Chapter 9
Kody was worn out. First she had to go to the hospital and be checked for trauma and have swabs taken from her body. Then she was questioned by the police. They were good to her, making sure to let her take her time and getting her what ever she needed but she had to relive the whole situation again. She wanted to know if Shan was okay, but instead she had to answer their questions. She wanted Jeff, but she had to describe the man who had attacked her. The detective finally let her go. He assured her they would do everything to catch this man. Her description of him seemed to mesh with descriptions from victims in Fayetteville and Raleigh. It seemed the man who had attacked her was the same man who was wanted for other crimes in the state. She had heard a news report about it just earlier that day. At that time, they had no description of his face, but that had changed. Kody was the first to see his face and so her information was vital. Kody shuttered and managed to get to her feet feeling wobbly and used up as the detective led her outside where Matt was waiting. He stood up and met her half way as she broke down. He folded her into his arms and held her while she cried into his chest.
"Jeff's on his way from the airport. He should be here any minute."
Kody pulled back from him and wiped her nose and tried to control her emotions.
"I-I don't want to be like this when he gets here."
"Kody I don't think you need to worry about how you're acting you have every right to be hurt, upset, pissed, whatever. Jeff's here for you to cry on, he's your husband. He became your own personal Kleenex when he married you."
Kody smiled a bit and dried her eyes.
"Thank you Matt."
She hugged him and sighed, closing her eyes against him as he stroked her hair. She opened her eyes and pulled away from Matt when she heard her name being called, and Jeff's voice was attached to it. He was hurrying toward her with his arms outstretched and he enveloped her in his a strong embrace. Her bones felt like they turned to rubber and she leaned on him, letting him hold her up with his strength as she cried silent tears. He kissed the top of her head and held her close. She felt safe with his arms wrapped around her, she felt secure as she breathed in his scent, she felt protected as he reassured her in his sweet, slightly southern voice.
"Baby I'm…I'm sorry. I love you Kody, baby it's going to be okay, I love you."
She finally drew back from him and looked up at him with swimming eyes. He looked like a wreck and she only wondered what she must like.
"Jeff, I want to go home. I want to go get a bath, they wouldn't let me because…'cause…" She trailed off. "I just feel really dirty. Please, I want to go home and get rid of the smell. I can smell him." She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as if trying to scrub off some unseen filth.
"Alright, I'm going to walk you out to the car real quick, Matt come on I want to talk to you."
Matt followed them out and after Kody got in the car Jeff talked to Matt.
"You going to the hospital to see Shan? What's going on?"
Matt leaned against the car and ran a hand through his curly hair.
"It's…bad. They had him in surgery I guess his lung collapsed on the way to the hospital, I guess stuff was all filling up with blood I really don't know just it's serious. His family's up there…I'm going to go up and see how things are going. I'll let you know."
Jeff hugged his brother and got in the car to drive his wife home.
Jeff left Kody soaking in the tub and started to clean up the mess. It was a surreal feeling seeing his home this way, it was unreal to walk into the kitchen and think: This is where my best friend was stabbed. It was even worse to walk in to the living room and know: This is where my wife was raped. He fixed a tarp to the broken French doors and swept up the glass and cleaned up the blood on the tile. Some of it was Shan's and some was from that dumb fucker. Jeff hoped the guy was on his way to some long, hard, time. Too bad rapists can't get the death penalty, Jeff thought to himself. He had never really thought like that before, but when something happens to one you love, your perspective changes drastically. He was furious that someone would dare violate his wife in such a gruesome and obscene manner. He swallowed a lump in his throat and leaned on the counter. There was something else, he felt guilty.
He had gotten the phone call as he was boarding the plane to come home. Matt had called him and wasn't going to tell him specifics, but Jeff dragged it out of him. There's nothing to describe how it feels to be on a flight the whole trip knowing that your wife is back home needing you like hell and you can't be there and it sure seems like the plane is slow as molasses. Meanwhile the flight attendant who is unaware of anything keeps bugging you, and the kid behind you keeps kicking your seat, and the fat guy next to you keeps snoring with his mouth wide open and spit running from the corner. Jeff broke about every traffic law to get to the police station as quickly as possible. Then, seeing Kody that way, it tore him apart.
"I should have been here." He said to the empty room. He rubbed his eyes and made his way to the bathroom to check on her. She'd been in there for a couple of hours now while he tried to bring some kind of rightness back to the place. The bathroom was saturated with strong floral-soapy smells. The mirrors were steamed up and the air was warm from her bath. Jeff slid down next to the bathtub and looked at her. She was lying back in the tub and only her head was poking up above the suds. She sat up and tucked her knees to her chest as if she felt she had to guard herself. Jeff touched her wet hair and tucked some behind her ear.
"I keep on washing and I keep on feeling gross." She propped her chin on her knees and gave a shaky sigh. "I guess time will take care of it, not soap."
"I should have been here. I should have been home, this wouldn't have happened." Jeff glared at the floor angrily.
"Don't take the blame for something you couldn't prevent."
"I could have, Kody, if I was here instead of gone. I could have!"
"Jeff, please, let's just try and put this behind us. That's what I want to do just put it in the past and run from it until it's just some unrecognizable speck in the distance. I have to think of Harley. He's clueless to everything, he's just a boy and he's going to need his mom not some blubbering, terrified, idiot." She pulled the plug from the drain and watched as the bubbly water swirled and tornadoed out of the tub leaving her naked and still hugging her knees wet and soapy with a few remaining stubborn bubbles. "Can you get me a towel honey?"
Jeff pulled open a drawer handed her a fuzzy towel.
She wrapped it around her shoulders, still hugging her knees. She bit her lip and gave him a sideways glance.
"Jeff, can you go call Matt and check how Shan's doing?"
Jeff took out his cell to call Matt, but then realize what she really wanted. She wanted him to leave so she could dry off and go to the bedroom to get dressed. She didn't want him to see her naked. Jeff left her there and made his way to the living room where he slumped into the couch feeling drained. He called Matt anyway and was told that there were complications with the bleeding, but those had subsided. They were now trying to bring Shan around from the anesthesia which was proving just as difficult.
"They said he could have...uh, neurological damage or organ damage because of lack of oxygen but they won't know yet. They have to get him to come out of the anesthetic and shit."
"Okay, keep me updated…"
"Jeff?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay bro?"
There was a pause and Matt said his name again, as though it were a question.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I don't know how Kody's going to be tonight so I think it's a good idea if Harley stays with you and Blaze for the night. I can come get him tomorrow. Does he know about anything at all?"
"Not yet, but he's smart he's going to realize something's not right. I mean we're all nervous wrecks. He's going to pick up on it like that." Matt snapped his fingers.
"Well one thing at a time I guess. Thanks Matt."
The brothers hung up and Jeff went to his wife who was sitting on the edge of the bed dressed in jeans and a Hardy Boyz shirt. She was brushing her wet hair idly.
"How is he?" She looked up when Jeff sat next to her and draped his arm around her shoulders.
"They're trying to bring him out of the…the anesthetic."
"Trying? What the fuck does that mean?"
Her brush snagged on a tangle and she tore it out with a loud rip.
"Kody, things will be fine. Shan's young and healthy he'll do fine. I'm going to have to kiss his feet…he may have possibly saved your life, one way or the other, he sure as hell risked his." Jeff kissed her cheek.
"I want to go and see him. I want to be there and see him and make sure he's okay."
"He's going to be groggy and tired and baby you're spent too. You need to get some rest." He tried to coax her to lie down but she wouldn't do it.
"No, it's like you said Jeff, he risked his life for me. I held his hand when…when…I was scared that he was…he couldn't breathe and he was in pain…" Her eyes filled up and she squeezed her eyelids tight and tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Alright baby." Jeff said gently and kissed away her tears.
"Jeff please don't…just don't be too touchy-feely yet. I know you're trying to help and it's sweet it's just…" She shivered and wiped her teary eyes on her shirt.
He backed off.
"You don't have to explain anything to me. If I'm doing something wrong just tell me okay? And if you want to go see Shan then that's what we are going to do." Jeff stood up and pulled his keys out of his pocket. The two of them headed to the hospital.
Only one visitor was allowed at a time so Jeff was out in the waiting room chatting with Matt and Shannon's mother. Kody walked cautiously into the room. She hated hospitals. She walked around the curtain and her eyes started to tear again. She had cried so much today she was surprised she had any salt or liquid left in her body. She sat down in a chair that had been pulled up to his bedside. He was hooked up to all kinds of machines and Kody watched the little green line on the heart monitor as it beeped with his heartbeat. His eyes were closed as he was either sleeping or lulling in and out of consciousness. An IV dripped something, probably pain killers, into his arm. A tube was stuck down his throat to breath for him as his lung had failed him and was trying to recuperate itself. She brushed his blond hair away from his pale face and kissed his cheek. She tried to settle her own tears with a deep breath.
She took his hand, minding the white thing that was clamped to his finger to monitor something.
"I can never say thank you enough, I can never tell you how much you mean to me." She touched his hand to her face. "We will pull through together. I'm going to make sure of it. I love you Shannon Moore. I could never ask for a better friend." She sat back in her chair, just holding his hand and watching his chest rise and fall gently with the machine. She felt her own eyes growing heavy, and before she could protest by forcing them open, she had fallen asleep.
Thanks so much for the reviews, keep 'em coming, sorry I took a while to post this chapter. I hope I didn't have anyone biting their nails off wondering what was going on! Thank you to those who read, I aim to do my best for you guys. Peace out!
