“I see,” he said.
Oh, but the tone said it was anything but good, and now, Ethan was worried. Did the man want him to dump it all on him? He believed he was doing Gene a favor by not burdening him with the Callen stuff.
How the hell did he navigate this?
“Wait. What’s that about? Gene, I’m not upset. There’s nothing to fix between us as far as I’m concerned.”
Was he serious?
“EJ, we had a disagreement in the shower, and you went to shower in your brother’s room. You haven’t said a word tome since then. I handed you a coffee, and you kept on walking. That’s not a good sign. You’re upset.”
Was he?
Yes, but not for the reasons Gene was thinking. He was upset that his man had to be the one-man cleanup crew all of the time.
He was trying to save him from that.
For once.
“Please just open up for me and tell me.”
Ethan heard the pain.
Okay, so mental note, Gene wanted to be pulled into his mess. Relationships had so many rules, and he hoped he could keep up.
“I went to check on him, and he’s alive. I hopped in the shower, and he confronted me.”
The whole time, Gene listened as he drove, and he’d be lying if he said his heart wasn’t thumping in his chest.
“We talked between us, and I told Callen goodbye. I decided that I’m never coming back here. As far as the world will ever know, what you overheard will never come up again. Callen and I are going to pretend our divide is over Kaya Cheek and that betrayal. For him, me, and you, that’s our story and we’re sticking to it.”
Gene was surprised that his name came up in it.
“Come again?”
He was to the point.
“Gene, I have a boyfriend, and I’m in a relationship. Even if I was in love with Callen like that, he’s my half-brother. That’s illegal in all of the states. That can’t happen. Letting the world think it was the betrayal protects both of us.”
Gene was dumbfounded.
Normally, Ethan struggled, but it was clear that he’d worked through this on his own, and it wasn’t like he was upset with his man never coming back here.
Mission accomplished when it came to Gene talking Ethan into just that. Timothy and Callen were going to be happy.
“Just like that? You’re never coming back?”
He nodded.
“Yep.”
Gene went there.
“But they are your family.”
Ethan stopped him.
“I thought you were my family. Wasn’t that the point in the shower? You wanted permanency, and in order to give you that, I had to let my past go. Part of that past is my brother. Even if we grew up not thinking about the ramifications of those feelings, I’m thinking of them now.”
