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"No, thanks, Doc" Axe looked at the human and put out his palm "I owe you a lot"

"Yup, you do But the service with a s at nightfall, ’kay? I know there isn’t class, but we’ve got to take those stitches out"

"Deal"

After they clapped hands, the surgeon shut his mobile unit back up, and took off while Axe headed for the front door

Crap He could have used a minute to brush his hair and his teeth before he saw Elise And then there were all the bandages…

Ha, and she thought that cut by his eye had been a thing

At least she couldn’t accuse his between the

THIRTY-TWO

Emotions were tricky little devils

A lot of the ti happen that was upsetting, shocking, or disorienting, you got through whatever it was--the confrontation, the abuse, the bad news, the accident that was your fault orrelieved it was over

But then the stewing started

As she sat in front of the fire that she had set hours ago in Axe’s hearth, she stared at the yellow and orange flaue over and over again God … it was as if her brain had grooves in it and her thoughts were the stuck needle on the record

Even after having broken-and-entered into this house that was not hers--granted, the front door had not been locked--and in spite of sitting here, in the very place Axe and she had nearly ht before, all she could see and hear hat had happened in that closet--

The sound of an engine outside the little house had her leaping to her feet, and for aher father had somehow found out where she was--but then she sensed Axe’s presence, the blood he had given her once again a holad to have

Except what if he were angry that she’d come so early? It must be three? Three-thirty? Which was less of a probleht

Hopefully, he wouldn’t be--

The door side, and as Axe lurched in, she clapped a pal out a hand blindly, she caught herself against the hearth’s wars plugged into a pair of slippers He alking as if he were in great pain, and there were bandages visible on his biceps and his shoulder--undoubtedly in other places, too

But that wasn’t the worst of it His face was lashed with scars, as if he had gotten too close to a series of knives or maybe barbed wire

He stopped as he saw her reaction "That bad, huh?"

"Oh, God …" She ran to him with her arms out, and then pulled up short "Where aren’t you hurt? What happened!"

Before he could stop her, she stepped to his side and put a supporting arm around his waist "Lean on me"