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His wife could just smell sneaky and untrustworthy a mile away.
“To work on Elizabeth’s team, she has a tight set of rules. You put the better of the whole above the self. Every single person on her team is selfless and her family. She knows how Tommy feels about me, and she’d never let him near me. If you want to see her go ape shit, put me in danger. Put one of her men or children in harm’s way.”
Gene wanted to cry.
Why?
He was right.
Gene saw that now. Tommy was very…angry. He was very vengeful if angered. That wasn’t how Gene was. Oh, he got angry, but because he put his faith in people.
Then, they let him down.
“So tell me, Gene, why are you coming back to DC?” he asked.
“Maybe I want to be close to my godchild and you. Maybe I miss Dolly.”
Ethan leaned over and whispered in his ear. He smelled like peppermint candies, and it took him back to another time.
“That’s only half of it. Try again, Gene. I’m a doctor now, and I know you’re hiding the truth.”
He glanced over and stared into his midnight blue-black eyes. In them, he saw so much.
Ethan would help him through this like he did when Preston died.
“We broke up. An ultimatum came up. If I go back and am anywhere near you, he wasn’t joining me. He decided to spite me and prove some insane point. He’s going to go back to being a cop. HERE.”
Ethan said nothing.
Sometimes, you had to listen.
Not give advice.
That was what Gene had always done for him when he was struggling. Ethan had leaned on Gene a lot in those seven amazing years.
“I’ve seen a side of him that worries me. He’s spiteful, Ethan, and we both know what happens to people who do shit out of spite.”
They both did.
They died.
“Well, I support you no matter what happens,” he said. “You know that. If you want to come back to hide, start a new life, or just hold onto what was once, I understand that.”
He offered him the bag of beignets because feeding Gene had been something he enjoyed.
It was reciprocal.
Gene took another pillowy piece of fried dough and ate it. When he was done chewing, he glanced over.
“If he goes back to being a cop here, he’s going to die. It’s not safe, and I can’t watch this happen.”
Ethan tried not to analyze family, but it was damn difficult when people he loved came to him. How did one put the profiler, or doctor, aside to just be Ethan?
They were one and the same.
“And he doesn’t think you believe in his skill as a cop?” he asked.
“No. Honestly, Ethan, I know he’s a good cop, but he’s not that level. He was a deputy, and yes, he tracked a killer, but he’s not faced this nightmare day in and day out. He’s not ready for this.”
