Page 141 of Sticks and Stones

Corbin took them, as Ethan handed him a bottle of water that came with their food.

“Thank you,” he said. “I feel like shit.”

Yeah, no doubt.

“You should be resting,” Greyson said. “This isn’t your case anymore. We’re going to close it, and figure out who is behind it.”

Corbin dug in.

“No. I want to help. I’m better now. I got to sleep with Ethan,” he said, glancing over at Gene to try to bait him.

But it didn’t work.

“Not happening, Crotch Goblin. That’s low-hanging fruit. You already look like someone beat on you. The day you can fuck anything in this condition, I bow and call you a god.”

He actually laughed.

And it hurt.

BAD.

From his spot beside the man, Ethan unwrapped his food, and placed it in front of him.

“Let’s try and get food into you, if you can chew.”

Corbin was honest.

“I don’t know if I can. My jaw is sore, and so’s my throat.”

And everyone knew why.

At his words, Gene’s eye began twitching.

“Just try,” Ethan said.

The smell of cheesesteak wafted up, and Corbin had to admit that it smelled good.

“If you won’t let me help, at least let me sit here. Pretend I’m not here, and I’ll just eat,” he offered.

That was ridiculous, but they might need Corbin’s brain. His notes were gone, and all they had was the official file with what he put in his report.

As he ate his steak and cheese, Ethan kept an eye on him as Gene talked.

“Anyway, two douchebag cops let the crotch goblin run rampant as he played undercover. They’d been working this case for a while.”

Corbin added what he could.

“There’s someone grabbing young men. They seem to be from a general location—college campuses. The three men I worked on, as victims, were college kids.”

They let him talk since he was the key to this—a key they technically couldn’t use to lock away who hurt him.

Greyson was curious.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” he asked.

Corbin nodded, and shared what he knew—from memory.

“I’ve got this. Elliot Graves was the first victim who went missing,” he stated. “He was a student at Villanova, just outside ofPhilly. His roommate said he went out one night, and he never came back.”