Chapter Fourteen #3
Ethan broke down what he did find. Gene wasn’t gone that long, so…
“Randal—his social media is questionable. He’s got pictures of him with women, in bars. He’s drinking and partying. His posts say it all. He’s sowing his wild oats all over the place.”
Gene considered that.
“Are there any of Ivey?” he asked. “Since they were a couple?”
He was to the point.
“I scrolled through hers and his. Both are clean of each other. Like they deleted and moved on. She didn’t have one single post where she was mourning that relationship. As for him, maybe he removed them when they broke up.”
Maybe.
Gene knew that if he used social media, and he never would, that he’d erase any relationships if they went south. Why look at the constant reminder of a failed relationship?
That would make a person crazy.
“Okay, and anything else?”
Ethan shared.
“Basically, what we already knew. What’s sticking for me is that he is right near where Megan and Phylis worked. What a coincidence? Or maybe not a coincidence at all,” he added.
Gene paid attention.
“Yeah, so we need to pay him a visit to find out.”
That they did.
“Do you have his home address? Because I doubt he’s at work today,” Gene asked.
Ethan nodded.
“I do. That’s the next stop. Then, I want to talk to Phylis’ husband, and finally, we’ll hit the pub. We’ll call that a dinner date. I know you said you were taking over, but I’m in the middle of the process.”
He smiled.
“We can do that, Baby. Dinner date, huh? Does my man need to be wooed?” he asked.
He shrugged.
Ethan six months ago would never admit that out loud, but he was a different man now.
He’d nearly lost Gene twice in one week. Then, when he ran away from him. There was no way he was reverting back to that man.
“Maybe. If my man is available.”
Oh, he was beyond available.
He was willing and able too.
Reaching over, he slid his hand into Ethan’s hair. Pulling the hair tie from his hair, he shot it across the room so Ethan’s shoulder-length hair could kiss his shoulders.
Then, Gene moved into his body, pulling him against him. Yeah, he was a walking biohazard, but someone needed attention.
The kiss…it was nuclear.
In fact, Gene kissed him as if it was the last kiss that they’d ever share. The whole time, he wouldn’t let him pull away.
Gene could tell his man was off his game.
In fact, so was he. Today had been a rough one for both of them.
When Gene finally took all he craved from that kiss, he set him free.
Gene was honest.
“I hate it here.”
Oh, well, welcome to that shitty club. Ethan wasn’t exactly thrilled he’d run back here. There was no doubt he should have sat his ass in DC waiting for Gene to find him.
Because this was his fault, he reassured him.
“Don’t worry. We’re going home,” he stated. “When we get home, you can hate it there because Javier Hughes is waiting for us.”
Gene hadn’t been expecting that. It caught him off guard, and he actually laughed.
“Great. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. When I said I liked spicy and hot, I meant my takeout—or man.”
Indeed.
And what a frying pan that was.
At least they were in it together. Ethan just kept reminding himself of that.
When the laptop chimed, both men looked over. Something had popped up in one of Ethan’s searches.
“Who?” Gene asked, reluctantly letting him go. Still, he needed space between them. The last thing he wanted was his man digging in his pocket or leaning against that ring box.
“It’s the last run on one of the interviews we did. Tristan Hevin,” Ethan offered.
Gene was curious.
“Tell me about Tristan,” he said.
Ethan shared what he’d found on him, too.
“Well, he’s clean, and his social media is filled with pictures of him, and Ivey.”
Blackhawk pulled them all up.
In them, they saw happy people.
They were dancing at a club, they were having dinner, and they were smiling like loons.
Ethan saw the next picture.
“Oh, and it looks like I was wrong. He’s definitely gay, and he’s in a relationship with a man. So, that shoots down my ‘he’s faking it’ theory. One of the pictures has him in bed with a sleeping man as he refers to him as ‘the love of his life’.”
Gene sighed.
“Well, so much for it being a gay man out to get revenge on women.”
Yeah, that was not likely it.
Still, Gene didn’t exclude him from his suspect list, simply because if something caught Ethan’s attention, that was likely important.
He’d keep it in the back of his mind.
“Keep working on him. Something might pop.”
He would.
“I also had something bothering me.”
Gene wanted to shower, but he’d never walk away from a talking Ethan—especially when he was talking work.
“What?”
He shared.
“The manner in which they were killed. It’s very specific,” he admitted.
That it was.
“What are you thinking?” Gene asked, unbuttoning his shirt to start stripping down.
Blackhawk watched him, and the whole time, he was enjoying the view. Still, he managed to work.
“First, back to Greyson calling us. He said not to get killed, Huggy Bear. Gabe dumped us in his lap, and he’s our boss now.”
He laughed.
“YAY! Greyson doesn’t hate us,” he said, joking around.
Only, Ethan reminded him.
“Yet,” Ethan added. “Give him time. We’re annoying and break the rules.”
Well, that was the truth.
“Anyway, the skinning. That’s…odd. That feels personal to me, like it won’t be random.”
Gene knew what he was saying.
“So, you think this is a ‘see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil’ tied to skinned victims?”
He nodded.
“Possibly. Since we’re up to our eyeballs in research, I asked Greyson to see if he can find any similar crimes. You know how he loves helping out.”
Luckily, that was the truth, and honestly, they needed backup. It was a good plan.
“Maybe something will pop up, and it’ll give us a little something more to work with than just the first victim’s ex.”
His fingers were crossed.
“You seem to have gotten a lot done,” he admitted.
Oh, Ethan knew why.
“Well, I was worried about my Huggy-Bear,” he joked, busting his ass. “I had to keep myself busy while you were off with the detective.”
Well, Gene had news for him.
“If you think I’m going to tell you not to call me Huggy-Bear, you’re out of your mind. I’m a bear, and I like to hug you. It’s apropos.”
That made Ethan laugh.
Gene wiggled his eyebrows at him.
“Maybe you should call me Fucky-Bear then.”
Oh, well, that was probably even more apropos.
“Touché,” Ethan stated, not going there. “I am curious about one thing,” he admitted.
Gene was taking off his belt.
“What?” he asked.
Blackhawk went there.
“A white cast, Gene? That’s going to be hella dirty in two days.”
He snorted.
“I know. They told me not to get it wet. I don’t need arm rot on top of it. They offered to wrap it in some fun kid cast wrap, but I declined the construction vehicles and ponies. One seemed childish, and ironically, the other seemed gay.”
He shook his head, but moved closer to his man.
“How was the arm?” Ethan asked.
He shrugged.
“It looks nasty, but it’s healing well. I should be good,” he admitted. “Maybe in time to get back to work in Philly and have Corbin working with us.”
He hoped so, but he suspected Gene’s arm hurt like a bitch. Every now and again, he’d move his fingers like they were sore or going numb from swelling.
His poor man.
“Well, go shower. I’ll keep running things,” he said. “Then, we’ll get some clothes from the detective, and head out.”
Because it had been a rough day, and he’d told him to hold it together until later, Gene kissed him softly on the mouth.
“I love you, EJ. I can’t wait to have that working dinner tonight. I’m going to woo you, even though it’s work. Be ready for some romance.”
At his words, Ethan smiled and rested his forehead against Gene’s. There was no doubt he’d deliver too.
He knew his man.
“Deal,” he said, slapping Gene on the ass when he went to walk away from him.
“That’s my job, bad boy,” he said, amused. “I get to spank you.”
As he winked at his man, that heat rushed through Ethan, and not because of what Gene said.
Instead, he was getting all warm from love.
Having someone who loved you like Gene did was the best feeling in the world.
While he was away from his family, and tucked away with Huggy Bear, he felt…alive.
When he sat down, he heard the shower go on, and he started more runs. When he picked up his marker to make lines through his notes, he paused.
And had an idea.
Speaking of love…
Grabbing another Sharpie, he headed into the bathroom off of the bedroom in their suite.
When he found Gene, he was in the shower, his arm OUTSIDE of the curtain.
So, he touched his shoulder.
“Hey, here to join me?” Gene asked, grinning wickedly at him. “I just so happen to need more hands on me. Yours.”
Oh, he wished he could, but he had something important to do.
“Maybe, but first, don’t look,” he said.
Gene laughed.
“Uh, I’ve seen you naked. If you want to join me, just hop in. I love me some naked Native man. You can wash my back and front. With your mouth.”
Ethan laughed because that didn’t sound like a bad plan, but he wanted to give Gene something. He was clearly worried about their relationship, and he wanted to give him something so that he’d never doubt that he wouldn’t run again.
Unless it was toward him.
“Put your arm straight.”
At first, Gene thought he was putting a plastic bag over his arm to keep it dry so they could have some fun in the shower, but he wasn’t. Instead, he heard weird sounds. Like he was scratching something.
“Uh, is this a new kink?” Gene asked. “Do you have a cast fetish?”
Ethan snorted.
“I have a fetish, but it’s not that,” he admitted, drawing a heart on the stark white cast, and coloring it in with the red Sharpie. Then, he took the black one and made some lettering on it.
The whole time, Gene was washing up with his one arm.
And.
Damn.
Curious.
“What are you doing?” he asked. “Can I peek?”
Ethan stopped him when he tried to look around the curtain to see what was going on.
“Don’t look. You’ll ruin the surprise,” he admitted.
Gene didn’t want that.
If his mate was doing something, he definitely wanted to give him the chance.
He wasn’t crazy.
Hell.
NO.
When the scratching sound stopped, Gene waited.
“Well, can I look?”
Ethan checked out his heart with their initials in it, and he smiled.
Yeah, that felt right.
In fact, everything about that moment felt absolutely perfect. In their own way, they’d made a family, and together, they’d survive the storm.
No.
Matter.
What.
Ethan Blackhawk didn’t have to stress Damascus. That was his past. What he had to stress was the present, and how to show up for his partner.
That was all that mattered to him.
“Okay, you can look,” he said, as he set Gene’s arm free, and he pulled it into the shower.
When he flipped his arm over, where his wrist was covered in cast, he saw the bright red heart there.
In it, there were initials.
‘E + G
Forever.’
Immediately, his heart kicked hard in his chest. That one moment was the sweetest, most perfect thing ever.
“I promise,” Ethan said from the other side of the curtain. “You never have to wonder about that. It’s a vow from me to you. When you get the cast off, and it’s gone, I’ll find another way to make another vow.”
At his words, tears filled Gene’s eyes.
Yeah, he was done worrying. Ethan had made a mistake running, and he was trying to get forgiveness for that act. Gene refused to make him suffer for it.
Life was too short.
Reaching out, he grabbed Ethan by the arm and yanked him into the shower with all of his clothes on.
Blackhawk gasped and then was pulled against Gene.
He said two words, and they were the most powerful words he could whisper.
“Show me.”
And Blackhawk did.