“Back to bed, honey.”
“I want to go places, see things, do things but always come right back here.”
“Bed, darlin’.”
“You saved this town.” She kept whispering and he felt his entire body get tight.
“Faye, baby, come back to bed.”
“I don’t know what secrets you hold but whatever they are, I’ll always believe you saved my town.”
“Come to bed, Faye, or I’ll come and get you.”
“You need to save him, Chace.” She was still whispering, her cheeks getting red and not because she was embarrassed but because she was fighting emotion.
Chace was done.
He threw back the covers, stalked to her, plucked her out of the couch and carried her back to bed. He planted her in it, joined her there, pulled the covers over them and gathered her in his arms.
She shoved her face in his chest and one of her hands under his body so both of her arms could close around him tight.
“If he loses his hands –” her voice was thick, scratchy, hard to hear.
“Stop it,” he ordered gruffly.
She sucked in a breath that broke and Chace pulled her closer.
Last night, Sondra and Silas had still been at Faye’s when he got there because they’d arrived minutes before. They all shared a drink and talked quietly in Faye’s seating area before her parents felt comfortable with the state of their girl and left him to see to her.
Close, long hugs were exchanged between Faye and her Mom and Dad. Chace got a shorter one, but a close one, from Sondra and a firm handshake with a couple claps on the arm from Silas.
After they left, Chace had poured Faye another glass of wine and opened himself another beer and she’d interrogated him about what he found and where it was.
He’d told her nothing and, as she kept at it, reiterated she didn’t need to know.
When she gave up, she did it by looking in his eyes and saying quietly, “I already know just because you won’t tell me.”
She likely didn’t and therefore he was glad she gave up.
He got her another drink. To relax her and in an effort to perk her up, he told her he’d watch the show she’d been begging him to watch.
It worked. She gave him a small smile and even acted a little excited as she sorted out the TV. She also fell asleep halfway through the episode.
Chace, however, didn’t. Luckily she fell asleep before he had to admit that, although it had an edge of geek, the show about two brothers who were on a self-appointed mission to save the world from a variety of phantoms, demons and monsters, whose best friends were an angel who wore a trench coat and a redneck who always wore a beat up baseball cap, wasn’t all that bad.
She woke slightly when he moved to take them to bed. So she groggily got ready and joined him there then slid straight back into sleep, curled close.
Chace didn’t follow her for long hours.
Now was now, Chace holding Faye in his arms while she struggled against tears.
He tipped his chin down and against her hair told her, “Honey, let it go. Nothin’ wrong with tears.”
“If he wakes up, I don’t want him to see my eyes red and face blotchy,” she replied, her voice still thick which meant her throat was still clogged.
“When he wakes up, Faye, all he’s gonna see is pretty. Trust me, he’s a guy, I’m a guy, that’s all we see.”
She shook her head as best she could seeing as her face was in his chest then she tilted her head back and caught his eyes with her brightened ones.