Chapter Eleven #2
Alone, they sat there being pummeled by the hot spray, and the whole time, he let her take whatever strength she needed to fight her way through this.
And he reassured her.
“It’s just us. Let it out.”
She clung to him, and as she did, she did what he suggested, because everything she wanted to do went against her core and values.
Elizabeth wanted to burn the world to the ground.
Instead, she vented, and the words came out in a wave of rage.
“I hate his fucking guts!” she said. “He’s hurting people and I am going to have to carry that!”
He said nothing.
Instead, he rocked her, protecting her as best he could. In this case, the little he could give her might help her survive this.
“I’m breaking, Gene. I can’t handle much more. There’s blood on my hands.”
As soon as she said it, he knew it wasn’t from the literal blood of beating on that bag.
This was going to be far deeper and harder to swallow. Sometimes, bad won.
He’d learned that lesson a long time ago, and it was why he’d left the FBI and burned his own relationship to the ground.
Sometimes, it became too much to swallow—let alone carry day after day.
Yes, Elizabeth might come across as tough, but that was a shell.
Beneath it, she was the sweetest, gentlest soul.
She loved kittens and puppies and had a soft spot for children.
Who she was at work was not who she was on Christmas morning in her matching pajamas, or on Easter when she was up hiding eggs in the yard for her kids.
She was a mother to her core, and that meant she wanted to protect the weak.
She fought for the abused and never gave up in a fight. Now, her soul was being shredded as she was forced to carry the weight of what Devon Slater was doing.
It was a lot to swallow for anyone, but for someone who won more often than lost, it was a slap to the face for all she’d worked so hard to accomplish to keep people safe.
Elizabeth continued.
“One more, and I’m going to snap. I need a favor,” she whispered, her lips by his ear.
Gene held her tight.
“Just ask. I’ll do it.”
She went there.
“I need them here. ASAP. We have to find him before he does so much damage our family is torn apart.”
Oh, he knew who she meant by ‘them’.
Elizabeth had finally had enough, and she wanted The Hunters front and center. Devon Slater had pushed her too far, and now, there would be repercussions.
The Blackhawks were going dark side to keep the people in the country safe.
Gene didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll get them here, but it will take some time since they have to fly in. Until then, I need you to hold on. I need you to not give up, and not do anything stupid,” he said.
Elizabeth never thought she’d be comfortable with another man like she was with Gene. Yeah, she was accustomed to showering with men, but the three men were her husbands.
Gene was different, and yet, not so different.
He was part of her world now, and she genuinely considered him her husband.
This conversation, and his willingness to brave her mood in the gym proved it.
He was her ride or die, too.
She let him talk as he held her lovingly in his lap. There was no heat and lust there, but instead, the tenderness she needed to get through this.
“You’re the end game, and as much as holding on and staying focused hurts you, if he pushes you and you break, we all lose. I know you’re tired, Elizabeth. I can see it in your eyes.”
No lies were spoken.
She was exhausted.
Gene continued.
“If you can’t fight for you, or us, do it for the kids.
Willa needs her mommy. Bethe needs you. Our girls need you, and I know it’s hard to ask you for this, but I promise to walk through this hell with you, IF you stay and fight.
Dig in, Honey, and show him what a bad bitch you are.
He’s poking the momma bear. Put the emotions on the back burner, and burn this motherfucker to the ground. ”
He was blunt.
He was crass.
He needed to be.
“We will meet him on the battleground, and we will take off the kid gloves and show him what happens when a piece of shit wannabe comes into our world and challenges us to a game that YOU perfected. He’s at the disadvantage, Elizabeth. He doesn’t know everything about you.”
She sniffled.
“What’s there to know?” she asked.
He told her.
“He thinks you won’t break the rule to save lives.
What he doesn’t know is you value life more than you want death.
He’s assuming you’re like him, but you’re nothing like him.
You would die for an innocent person while he slaughters them for sport.
You’re the champion in this game, and he’s just some annoying flea that was raised by a tiny-dicked man with an ego problem.
You were raised by Charlie LaRue, and he taught you what? ” he asked.
She knew.
“To always fight for those who couldn’t fight anymore,” she stated.
Exactly.
“You’re at the top of your game, and you’ve saved so many people.
We already know he’s found your files, but you aren’t that agent anymore.
You’re seasoned. You’ve fought through the fire, and came out the other end.
He has NO idea what you have in your bag of tricks.
Start playing dirty. He thinks you won’t, so give him exactly what he wants. A down and dirty fight.”
Slowly, she nodded.
“He’s never seen the likes of your anger. He thinks that you will break because you won’t use hate to get us through this. Use it. It’s okay to hate a sick piece of shit. It’s okay to think about the women he’s tortured and hurt to play against you. Dig in and use their rage too.”
Elizabeth was calming down.
This sweet man had found a way to get into her head and do battle against the intrusive thoughts.
For that, she’d love him forever. Oh, she’d love him because Ethan loved him, but now, she’d make him hers. Gene Cantrell would forever be someone she’d protect with all she had.
Gene kept going.
If Elizabeth needed a hype man…
Sign.
Him.
Up.
Anger was normal. It was how you used it that mattered most, and they’d use it to their advantage.
“Women are creatures of great power and strength. They birth children and raise them. Women are not the same as men. They are beyond strong, Elizabeth. They are the creators, and now, let them be the destroyers. Blow his pathetic world apart by showing him what you are capable of. Put on that armor, and get ready to ride into battle, Bestie. We’ll be right behind you. ”
He wasn’t sure if he’d get through.
When she lifted her head, Gene already saw the difference. Oh, there were tears in her eyes, but they were clear.
And filled with rage.
“He can only break you if you let him. He is going to keep trying to hurt you, but if you’re ready for it, you can turn the tables on him. Find what he fears and use that. He’s a narcissistic jackhole. So, give him what will terrify him the most. Hit him where his heart is.”
Slowly, she nodded her head.
Already, the wheels were turning, and Gene knew she would be okay.
Oh, she’d get angry, but she’d dig in.
“I’ll be by your side. WE will take him down for touching OUR family. We will make him pay for killing Jet, and Vivian. The more he hits us, the more we get ready to retaliate.”
FINALLY, she spoke.
Oh, and the one word said it all.
“Deal,” she said.
Yeah, he thought back to the night she took out Javier Hughes, so he didn’t have to carry that stain on his soul.
And Gene knew he’d repay the favor.
They’d suit up together.
Like Hughes, Devon Slater hurt his family. In his world, as an ex-Hunter that meant one thing.
That mother fucker was about to die.
* * * The Blackhawks * * *
The Reservation
Post-Bar Brawl
Seven P.M.
Oh, what a clusterfuck that had absolutely been. You’d think that with only one bar on the reservation, the patrons, and owners, would know how to behave.
Well, they didn’t.
Clearly.
Rayna was grateful they’d gotten to the bottom of it, but in true fashion, the Natives had been in rare form.
Was it a freaking full moon tonight?
Had someone said it was ‘quiet’ and jinxed them all?
Something had taken the crazy, stirred it up, and then threw it all over the place like a shit-flinging monkey.
It took two hours to get the men who were INSIDE the bar OUTSIDE of the bar.
Each time they got one out, and went back in, the drunken Natives would head back in.
With only three of them, convincing four sloshed patrons to pay their tab, and keep the other fifteen drunks calm, wasn’t easy.
No one was cheaper than a piss-poor Native who was convinced they’d been told the beer was free after the cover charge to get in.
Finally, the brothers who owned the bar gave up, and let them just pay ten dollars each, in order to get them the hell out of there.
Hell!
She would have paid that two hours ago to end this jacked-up melee.
On top of that, she had to trespass them to never return again, and she knew that wouldn’t hold up.
In the morning, they’d forget how disorderly they’d been, and the brothers who owned the bar would want their money over a trespass ordinance.
At least no one was seriously hurt.
It could have been far worse.
When one swung at her, nearly punching her in the face, and one headbutted her deputy, the cuffs had come out.
So, they were going into the tank to sober up.
If you were going to act like a child, you were going to be treated like one.
That took the last thirty minutes to spit shield them with the cute little see-through bags so they didn’t get phlegm in their faces.
Now, she was tired.
God.
Her job sucked.
As she was trying to wrestle a belligerent Native to the ground, accepting a few days off to lay low with Caspian sounded like a good plan.
She was this close to taking it too.
That she chose this over that…
What the hell was wrong with her?
Oh, yeah.
Her father was just looking for a way to fire her, so she’d have to go elsewhere to find a job, leaving Caspian behind.
So, she sucked it up.