Oh, and that unnerved him then, and now.
What happened with Callen wasn’t brought up, and not a word was said to him.
Literally.
Gene didn’t speak at all on the way to the police station, and he didn’t even have to ask directions. It appeared that they were not in a good place, and he hated that for both of them.
This was his fault, and Ethan had to carry this burden. It was all because he came back here.
Had he not, Gene wouldn’t have overheard his drunk brother declaring his love for him, and the slip and slide into bedlam.
Well, Ethan would just have to give him space and time to work through it. It wasn’t like he’d dump him and run, right?
So, in silence, they’d sit.
Beside him, Gene was as twitchy as a teenager on his first date. When Ethan came down from Callen’s room, his face was carefully blank, and that didn’t bode well.
So, he kept his mouth shut, even when he wanted to apologize for how he’d dumped everything on him. Clearly, coming back here was a lot for Gene, too.
Who knew he could hate a place he’d never been to before?
But he did.
Only now, his partner was on duty, and it was clear that he wasn’t in the mood for idle chitchat.
Yeah, if he could take back the last hour, he would. Dumping everything on Ethan, when he’d not deserved it, was ill-timed.
But how did he come back from that?
Gene wasn’t sure.
Finally, he had the balls to go there.
“Are you never speaking to me again?” he asked. “Because I feel like you’re really pissed at me and want to say something to me. Just say it. I can take it. I’m back on my feet and stable.”
Ethan looked over.
He could see that Gene looked scared, and that bothered him. While he could say the same thing that Gene had just said to him, he absolutely wouldn’t.
This was his mess, and he’d handled it.
“I’m good,” Ethan offered.
Now, why didn’t Gene believe that?
“Are you? You haven’t said a word to me since leaving Callen’s room. Just tell me how to fix this, and I will.”
Ethan was confused.
“There’s nothing to fix. We said what we felt, I handled Callen, and now, I’m working. I thought you were upset with me, so I was giving you space.”
Oh, Jesus.
Not this version of Ethan again.
He’d barely survived that the last time. This chillier version was scary.
To Gene.
