Chapter Eleven
The Gym
Same Time
The FBI West
Building
Holy shit! Finding Elizabeth was turning into a hunt. With Gryphen following him, the first place they looked was her actual office. Only, the tape was still on the door, warning of a biological hazard.
Well, clearly, she wasn’t there, since the clean-up was just about to start.
Unfortunately for him, no one else had seen her. That meant logically, there would only be one other place she would be hiding.
When Elizabeth was troubled, she either locked herself in her office to think it out, or she ran from the demons chasing her. Since she couldn’t do that outside…
She’d be in the FBI gym.
Heading down to the gym, that’s where Gene found Ivan standing guard at the door. When he reached him, the man didn’t mince words.
“She wants to be alone.”
Yeah, well he wanted the last twenty years of his life back so he could not break up with Ethan, and make better choices.
Since he wasn’t getting what he wanted, Elizabeth would just have to settle for company.
She wasn’t going through this alone. When you made a commitment to someone through a wedding vow, whether legal or just a handfasting, you stuck with it.
He was on husband duty.
“I’ll go deal with her.”
He warned him.
“She is not in the mood, and she’s not speaking to anyone. So, I’m not sure if she’s working this through her head, or praying to the dark lord for powers to do evil. Either way, I’ve given you the warning.”
Again, he didn’t care.
“She’s wearing a rosary. It won’t be the latter. I think I can handle it, Ivan.”
Yeah, that was between Gene and his maker.
“How long do you want me to let her punch you before we pull her off of you?” Ivan asked.
“Uh, maybe don’t let her do that.”
Ivan just shrugged.
Truthfully, Gene knew that Ivan was probably warned to back off, too, so this was risky.
But again, it was a risk he was willing to take.
So, he headed toward the locker room, and he got changed with the clothing he kept in the locker. After, there was no doubt that he was going to have to shower.
Elizabeth was likely running for her life, so someone was getting sweaty.
That was for sure.
It was a small price to pay for making sure that she was okay. Elizabeth was near and dear to his heart, and he’d meant all the vows he took.
He’d die for her, because he knew she’d die for them.
Pulling on his running shoes, he prepared to do the most distasteful thing in his life.
RUNNING.
He was a bear.
They moseyed.
They sauntered.
They napped.
They were bulky from eating berries and fish, not thin and svelte as they trained for a marathon.
Oh, don’t get him wrong. Gene Cantrell could haul ass and run with the best of them, but it was never fun.
EVER.
At his age, he’d rather shoot than run.
Heading in, Ivan was still at the gym door, and now, Gryphen was at the locker room door, isolating the two of them from anyone coming in.
In case she wanted to talk.
As he got onto the treadmill, she had her earbuds in, and she was hitting a hard pace. Not only that, from the video on the screen, she was running through the mountains, off some trail. The treadmill was auto-adjusting, so the hills felt real.
She was punishing herself for this, and he knew it.
Well, misery loved company.
Pulling the HDMI cable that allowed the treadmills to connect to the same program, he plugged hers into his treadmill, so they could run together.
And still, she said nothing.
As he began running, his pace the same as hers, he was aware that she didn’t look over once.
She didn’t try to connect.
But she hadn’t said no, either.
So, that was a victory.
From the look on her face, Elizabeth was doing battle with the devil himself on this one.
This run was brutal.
It wasn’t lost on him that she was doing it with no sleep, no food, and no joy.
He wasn’t running with her.
He was chasing her.
As people tried to get into the gym, Ivan turned them away. Gene could see them from where they ran. Not only was he doing that, but he was looking in at them every now and again to ensure they were safe.
Well, that Elizabeth was safe. Ivan had a very large soft spot for her, and this was just more proof.
As for them being safe…
Who the fuck was getting them in there?
It wasn’t like the treadmills were going to take off and they were going to be running them down the sidewalk and into danger.
Just as Gene was about to beg for mercy, and ready to tap out because he was weak, he saw that magic number on the screen.
‘Ten miles.’
That was generally her breaking point. When she hit the button to stop her run, he did the same. He’d only run half that, and he was nearly dead.
Gene wanted off of that death machine, and back on the ground.
As he assumed they were going into the showers, that’s when she hit the other side of the gym, punching the fuck out of the bag.
Oh, and she was being relentless.
Had it been a person, she would have killed them. What worried him was that she was bare-knuckling it, and he could see the smears of blood from the pure rage landing with each punch.
Well, this wasn’t good.
This was the first time he’d seen her do this.
Instead of saying anything because, AGAIN, he could read a room, and there was no way she wanted to talk, he just did the next best thing.
He just held the bag.
And he stayed with her.
As she was bleeding, that had Ivan’s attention. It was likely the streaks of red she was wiping on her sweaty, white running attire.
As the door opened, Gene looked over, and he knew the man was batshit insane.
He had clearly lost his mind.
Ivan approached, and she said one thing to him without even looking over.
“DON’T offer it up. It’s been a week. Love yourself,” she warned.
Apparently, he was going to offer to fight with her, and Gene knew the Marine took a few too many hits to the goddamn noggin.
Elizabeth.
Was.
Pissed.
Instead, he backed up, returning to the door to stand sentry like she’d asked.
Never let it be said the crayon munchers didn’t have a little bit of common sense.
As for the lady in the room, Elizabeth only went a few more rounds with the bag, and when she was done, she cleaned her blood from it, again, without saying a word.
Then, she walked into the women’s locker room leaving him behind.
That’s when Ivan sighed.
“She’s now in the ‘burn it to the ground’ phase of her rage. One more thing, and she’s going nuclear. It’ll be scorched earth, and I don’t know if she can come back from that.”
Yeah, tell him about it.
Only, Gene had to have faith. He believed in her, and he believed in this family. Elizabeth wouldn’t only bounce back, but they’d all bounce back better.
“I’ll go in,” Gene offered.
Ivan stared at him.
“Uh, you’re a dude. That’s a ladies’ room.”
He laughed.
Well, thank God he’d learned the difference between dudes and dolls all those years ago.
Only, he was forgetting something.
“I’m gay, Ivan. What am I going to do? Admire all the tits? Besides, Gryphen is at the other door. He’s keeping everyone out. I’ll make sure she’s okay.”
Ivan grabbed his arm.
“I don’t know how to help her. She’s not letting me in. I’m over my head here.”
Yeah, they kind of all were.
That was the problem. They’d never had a full-on assault quite like this on them, and they were learning as they went. Elizabeth had challenges, but none that had been this planned out. They were all in new territory.
Unfortunately.
“Just get everyone ready for dinner. She needs to eat, and we all need to crash at some point. None of us have slept more than a cat nap here and there. At some point, we need some downtime.”
Well, that he could do.
“Don’t let anyone in or out,” he ordered, grabbing his towel and heading into follow her. “Including her. We’re going to work through this, or she’s killing me in the process. I gave her time, and now, I’ll get her through this.”
Well, if that was his kink.
Someone either had balls of steel, or he knew something they didn’t know because this didn’t look like maneuverable territory.
This was Mogadishu in the dark.
This was Baghdad in a firefight.
Clearly, Gene was brave.
Because he trusted the man, Ivan let him go off to do whatever he could.
Time would tell.
Once in the locker room, Gene noticed a few things about the place. First, it was nicer than the men’s locker room, and next, it didn’t smell like feet, ball sacks, and sweat.
That was kinda nice.
This just proved that men were all kinds of nastiness when it came to bodily functions.
Navigating the rows of lockers, Gene found her.
Elizabeth had a pretty pink towel hanging outside of one of the spacious stalls.
Damn.
They even got nicer showers.
That was crazy work, how the men never even realized it. This was luxury, and they had third-world country status in their locker room.
From the steam rising from the shower, it was clear someone was boiling herself like a freaking lobster.
Jesus.
Apparently, he was going to be too.
Well, here went his outer skin layer. It was nice having it while he did.
Pulling the curtain back, she didn’t even react, and that told him all he needed to know.
Elizabeth didn’t want to be alone.
He’d bet on it.
Sometimes, what you saw wasn’t the truth. You had to dig deeper into it and figure it out. Elizabeth was just like a mystery, but she was also a human being with genuine feelings.
Sometimes, they forgot that under that tenacity and strength, there was a broken person who’d seen too much, and lived through some bad moments too.
As she stood there, the water pouring down over her, masking the tears that were also falling, Gene knew the best way to handle this.
See, he was a pro at soothing the savage beast, simply because he’d spent seven years fighting the demons with, and for Ethan.
“Come here, Honey.”
Without a word, she turned and went into his arms. They were both naked and standing under the spray, fighting for her.
“I’m so angry,” she whispered, as he held onto her.
Well, he could get her through that.
To help comfort her, Gene scooped her up and sat on the bench in the shower stall. There, he let her just curl into his much bigger body.