The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1)) (27 page)

Lounging on the couch with their beers, they waited for Tony to arrive. She honestly hoped that he showed up, since they needed to have this discussion and deal with the problem that was brewing between them. She wasn’t going to let this cause issues between the men in her life. The thought gave her pause. So much so, she needed to catch her breath.

Tony would no doubt be part of her life, but where did Ethan Blackhawk
fit? Was he going to be a constant, or once this was all over would she be forced to watch him walk away? That squeezed her chest, making her eyes fill with tears at just the thought. She pushed down deep, and just told herself to live for the moment. She ran her hand up and down his leg, thinking about the man she was leaning against. It seemed like she knew him forever, if he were to leave, she didn’t know how life would be after that.

Blackhawk leaned back on the
couch with Elizabeth tucked comfortably beneath his shoulder. Her legs were beside his on the couch, and she was drawing lazy circles on his jeans. Something about the simple action warmed him, even as the cold claws of panic ripped at his heart.

Elizabeth
hadn’t spoken more than a few words since returning home. She was thinking again, and in the past he had found that women who thought too much about a relationship, were most likely going to end it and shortly. He wished he could slip into her mind, just to get an idea of what was going on in there. He was just about to ask, when they heard the car in the drive.

“I want to say I’m sorry in advance, for anything ugly that gets said tonight,” she said, looking up at him. She was expecting the worst. “I’m going to be blunt and forthcoming with him
. I don’t plan on allowing him to have any doubt about the nature of what’s between us.”

“I’m a big boy
, Lyzee. I can handle a little slinging of ugliness.” Ethan kissed her on the top of her head and felt her tense even more as Tony knocked on the door. It was going to be interesting, and he couldn’t wait to hear how she defined what they had between them. He himself wasn’t sure. There was no doubt what he wanted, but he was letting her set the pace.

“I’ll let him in,” she said, moving from the warmth of his body and towards the door.

Once the door was open, Tony just stood there unmoving. She hadn’t seen him look this miserable in a long time. Something was definitely bothering him, and it appeared to be huge. There was this little whisper of instinct that said it had more to do with other things than just her and Blackhawk. They were just the surface.

“Hey, I’m here,” he said, strolling past her, “like you ordered.”

“Beer in the fridge, pizza in the great room,” Elizabeth said as she closed the door behind him. Elizabeth grabbed the plates, ignoring his comment. “I’m glad you came,” she added, as he walked into the room. It wasn’t lost on her that there was pure animosity on his face and all of it was aimed at Blackhawk.

“Evening, Tony,” Blackhawk acknowledged him, voice void of any emotion. He took the plate she offered him. “Thanks, Lyzee
.” Blackhawk gave her one of his gentle reassuring smiles.

Immediately,
Elizabeth felt a little more relaxed. Ethan simply had that effect on her.

“Hello Special Agent Blackhawk
.” Tony wasn’t thrilled the man was now using her nickname too. This whole thing was way out of control. How did she not see this was a bad idea?

Lyzee opened the two pizza boxes, and pulled out a slice covered in meat, p
lacing it on Blackhawks plate.

“Thanks,” he kissed her on the cheek
and whispered in her ear making her laugh. Obviously she wasn’t going to punish him for the arm stitches. “For you I would have accepted my punishment.”

Elizabeth winked and turned to the next box. She
offered a slice of veggie to Tony. She had gotten his favorite too. Just to appease both men and not to give Tony any other reason to feel excluded and ostracized.

“
Thanks, that’s my favorite. You remembered,” Tony added, staring directly at Blackhawk, almost in silent challenge.

Lyzee went for meat, and leaned back on the couch sitting beside Blackhawk. She was ready for whatever he was going to throw at them. Beer in hand
and greasy pizza, she could face it now. “Want to go first and tell me what you needed to talk to me about?”

“I thought we should be alone for this.”

“That depends on what it’s about. If it has anything to do with Ethan, he’s staying. He has every right to hear it. If it’s about our personal relationship, then I’m going to tell him anyway after the fact, him staying saves me a conversation.”

“Why?” he asked angrily. He couldn’t understand it
at all. She just met the man.

Elizabeth sighed and then explained. “Tony, my personal time is mine. I don’t come over to your house to tell you who to sleep with or date. Do I?”

He flinched.

“What
’s happening between us is our business. I appreciate your protective nature, but really it isn’t necessary.”

“I’m just looking out for you,” he said, drinking his beer. “So this relationship, you think it’s going to last?”

Elizabeth looked over at Blackhawk for confirmation. “I think we’re starting a relationship together. Aren’t we, Ethan?”

“We’re in the middle of one
, Lyzee,” he answered, dropping his arm around her shoulders possessively as he watched the man across from him.

She felt relief rush through her
. A part of her was hoping he wasn’t just viewing it as a fling. Elizabeth leaned into him and placed her plate on his knee, connecting them as a couple. “We‘re adults, Tony. I think you can stop the hostility.”

He hated to be the one to point out the obvious to her. “Once this is over, he’s going back to Quantico
. You're going to be heart broken and then what?”

“This is my choice, Tony, and I appreciate you caring about me, but I’m a big girl
. I went into this with my eyes wide open, and if the time comes, I’ll be the one that pays the consequences. Your concern is noted. If it all goes to shit, I hope you’ll help me put it back together again, because you’re my friend. Until then you need to butt out. There are two people in this relationship. We have it under control. Ethan and I are consenting adults and can have a relationship.”

“You do realize I’m sitting right her
e, right?” asked Blackhawk, laughing. “Can I say something in my defense?”

Elizabeth linked her fingers with his. “Yeah, Cowboy, what do you want to add?”

He looked right at Tony. “Don’t be too sure that she won’t be the one breaking my heart,” he said, honestly. “I’m going back to Quantico when this is done, but I don’t know what’s going to happen after that. I can’t be more than who I am, and I’m an FBI agent. I won’t hurt her intentionally.”

She ran her hand over his
thigh, offering her support. She understood they were both in uncharted territory. Both had careers, hundreds of miles apart. “I’m the Sheriff of Salem,” she said softly and then continued, “we’ll find a solution or we won’t, but that’s our problem, Tony.”

“If you're worried I’ll hurt her that’s one thing, but if you're
throwing me the visual daggers because you screwed up in high school and lost your chance, that’s on you not me,” Blackhawk added. Honesty hurt, but it was nonetheless the truth.

“I just think he isn’t good for you,” Tony spoke unabashedly.

“And you would be a better choice?” Blackhawk wasn’t enjoying this conversation
. He got that the man had it bad for Elizabeth, but his time had happened and he dropped the ball. It was over. “She’s made her choice.”

“I
just think I’m more of a realistic option. I’m not leaving when this is over. You’ll get on the jet and be gone, and then what Agent Blackhawk?”

Ethan
’s muscle in his face twitched. He was about to lose his temper at the idea that this man was sitting in front of him and trying to talk her out of a relationship with him.

Elizabeth could feel Blackhawk tense, his whole body tightened, and she knew he wasn’t happy. She leaned further into his
personal space, to offer him that connection. Tony wouldn’t ever be more than a friend. He wasn’t Ethan Blackhawk, and that was ultimately the bottom line.

The FBI agent did it for her.

“You don’t know me Tony, and you don’t know what I will do and won’t do. Especially when you yourself didn’t do the right thing when it came to her,” he kissed the top of her head, trying to calm down.

“We tried Tony and you and I wer
en’t compatible. You dumped me not the other way around, and now that’s what’s in the books. You can’t erase it or pretend it didn’t happen. You tossed me over the day after the prom, because Susie Ziebach offered to put out that night and I wouldn’t. You weren’t in love with me, or you wouldn’t have. I wasn’t crushed and destroyed afterwards, either. There were other men after being with you and now there’s Ethan.”

He wondered if he told her right then and there
that he was going to be the last man in her life, what she’d say or do.

Elizabeth stared into his eyes and saw the emotion.

Blackhawk covered his feelings with humor. “Ouch,” muttered Blackhawk into his beer, trying to not laugh, but if Tony only knew what sex was like with Elizabeth he’d really be kicking himself. It was explosive and wild.

“What I mean is
we didn’t fit, or we would still be together. When something is meant to be, it sticks and doesn’t fall away forgotten. Until I came back to Salem, I was forgotten, Tony.”

“I understand.” It was obviously a dead end. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Tony,” she said, taking a bite of her pizza, “I offered to marry him already; he didn’t take me up on my offer. I’m thinking he’s pretty level headed. I wouldn’t worry,” she laughed when Blackhawk choked on his beer. She patted him on the back. “You okay, love bug?” Elizabeth enjoyed catching him off guard and making him lose his control.

“No, I don’t think I am,” he said, staring at her. Twice now, she said the ‘
M
’ word, and he didn’t know if she was serious or kidding.

Damn it!

Blackhawk couldn’t get his balance with her.

Elizabeth laughed and leaned into him, kissing him slow. Once she broke away, Tony had her focus. “I hope we’ve resolved this now, because I really just want to eat pizza and drink my beer. No more drama.”

Blackhawk knew he wouldn’t be the issue.

“Everything resolved?”

“I think I’m in trouble,” said Tony, and he looked scared shitless.

“Trouble?” she asked.

“Uh oh,” said Blackhawk, sliding forward, giving the man his full attention.

Tony nodded and continued, “I think I’ve done something stupid, and you’re going to lose it.”

“What did you do, Tony
?” she asked, getting that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“This is why I wanted to talk to you alone, outside of work. It’s about Kathy Cory.”

Elizabeth just knew where this was heading. “Oh shit, Tony. This better not be going where I think it is.”

Tony swallowed. “Her father said she was dating someone for a couple of weeks, and then it stopped before picking back up again.”

“Okay,” said Blackhawk.

“I was the one she was dating and sleeping with,” he
admitted softly, as he felt much better getting that off his chest. That was until he saw her face, but he knew he had to continue and just spill it all. “I even had sex with her at her house, so my DNA is going to be in that room and my fingerprints.”

It would have been comical, if it wasn’t a bad situation. Elizabeth just stared at her deputy, trying to put a sentence together.

“It was a casual kind of thing.” Tony tried to make it seem better.

“She was killed almost two days
ago, and now you’re just telling us?” There was no doubt in her mind she had never been quite this angry with him, or anyone for that matter. “Do you know the man hours wasted on trying to find any link, any ties to who she was sleeping with and dating?”

“Lyzee, I know
I’m sorry. I know I should have admitted it then.”

“Tony, we’ve been running in circles,” added Blackhawk
. Ethan knew how bad this was, and who was going to be screwed over.

“Should have admitted it?” she repeated his words in anger.

“I didn’t kill her, Lyzee.” Tony just tossed that out, just in case that was what she was thinking.

“Oh well thanks for that, Tony. Now this looks like a cover-up in my department, and I’m the one going to get crucified if this gets out.
Oh no wait!
WHEN
this gets out that one of my deputies, who was involved in the active investigation and handled data and sensitive information, was having sex with the girl that turned up dead, I’m screwed. I am going to be screwed by my boss, his boss,” she pointed at Blackhawk, “the girl’s family and the media. You just compromised this entire case if we catch the killer alive. A defense lawyer would have this tossed out so fast that the killer wouldn’t sit in jail more than a day. We have a leak as it is, and now they get a hold of this, it’s going to explode.”