Page 9 of Strike a Chord
He swooped in, wrapping her up in his big, warm, safe embrace.She had to go on her tiptoes to get her arms around his neck, but dear god, it felt good to be in his arms.
He smelled good, too.
She shuddered against him.
“Hey,” he cooed, rubbing her back as the tears began to wrack her body.“It’s okay.It’s going to be okay.Just call me if you need anything.”
They stayed where they were for a moment longer before he let go of her and stood up to his full height.She wiped her wrist beneath her nose and used her thumbs to wipe her tears.
Her soul was shredded, but just being there with Dax, and being home with Levi, eased so much of the strain and fray inside of her.
He tucked a knuckle beneath her chin.“Put Levi to bed, then have a nice warm shower to warm up.Don’t let the chill settle in.It just makes everything else worse.”He flashed her a wink, and took off back into the dark, wet night.
She barely felt the cold or rain as she stood on her welcome mat and watched his truck back out into the street and disappear.Then she met her son in the house.
“All right, kiddo, lets get you ready for bed.”
BythetimeDaxgot to bed it was close to three in the morning.Luckily, he was a deep sleeper, and it took him nothing to reach his REM cycle.
His only hope was that the goats or rooster didn’t wake him up at the crack of dawn.
None of them really liked the rain, so if it was still raining, they’d probably sleep in.As they all should.
He was in the middle of a fantastic dream when his phone started to ring.
At first, he thought that the ringing was in his dream.That the music he and his band were playing to a cheering crowd of thousands had some weird background acoustics that they were experimenting with.But that wasn’t it at all.
It was his phone.
Slowly, he roused enough to shoot his hand out to his nightstand and grapple for his phone.He had blackout blinds in his room, so it could be noon for all she knew.
He didn’t bother to check the time before he put the phone to his ear after hitting the green button.“Hello?”he gritted out.
“D-Dax?”came a breathy feminine voice.
He grunted and wiped the sleep from his eyes.Then he realized who it probably was, and suddenly, he was awake.“Jennifer?Everything okay?”
“I woke you up?”
“I-it’s okay.What’s wrong?”
“I … I shouldn’t have called.I’m so sorry.”
“Jennifer.Stop.It’s fine.What’s wrong?”
She was quiet for a moment.
He sat up in bed.“What’s wrong, Jennifer?”he probed again.
“Is your power out?”she finally asked.
He reached over to turn on the bedside table lamp.It didn’t turn on.He tossed off the covers, then went over to the light switch on the wall and tried it.That was when the chill of the house settled on his skin, causing goosebumps to break out on his bare arms and legs.
He slept in nothing but boxer briefs, but generally didn’t have an issue with the cold.The house was freezing, though.
He dove back under the covers.“It would appear so.”
“Oh,” was all she said.
