Jesus.
The more he talked, the more Gene knew that Corbin was so damn lucky that he wasn’t dead for this stunt.
“So you got dressed up and went in for shits and giggles?” he asked.
At his question, that had the injured cop’s attention.
Immediately, Corbin put his fork down. He heard the tone in Gene’s voice, and it irritated him because he knew he’d fucked up.
The last thing he needed was an‘I told you so’.
Corbin’s temper appeared.
“Is this where you yell at me and tell me the obvious that I am going to get hurt? That I royally fucked up and shouldn’t be a detective? Because you can skip that lecture, Gene. I’m hurt more than I ever thought possible. I’m destroyed in ways that you’ll never understand. So skip it, okay?”
OOF.
That hung there.
Once it was out of Corbin’s mouth, all around them, there was that uncomfortable silence as they all sat there, saying absolutely nothing.
What could they follow that up with?
They knew what he’d been through, and he was right. He’d fucked up and paid the price.
Only, Gene hadn’t planned on going there. That Corbin thought he would…
That was shitty.
Instead of saying anything, Gene pushed his food away, and stood up. His stomach was rolling in revulsion over a lot of things, and he wasn’t in the mood for food anymore.
What he wanted to do was punch someone in the face, and he didn’t mean Corbin.
So, for him, staying there wouldn’t be productive.
He wasn’t a‘kick a man when he was down’kind of a dude, and Corbin was flat on his back at rock-bottom with a shit ton of rocks on top of him.
He was beyond rock bottom.
So, this was where he put space between them until he cleared his head and figured out what the next move in this mess was going to be.
“EJ, I’m going out to talk to the two detectives, and then I need the tox reports. While I’m there, I’ll talk to Reed, and be back later,” he said, his voice terse and filled with so much rage.
And honestly, Ethan didn’t blame him.
Not.
At.
All.
Truth be told, Gene being here would just make the tension a million times worse if Corbin actually believed that anyone in this room was going to blame the victim.
They didn’t roll that way.
He knew his partner. Gene was just horrified and blaming himself.
As Gene clipped his gun back onto his hip, and put his badge beside it, Greyson knew their lunch break was over. It appeared they were going out again.
