Page 323 of Sticks and Stones
When Will opened the door, after he’d knocked, he was just as surprised to see him as Ethan was that he was doing this.
It was now or never.
“Hey,” Ethan said, putting the awkwardness behind him to help out a friend who needed a lifeline.
At his greeting, Will said nothing.
Oh, and he didn’t blame him. The man had to be feeling like the odd person out with this whole mess. It was time to fix that.
The guy was standing there with red eyes, and a handful of used tissues.
“What do you want?” he asked, sniffling. The only reason he opened the door was pure curiosity over why this man wasthere. He was quiet, and he didn’t often talk to Will. Truth be told, he wasn’t even sure if Ethan liked him.
For a second, Ethan questioned his decisions. Then, he opted to just jump in.
Like Gene would.
As for what he wanted…
Ethan knew what it was like to be the one fucking up relationships, so he was going to help Corbin and Will out the best he could.
He wanted his friend to have happiness like he did.
“Can I come in to talk to you?” he asked, as the wind was whipping around him.
Will stepped back without saying a word.
The only reason he was entertaining this mess was that Ethan hadn’t tried to keep Corbin from him. Had this been Gene, there would be a door slamming in someone’s face.
For Ethan, he’d let him say his peace, and in the process, maybe he’d figure out what he’d done wrong.
He needed to know why Corbin had dumped him.
As Ethan walked through his brownstone, it was a damn nice place. It was crystal clear that city attorneys got paid better than Federal agents.
Then again, he had a really nice brownstone in a different city.
“I came to talk about Corbin.”
Will wrapped his arms around his torso as if he was self-soothing, or protecting himself. At the mention of his name, there was so much pain that it was almost unbearable. Will’s heart was shattered.
“I figured as much since he’s your friend and family. That must be nice.”
Yeah, he was angry.
Well, here went everything.
“I need to explain the whole situation to you since Corbin didn’t.”
Will said nothing.
Instead, he stood there, staring at Ethan.
Blackhawk came clean.
“First, I saw your messages to him on his phone when we got it back. We just retrieved his phone from the men who stole it from him.”
And still…
