Page 28 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

This would be awkward as all hell when Corbin brought the man around again, and he was left holding the bag of lies. It wouldn’t be Corbin who Will would be angry with, it would be the messenger.

HIM.

“I see.”

Shit.

It was never good when ANYONE said ‘fine’ or ‘I see’ . Gene was smart enough to know that. The few times Ethan had said them, the shit hit the fan right afterward.

What he wanted to do was tell the man, so he could head to his place to comfort Corbin.

What he could do was lie, lie, and lie some more.

It was crazy since he knew that they were both going to need each other.

“Thanks for the help,” Will said, turning and walking out the door.

When he slammed the door, Gene sighed.

That was sarcasm, he was sure.

Well, that went about as well as it could go.

“Is he gone?” Greyson asked, yelling down from upstairs.

He headed his way.

“Yeah, and he’s pissed. My luck, the next case I get is going to have Will as the prosecutor, and he’s going to be a dick to me on the stand just for shits and giggles. Oh, and thanks for bailing on me, PARTNER !”

Greyson didn’t doubt it, and he didn’t mince words.

“I’ve been cross-examined by him post-case. He’s mean on the stand. I’m not dealing with him.”

Great.

Well, he called that one.

Greyson continued.

“I grabbed him some clothes. I think you need to see something though,” he said.

That didn’t sound good.

Heading up, they found a broken picture frame next to the bed, and in it, there was a picture of Corbin and Will kissing each other.

Gene picked it up.

“It looks like we might have a problem. If the assholes ever figure out that Corbin didn’t die, they know that he’s with someone—Will. If they can’t find him, who do you think they’d go for?” he asked.

Well, shit.

They could add this to the list of problems that were ever growing. Now, they had an innocent lawyer potentially in danger.

Jesus.

This got worse.

It was imperative that they found Corbin’s gun, badge, wallet, keys, and car—all the while pretending they weren’t working a case so this didn’t go on the record beyond what they wanted to put in the file.

How could this go wrong?

“We should lock the place up. I don’t want to see them wreck the rest of Corbin’s home, but we have to get these files back for the profiler. Ethan needs them to get started on his job.”

Greyson was curious.

“Do we need a profiler? I think we know who is behind this.”

Yeah, he was right.

“Except those neanderthals couldn’t get-together and organize a group, let alone figure out how to abduct men, and not get caught. Someone’s behind this with some intelligence, and Ethan will profile it so we can figure out who.”

That was a good point.

“This whole case is going to suck.”

Gene knew Greyson was right.

They were going to have to retrace Corbin’s steps through the case where he figured out how and IF the missing men had contact with the trash at Bull’s Biker Bar .

That was going to take time.

Time they didn’t have.

“What did you grab him?” Gene asked as Greyson tossed him the bag. In it, he saw jeans, socks, underwear, and some shirts.

Gene had the sneaking suspicion that Corbin was moving in, especially after he heard what happened here. He was going to need more things.

He went to his dresser and began rooting through it to find sweats, soft cotton shirts, and he grabbed his slippers by the bed.

“He’ll need comfortable things, too, and some pajamas. His body is wrecked, and he has a broken arm,” he said. “Plus, he’s going to attach himself to Ethan, and not want to leave his side.”

“Really?” he asked.

Gene nodded.

“He saw his body, and what was done to him. Corbin is going to latch on to feel safe. He’s not leaving our place anytime soon, especially when he finds out someone was here. He really won’t feel safe.”

That was a good point.

Greyson felt horrible for the man.

“What are you going to do about his lover?” he asked. “Doesn’t Will have a right to know what happened to his boyfriend?”

“Absolutely,” Gene said. “Only, that’s Corbin’s call. He has to decide what he wants to do. I’m up to my eyeballs in this case. He’s latching onto my man, and he’s living in my condo. If I tell Will, Corbin will point that anger at one person.”

Greyson got it.

“You.”

The man nodded.

“This has to be his choice.”

And knowing Corbin…

He was going to jack it up.

* * * Blackhawk & Cantrell * * *

The Condo

Twenty Minutes

Later

When Gene and his temporary partner got there, Greyson had to take a call, leaving Gene to play ‘where’s the mate’ .

The condo was quiet, and the living room was empty. That only left so many places. His next stop was the guest room, and that too proved to be a dead end.

Heading into his and Ethan’s bedroom, Gene found his man in bed with Corbin, who was wearing his robe.

Ethan must have heard him approaching because he opened his eyes the second he arrived.

Corbin was against Ethan, his head on his shoulder, and his arm around his abs as he was sleeping.

Well, it looked like Corbin got what he wanted. He was cuddled up to Gene’s man.

In.

His.

Bed.

Well, at least this was not a scenario that would make him angry. Instead, Gene felt horrible as he was watching Corbin struggle.

Gene stared into Ethan’s eyes, and there was worry there.

Is he bad? he mouthed as Ethan read his lips.

He slowly nodded.

He’s not doing well, he mouthed.

Yeah, Gene figured as much. Only, it was going to get worse before it got better. Once he found out his house had been ransacked, and that the people who hurt him had partied in his place and saw the picture…

They knew Corbin.

He’d be worried about Will.

They had to decide how much to tell Corbin, and how much to spare him from—and all on the fly. These were going to be tough decisions.

Can you get out from under him? he mouthed back.

When Ethan nodded, he slipped out of Corbin’s grasp, and headed toward Gene outside of the room. Closing the door slowly, he kept his voice low.

“He had a breakdown in the shower. I was able to talk him down, but I don’t know for how long.”

Gene knew what that meant.

“He washed the evidence away?”

Ethan sighed.

“Yeah, he did. That was his choice, and I wasn’t going to browbeat him into preserving it. We have what I swabbed from him at the hospital. It’ll have to be enough.”

Gene and Ethan were on the same page.

Corbin wasn’t going to testify, and he wasn’t going to let this go to court. It was going to slip away if Ethan and Gene didn’t handle it.

“Do you have the files?” he whispered.

Oh, he could say that.

“Yeah, but we have a few problems,” he admitted.

That surprised Ethan.

“What?” he asked, as they headed out to the living room.

Gene clued him in.

“When we arrived at Corbin’s to get him some clothing, they ransacked the place, used his couch, and his bed. They must have gotten Corbin’s wallet, and his keys. They know where he lives.”

Well, shit.

Ethan flushed from rage, and Gene saw it.

“I’m just as pissed,” he admitted. “We also found his clothing in the dumpster, along with a bloody mattress that we snipped out some of the blood and took pictures for any files we have to create.”

That was foul.

Ethan clued him in.

“Corbin told me that he thought he’d gotten a good lead on the trafficking when they offered to bring him in the back to see a room. He assumed it was to see a victim.”

Gene lifted a brow.

“Oh, please don’t tell me that our baby detective believed them and went into a back room with the five men who raped him.”

Ethan nodded.

“There was a bed and couch there, and they tied him to bed for the whole assault, so that blood will be his.”

That hung there.

Gene rubbed his temples.

Now, he absolutely had to go on a rampage and break someone’s bones.

Neck.

Face.

And anything else he could get his hands on at that point.

In the living room he paced.

“I can’t get a warrant to search the back room if he washed the evidence away, and I certainly can’t if Corbin doesn’t want the rape on record.”

Not far away, Greyson was sitting at their dining room table waiting for them.

“What back room?”

Gene told him, and he closed his eyes.

“That’s problematic for a million reasons. Corbin should never have been working on this alone. He went back there, and they had him. You need to retrain him if he goes back to police work. He’s a danger to himself.”

Oh, they were aware.

Ethan sat down.

“Well, we have three years to do it now. As for the rest, this makes solving this difficult.”

They were well aware.

Sliding the files toward him, Ethan picked the first one up as Gene put Luigi’s cheesesteaks on the table for them.

“Did you tell him about Will?” Greyson asked.

Ethan looked up.

“What about him?”

Gene had been planning on going there next. He had a whole list of problems to share.

The back room.

Corbin’s home.

The Will situation.

Oh, and his unquenchable rage.

Gene relayed the whole situation, and the whole time, Ethan shook his head.

“Corbin told me he’s breaking up with him. That he doesn’t want him to see him this way. It’s only a matter of time before that blows up in our faces. I told him to give it some time and think about it first, but at some point, if Will shows up here, he’s going to dump him.”

Oh, well, that would be fun.

All they could hope was the man didn’t show up so they could avoid that drama.

“Let’s focus on one clusterfuck at a time,” Gene said. “The rest is giving me a headache. What do you have so far?” he asked Ethan.

His real partner clued him in.

“I wasn’t able to work much. I had to help Corbin shower, and then he fell asleep on me. My laptop was running the names of the people you sent me. I can go over them now.”

Gene grabbed his laptop off of the coffee table, and brought it to him.