“Seri?” Monica said, looking over to her, wanting some answers.
“I didn’t know she was 16. I thought she was 18,” Seri explained. She had to. Big mouth Quill already spilled the beans.
“What did you do!?!” Monica demanded to know, looking back to Quill still laughing. Seri was right. That girl wasn’t getting anymore weed.
“I do hate you,” Seri reminded Quill again.
“Sarah!” Monica yelled.
“I did what she said I did when I was there working undercover, but she did it too,” she whined like she was tattling on Quill.
Aquilla doubled over. This needed to stop. Her gut ached. “But I didn’t get you off,” she said with laughing words.
“You would have, had Julius not stopped you.”
More laughing. This was too much.
“Sarah! You did not,” Monica hoped.
“Yes, Mo, I did, and this little snitch bitch promised to keep her mouth shut.”
“I’m sorry,” Aquilla apologized trying to keep a straight face.
“Fuck you,” Seri retorted.
More laughing, Aquilla couldn’t breathe anymore.
“I can’t work with either of you. You’re both crazy. Sarah, you actually___?” she asked with raised eyebrows. She couldn’t say it, let alone believe it.
Seri couldn’t say it either, but Aquilla didn’t seem to be having a problem with it.
“Yup, she licked my pussy until I had one hell of a mind blowing orgasm. Did I ever thank you for that Seri?” she asked as if they were talking about a tea party.
“You can open your door and jump now,” Seri offered.
“Give her one of those eggrolls to kill her buzz. We can’t take her to her mother laughing like some crazy person.”
“No. I’m done. I promise,” Quill assured her, wiping tears with her shirt.
Seri looked back and shook her head, letting her know that she couldn’t believe that she just did that. She would get over it. Aquilla was sure of it. She had just met Monica and could already tell that she wasn’t your typical psychologist. For whatever reason, she liked her. She wasn’t sure about talking to her and telling her about all of the skeletons in her closest, but she nonetheless did like her.
Aquilla’s alertness piqued as they followed the robotic voice down the long lane of trees. She could see the lake and was a little excited about the water. She missed the ocean and hoped that it helped with the nostalgia. It wouldn’t. Nothing was ever going to be the same again, not until she found Julius anyway.
The house was pretty secluded and was a lot bigger than what she had pictured. She was picturing some old cabin or shack or something. It wasn’t at all. It was a beautiful log cabin with a covered porch running the whole length of the house. It reminded her of an Auguste Renoir painting. She wasn’t in to art, per se, she was just aware of the painting that hung over her bed for four years. It was signed by Auguste Renoir.
“I’m going to check out the lake,” Aquilla announced as soon as the car stopped.
“You should probably go meet your grandparents first,” Seri countered.
“I will in a minute. I just want to see the lake first.”
Monica watched her walk toward the lake and instantly turned to Seri. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I have no freaking idea, Mo.”
“You went down on her? A girl?”
Seri shook her head with a puff of her own disbelieving breath. “I did what I had to do. I didn’t know at the time who she was, let alone that she was only 16. Had I protested, my cover would have been blown, they would have run, and I would be on this case for another year.”
“Oh my God, Sarah. Did she do it to you too?”
“Yes,” Seri answered honestly. She told Monica everything. She always had, but she was sure she would have never volunteered that information had it not been for big mouth Quill.
“And you turned her on to weed? Are you looking for another job?”
“I can’t even explain it to you, Mo. It’s something that I can’t explain. I just feel compelled to, I don’t even know. I told you I can’t explain it. You’re the quack. You tell me.”
“Codependent, you idiot. You’re making her too dependent on you. I haven’t been around her for two hours, and I can already tell that she has placed a shield between her mother and herself. I think you need to leave so that she can bond with her family.”
“Yeah, well tell Houston that. He still thinks she is going to lead us to Julius.”
“And you don’t?”
“No. She doesn’t know where he is. If she did, she would have already run.”
“No more smoking pot with her. I can’t believe you did that.”
“She needed something to calm down. That’s what you and I do when we are stressed.”
“She’s 17, Sarah,” Monica sternly reminded her.
“Okay. Okay. I get it. No more pot.”
“I still can’t get past the image of you going down on a girl. What were you thinking?”
“I told you. I had to do what I had to do.”
“But, like, how was it? I mean, I don’t know what I mean. I just can’t fathom you doing that.”
“You’re a sick bitch. Is your lesbian side a little curious there, Mo?” Seri teased, opening the car door.
“Shut the hell up. Was it gross? Did it taste nasty?”
“You are a sick bitch,” Seri assured her as she opened the back of the SUV to retrieve their things. “Actually, it wasn’t gross at all. If I didn’t keep thinking about her being under age at the time, I would say it was almost sensual. She got off, it wasdifferent,” she explained. “Now let it go.”
Aquilla stared down at the water from the long dock. Nope, no sense of reprieve there. The water was a mucky, brown green, not the crystal blue she was used to. She wouldn’t be getting in there. She looked around at the houses, placed acre’s apart. She wondered who they belonged to. Was this a private lake and only available to the homeowners?
She turned back to the house that she would be staying at for the next week. She saw the older couple standing on the porch beside her mother. The older lady had her hands over her mouth as they stared down at her.
“Fucking great,” she said out loud. That was just what she wanted to deal with. She took a deep breath and walked toward the house, wanting to get the hugging and crying over with.
That was exactly what it was. Grandma Joyce held her tight, sobbing in her hair. Gross. She was shorter than her and her mother, but had the same slim facial features as her. Grandpa Lee was tall and slender, and thank God he quickly hugged her and let her go.
Grandpa Lee took the suitcase from Seri and showed her to her room. She saw the clothes from Reese and her friend already strung about in the first room that they passed. The living room and kitchen were open and the room that she was taken to was on the opposite side of the massive living area from Reese’s room. Good. She didn’t want to hear girly giggles all night.
“Do you have a bag to bring in?” Liz asked Monica.
“Oh, no thank you. I will just get a room. I saw a motel a few miles back,” she said pointing with her thumb. “I’ll be back in the morning.”
“I can’t let you do that. We have 4 bedrooms here. You can sleep in here with Seri. There’s only one bed, but there is a rollaway bed over at my parent’s house. We can bring that over for you,” Liz explained.
“Seri is staying in my room,” Aquilla demanded.
Seri looked to Monica giving her that co-dependent look, whatever the hell that meant.
“Quill, I will be right beside you,” she tried.
“I’m not sure your room is big enough for the rollaway,” Liz also tried.
Aquilla peered in to the queen size bed. “We don’t need it. That bed is plenty big for two people,” she assured them, taking Seri’s bag from her so called grandfather.