Dead are Forgotten Read online

  “What CIA job?” Elizabeth asked. “You never told me about that job offer.”

  He laughed.

  “Exactly, because there is none, so, I lied. It seems to be the thing to do in the FBI. I’m a bad man.”

  She gave him a fist bump.

  “I like a bad man,” she said, glad they had her back.

  Ethan climbed onto the bed with them.

  “Well, I have bad news too.”

  “What?” Chris asked.

  “It’s boss time.”

  They all groaned.

  “Here are the rules of the game. We don’t ask, and we don’t tell. In the morgue, Chris is still the boss, but you have to ensure the staff is safe.”

  He was so happy he didn’t lose his job.

  “I will be careful. It was the first time I ever made a mistake like that. I was upset and careless.”

  “Well, you don’t pick up any tools if you’re not on your game. We are trusting you to make the choices needed as someone who has his team’s safety in mind. Your job is to protect them. Got it?”

  “Yes, Ethan.”

  He glanced over at Elizabeth.

  This was for her.

  “From this moment out, you’re part of us. You’ve been cordially invited to join the Blackhawk three.”

  He started choking on his water.

  Elizabeth patted him on the back until the choking stopped. She would have laughed at his response, but Ethan was driving this bus.

  “WHAT?” Chris asked. “What the hell does that mean?” he asked.

  Callen noticed he looked horrified by all the possibilities going through his mind.

  That said it all.

  He was officially fine with this. The man hadn’t been expecting that, and that spoke louder than anything.

  “We are a couple. We live together, we let the media assume whatever, but there will never be sex. Am I clear?”

  Chris’s eyes went big at the ‘S’ word.

  “Jesus! I would NEVER risk Elizabeth like that. That’s insanity! With what is now festering in me, I could make any of you sick! I’d have to be out of my mind!”

  She held his hand.

  “And here I am disappointed,” Callen teased. “I do recall you’ve kissed me.”

  Chris’s eyes filled with tears.

  “Christ! I was kidding!” he said. “Please don’t cry! I didn’t mean it!”

  Chris whipped furiously at them. His heart was healing little by little. They were including him in something even better. He wasn’t alone, and now he was seeing that.

  “I love you all,” he said. “I’ve never had this before, and I can’t believe that something so ugly like my illness gave me this gift. Thank you.”

  Elizabeth gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “Family always has your back.”

  He saw that now.

  The storm appeared to be abating, and she was going to be honest with them. She was an emotional wreck, and when she was this worked up, there was only one thing she wanted.

  FOOD.

  “I’m starving,” Elizabeth said, changing the subject. “What’s for dinner?”

  Ethan waved his hand over the trays and broke out a fake, and horrible, French accent to amuse them.

  “Tonight, Mademoiselle and Monsieur, we have organic baby greens and skinless boneless chicken with some lemon and herbs. No dressing, no fat, no garbage. Your body, and colon, will be très happy!”

  She snorted.

  “That’s my guy, and apparently, I dig him while he’s French,” she stated and then gave him a kiss.

  “Oui! I can tie zee damsel to zee tracks later,” he teased as he curled a pretend mustache.

  Even Chris laughed.

  Family healed.

  Only, Callen wasn’t having it. He cleared his throat to remind his wife he was there.

  “Uh, you kissed Moe and Curly. Larry wants some kisses too.”

  She gave him a big one.

  Chris pointed at the food.

  “Is this really how I have to eat anymore?” he asked, lifting a leaf. While he was normally very aware of what he ate, he really needed some chocolate and some ice cream right now.

  It had been a rough one.

  Ethan handled it.

  “Elizabeth sent us some links. You are going to be on a special diet, and we are going on it with you. When one of us has to sacrifice, we all do. It’s a rule we have.”

  That astounded him on some deep level. This was family, and he loved every second of it.

  “Thank you for this,” he said. “I appreciate it. Honestly, it helps not to do it alone.”

  “You’re never alone,” Elizabeth offered.

  He held her hand.

  Yeah, he was seeing that.

  Ethan continued, “Elizabeth also found some drug trials that are going to be coming up in the next few weeks.”

  Chris glanced over at her.

  “Someone was busy.”

  “Just taking care of my guys,” she stated. “Moe is the stuffy one, but he’s sexy as sin. Curly is the nerdy one who always knows the answer. He’s my walking Google, and Larry, he’s the funny one. He has the ability to make me smile when I’m having a bad day.”

  Yeah, that was them.

  “Anyway, as I was saying, we’ll get you into one of those trials. I have some pull,” Ethan stated.

  “And I have some money,” Callen offered. “We’ll make sure you are taken care of, Chris.”

  All of this astounded him. They’d closed around him, cocooning him in love and comfort. Chris felt so safe and protected with them in his life.

  Chris couldn’t believe his luck.

  “We need to get you in to see your doctor, Christopher,” she stated. “We need to get you on meds ASAP.”

  “I suggest we pay cash and keep it quiet,” Callen stated. “We can’t let this get out. The media will have a field day.”

  “Then Chris could lose his position,” Ethan stated, “so we leave no paper trail from here on out.”

  He couldn’t believe how hard they were working to deal with his issue. They had a ton on their plate, and they were going to carry more.

  For him.

  That amazed him.

  “Next up is the gym,” Elizabeth stated. “I know you hate working out, but unfortunately for you, working out is about to be your new best friend.”

  “Like someone I meet every day for coffee?” he asked. “Or once a week for a drink?”

  She snorted.

  “You’re going to wake up to your new lover. Exercise is about to make you her bitch. We need to build up your immunity and body. We’ll work out every morning. Together.”

  “As in all of us?” he asked.

  She smiled.

  “Yep. All four of us. So, set that alarm, Christopher. You’re going to be sweating before dawn. I know you like to get your ass to the morgue before the rest of the team, but you’re going to have to start taking care of you. Inventory can be passed off.”

  He knew what they were sacrificing for him.

  He knew what they were going to do so he could extend his life. Meeting them halfway was important.

  “I can do that.”

  “This isn’t the end,” Elizabeth stated. “You’re a doctor. You know that. Before, you were rocked by the shock of it. Now I need you to put that brain in play, and do what it takes to work on your health.”

  He could do that too.

  “It’s startling. I knew it could happen, but then when I cut myself, I knew it was fifty-fifty, and now I have to face the fact that I can go into final stage AIDS at any time. There’s no rhyme or reason to how long you have.”

  She wasn’t giving up.

  Since he was a science guy, she went with what he would understand.

  “Fifty percent of people who do nothing but wallow in their own self-pity will go into full-blown AIDS in ten years. By taking proactive measures now, Chris, we can keep you alive longer and longer.”
r />   He listened to his family.

  Chris wanted more time.

  He wanted to see Bethe graduate. If he didn’t fight, he’d never see her drive a car.

  “I’ll fight.”

  Elizabeth was glad.

  Ethan wasn’t done.

  “She’s right. I did my own research. You may never get to that final stage,” Ethan offered. “There are ways to fight it. With less stress, you can be healthier. With antiviral meds, we can prolong your life a long time. One man is almost eighty, and he’s still healthy.”

  God!

  He wanted that.

  Chris wanted forty more years. That would give science time to catch up to this horrible disease.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “We’ll help you,” Callen stated, “but God! This is horrible!” he said, pointing at the chicken.

  They all laughed.

  Yeah, it really was.

  It had no taste at all.

  “Mind over matter,” Elizabeth stated. “That’s what this is going to come down to for you…and Callen because he’s going to be eating that meal a lot.”

  They all laughed.

  Ethan held out his hand.

  “Is everyone in?” he asked.

  Callen placed his over Ethan’s.

  “I’m in.”

  Elizabeth followed suit. She did the same, connecting herself to the two men.

  “You can’t keep me out. Three men…it’s Christmas for me,” she stated.

  Chris stared at his hand.

  Then theirs.

  Finally, he placed it on top of Elizabeth’s, and Ethan turned his, so he and Chris’s twined around Callen and Elizabeth’s. It connected them as a unit.

  Screw what the world would think. They wouldn’t be having sex, but let them assume. If it meant protecting Chris, they’d take the gossip.

  Sometimes, it was worth it.

  His dignity was worth them shielding him any day of the week. If the masses wanted to go there with the sex thing, so be it. This was about protecting someone in their family who had a battle ahead of them.

  “I’m in,” he said. “I’m in until my dying day.”

  They were too.

  This would be their new family, their new life, and their new normal.

  “Let’s finish eating,” Elizabeth stated. “Then we have to get to bed early. I have to catch a cuckoo, who is chasing a perverted asshole. God! I love my job,” she stated not able to stop herself from laughing.

  “Oh, I hate your job,” Callen stated.

  “Me too,” Ethan admitted.

  She snorted.

  “I’m not really fond either,” Chris admitted.

  Elizabeth found that funny.

  Truth be told, she wasn’t a fan at certain times, and this was definitely one of them.

  There was no doubt in her mind.

  This case…it was going to suck.

  That was for damn sure.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Three

  Hours

  Later

  The darkness was all around them as they’d indeed called it a night after having dinner. At that moment, Callen was asleep and Elizabeth was tucked between him and Chris. Both were softly breathing, but she was thinking about Ethan.

  He was gone from the bed.

  He’d snuck out a little while ago, and she was worried about him. Ethan was carrying a lot on his shoulders, and after they ate, he had been silent.

  Something was going on in that sexy head of his, and she knew it was weighing on him.

  She knew him better than anyone.

  While Callen was his blood, and they’d had a childhood together, she and Ethan had a bond. She could read him, and vice versa.

  So now worry and curiosity had the better of her. She needed to find him and get to the bottom of it. This couldn’t be about Chris since he’d seemed calm about that. This had to be about something more.

  It was time to find out.

  Heading out of the room, she left Callen and Chris to sleep so she could talk to him.

  She found him in Chris’s office downstairs, working on something.

  As she leaned on the doorjamb, she watched him at the desk on the video conference call. He was wearing a t-shirt, his pajama bottoms, and his silky black hair was hanging free. What really had her attention was that he was barefoot.

  God.

  Her heart thumped.

  “Yes, I know there is an influx of terrorist potential, Marcus,” he stated. “I’m all about upping security, but we don’t have the manpower and neither do you. I know the president has been adamant, but you can’t get blood from a budgetary stone, and that’s where I’m at. I have nothing left to put toward it. My agents will lynch me if I say the word ‘cutbacks’. We are already running on a light staff as it is, and we chase some serious nut jobs.”

  It was hard not to get wet when she saw him, but when she heard him…it was damn near impossible.

  In his sleep attire, he looked like a normal husband. Only, when he spoke, the enormity of his power came through, and that rocked her world.

  She was married to one hell of a man.

  It made her want to dance a sexy jig.

  “We already discussed this, Marcus,” he said, flipping through some files. “We’re out of the game. The president is going to have to tag in the CIA. They have double the budget, and we all know they’re working on homeland’s turf.”

  She cleared her throat.

  He glanced up and saw her across the room. His wife was in a pair of shorts and a tank top. Her hair was mussed up, and she looked sexy.

  Only, he had to take this call.

  It was vital.

  He gave her a nod of acknowledgment and then continued on with what he was working on for his job.

  “There has to be something you can do, Ethan. Help a guy out. We’re strapped, too, and I have no one left to put on this.”

  “What would you like me to do, Marcus? Do you want me to clone some agents who will work for free? That will make the conspiracy nuts go wild.”

  She knew it was the perfect time to drive him wild. The man was too work oriented in his after-hours. She wanted to get him to relax.

  By relax, she meant cum.

  It was as simple as that.

  Her plan was hatched.

  Elizabeth closed the door and locked it behind her. Her sexy deputy director was working hard into the night. Well, she was going to work him hard too.

  It was time to shake him up.

  Elizabeth loved rattling his cage.

  Since Marcus couldn’t see her on the opposite side of the desk, Elizabeth knew her options were limited to staying out of his line of sight.

  She was going to make him wild.

  Her fingers went to the hem of the t-shirt that she was wearing. It was one of Chris’s, and she’d borrowed it after she got all wet in his shower.

  Ironic.

  Now she was going to get all wet in his office.

  Pulling the science-y shirt off, she had Ethan’s immediate attention. His eyes flickered up and stayed on her as she gyrated and shook her ass to silent music in her head. Elizabeth knew her husband was helpless to a sexy striptease.

  Blackhawk watched his wife doing her thing, and the room was getting hot.

  Very hot.

  He leaned back in the chair, so Marcus would think his eyes were on him, but they were on smooth, creamy breasts in that sexy bra just above his tablet.

  Holy shit!

  He was hard.

  “What?” he asked, realizing Marcus asked him something and he missed it.

  “Are you okay?” he asked. “I think I lost you for a second there.”

  “I was mulling over the whole O’Banion shit mess,” he said, as his wife got out of her shorts and continued to dance in front of the tablet where only he could see her.

  There was a tiny pair of panties with a cat on the front—a pussycat
.

  It wasn’t lost on him.

  Jesus.

  She was hot.

  “I feel bad for the person dealing with that train wreck,” he stated, trying to control his libido.

  He wasn’t shocked she was in there playing this game. His wife was known to push both him and Callen at any chance.

  Well, he was willing and able.

  She could strip for hours and he’d never stop it.

  NEVER.

  “How’s that going?” Marcus asked.

  “Elizabeth will be interviewing him tomorrow,” he stated as she took he bra off and touched herself.

  Ethan watched as her hands cupped her ample breasts, her thumbs ran over the peaked nipples and then tweaked them.

  Oh, holy shit!

  He was going to lose it in about three seconds.

  His wife was wicked, and he loved her exactly like that. He’d never change her.

  Ethan kept watching the sexy show as she continued to gyrate, her tits bouncing to the silent song in her head.

  Ethan struggled not to touch his dick. He was throbbing, and he wanted to adjust himself in the worst way.

  Only, they were NOT alone.

  Suddenly, she stopped moving and slipped the pink kitten panties down her legs and then dangled them from her one finger.

  Blackhawk had to swallow.

  Before him was his bare, naked wife, and he wanted her in the worst way.

  His blood pressure was going up.

  He could feel the throb in his neck, and in his dick.

  Yes, he’d had her that morning in bed, and the night before in the shower, but this…

  It was risqué, wild, and totally her.

  He wanted to mount her like some rutting beast.

  Ethan wanted to fuck her.

  It was as simple as that.

  “Well, keep me abreast of the situation,” Marcus stated.

  Ethan had to blink.

  Did he just say breasts?

  Before he could regroup, Elizabeth was on the move. She dropped her panties on the desk, near the tablet.

  Ethan could see them.

  He could pick up her scent, but Marcus had no clue.

  She ran her fingers over her clit, and Ethan tried not to react, but it was so damn hard. He could picture himself taking her on that desk.