Darkness Past

by Sherryl Hancock

  “Right,” Sierra said, giving the bartender a quelling look.

  The bartender, Gina, nodded, her grin impish. She handed Sierra the glass of wine.

  “It’s on the house, honey,” she said as Sierra reached into her purse.

  “Thanks,” Sierra said, unsure of the woman’s reason for buying her a drink.

  “The reason I ask,” the bartender said, “is ’cause Kash is here.”

  “She is?” Sierra asked sharply before she could stop herself.

  Gina smiled. “Yeah, she’s at the back bar.” She reached out her hand, touching Sierra’s. “And that scumbag Linda is making a play to get back with her as we speak.”

  “Linda?” Sierra asked, feeling sick. “Wait, get back with her?”

  Gina nodded. “They broke up a couple of weeks ago.”

  Sierra wasn’t sure what to do with that piece of information. Kash had broken up with Linda? Around the same time they had broken up? Now Linda was trying to get Kashena back?

  “Linda’s like a shark,” Gina said, seeing Sierra’s thoughts clearly on her face. “She smells blood in the water and she’s going in for the kill.” Gina paused. “On your woman.”

  Sierra’s eyes connected with the bartender’s. Gina inclined her head toward the back bar, and Sierra nodded. Gina handed her a shot glass with amber liquid in it. Sierra looked back at Gina, then drank the shot, feeling the alcohol burn down her throat. Gathering her courage, she walked toward the back bar, in another room of the club. Walking through the door, she looked to the left and saw Kashena at the bar. Her back was to the bar, her elbows against it. She had a beer in her hand, and her eyes were on a woman dancing in front of her.

  The woman had waist-long dark curly hair. She was wearing a skirt that barely covered her legs and a halter top that barely contained her. She was pretty, Sierra had to admit that. Linda had a very sexy way about her; Sierra could see what attracted Kashena to her. Linda was a user, though, Sierra reminded herself.

  Striding toward Kashena, Sierra got halfway there. She was ten feet away when she stopped. She stared at Kashena, unsure suddenly.

  Kashena’s face was composed in a bored, slightly amused look. The movement just behind Linda caught her eye. Glancing up, she saw Sierra standing there. Her eyes connected with Sierra’s, and she found she couldn’t look away.

  Linda suddenly realized she’d lost Kashena’s attention. Looking up, she saw that Kashena was gazing past her. Over her shoulder, Linda saw a dark-haired woman with distinctly American Indian features, even a long braid down one side of her hair. Oh shit, was the next thought.

  Sierra walked toward Kashena, as Kashena straightened from the bar. Sierra walked right up to her, staring up into her eyes.

  “We need to talk,” Sierra said.

  “Excuse me,” Linda inserted, moving toward Sierra.

  Kashena didn’t look away from Sierra, only holding her hand up to stop Linda’s forward motion.

  “Let’s go outside,” Kashena said to Sierra.

  Sierra nodded and preceded Kashena out of the bar. Linda stared open-mouthed after them. Glancing around, she saw other women watching her. Many in the club knew all about Linda. Everyone knew Kashena and liked her a great deal. No one liked what Linda did to her on a regular basis. So it was with much amusement that they watched Kashena leave the bar with the beautiful dark-haired woman who’d been in her life lately. A few people knew the woman was married, but they were hoping that would change soon.

  Outside, Kashena lit a cigar, leaning against the wall. Sierra shifted from one foot to the other, trying to decide exactly what to say. This wasn’t something she’d planned on. She’d had no idea that Kashena was at the bar that night. Kashena never went out on weeknights. It was fate—fate had put them together once again.

  Stepping forward, Sierra put herself right against Kashena, her face an inch away from hers. She kissed Kashena on the lips tenderly. Pulling back, she looked up into Kashena’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I love you. Please forgive me.”

  Kashena stared back at her. Flinging her cigar away, Kashena straightened and grabbed Sierra’s hand, striding to her Impala parked not too far away. She opened the door for Sierra, and then got in on the driver’s side. She drove directly to her house without a word. Kashena opened the door, taking Sierra’s hand again and leading her inside.

  Once in the house, Kashena turned to Sierra, kissing her deeply. There were no more words then, just the physical reunion they needed. Two hours later, they lay in Kashena’s bed, both trying to catch their breath. Kashena settled Sierra on her side, her arms wrapped around her.

  “Now,” Kashena said, kissing Sierra’s forehead, “talk to me.”

  Sierra snuggled closer to Kashena, reveling in the feeling of being with her again.

  “I need to be with you,” she said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you as often as I can.”

  Kashena nodded, her fingers brushing back long strands of black hair from Sierra’s face.

  “So what would be different this time?” Kashena asked, no accusation in her tone.

  Sierra breathed deeply.

  “Well, I know I can’t live without you,” Sierra said. “So I will just have to do what it takes to be with you.”

  “Can I ask you a question?” Kashena said.

  Sierra nodded.

  “Why do you have sex with him so much, if you love me?”

  “Because he pushes me for it all the time,” Sierra said, grimacing. “I never want to fight with him about it because I don’t want Colby overhearing that kind of argument. But, if that’s what it takes to keep you, I’ll do whatever I have to.”

  Kashena winced. “I don’t want you to have to fight with him…”

  “That’s what it’ll take, to keep him away from me, though, Kash.”

  Kashena took a deep breath.

  “Sierra,” she said then, her tone changing slightly, “do you…” She hesitated. “Do you enjoy it with him?”

  After a long moment, Sierra shook her head. “I haven’t enjoyed sex with him since maybe the first or second time. Especially not now.”

  “Now?”

  “It’s nothing like this,” Sierra said, gesturing to their bodies together. “Since I’ve been with you, nothing else compares.”

  Kashena grinned. “That’s it, stroke my ego.”

  Sierra kissed her. “I’m not stroking your ego. I’m stating a fact.”

  “Mm-hmm…” Kashena murmured, leaning in to kiss Sierra again.

  That movement was aborted abruptly when Kashena grabbed the gun from under her pillow, sitting up and pointing it at the person standing in the doorway in one fluid motion.

  “Kash, Jesus!” Linda screamed, throwing her arms up in front of her face.

  Kashena didn’t move. “What are you doing in here?” she asked, her gun still pointed unwaveringly at Linda.

  “You made a fool out of me at the bar,” Linda said mournfully.

  “I’m about to make worse out of you if you don’t get out of my house,” Kashena said.

  “Kashie…” Linda began.

  “I think she told you to get out,” Sierra said, sitting up behind Kashena.

  “Shut up, you stupid bitch!” Linda screeched.

  “Not too stupid,” Sierra said, her hand on Kashena’s shoulder.

  Linda narrowed her eyes.

  “Linda, get out,” Kashena said.

  “You think you have her,” Linda said, her eyes on Sierra. “You don’t have her. Kash is in love with me.”

  “Guess again,” Sierra said, putting her arms around Kashena’s neck loosely, then pulling her back against her. Kashena’s arm didn’t waver; the gun was still pointed at Linda. Her look, however, changed to one of amusement.

  Her dark eyes watching Linda, Sierra lowered her head and kissed Kashena on the neck.

  Kashena closed her eyes briefly, making an “mmm” sound.

  Linda narro
wed her eyes dangerously. Kashena said nothing, merely watching Linda intently. It was obvious the moment Linda’s tactics changed—Kashena could almost hear her mind click.

  Linda dropped her arms, one hand resting on the dresser next to her.

  “This isn’t how things should be,” she said ruefully.

  “Yeah, well, this is how things are,” Kashena said. “Now get out.”

  “Fine!” Linda yelled, tightening her hands into fists.

  Kashena waited until Linda had turned and walked out, watching the indicator for her alarm system, which showed where Linda was in the house via the motion detectors. When the lights went back to green, Kashena got up and, setting her gun aside, she armed the system. Linda was getting into the bad habit of just walking in whenever she chose to. That wasn’t acceptable.

  Lying back down, Kashena glanced at Sierra.

  “You okay?” she asked as she pulled Sierra back into her arms.

  “Yes. She’s definitely tenacious,” Sierra said, indicating the spot where Linda had stood minutes before.

  Kashena rolled her eyes. “And then some.”

  “You’re very quick with that gun, Agent Marshal,” Sierra said, smiling proudly.

  “Quick where I need to be, slow everywhere else…”

  “You’re so worth fighting for,” Sierra said.

  “I don’t want anyone fighting over me,” Kashena replied, leaning down to kiss Sierra’s lips.

  Sierra wrapped her arms around Kashena’s neck, kissing her back.

  “How late can you stay?” Kashena asked.

  “As late as you want me here.” Sierra smiled. “He’s down in Twentynine Palms for the next two days,” she said in answer to the question in Kashena’s eyes.

  “Ah,” Kashena said, nodding. “That’s where his orders sent him now?”

  “Yes,” Sierra said.

  “He gonna want you closer to LA then?”

  “That’s what he has in mind,” Sierra replied, “but I’m not doing it.”

  “How’s that going to go over?”

  “He won’t like it,” Sierra said, “but I make more money, and it would be difficult for Colby to be uprooted from school and his friends, so I’ll win for now.”

  “For now,” Kashena repeated.

  “One issue at a time, Kash,” Sierra said, sounding like the lawyer she was.

  “Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” Kashena said with a grin, her deep blue eyes sparkling.

  They kissed again and forgot everything else for a while. Sierra called Tammy and asked her if it would be alright if she stayed the night. Tammy happily agreed. Sierra promised to come home in time to get Colby ready for school and take him to day care.

  Things worked for the next week. Jason came home from the base, wanting sex the minute he walked in the door. Sierra knew Kashena was out of town for the next two days, so she allowed him to have sex with her. She literally lay there trying to forget what was happening. Jason didn’t even seem to notice or care. Afterwards she took a long hot bath, wanting to soak him out of her. The night he was supposed to leave again for the base, a day before she was to see Kashena again, he wanted sex; she managed to avoid it until it was too late and he had to leave. He left unhappily. She didn’t care at all.

  The next night she spent with Kashena, happy to be with her again. They spent most of the night talking about anything and everything. Sierra marveled at the fact that they could talk about so many things. Conversations ranged from their tribes, to what Kashena was doing down in Los Angeles, setting up new teams for security, all the way to where they’d travel if they got the chance. It was insane being so connected to someone, but it felt good too, and Sierra wasn’t going to give it up, no matter what it took to keep it.

  She found out what it would take the next time Jason came home. The timing wasn’t as good this time. Jason came home on a Thursday. Sierra had a date with Kashena to go to dinner and the club on Saturday. So now came the test—she’d have to tell Jason no when he wanted sex.

  He arrived home right before dinner. Sierra was in the middle of cooking when he walked in, so it was easy to avoid him for a while. Later, however, after dinner was over and the dishes cleared and washed, Colby went off to his room, and Jason came after her. Sierra had gone upstairs, hoping to avoid him for a while longer. She was sitting in her home office, working on a report for Midnight, when he came in. His hands slid down the front of her body, grabbing her breasts.

  “Jason,” she said, sharper than she’d meant to, because she was so tense, “I’m busy right now. I need to get this report done.”

  “Well, I need something too,” he said, his tone far from endearing. He grasped at her again.

  She turned her chair around, knocking his arms away with its high back. “I said I’m busy right now,” she said more sternly. “You’re just going to have to survive without me for a night.”

  “Bullshit,” Jason said, his tone darkening. “Your shit can wait. I’ve been gone for three days, and I want to fuck. Got it?”

  Sierra stood up, looking away from him. His language was getting worse. It was as if he had lost any semblance of respect for her. She was just some object to him now, something to be used when he needed it.

  “Is that what I am to you?” she asked him evenly.

  “What?” Jason replied, surprised by the question.

  “Am I just something to be fucked and used?”

  Jason stared back at her, obviously at a loss as to how to answer that question.

  “You’re my wife,” he said finally, as if she should know that.

  “Yes,” she said, “but nowhere in the marriage contract does it require me to fuck you whenever you feel like it,” she snapped, using his own language to try and get through to him.

  “What is this?” he asked, his voice turning suspicious. “You think you’re going to start holding out on me now?”

  “I think I’m going to start having some say as to when we have sex,” Sierra said.

  “Tell ya what,” he said, taking a menacing step forward and grabbing her wrists. “You can say where we fuck.”

  “Jason, no!” she yelled, trying to pull away from him, but his grip was like iron around her wrists.

  Chapter 7

  Kashena answered her door and was shocked to see Sierra standing there, tears streaming down her face. Sierra threw herself into Kashena’s arms, crying harder then.

  “What happened?” Kashena asked, holding Sierra close to her. “Tell me what happened.”

  Kashena walked Sierra over to the couch, sitting down and pulling Sierra down onto her lap. It was a long time before Sierra could calm down long enough to speak coherently. Even then, her speech was halting and half hysterical.

  “Jason… came home tonight… he wanted… he tried… and I told him no, I tried, Kash, I tried… but he… he…” Again she began to cry, and Kashena knew exactly what had happened.

  Kashena winced, closing her eyes for a moment. Sierra’s husband had forced her to have sex, all because Kashena insisted on there being forty-eight hours between the times that she was with him and then with her. Damn it!

  “Baby, I’m sorry,” Kashena said, putting her lips to Sierra’s forehead. “God, I’m so sorry…”

  Sierra shook her head, her face against Kashena’s shirt. “It’s not your fault. He just wouldn’t stop…”

  “Did he hurt you? Maybe I should take you to a hospital,” Kashena said, the cop in her kicking in.

  “No!” Sierra exclaimed. “Please, Kash, no, no hospital, please. I don’t want anyone to know, please…”

  “Okay, babe, okay,” Kashena said, tipping Sierra’s face up to hers. “Did he hurt you?”

  Sierra bit her lip; it was obvious that it was still sinking in. Finally she shook her head. “I knew he’d hurt me worse if I resisted, so I finally gave in and just lay there.”

  Kashena let out a relieved sigh. “Okay, then we won’t worry about that part. But babe…”

 
; “I can’t believe he resorted to that,” Sierra said.

  “He’s a bastard,” Kashena said, her tone dark. “Personally, I think he and I need to have a chat, Marine to Marine.”

  “No! Kashena, no,” Sierra said. “I don’t want you anywhere near him. He thinks of me as his property—he’d kill you for trying to take me away from him.”

  “He’d try,” Kashena replied confidently.

  “I can’t take that chance, Kashena, not with you, please?” Sierra begged.

  Kashena took a deep breath, her desire to beat the shit out of Jason warring with the desire to allay Sierra’s fears of a confrontation between the two of them. Although Kashena saw that confrontation as inevitable—she’d already seen it in her visions. They were never wrong.

  “Okay, okay,” Kashena said finally, pulling Sierra into her arms again, holding her close. “Stay here tonight though. I don’t want you going home to that man tonight.”

  Sierra nodded, agreeing with Kashena on that.

  Kashena got up, pouring Sierra a glass of wine and grabbing a beer out of the fridge for herself. They went out onto the patio and talked for a while. Sierra slowly but surely started realizing what had happened.

  “He raped me,” she said, her tone stunned.

  Kashena’s head came up a bit as she grimaced. She knew it would hit Sierra eventually, what her husband had done to her. Sierra looked over at Kashena, noting the grimace. She was looking for confirmation. Kashena nodded slowly, her expression unhappy.

  “I can’t stay with him, Kashena,” Sierra said. “My God, he raped his own wife… What kind of monster is he?”

  Kashena took a long drink of her beer, draining the bottle. “He’s a Marine, Sierra. If the Navy had wanted him to have a conscience, they would have issued him one.”

  Sierra looked back at Kashena, surprised by what she’d just said.

  “But you have a conscience,” Sierra pointed out.

  “Yeah,” Kashena said, her grin wry, “and I’ve been out for over six years now. I got mine back on discharge.”

  Sierra smiled sadly, then shook her head. “I can’t stay with him,” she said again, as if trying to convince herself.