CHAPTER 23

.....Crawford opened the door and threw the keys to the Humvee in the tray, closing the door behind him. He paused, his back to the living room. It reeked of the night before, of stale cigarette smoke and spilled whiskey. He paused and sniffed, detecting a delicate smell underlying the funk.
.....He recognized the perfume. Sand and Sable.
.....“How’d you get in here, Tanya?” he asked as he turned to face the woman lounging in his leather chair. She had found one of his spare packs of Marlboros and smiled up at him as she lit the cigarette. She exhaled a greeting.
.....“Hi, Roy. Nice to see you, too.” Her jeans hissed across the surface of the chair as she crossed her legs and leaned back, her breasts pushing back against gravity through the sheer material of her blouse. She eyed him as she took another drag, her foot arching, bare ankle demanding attention.
.....He ignored it. He turned his back on her again and unbuckled his utility belt and rebuckled it, draping it across a peg on the coat rack.
.....Finally he turned and picked up the smokes, batting one out for himself.
.....“Have fun last night?” he asked, taking a deep drag. He let it out at the ceiling, avoiding her eyes.
.....“I could ask the same of you,” she chuckled. She eyed the empty bottle of Jack and the mess about the room. “I’d hope you didn’t do this kind of damage all by yourself.”
.....“It’s none of your business what...”
.....“But it’s your business what I do?” she interrupted. He finally met her gaze, a quizzical eyebrow cocked.
.....“If you’re gonna keep driving past someone’s window all night, you might want to use a quieter car. That damned Hummer isn’t exactly subtle-sounding.”
.....He shrugged. “I was worried.”
.....“Bullshit.”
.....He sat down, eyed the empty whiskey bottle and sighed. He felt like ants were crawling over his flesh and he was pretty sure it wasn’t a side effect of the hangover.
.....“Roy,” she said, her voice demanding his attention. He met her gaze. “I know what you feel, and while I truly do respect it, I can’t return it. You’re my brother.”
.....“I... ”
.....“Hush. You became my brother when I married Bryce,” she said softly. “Just because he’s dead doesn’t change that. I do love you...”
.....She caught the shift in his eyes. “Just not in that way.”
.....His face became neutral again and she continued.
.....“I appreciate all that you’ve done for Pierce, taking him in like your own and all that when I... when I needed you to.”
.....“He’s a good boy,” Roy muttered to his cigarette. “He needs a good father to become a good man.”
.....“And you’ve been one. Maybe even better than Bryce was...would have been.”
.....She shrugged. “But you’re it and I thank you for that. I know it’s not easy and I wish that there were something more that I could do for you.”
.....His gaze flicked to her legs and she sighed. “Just not that.”
.....“Tanya, why are you here?” He looked up, his throat dry for another taste of whiskey. “Did you just drop by to torture me, or something?”
.....“More along the lines of the something,” she nodded. “I want you to quit fucking with Dan.”
.....“What makes you think...”
.....“This is a small town, Roy. You don’t need cameras and microphones and phone taps and all other types of surveillance equipment to know what’s going on. I knew that you’d pulled in Dan before he was even at the station.”
.....“I didn’t...”
.....“I know, Clyde did. Spare me.” Her eyes went cold, the green sharper and more dangerous than he had ever seen them. “And that bullshit you pulled with Doc was...”
.....She shook her head. “Jesus, Roy. What the hell were you thinking?”
.....“He... I was just doing, you know...”
.....“He’s an old man, Roy. Your cheap power-tripping could have killed him. You want that on your conscience?”
.....“No. I wasn’t thinking.”
.....“Oh, you were thinking alright. You were thinking too much. The problem is, you’re not as smart as you think.”
.....She had more to say, and Roy took it like a man. One very miserable man, but a man.
.....Finally, she stood and made her way to the across the living room. He followed, and as she reached for the door he touched her arm.
.....“Do you love him?”
.....She paused, considering.
.....“I don’t know, Roy.” She turned, looking up at him. “All I know is that he’s the best thing I’ve had happen to me since...well, it’s been a while.”
.....“I don’t trust him,” Roy said. “There’s something about him. He’s weak, I think.”
.....Tanya chuckled. It wasn’t a pleasant chuckle. “And you’re so strong, right?”
.....“In most ways, yeah. In the important ways.”
.....“Maybe those aren’t the ways I need, Roy.”
.....Her green eyes had softened, and she stood on her toes to kiss him on the corner of the mouth. He shifted, and as their mouths met there was a sharp intake of breath. From both of them.
.....The lips stayed, and his hand cupped the small of her back and drew her to him.
.....Her eyes stayed open.