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"I was out of it at first. When I got it together, he had Block cuffed, locked in the car. He said he had to just about knock him cold to get him there. He was fine-Wayne-he was fine. Himself. Concerned, a little pissed, a lot confused. It didn't affect him. "
"Maybe it couldn't. " Layla pushed to her feet. She took the bloodied water to dump because if her hands were in the sink, no one could see them shake. "I think if it could have, it would have. You said Block meant to kill you. It wouldn't want the police, wouldn't want anyone to stop that from happening. "
"One at a time. " Composed again, Cybil pursed her lips. "Not good news, but not all bad. " She brushed at Fox's wet, tangled hair. "Your eye's healing. You're almost back to full handsome again. "
"What are you going to do about Block?" Quinn asked.
"I'll go over and talk to him, and Wayne later. Right now, I could really use a shower, if you ladies don't mind. "
"I'll take you up. " Layla held out a hand.
"You need to sleep," Cal said.
"A shower's probably enough. "
"That kind of healing empties you out. You know that. "
"I'
ll start with the shower. " He walked out with Layla. The pain still nipped, but its teeth were dull, its claws stunted.
"I'll wash your clothes while you're in there," she told him. "There are a few things of Cal's around here you can use. Those jeans are toast now anyway. "
He glanced down at his torn, ripped, and bloody Levi's. "Toast? They're just broken in. "
She tried for a smile as they climbed the stairs, but couldn't quite pull it off. "Does it still hurt?"
"Mostly just sore now. "
"Then. . . " She turned at the top of the stairs, put her arms around him and held close.
"It's all right now. "
"Of course it's not all right now. None of it's all right. So I'm just going to hold on to you until I can handle it again. "
"You handled it just fine. " He lifted a hand, stroked it down her hair. "Right down the line. "
Needing to be steady for him, Layla eased back to take his face carefully in her hands. His left eye looked red and painful, but the swelling was nearly gone. She kissed it, then his cheeks, his temples. "I was scared to death. "
"I know. That's what heroism is, isn't it? Doing what has to be done when you're scared to death. "
"Fox. " She kissed his lips now, gently. "Take off your clothes. "
"I've been waiting to hear you say that for weeks. "
Now she was able to smile. "And get in the shower. "
"Better and better. "
"If you need someone to wash your back. . . I'll send Cal. "
"And my dreams are crushed. "
In the end, she untied his shoes while he sat on the side of the tub. She helped him out of his shirt and jeans with a depressingly sisterly affection. When he stood in his boxers, and she said, "Oh, Fox," he knew by the tone it wasn't due to delight in his manly physique, but to the bruises that covered it.
"When so much is internal, it just takes longer for the outside to heal. "
She only nodded, and carrying his clothes, left him to shower.
It felt like glory-the hot water, the soft spray. It felt like glory to be alive. He stayed under the water, his hands braced on the shower wall, until it ran cool, until the pain circled the drain and slid away like the water. Jeans and a sweatshirt sat neatly folded on the counter when he stepped out. He managed to get them on, forced to pause several times to rest, to wait until nasty little bouts of dizziness passed. Once he'd wiped the steam from the mirror over the sink and taken stock of his face, the still-fading bruises, the raw look of his eye, the cuts not quite healed, he had to admit Cal was right, as usual.
He needed to sleep.
So he walked-felt like floating-into Layla's room. He crawled onto her bed and fell asleep with the comforting scent of her all around him.
When he woke, there was a throw tucked around him, the shades were drawn and the door shut. He sat up carefully to take fresh stock. No pain, he thought, no aches. Not even when he poked his fingers around his left eye. The dragging fatigue no longer weighed on him. And he was starving. All good signs.
He stepped out, found Layla in the office with Quinn. "I dropped out awhile. "
"Five hours. " Layla moved to him immediately, searched his face. "You look perfect. The sleep did you good. "
"Five hours?"
"And change," Quinn added. "It's good to have you back. "
"Somebody should've shoved me out of bed. We were supposed to go through the rest of the first journal, at least. "
"We did. And we're putting the notes together. " Layla gestured to Quinn's laptop. "We'll have the CliffsNotes version for you later. It's enough for now, Fox. "
"I guess it has to be. "
"Give yourself a break. Isn't that what you tell me? Cybil made some amazing leek and potato soup. "
"Please tell me there's some left. "
"Plenty, even for you. Come on, I'll fix you a bowl. "
Downstairs, Gage stood at the living room window. He glanced over. "Rain stopped. I see you're back to your ugly self. "
"Still prettier than you. Where's Cal?"
"He headed over to the bowling alley a few minutes ago. He wants us to let him know when you decide to join the living again. "
"I'll get the soup. "
Gage waited until he was alone with Fox. "Fuel up, then we'll call Cal. He'll meet us at the police station. Quinn's putting the main points of today's reading session down for you. "
"Anything major?"
"It didn't answer anything for me, but you need to read it for yourself. "
He wolfed down two bowls of soup and a hunk of olive bread. By the time he finished, Quinn came down with a folder, and the journal. "I think you'll get the gist from the synopsis, but since the rest of us have read this one, you should take it for tonight. In case you want to look anything over. "
"Thanks, for the notes, the soup, the TLC. " He cupped Layla's chin, pressed his lips firmly to hers. "Thanks for the bed. I'll see you tomorrow. "
When the men left, Cybil cocked her head. "He's got very nice lips. "
"He does," Layla agreed.
"And I think what I saw in the kitchen, when I watched him fight to heal, suffer to heal. . . I think it was the bravest thing I've ever witnessed. You're a very lucky woman. And. . . " She drew a piece of paper out of her pocket. "You're also the lucky winner of today's whose turn is it to go to the market sweepstakes. "
Layla took the list and sighed. "Woo hoo. "
CHIEF HAWBAKER STARED AT FOX'S UNMARRED face when the three of them walked into the station house. Wayne had seen that sort of thing before, Fox thought. But he supposed it wasn't something most people got used to.
The fact was, in the Hollow, most people just didn't notice, or pretended not to.
"I guess you're doing all right. I came by the house Ms. Black rented, seeing as you were hobbling off in that direction. A certain Ms. Kinski answered the door. Gave me quite a piece of her mind. But she said you were taken care of. "
"That's right. How's Block?"
"Had the paramedics come clean him up some. " Wayne scratched at his jaw. "Even so, he looks a lot worse than you. In fact, if I hadn't seen what went down, I'd tend to think you went after him instead of the other way around. I think he must have hit his head. " Hawbaker kept his eyes steady, and his voice just casual enough to let them know he was going to let Fox decide how to handle it. "He doesn't remember it all very clearly. He did admit he went for you, went hard for you, but he's a little confused as to why. "
"I'd like to talk to him. "
"I can arrange that. Should I be talking to Derrick?"
"He's your deputy. But I'd advise you to keep him clear of me. To keep him way clear. "
Wayne said nothing, only got the keys and led Fox through the offices, and into the detention area. "He hasn't asked for a lawyer, hasn't asked to make a phone call. Block? Fox wants a word with you. "
Block sat on the cot in one of the three cells, with his head in his big, raw-knuckled hands. He sat up quickly, shoved to his feet. As Block strode to the bars, Fox saw the nasty cuts where he'd clawed him. He didn't consider it petty to feel satisfaction over Block's two black eyes and split lip.
"Jesus, Fox. " Block's black-and-blue eyes were as wide and pitiful as a kid's on time-out. "I mean, Jesus H. Christ. "
"Can we have a minute, Chief?"
"That all right with you, Block?"
"Sure, yeah, sure. Jesus H. Christ, Fox, I thought I beat the hell out of you. You're not hurt. "
"You hurt me, Block. You damn near killed me, and that's what you were trying to do. "
"But-"
"You remember when I was playing second base back in our junior year, and the ball took a bad hop? It smashed right into my face. Bottom of the third, two out, runner on first. They thought maybe it broke my cheekbone. You remember how I was back on second in the bottom of the fourth?"
As both a little fear and a lot of conf
usion ran over his battered face, Block licked his swollen lip. "I guess I sort of do. I was thinking maybe this was a dream. I was sitting here thinking that, and that it never really happened. But I guess it did. I swear to God Almighty, Fox, I don't know what came over me. I never went at anybody like that before. "
"Did Napper tell you I'd been at Shelley?"
"Yeah. " In obvious disgust, Block kicked lightly at the bottom of the bars. "Asshole. I didn't believe him. He hates your ever-fucking guts, and always has. 'Sides, I knew Shelley hadn't been running around. But. . . "
"The idea of it gnawed at you. "
"It did. I mean, shit, Fox, she kicked me out, and she's done served me with papers, and she won't talk to me. " His fingers clamped around the bars as he hung his head. "I got to thinking that, well, maybe it was because she had you on the side. Just maybe. "
"And not because she caught you with Sami's tit in your hand?"
"I screwed up. I screwed up bad. Shelley and me, we'd been fighting some, and Sami-" He broke off, shrugged. "She'd been coming on to me awhile, and that day, she says how I should come on into the back and help her with something. Then she's rubbing against me, and she's got a lot to rub against a man. She's got her shirt undone. Hell, Fox, her tit was right there. I screwed up bad. "
"Yeah, you did. "
"I don't want a divorce. I wanna go home, Fox, you know?" Misery coated the man-to-man appeal. "Shelley won't even talk to me. I just wanna fix it, and she's talking around town about how you're going to skin my ass for her in court, and shit like that. "
"Pissed you off," Fox prompted as Block frowned down at his boots.
"Jesus, Fox, it steamed me up, sure, then Napper's trash talk on top. But I've never gone after somebody like that. I've never beat on a man when he's done that way. " Block's head lifted, and the confusion covered his face again. "It was like being crazy or something. I couldn't stop. I thought maybe I'd killed you. I don't know how I'd live with that. "
"Lucky for both of us you won't have to. "
"Damn, Fox. I mean damn. You're a friend of mine. We go back. I don't know what. . . I guess I went crazy or something. "
Fox thought of the boy laughing, swallowing itself. "I'm not going to press charges, Block. We never had any problems, you and me. "
"We get along okay. "
"As far as I'm concerned, we don't have any problems now. As for Shelley, I'm her lawyer, and that's it. I can't tell you what to do about the state of your marriage. If you were to tell me that you want to try marriage counseling, I could pass that on to my client. I might be able to give her my opinion, as her lawyer and her friend, that she try that route before going any further with the divorce proceedings. "
"I'll do anything she wants. " Block's Adam's apple rippled as he took a hard swallow. "I owe you, Fox. "
"No, you don't. I'm Shelley's lawyer, not yours. I want you to promise me that when Chief Hawbaker lets you out, you go home. Watch some NASCAR. Gotta be a race on today. "
"Staying at my ma's. Yeah, I'll go on home. You got my word. "
Fox went back out to Wayne. "I'm not filing charges. " He ignored Gage's muttered curse. "Obviously I'm not hurt. We had an altercation that looked more serious than it was, and is now resolved to the satisfaction of both parties. "
"If that's the way you want it, Fox. "
"That's the way it is. I'm grateful you came along when you did. " Fox held out a hand.
Outside, Gage cursed again. "For a lawyer, you've sure got a bleeding heart. "
"You'd have done the same. Exactly the same," he said before Gage could object. "He wasn't responsible. "
"We'd have done the same," Cal affirmed. "And have. Why don't you come up to the center and watch the game?"
"Tempting, but I'll pass. I've got a lot of reading to do. "
"I'll drive you home," Gage told him.
But for a few moments the three of them stood, just stood outside the station house looking over the town that was already under a cloud.
