“So what do you need from us?” Kana asked
“I was hoping I could at least get someone to take me home,” Sierra said. “My husband is in the military and he’s currently overseas. I have a ten-year-old son—I’m more afraid for his safety. I think that if this man sees that I have someone escorting me home, he might back off.”
“It’s possible,” Kana said, her mind working.
Kana looked over at Midnight. “Who do you want me to pull for this?”
Midnight pursed her lips in thought.
“I’d like—” Sierra began, then stopped.
Kana and Midnight looked at her.
“What, Sierra?” Midnight asked. “You’d like what?”
Sierra was silent, looking at Kana pointedly.
Kana nodded, knowing what Sierra was getting at.
“I can take care of it,” Kana said, looking back over at Midnight.
Midnight’s gaze went between the two women, then back to Kana as she nodded.
Later that afternoon, Kana showed up at Sierra’s office.
“You ready to go?” she asked, leaning against the doorjamb.
Sierra glanced up. “Yes, certainly,” she said, getting up and turning off her computer.
Kana led Sierra out to her Navigator, opening the door for her. When she turned on the vehicle, the radio played R&B music. Sierra looked surprised.
Kana grimaced, reaching over and turning the radio down.
“Sorry,” she said, grinning. “My girlfriend was in the car this morning. That’s her stuff.”
“Oh.” Sierra smiled. “I know how that is. I had a girlfriend once that was really into the classics, and God only knew what would blast forth from my stereo when I turned on the car some mornings.”
Kana chuckled, nodding.
On the way out of the garage, Kana picked up her cigarettes, then glanced over at Sierra.
“Do you mind?” she asked, holding up the cigarettes.
“No, go ahead,” Sierra said.
“Thanks,” Kana said, shaking out a cigarette and putting it in her mouth and lighting it.
Sierra watched with a bemused smile on her lips. She’d seen Kana a number of times in the office. Kana was always dressed stylishly, without being either too trendy or too feminine. She carried an air of authority about her that was impossible to miss. Kana, much like Midnight Chevalier, was an anomaly in a political office like the Attorney General’s office. It was actually very refreshing to see and experience.
Sierra had worked for the Attorney General’s office for eight years. At thirty-five, she was one of the youngest women promoted to Chief Deputy Attorney General ever. She knew that she never would have had this opportunity if Midnight Chevalier hadn’t become Attorney General. Jeffrey Cook had been the previous Chief Deputy AG in charge of the criminal division. When he’d retired two months ago, Midnight had held interviews for the position. Sierra had applied but hadn’t really expected to get it, basing her expectations on the previous administration’s attitude that experience didn’t count as much as what other men in the division would be comfortable with. Sierra couldn’t count the times she’d been told, “No man will work for a woman, especially not in the criminal division.” She couldn’t think of a more ridiculous reason not to promote her, yet it happened time and time again.
At one point she’d finally threatened to sue for sexual discrimination, and she’d been promoted to a Deputy Attorney General IV. She had a Yale law degree, having been admitted to Yale Law with a perfect LSAT score, something unheard of. After Yale, she’d put her time in at the District Attorney’s office as a Deputy District Attorney in the second chair. She’d made first chair, main prosecuting attorney, in a record year. In a courtroom, she was in charge—no one could beat her as long as she had half a case to prosecute. Defense lawyers had started making a record number of plea bargains when they’d heard that Sierra Youngblood was prosecuting. She was that good.
In Sierra, Midnight had seen someone like herself. A woman who had the smarts to get where she wanted to be, but held back by conventions and what Midnight privately called “man thinking.” There had been no competition once Midnight had interviewed Sierra. She knew who she wanted running her criminal division, a lawyer who knew how to get the job done. And if, in fact, men didn’t want to work for a woman, as far as Midnight was concerned they didn’t belong working for the AG’s office anymore, since the Attorney General was a woman too, and they indirectly worked for her.
“So, your girlfriend,” Sierra commented after a few minutes, “is that your partner?”
Kana nodded, glancing over at Sierra.
The woman had said her “husband” was overseas. Had she read this wrong? She’d sensed that Sierra Youngblood was gay, but married? It wasn’t unheard of. Palani had been married before she’d realized she preferred women. Kana was curious now but knew there was no real way to ask. So she decided to let the conversation wander in that direction.
“What branch of the service is your husband in?” Kana asked.
“Marines,” Sierra said. “He’s in the Middle East right now.”
“That must be difficult, having him gone,” Kana said casually.
Sierra smiled. “Not so difficult. It actually gives me a little bit of breathing room.”
“Breathing room?” Kana asked, her senses working overtime to detect a hint of something else.
“My husband can be a bit stifling,” Sierra said.
“I’ve heard they can be like that,” she said, grinning. “One more reason I never wanted one.”
“A husband?” Sierra asked, her eyes twinkling humorously.
“Yeah…”
“That and the fact that you prefer women, right?” Sierra said, chuckling.
“Yeah, that too.”
“Well, I took the chicken way out,” Sierra said, her tone more serious.
Kana nodded slowly, serious now too. “Happens a lot.”
Sierra nodded too, with an almost pained look. “Sometimes I wish I hadn’t, but I did get my son, Colby, out of the bargain.”
Kana thought about Palani and her desire for a baby. “Then it was worth it,” she said. “Does your husband know?”
Sierra nodded. “I discovered I was at the very least bi my senior year in college. I explored it for four years but never found a woman I wanted to be with. Jason, my husband, came along and basically swept me off my feet. But he’d known then that I was seeing women as well as men. He said he was okay with it. I guess he really wasn’t,” she said with a grimace.
“Why do you say that?” Kana asked.
“Well, after we were married, he started letting his facade fall, making comments about women on women being ‘hot,’ stuff like that,” she said with a wry look. “By the time I had Colby, he was saying that gays were really just sick people. Now he won’t even acknowledge the fact that I am gay. It’s like he’s wiped it from his mind.”
Kana winced. She knew what it was like to have to pretend she wasn’t what she was. She’d done it long enough with her family and friends, hiding her realization that she was gay for a full five years before finally telling the people she loved.
They were silent for a while, each lost in her own thoughts.
“Thank you for doing this,” Sierra said quietly.
Kana nodded. “No problem, but can I ask why you wanted me to do it?”
Sierra was silent for a moment, then she shrugged. “I feel more comfortable around women—I always have. I knew that you were gay, so I guess I just gravitated toward someone like me. Does that make sense?”
“Yes, it makes sense,” Kana said, still feeling the effects of what Sierra had told her. It was like watching a tragedy on TV—you really felt for the person, even if there wasn’t anything you could do.
Kana dropped Sierra off at her house, telling her if there were any more problems, she was to let Midnight or Kana know.
“Does the house have a security system?” Kana a
sked.
“Yes,” Sierra answered.
“Use it. I’ll get you the cell number for the Special Agent Supervisors in charge of security here in Sacramento. If anything happens, day or night, you can call them. They’ll respond quickly. Okay?”
Sierra nodded. “Thank you so much,” she said, smiling.
“You’re very welcome,” Kana said, smiling too.
On the flight home to San Diego, Kana found herself thinking about Sierra’s situation. It was something she couldn’t imagine dealing with. When she got home, she hugged Palani tight, once again extremely happy that she had found the love of her life. During dinner that night, she told Palani about the new Chief Deputy Attorney General.
“Her husband knew she was bi, and married her even though he apparently hates gays?” Palani asked in disbelief.
“A lot of men think they can change us,” Kana said, picking up her beer and taking a drink. “Since she’s bi, he probably figured he could make her forget the other part about wanting women.”
“Doesn’t work that way,” Palani said.
“No,” Kana said. “I think she is fortunate that she never found a woman she really connected with, or it would be harder for her now.”
Palani nodded. “I know. That’s how it was for me, when I had to go home to Matthew. I realized suddenly how little he and I had in common, and how much our marriage was lacking. It was awful.”
Kana looked pained. “I know, I remember what you told me about that. I’m just sorry I insisted you go home to him to keep things stable until the divorce.”
Palani put her hand out to touch Kana’s. “Don’t start feeling like that again, Kana. What happened with Matthew wasn’t your fault. It was his bad judgment, not yours. You were only trying to protect my interests.”
It had been at Kana’s insistence that Palani had stayed in the same house with her husband. Palani had a hard time sleeping without Kana beside her, so she’d started taking Halcion to help her sleep. Matthew Ryker had foolishly decided that the best way to keep his wife was to get her pregnant. And as such had gotten her pregnant while she was deeply asleep on Halcion. Since Palani wasn’t, to her knowledge, having sex with Matthew, she couldn’t explain to Kana how she’d gotten pregnant. She’d told Kana repeatedly that she wasn’t sleeping with him. So when Palani ended up pregnant, Kana assumed Palani had lied to her. That had been the cause of their breakup.
In the end, Palani had not only found out about Matthew’s duplicity, but it had been the final straw that had ended their marriage for good. She’d lost Kana, the only woman she’d ever been with and loved deeply. She also lost the baby that had separated them. Palani’s brother, Sampson, a huge Samoan man, had come over from Hawaii to talk some sense into Palani about getting a divorce. Palani had, out of sheer frustration, blurted out that she was in love with a woman. Sampson had backhanded her, causing her to fall down a flight of stairs. She’d lost the baby then.
It was still a source of angst for Kana. She felt that if she’d been with Palani then, none of that would have happened. If she’d trusted Palani enough to stay with her long enough to find out the truth, Palani would now have the baby she’d wanted so badly. Palani felt that it was for the best, since they intended to get married now and have Kana’s brother, Natano, donate the sperm for the baby they would have. To Palani’s way of thinking, this was better because the baby would be of Kana’s family and of her. That was best.
Kana and Palani spent the rest of the evening talking about other things. Palani was leaving on a two-week photo shoot in two days. They wanted to spend as much time together as they could.
That was why the next day, when Palani told her they were having dinner with Jerry, Palani’s model friend, and Jerry’s girlfriend, Jane Anne, Kana wasn’t pleased.
“Do we have to?” Kana asked, glancing over at Midnight, who was grinning.
“Please, K?” Palani pleaded. “Jerry’s still having doubts about filing against that photographer who assaulted her. I know you can remind her why it’s important.”
Kana rolled her eyes. “What am I, the law enforcement consultant to the modeling industry now?”
“Honey…” Palani beseeched. “Please?”
Kana sighed heavily. “Okay, okay, I’ll go, but I have to be home early. We fly out first thing in the morning.”
“I know. It’ll be an early night,” Palani promised.
In the end, it wasn’t an early night. Things were really tense between Jerry and Jane Anne. For that reason, Jerry had a lot to drink and got very talkative.
Jerry talked them into going over to Bourbon Street, a local gay bar, “just for one drink.” One drink turned into two and three. When the waitress spilled a drink on their table, she apologized profusely for it. Kana assured her it was okay.
“That’s so sweet of you to say,” the waitress said, smiling brightly at Kana.
After the waitress walked away, Kana looked over at Palani, who raised an eyebrow at her comically.
“What?” Kana asked, already grinning.
“She was flirting with you,” Palani said, laughing.
“She was not,” Kana said. “Not every woman that’s family flirts with me.”
“Like hell they don’t,” Palani said, narrowing her eyes at Kana, her grin still in place.
Kana rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She eventually abandoned any hope of getting home at a decent hour. Once she did that, she allowed herself to have a good time.
At one point, Kana and Palani danced. Since discovering that Kana could indeed dance, quite well, Palani always wanted to dance with her. Kana had a very natural rhythm, combined with the style she had in the way she dressed and looked. With Palani, the stunningly beautiful, petite, perfect woman that she was, as Kana’s partner, people tended to stare. Palani loved it, because she knew that, contrary to what Kana thought, many women in that particular bar wanted Kana for their own. And Kana was all hers. It was one huge ego boost.
Jerry watched as they danced, a sour look on her face. Jane Anne, being very butch, didn’t dance. It was one of those things that had always bugged Jerry. Since she was drunk, it seemed to bug her more.
Jerry had thought Palani a lucky girl for a long, long time. Palani had met and fallen in love with Kana the first time she’d even tried a relationship with a woman. Kana was not only beautiful, but she had an innate sense of style and a presence that made her the center of attention whether she wanted to be or not. Kana was also sexy—Jerry had just started noticing that recently. It bothered her normally that she was finding herself attracted to Palani’s partner, but in her drunken state she felt like commenting on it. It wasn’t a good idea.
“You know,” Jerry said, leaning across the table and grabbing Palani’s hands in hers, “you are so lucky.”
Palani nodded slowly, not sure where Jerry was going with that comment. She knew her friend was very drunk and so was trying to keep up with Jerry’s conversation, which had been all over the place that evening.
“Why is she lucky?” Jane Anne asked, narrowing her eyes at her girlfriend.
“Because,” Jerry said, gesturing drunkenly at Kana, “she has an incredible, sexy girlfriend that every woman in this place is dying to nail.”
Jane Anne’s eyes narrowed further as she flicked a glance at Kana. Kana shook her head. She, too, knew that Jerry was drunk and that she’d just said the wrong thing in front of Jane Anne.
“Jerry,” Palani said, standing up and pulling Jerry with her. “I think we need to go to the bathroom. Let’s go.”
With that, Palani all but dragged a stumbling Jerry to the women’s bathroom at the back of the bar. At the table, Kana looked at Jane Anne.
“She’s had way too much, you know,” Kana said, by way of explanation for Jerry’s comment.
Jane Anne looked irritated. “She also needs to learn to keep her damned mouth shut,” she snapped.
Kana sat back, not willing to get into this with Jane Anne. She sens
ed there was a lot of underlying tension between the two women. The last thing she wanted to do was get herself stuck in the middle of it.
The waitress came by. “You need anything?” she asked Kana, her smile bright.
“You sell muzzles here?” Kana asked, grinning.
The waitress giggled. “Sounds kinky.”
Kana laughed, shaking her head. “Let me get a shot of tequila. Jane Anne, you want anything?”
“A shot,” Jane Anne said. “Make it a double.”
The waitress looked at Jane Anne, then back at Kana, widening her eyes slightly. Kana nodded, winking at the girl to tell her it was alright. The waitress walked away. Kana and Jane Anne sat in silence. Jane Anne was stewing, and Kana wasn’t about to prod her. She’d been in enough fights at this bar; the last thing she wanted was to get into one with Jerry’s girlfriend over some perceived slight.
Meanwhile in the bathroom, Palani was trying to talk to Jerry.
“I’m sorry,” Jerry said. “I shouldn’t have said that to you about K. I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay, Jerry,” Palani was saying. “I know you’ve had a lot to drink.”
“Still,” Jerry continued, “I know better than to say stuff like that. And now Jane Anne is pissed at me too. God, I’m so sorry!” she wailed.
“It’s okay,” Palani said, grinning. “Besides, it can’t hurt Kana’s ego at all, right?”
Jerry rolled her eyes. “No, just put me in the doghouse for a week or so.”
“Well, we leave day after tomorrow, Jerry, so it’ll be a short stay in the doghouse.”
Jerry straightened up at that thought. Jane Anne couldn’t be mad at her while she was gone. She smiled, and then looked in the mirror to fix her makeup, glancing at Palani in the reflection as she did.
“You’re not upset, are you?” Jerry asked, her tone worried.
“About what?” Palani asked as she too checked her makeup.
“About me saying that about Kana?”
“Why would I be upset?”
“Well, we’re friends. I didn’t think you’d want me thinking your girlfriend is hot, you know?” Jerry said, her look leery.
Palani shrugged. “You’re right, just about every woman in this place wants her. The point is, I have her, so it doesn’t bother me, no.”
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