Chapter Twenty-Four
The Hotel
One P.M.
Researching
Corbin had emailed both detectives, and gotten a reply from Tora that they were safely tucked away at Mac’s place. Because he knew when Elizabeth said warn someone, she meant it, he did just that.
They were both on alert, and not leaving unless they got directives from Elizabeth herself.
Then, when he finished with them, he began researching Jeffrey’s mother, Opal Von Gunter. What he found didn’t astound or surprise him.
She was a single mother, who raised her son. She worked cleaning businesses, and her other job was working as the head of the church choir.
On paper, she looked like a saint, and there wasn’t much out there on her. Opal kept to herself, loved Jesus, and her son, apparently.
Getting his hands on the crime scene report, he saw that she had been going to the mailbox across the street, when she was hit by a car. She laid in the ditch on that back road until she succumbed to her injuries.
It was when her son found her and called for help that the police came.
With the autopsy report attached, done by Doctor Redmond, two years ago, it was BFT that did her in, as she had massive internal bleeding.
Well, so much for keeping busy.
All of that took about ten minutes to handle. He was getting cemetery information, as to where she was buried to send to Elizabeth when there was a knock on his door.
Heading to it, he looked out, and there was no one there. Well, no one he could see.
Putting his hand on his gun, he slowly opened the door, leaving the chain in place, just in case.
That’s when he saw it.
Flowers.
Opening the door all of the way, he was caught off guard to see who was holding the flowers.
It was Alex.
“Before you say anything, letting you leave thinking that I felt nothing was pretty shitty to do. I feel a lot, Corbin, and I’m sorry that I let my hurt lash out to cause you hurt.
You apologized, and that should have been enough.
I just don’t trust too many people, and when I do, if I get hurt, it makes me stumble. So, I’m sorry.”
Corbin blinked.
He couldn’t believe this.
In his head, he’d been planning out how to fix all of this, and instead of it being a battle, and an uphill fight, it was anything but.
Alex found him.
“Do you want to come in?” he asked. “Or is this a drive-by flowering?” he asked.
Alex laughed, and he sounded exhausted.
Yeah, Corbin understood that.
“I’d like to come in.”
Corbin stepped back, and made room for him. In a way, he was glad he was there. He had been worried with the shit happening with the case.
As soon as he closed the door and turned, Alex moved at him, and just buried his head in his neck, holding on to hug him.
Corbin wrapped his arms around him, and gave him that security back.
“I’m going to fucking make a mess of this, and I want to go on record and say that I warned you in advance. I hope you’re a very patient person.”
Corbin actually smiled.
“You haven’t met my mother.”
Alex was curious.
“Is she patient?”
He actually laughed as he held him.
“No, she’s a lunatic, and I’ve had to learn patience because I can’t escape her insanity. Alice has a way of testing a man’s patience. Let’s just say my father was a saint.”
Alex laughed.
A little.
When he stepped back, Corbin lifted his chin, and stared into his eyes.
“I won’t hurt you intentionally. I haven’t done a relationship in a long time. Be patient, too.”
Alex nodded.
Apparently, they were going to try and piece together two tattered lives to see if they could make something of it. That curiosity in him was why he was here.
No one ever said what he’d said to him, and Alex was desperate to see if he could even fly that close to the sun to feel that warmth.
For a change.
When the man left his apartment, immediately, he felt horrible, and he wanted what Corbin had said.
He wanted someone to tell him he was loved every day, so that he could walk in the light, not the darkness.
“Did you mean it?” he asked. “What you said before you walked out the door?”
He nodded.
“I’ll say it enough for both of us. You won’t wonder. I learned how to be a partner and significant other by watching Gene and Ethan in their younger years. I learned how to be what a person needs. I want to try,” he said. “Because I’m tired of being alone, and I found someone I love being around.”
Alex believed him.
So far, he had no reason not to believe him.
“I want to navigate this with you,” Alex said. “I’m broken and in pieces, but I can give you what I have left. Maybe, I’ll be enough.”
Corbin hugged him again, and let him rest against his body.
“Alex, you’re whole. I see you as that, and not damaged. Let’s just see what we can make before we worry about it not being good enough.”
That sounded good.
He wanted to try.
Oh, he had no idea how to do any of this, so it would be a learning experience. Coming back here, willing to try, had been a huge step for him. Normally, he’d leave.
He left after sex.
He left when it got difficult.
Now, he came back, and that had to mean something.
“I brought you lunch,” he admitted, setting Corbin free and going to his messenger bag. He pulled out a bag with a familiar logo on it.
“Burgers it is,” Corbin said.
Alex was curious.
“Were you working?” he asked.
He held out his hand, and Alex actually reached for him. Yeah, that was a start, and Corbin knew it. There was a foundation there. All he had to do was build on it.
Right?
“Yeah, Elizabeth had me researching someone. I’m just about done. I’m just trying to get the burial location,” he said, telling him what she’d updated him with.
When he was done, Alex was silent.
“What are you thinking?” Corbin asked. “You look worried. Share?”
He did.
As he was toeing off his shoes, to sit on the bed where they could eat, he was honest.
“Do you think she’ll let me have my job back?” he asked. “I’m not sure she will. I’ve burned that bridge so many times, and she has to be exhausted dealing with me.”
In his mind, that was a no-brainer. Corbin believed she would.
But what Alex needed was that reassurance.
“She loves you, and is like the team mom. Text her. I’m betting she will.”
He pulled out his phone, and he looked so scared to be given more bad news in his life, so, Corbin did it for him. He would always do the difficult things for a person he wanted to be with. Will had taught him that.
“I got you, Alex.”
He took his phone, and texted Elizabeth.
‘Hey, it’s Corbin. Alex just showed up. He wants his job back. Is he still a Fed? If he is, I’d love to keep him as my partner. If he’s not, I’m going to have to resign. I can’t work with anyone else but him. We’re the perfect team, so it has to be him. Please say yes so we can both stay.’
He sent it, and then he handed the man his phone so he could read it. As he did, tears filled his eyes when he read the words.
The emotion was raw.
And Corbin hated that someone had kicked this man’s heart around this much as a child, that he didn’t see that he had people who would always protect him.
That he could be loved and deserved it.
“Thank you for that,” he said. “It is appreciated. That you’d give up your job for me is a big thing.”
Corbin sniffed the roses that the man brought him, and he was to the point.
“Listen, it’s not a big thing. When you care about someone, you do the work to show them. Like you bringing me flowers and coming here to meet me halfway.”
Alex listened.
For the first time, in a very long time—since he’d been taken in by that social worker, before she let him be taken back—he had hope.
Corbin wasn’t done.
“The bottom line is, Alex, we’re a good team.
I’m not losing this partnership. I meant what I said.
I wanted to start the journey with you, and hopefully, you’ll stay on it with me.
It has to be something we both do. If we work as a team, we’ll be okay.
There will be good days and bad days, but that’s half of a relationship. Trust and love.”
He just held the phone in his hands, thinking about what Corbin had just said.
“I do want that. I want to have someone I can trust, more than anything. I want to know that if I turn around, they’ll be there and be my partner.
I thought I had it once before, but it wasn’t the right fit.
I’ll always feel things for Noah, simply because he saved me when I was about to be decimated, but I know that he wasn’t the one. ”
Corbin sat there.
The truth was, he wanted to be the one for him. That was a first since Will. He’d known it on day one, and he knew it now. His gut told him.
Before Corbin could say anything else, the phone chimed, and Alex saw it was from Elizabeth.
It took all he had, but he opened it.
And read it.
‘Alex’s resignation was never accepted. I’m just buried right now, or I would have gone after him and dragged his ass back, kicking and screaming.
As far as I’m concerned, he’s still on my team, and will be for the duration.
As for you two being partners, that’s an easy one, Corbin.
Approved. Alex has a special place in my heart, so if you hurt him, I don’t care if Ethan and Gene try to stop me, I’m going to make you cry like a bitch.
That’s your one warning. Kiss him for me, and tell him that I love him.
Don’t tell him he’s one of my favorites.
Then, he’s going to torment Axl, and I don’t need to be shrinky-dinked by another man.
Now, get that information to me, ASAP! And stay inside where you’re both safe.
Bad shit is coming, and I need all of my ducks tucked away! ’
As he read it, his heart didn’t hurt as much.
“What did she say?” Corbin asked.
Instead of answering, he handed Corbin the phone, and let him see for himself.
After Corbin read it, he grinned. The part about them being in danger set the stage, and he knew he’d keep Alex locked down with him. While he was a damn good investigator, if he was distracted, that was dangerous.
And Corbin knew it.