“Yeah, sure, Jack if you have it,” Dakota said, thinking if she could get a good buzz going she could at least get through this okay.
“And what have you brought home?” asked a blond-haired woman who walked in from another room.
Dakota turned to look at the woman, who was stood staring at her. She was small, shorter than Dakota, but with the silkiest looking blond hair Dakota had ever seen, and very dark eyes. She was dressed in a long shimmering white dress and she had jewels at her neck that sparkled. Dakota was bowled over and it showed. The woman swept over to Dakota, looking the girl over. Dakota was tall and lanky, with dark hair that was somewhat spikey, and her best features were her very blue eyes. She was wearing skin-tight shorts that sat low on her hips and a black tank top with no bra. Her breasts were small, but perky. She wore a black cord around her neck with a tiny pendant peace sign on it. On her feet she wore beat-up black Converse that she’d found in a dumpster a year before.
“Well, aren’t you cute?” the woman said, smiling at Dakota with perfectly straight white teeth. “What’s your name, sweetie?”
“Dakota,” she replied, her voice coming out husky.
“Mmmm…” the woman murmured, moving close to Dakota. “You look like you could use a few good meals and a shower. Come with me.”
With that the woman turned around and walked away without looking back, fully expecting Dakota to follow her, which she did. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the man watching lustfully, but he made no move to follow them.
Dakota followed the woman through the house into a huge master suite and then into the master bathroom.
“Leave your clothes there,” the woman said, pointing to a spot on the floor. “There are towels here,” she said, pointing again. “You look smart. I’m sure you can figure the shower out.” She winked, then left the room.
Dakota stood staring at the door thinking, ‘What the hell is going on?’
She shrugged to herself, if nothing else she’d get a hot shower out of the deal and finally be truly clean again for a few minutes. It took her five minutes to figure out the odd contraption; it had multiple knobs and settings. She finally got something resembling hot and found soap, and shampoo and conditioner in dispensers. ‘Geeze rich people can’t pick up a bottle or a bar of soap like the rest of us?’ she thought to herself. ‘Holy hell I’ve died and gone to heaven!’
Twenty minutes later, she climbed out of the shower and wrapped herself in a huge soft towel. She toweled off her hair and when she lowered it, she found the blond standing watching her. She now wore a short black Kimono-style bathrobe. Dakota stood and stared at her for a full minute, unsure of what she was supposed to do. This was always the hard part.
“I’m Lily,” the woman said, her voice sounding very cultured to Dakota’s ears.
Dakota nodded warily. She knew there was a catch here somewhere.
Lily walked toward her, her dark eyes staring into Dakota’s. Dakota recognized lust in the woman’s eyes, but unlike when she saw lust in a man’s eyes, she was not revolted. In fact, she realized she was attracted to the idea of this woman.
As the evening continued, Dakota ended up on autopilot, doing what she knew would please her client. She did her best not to think about what was happening, just doing her best to do her “job.” She refused to think beyond that, not wanting to consider what her life could be like if she hadn’t had a worthless mother. She’d done that too many times, and it never amounted to anything but blinding anger on her part.
At one point, while Dakota and Lily were being particularly intimate, the husband appeared and pressed his hard on against Dakota’s backside. To Dakota’s utter shock, however, Lily pulled Dakota away from him.
“Only me, Henry, not her,” Lily told him, presenting him with her backside instead, and bending over to allow him access.
Dakota watched as “Henry” did his thing and it was obvious that it wasn’t doing a thing for Lily. So Dakota did her best to take Lily’s mind away from it. Lily wasn’t like her usual clients and Dakota soon realized that she was enjoying her time with her.
Later as Henry slept, Dakota and Lily lay on the other side of the bed. Lily was curled up against Dakota while Dakota’s hand stroked her skin.
“You are the first woman I’ve ever had sex with,” Lily told her.
Dakota looked down at her surprised. “Really?” she asked, trying to keep the wonder out of her voice.
“Yes,” Lily said, “I always wondered why I found girls so much more attractive than men, but now I know.”
“What do you think you know?” Dakota asked, her voice cynical.
“That I like sex with women.”
“Girls,” Dakota corrected.
Lily sat up. “How old are you?” she asked, looking afraid suddenly.
Dakota looked back at this extremely manicured and refined woman and tried to decide what she wanted to say. She knew she could get away with telling her she was eighteen. She knew the woman wanted to believe it so she would if Dakota said so.
Finally, she said. “How old do you want me to be?”
Lily looked back at her and Dakota could see her thought processes. Lily was now afraid that Dakota was going to get her into trouble.
“Look, it’s cool, okay?” Dakota said sitting up. “I’m not trying to get anyone into trouble here.”
Lily blinked a couple of times and Dakota could see that her conscience was warring with her desires. Apparently, her desires one out and two weeks later, Lily kicked Henry out and kept Dakota with her. It was the beginning of Dakota’s life with rich lesbians or would-be lesbians.
Jazmine had been asleep for two hours when Dakota finally crawled into bed behind her. She pulled Jazmine into her arms and snuggling up against her. Jazmine turned over, opening her eyes and looking up at Dakota in the semi-darkness.
“Did you turn in your bid?” she asked softly.
“Yep,” Dakota said, smiling. “Now we just wait and see what happens.”
“If you’re meant to get it, you will,” Jazmine said.
“Well, let’s hope I’m meant to get it,” Dakota said, grinning.
“Of course,” Jazmine replied.
Dakota kissed Jazmine’s lips. “Thanks.”
“For what, babe?” Jazmine asked, looking puzzled.
“Just for… everything,” Dakota said. She wasn’t sure how to put into words how she was feeling.
“We take care of each other, babe, that’s what we do,” Jazmine said, sensing that Dakota was feeling really emotional.
She knew it meant that Dakota had been mentally revisiting her previous life and it had put her in a melancholy mood. Dakota still had a hard time expressing herself when it came to emotions, and Jazmine therefore never expected deep explanations of how she felt. The fact that Dakota was with her and only her, and that she seemed perfectly happy was enough to tell Jazmine everything she needed to know.
To help keep Dakota from having to try to respond, Jazmine curled herself up in Dakota’s arms, resting her head against Dakota’s chest. Jazmine put her hand over Dakota’s heart, leaving it there pointedly.
Dakota knew that Jazmine was once again allowing for her inability to communicate when it came to feelings, but Dakota was bound and determined to try and explain what she was feeling. Sliding her finger under Jazmine’s chin, she tilted Jazmine’s face up to hers.
“I love that you take care of me,” Dakota said. “And I love that you understand when something is important to me, and make it feel like it’s important to you too.”
“If it’s something you want, Kota, it is important to me,” Jazmine said, shortening Dakota’s name in a way that Dakota loved. Dakota knew that Jazmine was trying to tell her that it was indeed important to her too.
Dakota smiled warmly. “That’s what I mean,” she said. “You take what’s important to me and make it important for you too.”
“Isn’t that what you did with the studio?” Jazmine said
, her eyes shining. “You knew it was important to me, so you sold that Bugatti that you adored to help Nat and me with the money.”
Dakota looked back at her, her eyes reflecting something akin to surprise.
“Did you forget about that?” Jazmine asked.
“No,” Dakota said. “But… I mean, the car wasn’t even something I paid for, so it was really free money.”
“Okay, but you certainly didn’t have to invest a million of it with me and Nat in the studio, right?”
“Well, no,” Dakota said, her tone reasoning. “But that’s what I wanted to do.”
“Why?” Jazmine asked simply.
Dakota looked back at her for a long moment, her lips pressed together in thought.
“Because you came for me,” she said softly.
“And I would always come for you, no matter what,” Jazmine said. “And I told you, you didn’t have to give me a million dollars for a studio for that.”
“But I wanted to,” Dakota repeated.
“Because you love me.”
“Yes,” Dakota said, nodding.
“And because you knew it was important to me,” Jazmine said.
“Yes.”
“And that’s why things that are important to you are important to me too, babe,” Jazmine said, smiling.
Dakota smiled sweetly.
“I get it,” she said, grinning.
“Good,” Jazmine said, smiling. “Now let’s get some sleep, so we can actually function tomorrow.”
“Good plan,” Dakota said, and she leaned in to kiss her lips again. “I love you.”
“I love you,” Jazmine replied.
They fell asleep with Jazmine curled in Dakota’s arms. Dakota felt like she’d become one of the luckiest people alive when she’d met Jazmine.
Chapter 3
Two weeks after starting to work for Harley, Shiloh had become completely indispensable. She was on top of Harley’s schedule constantly; reminding her of appointments, setting up meetings, and monitoring the meetings to ensure that Harley didn’t over extend herself.
One afternoon, Harley led the way out to the parking lot and to her car. They were heading to a meeting at the Los Angeles Attorney General’s office in downtown Los Angeles.
“So this is the car I’ve heard about…” Shiloh said, smiling.
Harley grinned. “You’ve heard about her?”
“I was warned to buckle up and hold on,” Shiloh said, grinning too.
Harley opened the passenger door to the sleek black sports car and gestured for Shiloh to get in. She closed the door after her and went around to the driver’s side. “That’s probably good advice,” she said as she pushed the button to start the car.
The vehicle rumbled to life and Shiloh’s eyes widened at the feel of power. She glanced at the seat behind her and over at Harley’s seat, and noted that the seat belts weren’t standard seat belts you’d find in a normal car.
“Are these seats… um…?” Shiloh began, and Harley started to chuckle.
“They’re racing seats,” Harley said, with a wink. “And before you ask, yes those are racing harnesses and you should definitely put yours on.”
“Oh my…” Shiloh said, smiling despite her grave tone.
Harley backed out of her parking space and glanced over to make sure that Shiloh was buckled up. She turned on the radio, and it sprang to life with a rock rap song. The song was Saliva’s “Click Click Boom.” As it began with heavy guitars and drums, Harley accelerated out of the parking lot. Harley sang the words as she drove, zipping quickly around cars. Shiloh found herself watching in fascination.
“I take it you drive like this all the time?” Shiloh asked as a quieter song started.
Harley grinned, nodding. “Yeah, kind of like my brain, I need to drive fast.”
“How many speeding tickets do you have?” Shiloh asked.
“None,” Harley said, her grin widening. “Fortunately cops don’t usually give other cops tickets.”
“How do they know you’re a cop?” Shiloh asked. “Or do you tell them when they stop you?”
“Most of the time I don’t have to. If they don’t recognize the car by now, which most of the locals do, they run the plate and see the UC registration.”
“What’s that?” Shiloh asked.
“Police officers can register their cars to have the plate come back to the department, rather than their personal address. When a cop sees that they know that they’re dealing with law enforcement.”
“They recognize your car?” Shiloh asked. Then shook her head. “Of course they do. It’s pretty nice…”
“Thanks, I love her,” Harley said, smiling fondly.
“Her?” Shiloh asked, having heard Harley use the feminine pronoun a few times.
“She’s hot, she’s fast, and she’s powerful, what else would she be?” Harley asked, her blue eyes sparkling. “The best kind of woman I know, that’s my Erin.”
“Erin?” Shiloh asked.
Harley smiled as she dodged around yet another car on the freeway. “It’s short for Erinyes, which is another name for the Furies in Greek mythology. You know the goddesses of vengeance?”
“Oh my…” Shiloh murmured.
Harley waggled her eyebrows at her, smiling as she did.
“So how much does a car like this cost?” Shiloh asked. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”
“Base price,” Harley said. “Well, she was about forty thousand to start with, but I’ve done a lot of things to her since I bought her a year ago.”
“Like?” Shiloh asked.
“Like the Stillen Supercharger, the Amuse body kit, custom wheels and paint, the racing seats, the nano ceramic window tint, a hell of a lot of tuning, new exhaust, sway bar, the list goes on and on.”
“And I understood about none of that,” Shiloh said, laughing. “So after all that what would you say the car cost?”
“I haven’t really added it up, but probably a good hundred thou,” Harley said, shrugging.
“Holy crap!” Shiloh exclaimed.
Harley laughed.
“That’s a lot of money, Harley,” Shiloh said.
“That’s not counting the Harley I have too.” Harley said, grinning.
“You have a Harley too?” Shiloh asked. “Isn’t that a little bit ironic?”
“My dad has one, I have one,” Harley said, simply.
“I see,” Shiloh said. “And I heard that your dad isn’t exactly the biker everyone in school thought he was…”
Harley tilted her head slightly. “Who told you? Rayden?”
“Yes,” Shiloh said nodding. “You never told anyone at school, did you?”
“No,” Harley said, shaking her head. “He was undercover. I wouldn’t take that chance.”
“But it might have made things easier for you.”
Harley glanced over at her, as she once again moved around a slower vehicle. “Seriously? You think those people, or even you, would have been more impressed hearing that my dad was an undercover narc?” She shook her head, looking cynical. “That might have been worse.”
“Why?” Shiloh asked, shocked by Harley’s statement.
“Well, when they thought he was a biker they were at least half way afraid of him,” Harley said, her lips curling with annoyance as she remembered how she used to feel.
“Oh,” Shiloh said, nodding, “Yeah, I believe that.”
They pulled up to the building a few minutes later. Harley parked in the garage across the street and they walked over. Harley showed her badge to the CHP officers inside and they waved her through. She waited on the other side for Shiloh to get through the security check. Then they headed up to their meeting.
They were meeting with some of the legal staff about a system they already had in place. They wanted enhancements made to it to make it track more information on cases. The meeting involved a number of lawyers, some of whom were fairly rude. Unfortunately, the one lawyer Harley did like
, Sierra Youngblood-Marshal wasn’t in the meeting. The meeting didn’t go well when the lawyers weren’t told “yes we can do that” right off the bat. Harley had been strictly instructed by Rayden not to say that in meetings anymore. It often meant that Shiloh had to intercede when she could see that Harley was itching to say yes.
“I don’t understand why this is such a difficult request for you people,” said one hawk-faced lawyer, his tone condescending.
Shiloh wanted to snap that if he thought it was so easy, why didn’t he handle the changes he was requesting. Instead, she folded her hands and said nothing. She glanced over at Harley to see that her blue eyes were unfocused. Her hands were in her lap and fingers moved as if they were on a keyboard. It meant that Harley was already planning the work she would need to do to handle the request. It also meant it was time for Shiloh to step in. She moved her right hand to still Harley’s motions, at the same time putting her left hand in front of her on the table. She leaned forward looking at the lawyer who’d spoken.
“We will be happy to look into the problem and determine whether or not Agent Davidson has the time to handle your request.”
“This is a priority for the Attorney General,” the man snapped.
Shiloh smiled tightly, like she hadn’t heard that one before. “I’m sure it is, sir,” she replied. “However, Agent Davidson works for the Division of Law Enforcement and is therefore beholden to her own programs first and foremost.” She looked at him with a guileless smile. “Perhaps if our processes aren’t up to your rigorous needs and standards, you could ask Chief Deputy Youngblood-Marshal if her budget would allow you to hire an outside contractor for this particular project.”
“That would cost far too much!” the man said. “And wouldn’t happen nearly fast enough. For all the money Agent Davidson makes, I would think this could be fit into her busy schedule.”
Shiloh’s eyes narrowed. She glanced at Harley to see how she took what had just been said. Harley merely looked back at her and quirked her lips slightly, her look otherwise serene.
“First of all,” Shiloh said, doing her very best to control her temper at that moment, “Agent Davidson has a doctorate from MIT and graduated with honors, and has a resume that would likely put yours to shame. So what she makes is probably not even close to what she’s worth as a programmer. Secondly, no matter how much money a person makes, it doesn’t create more hours in a day. So your assumption that because she makes a lot of money, she should be able to fit your project into her schedule is not only ridiculous, but also incredibly presumptive of you. You have no idea how many projects she has or how hard she works, so do us all a favor and take what we’re willing to give you, or take my other suggestion. The choice is yours.”
Everything to Everyone Page 5
