care any way; teachers annoy them almost as much as they annoy us.”
Ashley shook her head. Jet Mathews could get out of anything!
At one point during the drive, the song “Brave” came on, and Jet sang the words, looking over at Ashley pointedly as she sang. Ashley noted that the words talked about how she could basically be anything she wanted. She could put up with the way people treated her or she could start standing up to them and saying what she wanted to them.
Ashley focused on the words that followed, phrases that talked about how words could truly hurt if you let them get under your skin, but that there was a way out of that kind of thinking. They hit home a bit.
Jet sang the chorus to her, telling her she wanted to see her be brave. The bridge of the song said what she’d been doing wasn’t working, and shouldn’t she just try telling people what she really thought? Jet sang every word, looking over at her as she did.
“I guess you’re trying to tell me something, huh?” Ashley said, when the song ended.
“Yep,” Jet said, nodding.
Ashley looked back at her, she wanted to ask Jet why she cared, but she knew she really didn’t need to ask. It seemed to be who Jet Mathews was to her very core.
They arrived at the office, and after signing her into the building, Jet walked Ashley straight up to the coffee shop. Along the way, Jet was greeted by any number of people; it seemed she was quite popular at work as well. At one point Jet caught Ashley’s grin when another person greeted her by name.
“Shut up,” Jet said quietly to her, grinning.
Jet waited as Ashley got her coffee, tapping her fingers on the counter to the music on in the coffee shop. At the register, Ashley started to reach into her purse for her wallet. Jet’s hand on her arm stopped her. She pulled a set of bills out of her pocket, pulling out a twenty dollar bill and handing it to the cashier.
The cashier smiled warmly at Jet, handing her the change. Jet dropped a dollar into the girl’s tip cup.
“Thanks sweetie,” the girl said, winking at Jet.
“Any time,” Jet said.
As they walked back downstairs, Ashley looked over at Jet.
“Do you flirt with every girl you see?” she asked.
Jet’s lips curled into a grin, “Maybe,” she said, her tone teasing.
Later in the office, Jet had her iPhone plugged into her computer and her music played; she occasionally turned up songs she liked. Ashley watched as Jet pulled a leather-bound book out of her gear bag and set it open on the table. Ashley could see handwritten notes and pieces of paper sticking out randomly. Jet looked at it often as she typed on the computer. Her fingers flew over the keys at a dizzying speed, all the while she moved either her head or her feet to the music playing on her speakers.
“And Jet’s in the office…” said a male voice from a cubicle next to Jet’s.
Jet started laughing, as a man stuck his head up over the cubicle wall. “Thought you were off today, Mathews,” he said.
“I am,” Jet said, grinning.
“And yet, here you are,” he said, smiling.
“I had a couple of things to handle, but I’m leaving soon, Dad.”
“Can’t get the kid to take a damned break,” the man said, as he walking around the cubicle wall. “Hi, I’m John Evans,” he said to Ashley as he extended his hand to her.
“John, that’s Ashley,” Jet said, her eyes still on the computer as she typed.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Ashley said, smiling up at John.
“You too,” John said, glancing at Jet, and shaking his head. “The kid is in serious need of a vacation.”
“Or a valium,” came another male voice.
“Valium doesn’t work on me…” Jet said, her voice singsong. Without looking up from her computer she said, “Curry, this is Ashley, Ashley, Nick Curry.”
“Charmed,” Nick said, grinning at Ashley.
Suddenly Jet stood up. “I need a cigarette,” she said, nodding her head toward the back patio of the office.
Ashley stood up, smiling at both men, and then followed Jet out to the patio.
“How many girls a month does Jet date?” Nick asked, as he and John watched the two go.
“Helluva a lot more than me,” John said, shaking his head.
They both adored Jet, she was smart and damned good at her job, they welcomed her happily to the group. However, they’d yet to figure out how she managed her love life with seemingly no drama. She was with a different girl regularly, on the phone, via text, they’d drop by the office, but rarely the same girl more than twice.
“They seem nice,” Ashley said, as she watched Jet light a cigarette.
“Yeah, they’re pretty cool,” Jet said.
They’d been outside for a few minutes when another man walked out onto the patio. Ashley saw him first; Jet was looking down at her phone, texting someone.
“Jet Fire…” Sebastian said, smiling, winking at Ashley.
Jet’s head snapped up and she smiled widely. “Baz!” she exclaimed, jumping up and tossing her cigarette aside and then moved to hug him.
Sebastian was a big man, at six three and 225 pounds, all of which was muscle. He easily picked Jet up off her feet as he hugged her.
“How are ya, kid?” he asked her, grinning.
“Baz, you’re like eight years older than me,” Jet said.
“Yeah, but all the energy you have, makes me feel a lot older,” he said.
He looked at Ashley then, his gray-green eyes curious about her friend.
“Sorry, I’m a
dumbass,” Jet said. “Baz, this is Ashley, Ash, this is Special Agent Supervisor Sebastian Bach.”
Sebastian extended his hand to Ashley his smile warm. “Ashley, it’s nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Ashley said, smiling. “And I agree with you on the energy thing, she and I are the same age and she makes me tired.”
“Hey…” Jet said playfully, as she tried to look offended.
“It’s exhausting, isn’t it?” Sebastian said..
“Entirely,” Ashley said, laughing softly.
“So you looking for Kash?” Jet asked.
Sebastian gave her a chastising look. “Maybe I was looking for you…”
“Were you?” Jet asked.
“No, but I could have been,” Sebastian said, grinning. “Of course I’m looking for Kash, have you seen her yet?”
“Nope, not yet,” she said, glancing at her watch. “Hell, it’s already ten?”
“In everyone else’s world, little one,” Sebastian said, grinning.
“Bite me, Baz,” Jet shot back.
“I’m not your type,” Sebastian replied, winking at her.
“It wasn’t an offer.” “So it was a threat?” Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Only if you plan to file,” Jet said.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at her, wrinkling up his nose, and Jet did the same. It was obviously something they did often.
“Well, when you see her can you tell her to call me?” Sebastian asked.
“I’m not here today,” Jet said.
Sebastian gave her a sideways glance. “So you’re like a fig newton of my imagination.”
“Yep,” Jet said, nodding with a chuckle. “Technically I’m on vacation today.”
“You do know that being on vacation means you don’t come to the office, right?” Sebastian said, shaking his head at her and rolling his eyes.
“What can I say? I’m a dedicated public servant.”
“You say dedicated… I say obsessive…” Sebastian said, his voice trailing off as he looked over at Ashley. “Promise me you will drag her out of here within the next hour.”
Ashley smiled, enjoying the way Jet and Sebastian bantered. “I’ll try, but she’s pretty strong.”
Jet Blue (WeHo Book 5) Page 3