Vendetta (WeHo Book 7)

by Sherryl Hancock

  “Wow…” Cody enthused, forgetting for a moment that this was a cop and she was supposed to be suspicious and wary of cops.

  Lyric smiled. “A lot of time spent on this baby,” she said affectionately.

  “Definitely worth it though, right?” Cody asked.

  “Oh yeah…” Lyric said. “Every morning when I turn her over…”

  In that moment Cody decided she liked this cop. She seemed really genuine, like she wasn’t trying to bullshit her.

  “So where ya goin’, Code?” Lyric asked, shortening her name in a way no one ever had before. Cody tried not to like it.

  “Back to the group home,” Cody said, her tone tentative. “If they’ll let me back in,” she added with a grimace.

  Lyric nodded, looking circumspect.

  “Well, it was Savanna Henning that sent me looking for you, so I’m betting she’ll make an exception for you this time.”

  Cody couldn’t hide the shock on her face.

  “She was looking for me?” she couldn’t help but ask.

  Lyric nodded. “She was worried about you,” she told the girl, knowing that she was surprising the kid.

  “Why?” Cody asked, unable to fathom the reason.

  Lyric looked over at her. “Because that’s what people do for other people, Code.”

  Cody blinked a couple of times, obviously trying to process that statement. Finally, she shook her head, blowing her breath out. “Not where I’m from.”

  “Welcome to LA,” Lyric said, winking at the girl, making her smile.

  Savanna answered the door to the home, shocked to see Lyric standing on the front porch with Cody next to her. Savanna smiled with relief at Cody, seeing that the girl looked unharmed. She stepped out onto the porch and hugged a shocked Cody.

  “Oh my God, Cody, you had me scared to death!” Savanna said.

  Savanna pulled back and looked down at the girl. “Are you okay?” she asked her.

  “I’m fine,” Cody said, nodding. “Is it okay to come back? I know I missed curfew…”

  “Go inside,” Savanna said, smiling and nodding at the girl.

  Cody went inside, turning to flip a wave to Lyric, who smiled back.

  Savanna looked at Lyric then, taking in the jeans, combat style boots, black collared shirt and leather biker style jacket, once again thinking the woman was just plain hot. She smiled at Lyric.

  “Thank you so much for this,” she said, unable to adequately express how happy she was that Cody was back and unhurt. “You can’t imagine how worried I was about her.”

  Lyric shook her head. “You’re gonna need to develop thicker skin, doc…” she said, her tone chiding. “These kids… they do their own thing, and sometimes they don’t even know when people are worried about them, or care.” She shook her head ruefully. “You’re gonna stress yourself into an early grave if you worry about all of them this much.”

  Savanna pressed her lips together. She knew what Lyric meant, and she’d heard it before, but hearing it from the hot cop made Savanna really want to believe that Lyric actually cared about her health. She knew it was ridiculous, but she was really hung up on this woman and it made no sense at all.

  “I don’t, really,” Savanna said. “Cody’s special. I can’t put my finger on it, but that girl has been through the wringer… I don’t know her whole story yet, but I’m going to get it out of her if it’s the last thing I do,” she said, sounding determined.

  Lyric looked back at the redhead, smiling, she liked that Savanna was as dedicated to these kids as she was. Lyric saw a lot of throw away kids in her line of work, and a lot of very jaded social workers that were supposed to help them. Someone like Savanna caring about one girl, any of them, was a great thing, and a welcome change. That had been the reason Lyric had stepped in to help when Savanna had been raging at the department. In Savanna, Lyric heard someone that actually cared and she didn’t want that kind of extraordinary thing to just be passed over.

  “You go, Doc…” Lyric said with an amused her grin.

  Savanna looked back at Lyric, knowing she was making fun of her, but she could see that Lyric had respect in her eyes. She liked that. Now if she could just get a different look out of her…

  Cody had just walked back into the group home, going back to her undercover assignment. Once there she assumed her cover persona, appearing withdrawn and shy, with her don’t make eye contact expression. Her hair was green where the bleach blond usually was, and she wore dark makeup on her eyes. Regardless of the wild-looking exterior, she appeared introverted and didn’t really talk to anyone. It was her style to disappear into the group, not stand out. Her wild hair and makeup wasn’t even close to the wildest-looking kid in the place. She’d had to assume the colors to fit into this particular home.

  She sat down in one of the chairs in the living room, a good place from which to observe the goings on in the house. There were other teens in the room, but none of them paid her any attention. She noted that the dark-haired girl who’d been at the home a little less time than her, had a rather haunted look to her suddenly. Taking mental note of that, Cody watched her as she moved around the room. Narrowing her eyes, she noted that the girl was moving stiffly. Getting up, Cody walked by her, accidentally bumping into her shoulder.

  “Sorry,” Cody muttered, not noticing any kind of pain reaction from the girl.

  The girl just nodded, and continued on her way. Cody picked up a book from a shelf and made her way back to her seat, noting the girl now sitting on the couch. She picked up a pen as she walked by the end table in the room and sat down. Her chair was right next to where the other girl sat on the couch. As she pretended to read, she wiggled the pen back and forth, then accidentally dropped it. She watched as the girl grimaced as she leaned down to pick it up. That told Cody that she had something going on internally, which raised a major red flag to her. She made a mental note to keep tabs on her and try to trail her when she left the house again.

  “Thanks,” she said to the girl as she handed back the pen.

  The girl nodded, not looking at her.

  The front door opened, and Cody heard people talking in the foyer. Curious and always wanting to keep tabs on the comings and goings of people in the house, she got up and walked in that direction. She could hear a woman’s voice and John, the guy that ran the house, making introductions. She heard the name McKenna, and she thought she heard the last name Tucker, which was the same as John’s last name. Wife? she thought immediately. He did wear a wedding ring.

  She rounded the corner she almost bumped into someone. As she got a look at the person, she found herself staring into the most incredible gray-green eyes she’d ever encountered. There was a moment where she literally could not tear her eyes away from the other woman’s eyes; she felt a visceral jolt go through her. Suddenly realizing that she was completely out of character, she shook her head to try to clear it, moving out of the woman’s way mumbling an apology with her head down.

  “It’s okay,” the woman said gently. “No harm, no foul.”

  Cody nodded, dying to look into those eyes again, and check out the rest of the face they belonged to, but knowing she shouldn’t. It took everything she had to slink out of the area without looking up again.

  Outside in the backyard, Cody looked around to make sure no one was around. She paced back and forth to walk off the excess energy her body was exploding with suddenly. What the hell was wrong with her? She couldn’t figure it out. She wanted desperately to smoke to settle her jangling nerves, and wondered if she dared. No one really knew her in the house; they wouldn’t know that Cody Wyatt didn’t smoke… But Cody Falco most certainly did and desperately needed a cigarette right then. For once, she broke one of her rules, breaking cover to do something her undercover persona wouldn’t do.

  Reaching into the inner pocket of the old beat up bomber jacket she wore, she pulled out a cigarette and an old beat up lighter. She made sure that anything she wore or carried on her w
hen she was undercover fit her cover, so the lighter was a cheap bic; she just prayed it would still light.

  Putting the cigarette into her mouth with hands that were disconcertingly shaking, she flicked the lighter and thanked the Gods when it lit. She touched it to the tip of the cigarette and inhaled deeply, feeling her nerves settle almost immediately. As she blew the smoke back out, she moved to lean a hip against the retaining wall in the yard. It wasn’t really much of a backyard, there was the dirt and a retaining wall with a half-dead ice plant going up a slight hill and then the fence. There was no grass to speak of, but it was at least a place to escape to at moments like this.

  “Is everything okay?” asked a voice from above her.

  Cody opened her eyes and looked up to the stairs that led down from the house. It was the woman from the foyer, and this time Cody got a full view. All she could think was, Holy fucking shit! The woman was beautiful, almost model perfect. She had long wavy honey blond hair, a perfect heart-shaped face with disgustingly perfect skin, and from what Cody could observe from her position below, a petite body that had curves in exactly the right places. Once again her pulse was racing, and this time she didn’t have the luxury of an opportunity to pace it off.

  Dropping her gaze, once again, she nodded, kicking at the dirt with pronounced disinterest in the newcomer. Furtively, she took another long drag off her cigarette, willing the smoke to smooth her ragged nerves. She was hoping the woman would go away, but she had no luck there. She descended the stairs, far too gracefully as far as Cody was concerned and walked over to where Cody stood. She leaned against the retaining wall, facing Cody and looked around the backyard.

  “I can see that this will need to be one of my first projects…” she said, her voice held a sigh.

  When Cody didn’t respond, she put her hand out to her. “Hi, I’m McKenna Tucker,” she said.

  Cody raised her eyes long enough to look at the woman, and then nodded. “Cody,” she said quietly.

  “Hi Cody,” McKenna said.

  McKenna refrained from asking if the girl was old enough to smoke, knowing that she really couldn’t be. Since the smoking age was now twenty-one and if she was twenty-one then she wouldn’t be at the group home. She waited to see if Cody would say anything else and when Cody didn’t, she tried to think of another way to engage the girl. John had told her that Cody was newer to the house, and that she didn’t seem to really socialize with the other residents.

  “So, I’m gonna be hanging around,” McKenna informed her. “Kind of doing an internship for my degree.”

  Cody nodded, keeping her eyes down. She found she could think better when she wasn’t looking at the woman. And what she was thinking at that point was, Why are you telling me this?

  “I’m hoping you and I can talk a bit,” McKenna said then.

  That had Cody’s head snapping up. “Why?” she asked, her look purposely fearful.

  McKenna was surprised by the sudden reaction from the girl; she held her hands up in a stilling gesture.

  “Nothing bad,” McKenna said her tone soothing. “John has just told me that you don’t really socialize with any of the other kids… I thought maybe you could use someone to talk to.”

  Cody narrowed her eyes slightly, she’d heard someone say that before, years ago. She let the wariness come into her eyes, because Cody Wyatt wouldn’t trust anyone, least of all someone like McKenna Tucker.

  McKenna looked back at the girl thinking, Someone so young shouldn’t look so wary. It made her heart ache a bit. John was right about this girl; she seemed like a scared rabbit, ready to run away at the first sign of danger. The last thing McKenna wanted was to make the girl run, so she made herself back off.

  She shrugged nonchalantly. “Just sayin’,” she said, then looked around the yard again, smiling and shaking her head. “This yard is pathetic.” Cody knew McKenna was trying to back off at that point. The words, Don’t scare the mark echoed in her head. Cody sensed that she was the mark, and felt a stab of disappointment. McKenna was part of this… Damnit.

  “I just don’t know what to tell her,” Savanna said to Lyric that night while they were eating dinner.

  “Well, exactly how did she ask it?” Lyric queried.

  “She said, and I quote, ‘Can I be gay if I just like rainbows a really lot?’ ”

  Lyric laughed out loud at that point, shaking her head. “You got me babe,” she said, shaking her head. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that one…”

  “Me too!” Savanna said. “I just don’t get why they all want to come to my house!”

  “Well, I do,” Lyric said, smiling.

  Savanna tilted her head. “Why?”

  “Because you draw everyone in, babe… Just like you did me,” Lyric said.

  “I didn’t draw you in, Lyric,” Savanna said. “I drew you out.”

  Lyric inclined her head. “Okay, true. But, babe, you get people, and you get these kids, just like you did, Cody. They want someone who gets them, gay or straight.”

  Savanna pressed her lips together in consternation. “But there are so many LGBT kids that need more, you know?”

  “I know, honey,” Lyric said. “And that’s why you have to stand by the rule that you only take LGBT kids. I’m just trying to tell you why you get so many requests.”

  Savanna looked back at Lyric, thinking that she’d been damned lucky when fate had put this woman in her path. It hadn’t been easy, but when she’d finally claimed Lyric’s heart, she’d known she’d found her soul mate. In the seven years they’d been together, Lyric had been the steadfast rock that Savanna needed to do the work she did. She did her best to be that for Lyric as well. To her it was funny that Lyric said she drew people in, when in truth, it was Lyric that did. She’d drawn Cody in from the first day she met her.

  “Are you working today?” Cody asked Lyric, looking over at her as Lyric drove.

  “No, I’m off today, why?” Lyric asked.

  “So you’re off and you thought you’d spend time with some kid?” Cody asked, her tone cynical.

  Lyric looked over at the girl. “You don’t want to hang out with me?”

  Cody clasped her hands together in her lap. “It’s not that…”

  “But you don’t trust any adult that’s too nice to you,” Lyric deduced easily.

  Cody nodded, looking down at her hands.

  Lyric nodded. “That’s actually probably pretty smart,” she said. “But I think you probably already feel like you can trust me, don’t you?”

  Cody chewed on the inside of her cheek, then she nodded.

  “Code,” Lyric said, her tone patient. “If you don’t trust me, it’s okay,” she said, “I just think that you could use someone to talk to is all.”

  “Why do you think that?” Cody asked.

  “Because Savanna says you really don’t talk to anyone there at the home, including her.”

  “What are you expecting me to talk about?” Cody asked suspiciously.

  “I’m not expecting you to talk about anything,” Lyric said. “I’m just letting you know that if you do want to talk about anything, I’ll listen, okay?”

  Cody nodded, taking a deep breath and expelling it slowly.

  They were both silent for a while and Lyric turned her stereo up to fill the silence. “Fast Times” by Billy Squire was on. Lyric sang the words as she always did with her music. Cody watched her, listening to the words and the music itself. She liked the words, when it talked about not needing to be told how to run their lives.

  “What is that song?” Cody asked when it ended.

  “It’s from that eighties movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” Lyric said, “It’s called Fast Times.”

  Cody nodded. “I like it.”

  “I can get you a copy,” Lyric said, nodding.

  “Wouldn’t have any way to listen to it,” Cody said, shrugging.

  “Oh,” Lyric said, realizing that she hadn’t thought about that part.
“Well, I could fix that, if you want.”

  “How?” Cody asked, looking perplexed.

  “Pretty simple, really,” Lyric said. “I’ve got at least one old Nano laying around.”

  “Nano?” Cody asked.

  “Yeah, iPod,” Lyric said, looking over at Cody, seeing the blank look on her face. “Never heard of it?”

  “I’ve heard of them,” Cody said, “but they’re like major expensive.”

  “Not really,” Lyric said. “I have a few, and I’m always listening to music.”

  Cody nodded, wondering if she’d ever be in a place in her life where she could have anything she wanted.

  “So, I could give you one if you want,” Lyric said.

  Cody looked back at her, once again looking suspicious.

  “Code,” Lyric said, “I’m not trying to play you here, okay? I just can’t even fathom not having music with me all the time.”

  “How come?” Cody asked.

  Lyric looked considering. “I dunno, I guess I just like having that friend with me all the time, you know?”

  “Friend?” Cody asked, surprised by word choice.

  “Yeah,” Lyric said, grinning. “That one friend you can always count on, the one that makes you feel better, or screams her head off with you, tells you a story or lets you cry on her shoulder?”

  “Music does all that for you?” Cody asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Lyric said, stopping at a red light and reaching over to hit a couple of buttons on the stereo to change CDs. “Listen to this,” she said, hitting play.

  The song “Manhattan Project” by Rush began. Cody listened to the lyrics. She liked one of the last verses and the chorus. She particularly liked the part that talked about the pilot who had dropped the atomic bomb on Japan flying out of the shock waves.

  As the song ended, Cody nodded.

  “That’s about the bomb, right?” Cody asked.

  “Yep,” Lyric said, nodding.

  “I like that part about the pilot,” Cody said. “It’s like you’re there…”

  “Exactly!” Lyric said. “And that’s what I love about music. It’s like books, only with sound.”