Chapter Eight #2
“Do you want to head there, or do you want the pilot to go somewhere else?” Raphael asked.
What she wanted was for the pilot to fly her anywhere but into the storm.
Except, she only had one choice in this, and it was to play through his sick and twisted game. In the back of her mind, she hoped The Hunters put a rush on this. At some point, this was going to explode, and she knew it.
“What do you want to do?” Raphael asked.
She knew that she had to decide.
While she wanted to be sure, the clues weren’t really helping her out.
‘Take me home, Country Road’, wasn’t clear enough, because she had multiple homes.
Could it be about a person and not a place?
Home was where the heart was, and her heart was always with her men now that her parents were dead.
When she looked up, Raphael was still waiting. She knew she needed to pull the trigger. Worst-case scenario, she’d have to divert or head back out if she was wrong. With the remains and Jet onboard, she needed to drop him off, and hope her gut was right.
Time.
Would.
Tell.
“Head there.”
Elizabeth’s fingers were crossed that he was in Damascus, and not somewhere else.
It was time to get ready for what he had in mind, and there was no doubt it would be brutal.
The Grave Robber was bringing it to her playing field, and hopefully, that would give her the advantage.
Time would tell.
Because this was about to be life or death.
* * * The Blackhawks * * *
Monday
Late morning
Corbin Price’s Apartment
Being on lockdown had its good and bad moments, and Corbin was desperately trying to navigate them.
It wasn’t easy.
There was so much more added stress when you were stuck behind four walls, and then add to it that you were locked down with your new partner.
A partner you just so happened to be having sex with too.
Talk about awkward moments as you learned all about each other. For Corbin, it had been a rough start with Alex, and while it was getting easier, he was doing battle with his emotions.
And feelings.
He was in love.
Oh, and that was moving the timeline along fast. Then again, he wasn’t exactly a slow mover. He’d wanted to marry his deceased husband after their first date.
Now, he wanted to marry Alex, too.
When the heart knew, it knew.
Only, he couldn’t act on anything quite yet. This case had put the screws to his relationship and his personal life. Being locked down was rattling his whole world.
There were so many things to worry about, other than potentially being a target.
Like his mom.
Thankfully, Alice, his mother, was safe, and she was off with the Blackhawk kids, under lock and key. So, he didn’t have to worry about what she was doing.
Which was a relief since Alice was a menace.
A HUGE one.
After stressing about her, there was the whole job in general. At that moment, they were being relegated to helping other agents with research while they were trapped inside.
Since they couldn’t go outside or anywhere alone, Elizabeth had locked them down together.
Honestly, if he didn’t know any better, Corbin would think that she was playing matchmaker. Because who locked two agents in a townhouse together when they’d literally just imploded only days ago?
A crazy person, that was who.
Yeah, there was no way this was just some happenstance. This was definitely a little cupid-ing going on. Corbin had heard about her, and honestly…
He was grateful.
Because there was no place he’d rather be than with his partner.
Again, he was in love with the man.
What he knew was he was stupid crazy about the guy, but whenever they talked about anything more permanent the last day or so, Alex got twitchy.
Which then made him twitchy, which then added tension to the whole situation.
And he didn’t like it.
The bottom line for Corbin was that he’d put it all on the line when they’d had that talk post meltdown.
Corbin made it clear.
He wanted all, or he wanted none. He wasn’t looking for on again and off again, but instead, he was looking for love.
After the call with Tori Littlemoon, and the message from Will, he wanted to get back on the wagon.
With Alex Bartlett.
Oh, and it had been a rocky trip so far. What he had to keep reminding himself was that Alex came broken, and time was the ONLY thing that could heal that.
So, he was being gentle.
He was being patient.
What scared him was Alex was SILENT about the whole situation. It wasn’t like he was hiding and not trying to be in a relationship, but Corbin was accustomed to someone who was in his face with love.
Will had been a communicator, and Alex…well, he wasn’t. Corbin didn’t even know if they were a couple. He believed they were, since Alex had hunted him down last case, and they’d reconnected, but Corbin was wary.
What he wanted was a clear, concise message.
And he wasn’t getting one.
So, that put him in charge.
Yeah, and at some point, he needed to pull the trigger on this, or risk never knowing what the hell was going on.
Yeah, and he didn’t like that.
He was ready to go.
As in ‘go to the altar’.
From what Corbin was seeing, and the distance that his partner was putting between them, it was clear that Alex was not.
Or so he believed.
Fuck.
This was what was making him crazy. Corbin wasn’t sure what Alex was thinking.
Honestly, he was trying not to take that personally, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore it. When Alex spoke to him, Corbin spent most of the time trying to figure out if they were a couple or just trapped in the same space together.
Was he just being strung along?
Was he not?
Were they more than partners?
Jesus.
H.
Christ.
Oh, he was really bad at trying to play this kind of a game, and what Corbin needed was a roadmap.
And some clues.
Despite his best judgment, that cop paranoia was kicking in, and he was doing everything in his power to not go there.
Oh, and it was NOT easy.
Corbin knew one thing for certain, and two things for sure. If this was going to get fucked up, he was likely the one who was going to do it.
Why couldn’t he just go with the flow?
Why did he have to control freak things like relationships?
Was it the Top in him?
Because what he wanted to do was toss the man over his shoulder and force him to tell him where they stood because he wanted to be his forever.
Yeah, how could that go wrong?
For some reason, he was a disaster at getting a man to commit. It reminded him of the time when he was supposed to go on his first date with Will.
Gene had to text for him because he over thought every single thing.
Without a doubt, he was the problem—it was him. There had to be a way to navigate this.
Right?
What Corbin did know was it was a new day, and they had nothing to do but chill out, and relax. They’d both been helping two different sets of agents with cases the last two days, and they’d filed the paperwork yesterday.
So today would likely be slow.
Corbin finished first, and Alex had finished sometime in the middle of the night, but they’d both wrapped their duties, and that was a good thing.
It had been late for Alex, so he let him sleep.
You’d think that would be simple enough, but of course, Mr. Complicate It, couldn’t let it go.
Even that stressed him out.
How?
Well, what worried Corbin was that Alex had slept in a separate bedroom last night. Instead of finding him and slipping into a bed they’d shared the last week, he opted to sleep alone.
It was taking everything he had to not panic, but that one act couldn’t be good.
Right?
This was exactly why he was spiraling, and he didn’t do well when he embarked in a relationship.
It was Hell all over again.
He was fixated.
What kind of bullshittery was it when your lover, and he HATED that word to describe Alex, didn’t come to bed in the same room as you?
They’d fucked quite a few times over the week they’d been locked down together.
They’d made out on a couch, in a shower, and hell! In the kitchen, but this morning, he woke alone, much to his horror. He’d rolled over in bed, reaching for Alex, and finding NO ONE.
This was troubling.
When he’d seen he was alone, it took all he had not to freak out. What he’d wanted to do was go find him and question him. What he could do was take a shower and make breakfast for the man.
It gave him something to do until Alex was up. All Corbin had to do was NOT embarrass himself.
So, he focused on what he did know. What he’d learned since being locked down with Alex was that he was a creature of habit.
He liked the same foods.
He did the same things.
Rarely did he deviate from his comfort zone.
Was that part of the reason he was confused? Because Alex seemed…comfortable?
But how did he explain the sleeping alone when they’d bunked together every night since they’d had sex that first time?
Focus.
Corbin had to focus.
Instead of going there, he wanted to surprise him with breakfast. That would take his mind off of the spiraling panic he was feeling.
With breakfast done, maybe some breakfast in bed would show the man how serious he was about moving this forward.
Together.
Corbin would keep wooing him until he got it. What else could he possibly do?
Putting all of the food on a tray, he wished he could leave to get some flowers for his man. The last time he gave them to him, they caught Alex off guard, and that had been something he liked doing with the person he was wooing.
Sharing was caring.
As he headed to the room where Alex was, he hoped the man was up. Gently, he tapped on the door, and waited for him to tell him it was okay to come in.
The whole time, he held his breath.
Inside, Alex was online, doing something that he’d wanted to handle, and he figured he’d have time. Honestly, he believed that Corbin would think he was asleep.
What he wanted was another few minutes alone, so everything would be handled.
Apparently, that wasn’t happening.
He.
Had.
Company.
Closing the laptop quietly, he slipped it under the bed, and cuddled down into the blankets.
“Come in,” he said, trying to pretend he was asleep. Hopefully, Corbin bought it.
Did he feel guilty?
Absolutely not.
Why?