Whimsical Diva (A Whimsical Dreams Sapphic Romantic Suspense), page 16
“It’s all right, honey. I promise you, we’re going to get you out. You need to be brave for just a little while longer, okay?…Okay. Take a deep breath and I’ll talk to you on Saturday…You take care and don’t forget you’re not alone anymore.” Nova ended the call then took a deep breath before closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose.
Trill wrapped her arms around her clearly agitated fiancée and pulled Nova’s head into her chest. “Talk to me, little diva,” she said softly, nuzzling Nova’s cheek.
“She’s an older woman. It sounds like she’s early fifties or so. No kids at home.” Nova lifted her head and her eyes flamed as she stared at Trill. “Her left wrist is currently in a cast because that piece of shit she’s married to broke it two weeks ago when he got drunk and kicked her down the stairs in a rage. She said his drinking has gotten completely out of control and she’s afraid for her life.”
Trill made a malevolent sound in the back of her throat.
“She’s only been married to him for about a year, and she’s originally from Salt Lake City.” Nova blew out a deep breath. “She moved here with this prick after they got married because he said he wanted to come back to his hometown. He started beating her shortly after. He’s a raging alcoholic and she didn’t know that until they were here in Florida.
“She’s had no way to contact her sister and brother-in-law back in Salt Lake because he has everything monitored, even her phone conversations with them. She told me she just wants to get away from him and go home. That’s what I’m going to do, Trill. I’m going to get her home. She’s able to go to the grocery store and places like that by herself because his useless ass is usually lying drunk in a bar somewhere during the day.”
“She didn’t dare take the risk of contacting anyone even when she was alone before because she was afraid he would find out and kill her. But now the situation has turned supercritical and she no longer feels she has a choice if she wants to stay alive,” Trill guessed correctly. She blew out her own breath in turn. “Sometimes, it’s the same on our end of the world, little diva. What do you need me to do to help you?”
“I need to purchase a prepaid cell phone for her before Saturday, and you heard the plan up until then. Honestly, I think if I purchase enough clothes for a couple of weeks, some toiletries, maybe some other stuff we can ship out to her sister’s, she’ll be in good shape initially.
“I’ll give her some money so she won’t be completely broke when she gets there, although she told me she could definitely get her old job back when she gets home. That’s a big help right there, because usually these women are starting from ground zero…plus, I often have kids to worry about. By the grace of the Goddess, I don’t in this rescue. Just her.
“I’d like to fly her out there if that’s okay with you, although I usually purchase train tickets because they’re a lot less expensive.” Nova rested her forehead on Trill’s chest again. “Thankfully, this one won’t be a difficult rescue, but we do need to get her out of there immediately. Abusive alcoholics are unpredictable as fuck, although I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. If she feels the situation has reached critical mass, then we need to move.”
“You are not to worry about the money, little diva.” Trill stroked the back of her head with a gentle hand. “We’ll buy her what she needs, ship it out to her sister, and get her on a plane as soon as we can. Is the car she’s driving hers or his?”
“Ummm…I didn’t specifically ask her that question, but from the way she was talking, it’s his. I can ask her for sure on Saturday. Why?”
A wicked, malicious smile curled Trill’s mouth. “If it is his, you and your new friend can prearrange a place somewhere in St. Petersburg where she can park it, then she can leave with you to go to the airport when it’s time for her to go. I’ll grab Jaime to go with me to get it as soon as you two are gone. You can have your friend leave the keys in the ignition for me, and you can tell her someone you know will be taking care of the car for her. I assume the registration will be in the glove box, which is where most people keep it, but you can find that out on Saturday as well.”
That wicked smile deepened. “I’ll drive it to the most crime-ridden neighborhood we know of in Tampa, as far as vehicular theft goes—pocket the keys, but leave the car unlocked, and drive away with Jaim. That fucker loves shit like this, so I know she’ll be all in. I’ll throw the keys down a sewer grate somewhere over there in Hillsborough County and we’re done. That car will be stripped within an hour.”
Nova stared at her, astonished.
“What?” That wicked smile grew deeper. “It’s not illegal. I was given tacit permission by the owner’s wife to drive it, but it was unfortunate I parked it in such a risky area and forgot to lock it. And that’s in the very, very unlikely event I’m connected to the car in any way in the first place.
“It certainly isn’t illegal for his wife to drive it nor park it in such a dangerous place while forgetting to lock it…foolish maybe, but not illegal. I certainly hope Mr. Asshat is smart enough to keep his mouth shut, because I’m sure the lady will be more than willing to talk to the Tampa police about his abuse of her once she’s safely back in Salt Lake City with her family. Consider this payback for every time that fucker put his hands on her and hurt her.”
Nova burst out laughing.
“Oh, you’re evil.” Nova couldn’t help the broad smile that covered her face as she lifted her hand and ran them over Trill’s deep dimples. “I love you, Trillian Dacanay. I think we’re going to make one hell of a team, don’t you?”
“Undoubtedly.” Trill kissed her deeply. “Since we can’t do anything else tonight and you have a couple of days before your friend goes to the Qwik-Mart to pick up her new cell phone, I’m still taking you out to dinner tonight. You need to relax and eat before I take you home and show you all the ways you excite me beyond belief. I love you too, Nova MacLeod, and I will always do whatever I need to do to make sure these women are safe, right along with you.”
Chapter 15
“Damn, bitch.” Nova swiped her sweaty bangs out of her eyes. “What’s with the fucking She-Ra shit? You need to slow that roll down, girlfriend.” She and Alyssa were in Hades practicing their self-defense.
Alyssa smirked then called a timeout. She went over to the ledge that ran around the huge APS gym and took a long gulp from her water bottle. “You pussy,” she taunted Nova with a playful arch of her eyebrow when she was done. “I’m not that much bigger than you, so get your scrawny ass moving. Your honey wants you to know how to defend yourself the best that you can…and after being exposed to that asshat Lancaster myself, I can’t say I blame her. At the very least, this will make it much easier for you to stick your foot up his ass.”
Nova rolled her eyes, the corner of her mouth quirking up.
A grinning Jess Evanston pushed herself off the wall where she had been lounging. “Come on, little diva,” she said, uncrossing her heavily muscled arms then nodding at Casey, who was observing from the other end of the mat. “I think part of your challenge is that you don’t really want to hurt one of your posse, even as much as you two snark at each other the way you do. It makes you hold back. Alyssa is not much better…she was also holding back—she was just moving faster than you were so her strikes looked harder.”
“What Jess said.” Casey came up behind them. “Alyssa, I want you with Jess, and Nova, you’ll be with me. We’re going to practice the Krav Maga routines you’ve been learning over the past weeks, and I want the two of you to go hard at us. I promise you, you won’t hurt us. We won’t be hitting back, just defending against your strikes and coaching you as we go. We want to make sure you will be as efficient as possible if you ever find yourself in a position to have to defend yourself.”
“If they ever do, you can be sure there are some soon-to-be-dead motherfuckers out there who will find themselves in the crosshairs of some very pissed-off APS bad asses.” Two new voices joined them. Nova and Alyssa turned around to find Trill and Jaime standing at the edge of the mat, arms crossed decisively over their chests.
Nova gave Trill a droll look. “The best part about being this short is that you can punch an asshole right between the legs and send his nuts up into his throat without too much effort, Trill. It’s all good.”
Trill burst out laughing as she looked at Nova with heat in her eyes. “I don’t doubt that one bit, baby,” she responded dryly, “but let’s let Casey and Jess do their thing so I feel more comfortable about turning you loose on the general population.”
Casey and Jess chuckled as they got into position.
For the next hour, Nova and Alyssa listened seriously to their instruction as they learned how to put all the maneuvers they had practiced over the past several weeks into a viable defense strategy. When Casey finally called a halt for the day and the two tired, sweaty femmes walked over to their water bottles, Jaime and Trill burst into applause.
“The more you two kept going, the tighter and more efficient your moves grew,” Jaime praised. “I thought mi hermana was going to take this fucker’s head off at one point.” She waved a hand at Casey, who shot Jaime the finger as the APS physical security crew chief chuckled.
Trill gave them both an approving look. “It is clearly evident you both just keep getting better,” she said. She looked at Alyssa with raised eyebrows. “For someone who gave Jaime such a rash of shit at the beginning of all this, I think you’re on board now and doing a stellar job.”
“Yeah, Lys. Femme domination and serious ass-kicking, remember?” Nova looked at everyone with a sly face as the APS butches snorted. The two women grinned as they gave each other a high five.
Just then, Kenn came into the gym, followed by Blake. After hugging both Nova and Alyssa and kissing them on the cheek, Kenn turned to the APS crew.
“That tropical wave has strengthened into a tropical depression, and the whole system has jogged a bit to the east. The National Weather Service still doesn’t expect it to strengthen into anything beyond a very weak tropical cyclone, however, and it’s still at least five or six days out. I’m going to hit our comm in a minute, but since Blake and I were walking by, I figured I’d just pop in here and tell you in person.”
“Isn’t that news fucking special?” Casey rolled her eyes. “Jess and I will make sure there’s room in here for any extended family to throw sleeping bags down on the floor, in case they want to shelter with us. Even though it doesn’t sound like this storm is going to amount to much, there are still some low-lying areas here in Whimsy, and flooding is always a concern.
“I know Delaney’s brother and sister-in-law and their family sometimes stay with us…although I think it’s less of a concern about safety as it is an excuse for Delaney’s niece and nephew to play with Jess.”
Jess grinned.
“My mother told me Del’s mom and dad are up north for a while and probably won’t be back until August or September, so they aren’t a worry. Everyone else knows the hurricane and tropical storm procedures for the complex since we’ve been doing this shit for ten years now. We’ve got this.”
“Brooke Marino usually went to her brother’s in Ocala in the past if there was a tropical system that was going to strike this area, but her brother and his family moved to North Carolina for his wife’s job last winter.” Blake’s tone was casual. “That’s a bit of a hike for a little tropical storm, so I’m going to persuade her to come here instead.”
“And our new neighbor Piper lives in Shore Acres…you know how that place is a fucking flood zone.” Kenn was equally casual. “I’d already promised her she could use the shooting range here at APS as soon as she was settled, so we might as well kill two birds with one stone. I can practice with her while the storm is going on, assuming it even hits here.”
Nova felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up on end.
Delaney had shared with her the remarks made by Mrs. Santoras, the elderly proprietor of KitchenWorks, the housewares shop in downtown Whimsy. Mrs. Santoras had been convinced beyond all doubt that the Goddess of her beliefs would send a mate to each one of the nine APS owners—to lend them strength as they did the Goddess’s work, she said. Delaney said it had sounded a bit silly at first, but the more she had thought about it, the more it had started to make sense.
Nova and Delaney had known the entire APS management team since they were all students together in grade school. As they had gotten older, none of the butch best friends had ever evinced the slightest interest in finding a serious girlfriend, let alone a wife—although each of them had topped the charts when it came to following a dominant, predatory lifestyle after they’d matured.
When the Armstrong twins had met the Holland sisters, however, they each knew within ten minutes of meeting them that these femmes were theirs for life. Teagan Malloy and Trillian Dacanay had secretly carried torches for Delaney and Nova for years, although they had been convinced nothing between them was ever meant to be because of what they did…and how they were positive it was not a life any good femme would ever want.
As much as she loved Mrs. Santoras, Nova hadn’t been sure what she believed, but…Bryn and Rowan. Riley and Kelly. Teagan and Delaney. Now, her and Trill. By the looks of things, Jaime Quintero had Alyssa Riker in her crosshairs, and a few others in the management team seemed enticed by the possibility that maybe there was someone out there just for them as well. Nova was contemplative as she thought about the feasibility.
She shook herself out of her reverie as Trill wrapped her arms around her. “Where did you go, little diva?” Trill asked softly as she nuzzled Nova’s neck.
“I’m just thinking, honey. We have a lot going on right now and I’m trying to sort it all out in my head.” Nova tilted her head to give Trill better access to her neck. “Are you sure you want to be doing this while I’m so sweaty?”
She felt the smile that curled Trill’s mouth. “I certainly don’t mind the sweat that pours off you after I’ve fucked you. Why should this be any different?” she whispered throatily in a low tone. Nova felt herself turn scarlet at Trill’s provocative words.
“All right, you two.” Alyssa cast her eyes heavenward as she picked up her water bottle and backpack. “Get a room.” She laughed as Nova shot her the finger. “Seriously, I will see you all later. I have an art therapy session in twenty minutes with Brooke. I need to bring her up to speed on everything that’s going on since she’s taking over for me for a little while. Thanks, you guys.”
She poked her forefinger in Nova’s direction as she headed toward the entrance to Hades. “I’ll see you on the set first thing in the morning, okay?” Then with a cryptic glance at Jaime, she was gone.
“I have some paperwork stuff to do tonight, honey,” Nova said as she pulled back from Trill’s hold then turned to look at Casey, Jaime, and Jess. “You all are awesome, but duty calls and I need to get back to work.
“Alyssa has sketched the first dishes for the film according to the script, and I need to start getting the shopping list together with the supplies that we’ll need for the shoot concurrently. Esmeralda is taking care of finding the dietary needs and preferences of everyone on the cast and crew—because we’re in charge of feeding them as well—and Susie is standing by to start shopping the minute we give her a list. I’m thinking about sending Peyton with her to help, although,” Nova arched her eyebrows skeptically, “I’m not exactly sure I should trust the two of them together. Susie is a fucking troublemaker, and Peyton has that whole deceptive innocent butch thing going on, which means there’s no telling the shit they’ll step in if I turn them loose without supervision.”
The crew laughed.
“I have your laptop in my office, baby, so I’ll grab it and we’ll head on home. You can take a shower while I fix us something to eat, and then you can get to work. I cleared out some room for you in my home office, although we’ll have to change the whole setup and give you your own permanent office space in there. You should have more than enough room to do what you need to do tonight, though.” Trill banded her arms around Nova’s waist again.
“I should also warn you that I called Mom about redecorating our apartment and she’s like a kid in a candy store now. Don’t be surprised if she attacks you at lunch tomorrow, between this and finding out about our engagement.”
Nova had always loved Alice, Trill’s unconventional, quirky mother, and her kind, quiet father, Donato. “Is the weather still going to be okay? I noticed the breeze was picking up a bit this afternoon.”
“It’s going to be fine. Kenn is on top of it and says it’s still only forecasted to be a weak tropical storm, even though it looks like the Tampa Bay area is in the cone now.” The “cone” in tropical cyclone weather terminology was the probable track of the center of the storm. “We’re still good to have lunch with our parents tomorrow, though…this storm is still too far away to worry about yet. Zaph and Daphne will be there too, but the kids have a playdate with their cousins, so we’ll catch up with them another day. We’re meeting everyone at Tapas at noon and Calliope Radcliff is ready to roll out the red carpet, she said.”
“Okay.” Nova rested her forehead against Trill’s for a moment before she straightened up and stepped back. “Thanks again, everyone. I’ll see you next week for another episode of ‘Femme Fun While Kicking Butch Ass’.” A mischievous smile tilted up the corners of her mouth as she caught Trill’s hand and headed out of Hades amid more laughter.
ɚωɚωɚωɚ
“I cannot believe you two are getting married. Finally!” An exuberant Alice Dacanay gave Caprice MacLeod a triumphant high five. “How many freaking years have we been waiting for this, Caprice? Over twenty? You have no idea the mooning Trillian did over this girl while they were growing up. I was waiting for that whole Shakespeare dying of unrequited love thing before it was over with.”
