“I understand. I’ll be really careful. You can be up my ass if you’d like. Literally. Try it. How about right now?”
It was said so deadpan that it made Gene laugh.
His partner was a funny man, and once you got to know him, you could see his dry sense of humor coming out.
With this particular sentence, someone was hinting, and Gene hadn’t forgotten.
Not.
At.
All.
“Oh, well, in due time, Tala. Don’t think I’m not focused on us taking a lunch break. I am. Trust me. I’m just trying to stay calm.”
And on that, Ethan understood.
He also knew how serious Gene was stressing this when he changed the subject back from sex to work.
That said it all.
“How certain are you that this isn’t ritualistic?” he asked. “Give me a percentage so I can let this choking feeling go. I know what you said in there, but I also know that on day one, youRARELYgive a direction because if it’s going to change, today is when that happens.”
Ethan would do anything for his partner.
But he wasn’t wrong.
Blackhawk wasn’t sure he was going to like the percentage in his head. It wasn’t a locked-down number they tended to get on day two.
“Fifty-fifty,” he said.
And Gene knew that was a big spread, but most of the time, when he was unsure, he’d say seventy-thirty. Fifty-fifty was huge.
“Okay, so that means this is still a possibility, and that makes me edgy.”
Pretty much.
“I really don’t think we’re looking at ritualistic. Seriously. I meant what I said in there. Do I think that the markings were some ritual?No. Do I think that the killer wants us to think that for a reason?Yes. What that reason is…we’ll figure it out. I can’t lock that number down definitively quite yet.”
It always astounded him how calm Ethan could be when they were on a case. It was hard to rattle him.
Gene on the other hand…
He was a hot mess on a good day.
As they drove to the dead Fed’s home, Ethan was running his hand up and down his partner’s thigh, trying to stir him up.
Sue him.
He was thinking about his dick, sex, and some kinky interlude. He could multitask with the best of them.
“It’ll be okay,” Ethan offered. “We’re literally on day one, and haven’t even done an interview as of yet. It’ll be okay.
Would it?
Gene wasn’t sure.
Instead of saying anything, he rolled his shoulders, and remained tense.
