Page 45 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

“It’s damn difficult being gay. It’s not a burden I’d put on anyone.

Everything we do is questioned and scrutinized.

It’s why so many of us don’t come out at work—especially if we’re in law enforcement.

That you didn’t want your sexual assault to define you is not surprising.

I would have done the same exact thing.”

That was what he needed to hear.

Corbin trusted this man.

Gene was like the big brother he’d always wanted. He was smart, he was good at his job, and he was wise beyond his years.

“You had to survive. That was your instinct, and you went with it.”

He was to the point.

“But I made it more difficult for you and Ethan to handle this.”

He knew that, but it didn’t really matter.

“Let’s just say that I have a distinct feeling that it wouldn’t have mattered. If the bikers who raped you are tied to these drugs, Gabriel Rothschild will handle it. If he doesn’t, and any of them are back in society, I’ll handle it.”

He stared at him.

“That sounds ominous.”

Oh, it was.

For them.

Gene wouldn’t let Ethan or Corbin know, but if he ever found out that any of the five men hadn’t paid for what they did, he’d take out the trash.

On.

His.

Own.

It was wrong, and it was everything he wasn’t, but a man had to do what a man had to do to protect his family, and just like he’d kill Javier Hughes for touching Ethan, he’d kill some scumbag rapist for hurting Corbin.

If it put Gene in jail…well, so be it.

“Just survive,” Gene said, focusing on Corbin. “Just get up each day, and keep going, and if the day comes where you can’t get up and take those steps, call me. I’ll show up and carry you until you can.”

Corbin needed to hear that. He wasn’t alone in this, and now, he could take his time to recover. Since his boss knew what happened, he wasn’t going to have to work for a while.

He’d use up his time, and heal. Then, he’d decide if he could be a cop again.

“Thank you for being my family,” Corbin said, still holding his hand as he sat beside him. “I love you and Ethan. Well, I would like to love Ethan, but you keep cock blocking me.”

He laughed.

“Ah, there he is. Already planning his conquest of my man. Let me remind you that you have a man of your own,” he said.

Corbin was aware.

Only, he’d made up his mind.

He was setting Will free.

There was no way he could saddle him with this mess. The bottom line was he didn’t think he’d be able to be intimate with another person ever again.

What he’d lived through as those five men hurt him was something that you didn’t forget.

Ever.

As for Will, he deserved a chance at happiness, and the cards that were dealt…

Corbin would carry that forever on his heart.

What he knew was Will had been the one. Corbin’s only regret was that this was going to hurt Will. Hopefully, he’d find someone who made him happy, and he’d forget about him.

Will would get married.

He’d start a family.

He’d love again.

As for Corbin, he’d never have any of that, but he accepted it.

At least he was alive.

Right?

“I appreciate your offer to stay here. I’m going to take it since I don’t want to deal with any of this right now. I don’t think I can deal with it.”

Gene didn’t mind.

Corbin needed a babysitter, and Gene didn’t mind watching out for him. Someone got into trouble when left alone, and Gene had three years to break him of that habit before they left to go home.

IF they left, at this point.

“Well, we’re going to work for a bit. You can hang out in here, so you don’t have to deal with this. I’ll bring you some food.”

Corbin stopped him.

“I need to be near people right now, so I’m not scared. Can I sit where you guys are so I’m not alone? When I’m alone, I think about the bar and what happened.”

He absolutely could.

Since he brought up the bar, Gene was curious. If they had to go there, they needed to know what they were walking into.

“Can we talk about it a little bit?” Gene asked, trying to navigate this gently.

“What they did to me?”

He shook his head.

“No, I won’t ask you about that. If you want to talk about it, then we can talk. I need to know what your cover story was. Did you bring up Ethan and myself at all? I need to know before we face the possibility that Gabe sends us back in there.”

His eyes went huge.

“ NO ! You can’t go there!”

The man’s heart was racing, and Gene could tell. The artery in his neck and temple just jumped and he looked ready to climb onto him to hold him down.

“Okay, shhhhh. It’s okay,” he said, as Corbin was shaking.

“Please don’t go there!” he said, standing up. He said it so loudly, and he sounded so erratic, it brought Ethan to the room.

When he came in, Corbin looked like a wounded animal looking for a corner to hide.

“Hey,” he said, moving closer. “It’s okay. What’s going on?”

Gene was honest.

“I need to know if he blew our cover when he went into Bull’s ,” he said. “I mentioned we might have to go there to work this undercover.”

Corbin was twitchy as fuck, and they understood why. The trauma had been brutal.

Blackhawk got Corbin to sit, and then, he took his free hand in his.

That’s when he tried to calm him down.

“Breathe,” he said, as he saw Corbin going pale, and then clammy. “You’re going to pass out if you don’t control your breathing.”

He tried.

Only, his breathing was erratic.

Getting up, Gene grabbed a clean washcloth, and soaked it in cold water. He rang it out, and brought it to Corbin, whose head was between his knees.

“This is going to be cold, but it’ll shock you back to breathing regularly,” he said, putting it on his neck.

The man flinched.

“It’s not as cold as crawling through the snow with a broken arm and dislocated shoulder,” he said, whispering.

Ethan put his hand on Gene’s arm because he was tense too.

“It’s okay,” he said, more for Gene, but Corbin too.

Corbin managed to get the breathing regulated, and then, and only then, he owned it.

He blew their cover in an attempt to save himself.

“They know that we know each other. When it got dangerous, I had to use your cover story to buy me time. I was hoping they’d believe I wasn’t a cop if I told them I knew you. I didn’t think it would blow your cover. I was trying to survive.”

Gene wasn’t upset.

Honestly, he couldn’t even think about going back there without killing people.

That’s how angry he was.

Oh, and there was no way on this green earth he was taking Ethan in there so he could end up raped and trafficked.

Fuck.

No.

“It’s okay, Corbin. Don’t worry. We’re not going back there, are we, Gene?” Ethan asked.

The big man reassured him.

“Absolutely not. It’s not happening. We can figure this out without going there.”

It was going to make it more difficult, but their cover was their cover, and now, it had been blown apart.

“I just needed to know. I’m not upset.”

Ethan got Corbin to calm down.

“No one is angry. Really.”

The other man was sweating profusely, and it was crystal clear that at some point, Corbin was going to need some therapy.

Only, today was NOT the day to bring that up. When he had some time to regroup, Gene would suggest it.

Hell.

He meant what he’d said when he said that he’d go with him if he needed him to. At this point, he should probably get some therapy too.

What he wanted to do to the men in that bar…

Yeah, it was very un-Fed-like.

That was for damn sure.

“How about we go have some food, and talk over what Ethan has found about the victims?” Gene asked. “You can tell us if we’re on track or off track,” he stated. “This was your case, after all.”

Yeah, after the two vice assholes and the commissioner dumped it on Corbin.

He nodded.

“I can do that.”

Gene glanced at his watch, starting to get edgy. He didn’t know what Gabe had planned for them, but he was betting it was anything but good.

Call it a hunch.

* * * Blackhawk & Cantrell * * *

Greyson’s Condo

Upstairs

Same Time

Why couldn't his life be easy?

That was the question he was asking himself at that very moment.

When he’d returned, he’d planned on getting changed, and grabbing his laptop to work at Ethan and Gene’s.

Only, that wasn’t all he was having to do.

When someone knocked on his door, he assumed it was one of the two men.

Yeah, it wasn’t.

It was Doctor Sasha Harper, and she was the LAST person he wanted to see.

As soon as he opened the door, she walked in, right past him like she lived there.

Oh, shit.

Where was his phone when he needed it?

Greyson needed back up.

Why?

He was an idiot, and a sucker for a gorgeous redhead. All he had to do was see one, and his libido, and dick, took over.

And Sasha was sexy.

She had curves, and she was feisty as hell. Normally, he found that hot, but today…

Now…

He just needed to get off the ride. For three weeks, he’d flirted with stupidity, and had sex more than a few times with the woman.

More than not, he managed to get a condom on before she voraciously slid down his dick bare.

She’d gotten hella wild in bed, and he liked it a little too much.

For the life of him, he couldn't understand why his brain was warning him when his dick was having one hell of a time being ridden hard, and put away wet.

From her.

“Hey,” she said, taking off her coat. “I finished work, and I thought I could come by, and we could fuck on your couch.”

His dick twitched.

Inside, he was praying for control.

And then, he saw what she was wearing under her coat.

Absolutely nothing.

It dropped to the floor, and there she stood with her body bared to him.

Oh, Jesus.

Greyson had to stop this. He wasn’t sure what her game was, but he knew if he knocked her up, he was fucked.

His gut told him there was too much on the line.

“So, are you up for some fun?”

Somehow, he found the strength to say no.

“Actually, Sasha, I’m on my way down to Gene and Ethan’s.”

She pouted.

“You weren’t in the office all day. Agent Hill said you were working. I’ve been looking for you.”

As she moved closer, he was sweating, and not because he was excited.

His brain was screaming one thing.

‘ABORT YOU FREAKING IDIOT!’

“Yeah, we’ve caught a case.”

She moved closer, and the cat-and-mouse game got her wet. He was easy when he was in the mood.

And she needed him to stay in the mood.

“I saw the samples that Gene submitted. What case are they for?” she asked.

Oh, boy.

“They’re for a case we’re working on with the police. They are backlogged, and we need the swabs, a blood sample, and the clothes for DNA analysis. No file. It’s for Corbin’s case they are handling.”

“The cop?” she asked, touching his chest.

He nodded, and he prayed for an intervention. If not, he was having sex with her.

AGAIN.

“Well, I’m here now, so we can stop talking about work,” she offered, trying to lure him in. She wanted a bounce or four on his dick, and to keep an eye on him.

When his phone chimed, as if by some miracle intervention, Greyson pulled it from his pocket. Her hand was already on his fly, and he was screwed.

Or would be screwing soon enough.

When he saw who it was, he was grateful.

‘We’re ready to work. Where are you? Is everything okay?’

And that was his sign.

Bless Gene for texting him and getting him the hell away from her.

Because he needed her out of his place, he showed her the phone, so she’d see he wasn’t bullshitting her.

“Sorry, Sasha, but I have to go. Maybe another time,” he offered, knowing that wasn’t happening in this lifetime. Instead, he moved around her to grab her long coat to help her into it.

She looked shocked.

“Really?”

He nodded.

Oh, and he might as well put the last nail in the coffin on this one, too, while he still could.

“And since you’re here, I should tell you that I don’t think we should continue this. It’s beginning to interfere with our jobs. Like now, when I have to work.”

She stared at him.

What was this?

Was he serious?

That wasn’t a problem before, in fact, she had him wrapped around her pinky.

This was bad.

FOR.

HER.

“Never again?” she asked, trying to figure out how to stop this runaway train.

Gabe wasn’t going to be happy. She was his eyes and ears in the office, and sleeping with Greyson, while amazing, was her only way to get the information when he needed it.

From where he stood, Greyson was watching her.

She wasn’t angry, but instead, she looked…worried. That set off all kinds of alarm bells in his head.

What the hell was going on with her?

God knew he dealt with angry women all of the time, and when you told them it was over, fights erupted—except for now.

Redheads had tempers.

But this one didn’t erupt, and that made him hella suspicious. Greyson could read a room, and she was anything but angry.

So, he kept pushing to gauge what she said and did.

“Yeah, it’s been great, but I need to focus on my career, and like you said, you plan on going back to Seattle. It’s best if this ends here and now.”

As he spoke, she pulled on her coat and couldn’t believe this.

“And no more of this?” she asked, motioning between them.

“No.”

It was definitely time to get off of that ride. He’d slept with her a few days ago, and he needed to bail.

HERE.

AND.

NOW.

As he opened the door, he gently pushed her out and was forever grateful that he’d managed to not fall down that rabbit hole all over again.

“Drive safe,” he said, basically cutting her off as he grabbed his things and headed for the stairwell.

As he headed away, she blinked.

He didn’t even want to ride the elevator down with her, and that was problematic. She’d intended to see what the other two agents were up to.

It was freaking her out that she had no choice but to do the walk of shame down the hall with nothing on under her coat.

And what was she ashamed about?

Her mission failed.

If she didn’t sleep with Greyson, she couldn't get information.

This was a problem.

Well, now, she had to have a creative solution.

And that meant one thing.

She’d need to get information from someone else, and that only left two men.

And one of them was gay.

But the other…

Not.

So.

Much.

Ethan Blackhawk had dated women before, and now, she’d have to figure out how to get him to talk.

And sleep with her.