Taking chances, p.14
Taking Chances, page 14
Liz swallowed convulsively. She hadn’t really thought of it that way. But surely this woman was being dramatic.
“They wouldn’t dare.”
Cat said nothing, only shrugging.
“But you’re not going to tell them?” Liz asked, wanting to know before she walked into her aunt’s party.
“Nope,” Cat said, shaking her head.
Liz breathed a sigh of relief. She said nothing else to Cat, but continued to watch her as she drove. At Rick and Midnight’s house, Cat dropped her off.
“You’re not coming in?” Liz asked, surprised.
“Not my party,” Cat said, smiling tightly.
Liz nodded mutely as Cat put the Blazer into gear and drove off. Liz spent the rest of the evening in a sense of unreality. She couldn’t believe she’d come so close to getting caught and had managed to escape it.
Cat went back to her apartment and got ready for the raid she had scheduled for that evening. It was a minimal crew, since most of Rogue Squadron was at the party—just her, Mace, and one other guy from another team. It was a small hit, though, so she didn’t expect any problems. As usual, things didn’t go totally as planned.
Midnight’s night went well. She announced to the media in a short press conference before the party that she was running for Attorney General. She and her friends and family then partied their asses off the rest of the night. The celebrations were interrupted momentarily at one point when Dave got a call stating that Cat had been hurt during the raid.
“Nothing major, boss,” Kevin said. “I took her to emergency and she got a couple of stitches in her fairly hard head, but that’s it. Just wanted you to know before it was on the news.”
Dave breathed a sigh of relief, even as he grinned. “Thanks, Mace. Make sure she gets home okay.”
“Will do, boss,” Kevin said, nodding.
Dave hung up and noted that he had a fairly large Samoan woman watching him closely.
“Cat’s hurt?” Kana asked sharply.
“She’s fine,” Dave said. “She took a knock on the head.”
“But she’s okay?” Kana asked, not caring if everyone was watching her closely.
Dave grinned. “Well, I don’t know for sure,” he said, his tone changing. “I was going to have to go by her place later to make sure…”
Kana narrowed her eyes at him, knowing she was being led. “I’ll go.”
Dave nodded. “Thanks, K. That’ll save me a trip.”
“Uh-huh,” Kana said, giving him a sour look, even as he grinned.
Two hours later, Kana walked into Cat’s apartment. She looked around, nodding to herself. She’d never been to Cat’s place; they’d spent all their time at Kana’s house. The apartment was nice, not exactly luxurious but pleasant enough with a decent amount of space. It was right on the water in Pacific Beach. Setting the key she’d used to get in on the counter, Kana made her way down the hallway, glancing around.
Walking into the bedroom, she saw Cat lying on her bed. She was wearing a tank top and sweats, and her blond hair was fanned out on the pillow under her head. She was asleep. Kana walked over to stand next to the bed, looking down at her.
As if sensing her there, Cat turned over, reaching up to rub her eyes. She jumped slightly when she saw Kana, then narrowed her eyes.
“How did you get in here?” Cat asked sourly.
Kana grinned. “The extra key you told me about, remember?”
Cat narrowed her eyes. “It’s still trespassing,” she muttered.
Kana chuckled, moving to sit down on the bed next to where Cat lay. Cat sat up, moving pointedly away from Kana. Kana’s lips curled. It wasn’t like Cat to be petty, so she found it amusing that she was being so now.
“Cat…” Kana said, her voice trailing off as she put her hand to Cat’s cheek.
“What?” Cat replied, looking directly into Kana’s eyes.
Kana’s eyes searched hers, then she sighed, shaking her head. “I’m sorry,” she said, her tone softening. “I wasn’t ready to talk about Palani yet. I’m still not, okay? It’s too painful still.”
Cat pressed her lips together, narrowing her eyes at Kana.
“So why couldn’t you just say that then? Instead of going all cold on me.”
Kana dropped her eyes from Cat’s. She had a point there. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I guess you surprised me that you even knew about Palani.” She looked at Cat again, brushing her thumb over her cheek. “I’m sorry, hon, I really am. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Well, you did,” Cat said stubbornly.
“I know.”
“And now I’m mad at you,” Cat said, sounding even more petulant.
“I know,” Kana replied, her head lowered even as she looked up at Cat, a grin starting at her lips.
“And now you have to make it up to me,” Cat said, her own grin starting.
“I will.”
“You better.”
“I will,” Kana repeated, leaning in to kiss her softly.
“Mmm…” Cat murmured. “That’s a good start.”
Kana laughed softly, hugging Cat to her. They stayed that way for a while. Cat leaned her head against Kana’s shoulder, growing tired again from the Vicodin she’d taken when she’d gotten home.
“Okay, do you want me to go, so you can sleep?” Kana asked, pulling back to look down at Cat.
“No,” Cat said. “I want you to stay so I can sleep.”
Kana smiled. “I think I can do that.”
“Good.”
Kana curled up behind Cat, holding her. In that week, Kana had realized that protecting her memories of Palani wasn’t going to keep her warm at night. She’d missed Cat’s companionship. She knew she wasn’t in love with the girl, but she did care about her. They had a good time together, balancing each other out nicely. Kana knew she’d been wrong in shutting Cat out when she’d asked about Palani, but she still wasn’t ready to talk about the relationship. Cat seemed to understand that, and that was what mattered at this point.
“How do you know when it’s going to be a bad night?” Cat muttered as she followed the black Porsche Carrera GT.
She was once again tracking Elizabeth, and lo and behold, Elizabeth was headed straight back to her favorite drug house. Cat shook her head. She knew the girl wouldn’t listen to reason, but she had tried it the first time, hoping that maybe scaring Elizabeth with the idea that her family basically ran law enforcement in San Diego would work. It hadn’t.
Cat watched as Elizabeth got out of the Porsche and walked up to the house. Cat also noticed a number of men who looked suspiciously like gang members watching Elizabeth walk in. Cat’s sixth sense started tingling immediately—she knew something bad was going to happen. She gave Elizabeth ten minutes to come back out, hoping the girl intended only to purchase something and leave.
When Elizabeth didn’t emerge and the four guys walked inside, Cat got out of her Blazer. Reaching back to make sure her weapon was secure at the small of her back, she walked up to the front door. She was let in, as usual, and started making the rounds, scanning the crowd for Elizabeth. Cat found out quickly that she was the topic of conversation, the “hot blonde with cash,” as she was being referred to. Cat noted with increasing alarm that many of the guys intended to “tap” her. Meaning they expected to have sex with her.
Cat walked upstairs, hiding her anxiousness but aware that she had to find Elizabeth and get her the hell out of this house, fast. She checked a number of rooms to no avail. Finally she went to the dealer’s master suite. Taking a deep breath, she shoved open the door. There was a chorus of “What the fuck?” and a number of other comments. Cat ignored them, spying Elizabeth already backed into a corner by two large guys. She grinned, shaking her head as if Elizabeth was just being a bad girl.
“Honey, honey, honey,” Cat chided. “I told you you can’t be doing this right now…” She kept talking as she walked toward Elizabeth, who looked very nervous. “Guys, trust me, you don’t want to be tapping that ass right now.” She winked, reaching out to take Elizabeth’s hand and pulling her out of the corner.
“How the fuck do you know what we want?” said the taller of the two guys, reaching out to grab Elizabeth.
“Well,” Cat said, chuckling snidely, “unless you want to get yourself a nasty case of the clap, I don’t think you do.”
“The what?” the other man chimed in.
“Clap, honey, clap,” Cat said, pulling Elizabeth to her again, putting her arm around the smaller girl’s shoulders. “My girl got herself into a mess at a party we were at in Soho last month, and the doctor said she’s not supposed to play for a while, but she just can’t seem to help it.”
Elizabeth said nothing, burying her face against Cat’s shoulder. Cat could feel her shaking. She willed the girl to keep it together.
“She’s got somethin’?” the first guy said, sounding disgusted now.
“Oh yeah,” Cat said, her smile knowing. “But if you really think you want her…”
“No, no, fuck no,” the second guy said, stepping back as if he could get whatever Elizabeth had by proximity.
Cat glanced down at Elizabeth, her grin still in place.
“Come on, babygirl, let me take you home. Did you at least make your score?” Cat asked solicitously.
Elizabeth shook her head.
Cat looked at both men. “I need to get her down to the man—she gets really annoying when she doesn’t get her stuff, ya know?”
“Yeah, yeah, go,” the first guy said, gesturing for them to leave.
Cat didn’t waste time. She went downstairs and walked Elizabeth right out the front door and to the Blazer. Elizabeth was shaking badly by this time. Cat put her in on the passenger side and got in on the driver’s side.
“Did you take anything while you were there?” Cat asked, glancing over at the girl.
Elizabeth shook her head, her eyes downcast. Cat nodded, then started the Blazer with a roar. She drove off, heading down the hill. Elizabeth was silent for a long while, huddling against the passenger door.
“You’re going to tell them, aren’t you?” she finally asked, her voice tremulous.
Cat looked over at her searchingly. “Is that what you want me to do?”
Elizabeth looked back at her for a long moment, then shook her head slowly.
“Are you sure about that?” Cat asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you knew I had you nailed, yet you went back—Why?”
“I…” Elizabeth started, then shook her head. “I can’t stop,” she said simply.
“Do you want to?”
Elizabeth didn’t answer for a while, finally shrugging.
“You don’t know?” Cat asked evenly.
“I don’t know,” Elizabeth repeated, raising her chin a bit as her pride kicked in.
Cat nodded slowly, her look considering. “Do you have any idea what you were headed for tonight?”
“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked.
“Have you ever heard the term ‘gang bang’?”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened as she nodded.
“Well, you were going to be the entertainment tonight, sweetheart, the main course.”
Elizabeth swallowed. She wasn’t sure if she believed Cat or not. The two men that had taken her to that room had seemed intent on having sex with her. Part of her was willing as long as she got the drugs she wanted—what was one or two more men she’d had sex with? It didn’t seem to matter anymore. None of them did.
Cat narrowed her eyes at the younger woman, realizing she wasn’t getting through to her. “It wasn’t just those two, little girl,” she said. “It was half the men in that house.”
Elizabeth’s head came up, her expression cynical now.
“Don’t believe me?” Cat asked.
“No.”
“Want me to take you back there so they can all get their piece of you before they beat you to within an inch of your life, if not just kill you so you can’t report them?”
Again Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “They wouldn’t have,” she said, shaking her head. Cat was just trying to scare her.
Cat nodded, giving a short, sarcastic laugh as she shook her head. “Tell that to the Latina we found last week who’d been gang raped and left for dead. She was ripped from front to back—she almost bled to death because they’d raped her so many times. Interestingly enough, she was found on the beach, just below that house. But hey, what do I know? I’ll take you back there right now, and you can take your chances,” Cat said, swinging the Blazer into a U-turn at the next light.
“No!” Elizabeth said, still not sure if she should believe Cat or not, but the mental picture Cat had just painted was enough to scare her.
Cat turned the vehicle around again.
Elizabeth was silent for a while. When she spoke again, her voice was very soft.
“I can’t quit.”
Cat looked over at her, seeing that Elizabeth was very solemn. Finally, she was seeing the scared young woman. For the moment, the brave facade had fallen.
“Do you only do coke?” Cat asked gently.
Elizabeth hesitated, then shook her head slowly.
“What else?”
“Meth,” Elizabeth said, cowed.
Cat nodded, knowing this was going to be rough.
“Do you really want to quit, Elizabeth?”
Elizabeth blinked a couple of times, her face drawn and serious. She nodded, still looking scared.
“Well,” Cat said, “there are a lot of good rehab centers here.”
“No, I can’t.”
“Why?”
“My family will kill me. Or at least disown me.”
“I doubt that. I think they’d help you if they knew for sure you needed it. Trust me, babe, they already suspect you’re using.”
“They do?” Elizabeth asked, surprised. She thought she’d been careful.
“Oh yeah. Your brother-in-law is the best narc in the country—did you think you could fool him forever?”
Elizabeth was silent, realizing she had thought she could. She’d been foolish.
“Still,” Elizabeth said, “if I go into rehab now, what will that do to my aunt’s campaign?”
Cat narrowed her eyes at the young woman. Elizabeth hadn’t seemed to be worried about her aunt’s campaign to become Attorney General when she was going to a drug house.
“What is it you think you want, Bet?”
Elizabeth noted the way Cat shortened her name, wondering at it—no one had ever called her that before. Then she realized there had been an edge to Cat’s question. Narrowing her blue eyes, Elizabeth looked out the passenger window.
“I don’t want anything,” she said evenly.
Cat looked over at her, sensing correctly that Elizabeth had just yanked her facade back up. The walls were building again, and quickly. She could see Elizabeth taking slow, deep breaths, her spine straightening with every one.
Was this how it went? Whenever she felt like she might open up to someone, she used her well-constructed facade to put them off? Cat didn’t know Elizabeth’s story, other than what little she’d heard. According to everyone that knew her, Elizabeth was a spoiled young woman with too much time and money on her hands. She was given to creating scandals simply for the fun of it. And her family got her out of them every time. Was that why the scandals were getting more and more dangerous? Cat sensed there was a lot more going on here than just some spoiled brat getting her kicks.
Making a quick decision, Cat turned off and headed toward the beach. Once there, she parked the Blazer and turned to Elizabeth.
“Tell me why you do drugs,” Cat said simply.
Elizabeth didn’t look at her for a long moment, gazing out the passenger window instead. When she did look at Cat, her blue eyes were ice cold. The facade was very definitely in place once again.
“Because I like to party, that’s why,” she said lightly.
Cat narrowed her eyes at the girl. “Now try the truth.”
“That is the truth.”
“Are you hoping you’ll get caught?”
“Why would I endeavor to hide my drug use if I was hoping to get caught?” Elizabeth asked condescendingly.
“You know what, little girl,” Cat said, her eyes narrowing, her voice holding an edge of menace. “Don’t even get bitchy with me. I’ll drive your ass to your aunt’s house and be done with you for good.”
Elizabeth looked back at Cat for a long moment, surprised at her sudden change in attitude. She’d actually reminded Elizabeth of Midnight for a moment. Elizabeth wasn’t sure what to say. The last thing she wanted at this point was to face her aunt and uncle.
Turning, Elizabeth got out of the Blazer, her hands shaking. Cat did the same, grabbing her cigarettes and lighter. Moving to the front of the car, Cat leaned against her bumper, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. She waited, knowing that Elizabeth was trying to decide her next move.
It took Elizabeth a full ten minutes. Finally she walked over, moving to lean against the front bumper of the Blazer as well.
“Can I have one?” she asked, gesturing to Cat’s cigarettes.
Cat shook one out of the pack and flicked open her lighter, lighting it for Elizabeth. They smoked in silence for another few minutes. Elizabeth was the first to speak.
“Would you help me if I wanted to quit?” she asked cautiously.
Cat looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded slowly. “It isn’t going to be fun, you know.”
Elizabeth nodded, looking reserved.
“Nick still staying at your apartment?” Cat asked.
“Yes.”
Cat’s lips twitched. It meant she’d need to take Elizabeth to her apartment. She couldn’t risk Nick’s father, the Assistant Chief of Police, coming by—for that matter, she couldn’t risk the chief or Lieutenant Debenshire coming by either. The more she thought about it, the more Cat realized this wasn’t going to go over well if they were found out. Cat was already risking her career by helping Elizabeth. What she should do, according to procedure, was arrest the girl and let County and her family deal with her.
