Page 65 of The Devil's Ice

No. Vixen had been the one doing that.

“Vixen,” Zoe said now. “I – I know I said it over the phone, but I need to tell you to your face… thank you. Thank you for Keira, for what you did for her, and I’m so,sosorry that you got hurt.”

Vixen started to say something, but Zoe held up one shaking hand. Honey and Tank tried hard to look like they were disappearing into the walls.

“Please, just let me say this to you.” Zoe took a deep breath. “Please.”

Vixen smiled, knowing that this was critically important. “OK.”

“I wish – it should have been me.”

“What?” Vixen stared at her; she hadn’t been expectingthat. “Zoe, you don’t mean that.”

“I do. Ireallydo.Ishould be the one with the broken neck, and the permanent scars.Ishould be the one sleeping sitting up, and the one who can’t turn her head for two months.Ishould be the one sitting at home and healing. Not working, not going about my normal life, going on coffee runs, and walking in the park with Keira, and sleeping with my husband. I should – it just should have been me. You were only there becauseIasked you to be – and I wishso hardthat I could take it all back. Keira’smyresponsibility – and I failed her. Completely.”

“Zoe,” Vixen said quietly. “I’m glad that I was there. I’m glad that it was me.”

“What? Why?”

“Because,” Vixen said. “If Keirahadto see a woman get hit by a van, and thrown twenty feet through the air, and then sprawled on the ground in a parking lot with a snapped neck, I’d rather that itnotbe her Mom.”

Zoe opened her mouth, closed it again.

“I know that it scared her that I got hurt,” Vixen continued. “But at least she had you there to hold her and comfort her, make her feel safe again. Ifyou’dbeen the one unconscious with blood covering your face, taken away by paramedics, in a neck brace for weeks and weeks, and you couldn’t pick her up or touch her – and this is allaftera van tried to run her down – can you imagine what that might have done to her? Maybe forever?”

“I – I never thought about it that way.”

“I know.” Vixen smiled again. “You were thinking like the amazing mother that you are: you wanted to be there to protect your child. ButI’mthinking like a person who wants you to be there to help herafterwhat happened, after the dust settles. She needs you safe and whole, to help her work through everything that she saw. Scars can’t do that – not with what he has to deal with over in Utah. Elle and Jo and me, we all love Keira – but we can’t do it, either. Not the way that her mother can.”

“I –” Zoe stared at Vixen as if seeing her for the very first time. “You are so right. You are so fucking smart.”

“I am, and I am!” Vixen said merrily. “So… can we just agree that it’s better that it was me?”

“I guess we can. Now… am I able to give you that hug?”

“You certainly are.”

Zoe crossed the kitchen, and kneeled down in front of Vixen. Gently, carefully, she wrapped her arms around the smaller woman, held her for several seconds. Said thank you silently, said it ten different ways – with her breath, and touch, and thoughts, and heartbeat – and Vixen both felt and heard it, all ten ways.

Zoe finally pulled away, smiled at Vixen. “More coffee? Maybe some breakfast?”

“Yes please, and yes please.” Vixen looked over at the woman standing by the window; she was blonde with baby-blue eyes, and she was tiny, smaller than Vixen herself, which made her believe that ifthiswoman was one of King’s Men, then she had to be absolutely fucking lethal, appearances be damned. She could probably snap a grown man with her pinky finger, smiling sweetly the whole time. “Hi. I’m Vixen.”

“Honey,” the woman said. “And let me tell you, girl… I’ve seen that video footage from the parking lot. You are a badass extraordinaire, and I suspect that if you came after my job, you’d get it.”

Vixen laughed. “How are your benefits? You get dental?”

“C’mon now,chère,” Tank said in that warm, sexy Cajun drawl that had utterly charmed her on the drive over to the safe house, his dark eyes dancing. “Catching the bad guysisthe benefit in itself,n’est-ce-pas?”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Vixen said. “Right now, I’m just happy to have some toast.”

“So,” Zoe said, popping two slices of bread into the toaster and cracking some eggs for a quick scramble. “You and Ice, huh?”

Vixen choked on her coffee. “What – how –”

“Oh, Jesus.” Zoe rolled her eyes and threw some butter in the frying pan. “Even if I hadn’t literally justheardyou tell Keira, I have eyes. You think that I haven’t noticed that you two are completely fucking nuts about each other?”

“Well,” Vixen said, regaining her composure. “I mean… until just recently, our relationship has only been…ummm…”

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