Kyla’s Secret

“What happens next?” Kyla asked as they ate a dinner of ground turkey with green beans and stuffing. “Unfortunately, all we can do is wait, but there is a little bit of good news.” “What’s that?” “The two guys in the convenience store that kidnapped you are going to be tried separately.” Kyla took a moment to digest Corrine’s words. “So that’s one for the guy who said his name was Dan, then one for Rick…” “Then one for those two and everyone else involved in the prostitution ring.” “Why is that good news? Won’t that just delay things even more with three trials?” “Probably not. Things tend to go faster with just one defendant to consider. The only one that may take some time is the whole damn bunch together.” The two made small talk as they continued to eat, but the dismal cloud that hung overhead didn’t seem to dwindle much. “In a hurry, are you?” Corrine asked. “Well, wouldn’t you be?” “I’d be in a hurry for the trial phase to be done and over with, but you seem to be in a real hurry to go home.” Kyla wasn’t sure what to say and was afraid of saying the wrong thing. Choosing her words carefully, she said, “Well, I want to do both. I want to get back to my home. I miss my friends and family and just having a normal life. You know, doing my job, interacting with those I know, that sort of thing. At the same time, a part of me wants to stay here. You’re hot as hell, you’re smart, and you’ve been there for me, but I don’t yet know you too well.” Corrine gave a simple, “Oh,” in response—one that seemed to lack emotion, and Kyla wasn’t sure what to make of it. “What do you think I should do? Not that I have much choice in the meantime.” “Well, I guess it’s like you said, you don’t have much choice right now.” Kyla feigned a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure why she did this. Maybe it was her instinct telling her it was the best thing to do at the moment. Then she said, “So you’re not going to throw me out?” Corrine looked at her with serious, almost icy blue eyes. “No. Why would I do that?” Kyla shrugged, getting tired of trying to come up with the right words to say. Corrine got up a few minutes later and started clearing the table. “Can I ask a question?” “Of course,” the officer answered as she scraped uneaten food into the garbage disposal. “What do you want?” “In regards to what?” “Do you want me to stay with you or find someplace else to stay?” Corrine suddenly surprised her with an amused grin, though Kyla had no idea why that question was so funny. “Well?” Corrine’s smile faded and she said, “Kyla, to be honest with you, I want you to stay forever, but I know that is an unreasonable expectation.” Kyla did not expect that. “Wow, really? Forever is a long time, and we still don’t know each other well enough yet.” “I know enough. Besides, is there any reason we can’t continue to learn things about one another?” “No,” said Kyla, not at all sure that she wanted to stay with the officer, attractive or not. “You once told me you preferred older women.” “I do. I just didn’t think she’d be on the other side of the Pacific.” Corrine’s cell phone rang, and the officer snatched it up off the counter and looked at the ID display. “Yes?” she said after opening the phone. Kyla eyed the woman intently. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Corrine said after a moment or two. “Are you kidding?... That’s great news… Everyone else ok?... Yes… Oh, absolutely… Will do… Yeah, let me know when you get a date.” Kyla expected to be told that her kidnapper had been caught. Instead, she was told even better news. “When the guy escaped, he stole a car nearby with a gun in its glove compartment. He was caught and then shot in a standoff with police about a half hour ago.” “What a relief!” Kyla exclaimed. “It gets better. His little partner killed himself in jail.” “Awesome!” Corrine grinned. “I never thought I’d celebrate anyone’s death, but in light of the circumstances, this is fabulous news. Two less people—no, animals—society has to house, feed, and worry about escaping and harming people. If only the others could do the same. What are there, four or five of them?” “Seven, actually. Too many to hope for.” “So now we just wait until they call me into court?” Corrine nodded. “That’s it, pretty lady. For now, what do you say we do some celebrating of our own?” Kyla couldn’t help but smile. Or deny her desires. ________________________________________ Corrine lay in bed that night wishing her mind would slow down and let her sleep. But she was worried. Worried that what Kyla had seen on her computer would scare her off or at least cause her to talk. It wasn’t that Corrine was back to hacking webcams and spying on sexy ladies. Oh no, she only had eyes for Kyla since she’d first laid hers upon the beautiful girl. She had simply been picking favorites to remember her voyeuristic days with. She recorded those she looked in on and had decided that since she no longer had any real need to seek out cyber eye candy, it was time to simply pick the best of her observations and file them away before moving on. If Kyla had waited just a few more minutes, she would have been done making her selections. Damn her timing! She was glad for the fact that Kyla hadn’t accessed her computer. She would have known it if she had, of course, and that would really piss her off as well as worry her. This was a reporter, after all. A crime reporter. She was paid to dig up dirt on people. She glanced over at Kyla, whose sleeping form she could barely make out in the darkened room, and thought to herself, Well, you’re not going to dig up mine, little lady. Not with the kind of dirt I can dig up on you. Corrine hated to resort to blackmail. But that was exactly what she would do if she were ever left with no other option. Stay off her ass and she’d treat the girl like a queen. Corner her and she’d hang her by the balls, as the saying went. She was being stupid in a sense. She knew that all she had to do was destroy the evidence. She could delete every single file and folder pertaining to her spying ventures. That way, no matter what Kyla accused her of to anyone, she had no proof to back it up with. But Corrine didn’t want to part with those precious videos. She thought it would be fun to watch them and visit the past in a handful of years from now. After thinking about it a while longer, she decided that she would at least copy the videos onto another device and strip them clean from her desktop drive. Kyla started moaning in her sleep. This was the second or third time Corrine had heard her do this, and she was pretty sure she knew why. She was either having nightmares about the Malone girl or her ordeal with being held hostage. Maybe both. Corrine was at a loss to understand herself lately. She was the pickiest person on earth when it came to lovers and didn’t last long in relationships. She was either running off her lovers or dropping them herself on account of her pickiness. Even her friends warned her that if she didn’t stop having a problem with everyone she met, she would be alone forever. For a while, that was what she wanted. Relationships were nothing but hassles and disappointments. But there was just something about Kyla that drew her to the girl like a magnet. Maybe she was even obsessed with her to a degree. She had to be, in order to want to hang onto one as troubled as she was and with the kind of secrets she harbored. But she was sure it wasn’t just about lust. No, it was something more than that. Much more. Kyla moaned and groaned even louder and started to writhe beneath the downy comforter. “No, no!” she began to moan. “Please don’t kill me. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t want to kill you!” She sat up with a start. Corrine reached out to the girl, which made her jump even more. “Hey, hey, it’s ok. You were just having a nightmare. Everything’s fine. No one’s trying to kill you, and you didn’t kill anyone either.” Cruel or not, Corrine couldn’t help but grin in the darkness at her last comment. Lucky for Kyla that the lovely Hawaiian girl didn’t know that the officer she shared a bed with knew otherwise. Once Kyla regained control of her breathing, she apologized for waking her up. “You didn’t wake me up. I’ve been lying here wide awake. I have these sleepless nights every now and then.” “Oh.” “Would you like to chat?” The room was quiet a moment, and just when Corrine thought Kyla may’ve fallen back asleep, she said, “Ok, tell me about the videos. What were they, and how did you hack the webcams? I swear it’s ok and that I’ll never tell another soul or write down what you tell me.” Corrine was ready for this and had prepared her answer for when Kyla finally got brave enough to ask. “No one was hacked. It was a stakeout.” “In lingerie?” Corrine nodded, even though she knew Kyla couldn’t see her. “Hookers have to look the part, don’t they?” “Oh, my God! I never thought of a sting to nab Johns. I’m so sorry, Corrine!” Kyla laughed. “I thought you were hacking webcams and spying on people.” Corrine smiled softly in the darkness. She wished all her problems could be solved that easily.