Page 127 of Sticks and Stones
On it, there was blood.
Nothing had to be said. They knew where the blood had come from, and how.
He turned and looked at Greyson, and something dark brewed inside of him that he’d never encountered before. Genehoped he could push it back down, but this made it damn difficult.
“I don’t like that look,” Greyson admitted.
Gene was honest.
Greyson said he was a friend, well, he was about to emotionally trauma dump on him.
“Yes, I’ve already made up my mind. I’ll turn my badge in if that’s what I have to do. When you have to hunt me down, out of friendship, just give me a head start.”
Jesus.
H.
Christ.
Greyson rubbed his temples.
“For the love of God, Cantrell. Don’t admit that to anyone,” he said. “You’ll go to jail.”
Coming toPhiladelphiataught him one thing.
It was survival here.
So, he faced the man.
“If your younger brother came to you and told you that he’d been assaulted and dumped in an alley to die alone, what would you do?”
Greyson stood there and said nothing.
“Well?” Gene asked. “You said you were my friend. Now, we’ll see if that’s true or not.”
He sighed.
Greyson was honest.
“I’d find them and make them pay. Only, I’d snipe them from a half a mile away and not get my ass caught. You, on the other hand, are thinking about beating someone’s face in during a bar fight. We are two different people. One of us is going to leave DNA all over the place, and force his friend to arrest him, and the other is going to police his brass and walk away into the night.”
Gene ignored him.
All he wanted was to get the fuck out of that alley before he kicked in the door and broke another law.
“I need to get into the dumpster. Corbin was found naked. If they tossed the mattress, they tossed his clothes,” he said, jumping and catching the lip of the dumpster. Using all of his upper body strength, he pulled himself up and to the top.
The entire time, Greyson watched.
It wasn’t lost on him that someone was strong. Most of the time, Gene was calm and cool, but now, he was running hot. He just deadlifted his whole body without breaking a sweat.
And he was no small man. He pitied the people who did this to Corbin. Reckoning day was definitely coming for them.
Now, Greyson had to consider what he’d said.
Was he a friend?
Was he enough of a friend not to arrest him?
