Page 278 of Sticks and Stones


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Instead of talking, Greyson listened.

Sometimes, that was the most important thing you could do for a victim.

He knew talking this out would be important for Corbin. As he started to put his life back together again, he’d need people who would just listen to him when he needed it.

“What do I do about Will?” he asked. “If you were my boyfriend, what would you want me to do?”

He didn’t have to think long, and honestly, he could help him with this. Corbin was asking a more‘what would you do’question, and not asking advice.

“First and foremost, if I was Will, I’d want to know that you’re okay. By now, I’d be worried. I’d need to know that you were alive. I imagine he’s afraid and thinking you’re dead in a ditch somewhere. When he showed up at your place, he sounded scared.”

Corbin knew he’d almost been dead in a dumpster, so the reality of that was pretty damn close. The ditch would have been easier to escape, to be honest.

Greyson continued.

“Then, I’d need you to be honest with me. Looking at you, I would be able to tell you’ve been through it. I’d want to help you, and I’d need to know if you wanted my help.”

He considered it.

Then, Corbin was honest.

“Should I set him free? I don’t know if I can be who I was, Greyson. Will is submissive, and I was dominant in bed. I don’t know if I’ll ever be that man again. I can’t even think about sex. I have zero desire to ever have another person touch me that way again.”

Well, yeah.

He’d been through something traumatic. Greyson knew that if he’d been through what Corbin had been through, he’d likely feel the same way.

“Honestly, Corbin, the only thing I can think to say is that time might change that. Maybe not the next month, or year, but at some time, you’re going to want to return to your life when those scars aren’t tender and festering.”

He didn’t know if he would.

“What are you afraid of?” he asked.

Corbin hesitated.

Taking a chance, Greyson held out his hand, and Corbin reached for him. He held his hand in his, reassuring him.

“I’ve got you, Corbin. I’m a judgment free zone, and nothing you say goes past me. I swear. Trust me.”

Corbin needed to trust someone.

“I’m scared shitless that he’ll see me and is disgusted. I couldn't defend myself from them. What do I do if he breaks my heart when he runs.”

He was about to answer when Corbin continued.

“Like I said, I’m more dominant, or I was. What if Will needs me to hold him up? I can’t even hold me up. I’m hiding here, and I know I can’t leave for a while. The idea of leaving this condo scares me.”

Greyson was direct.

“Then, if that’s the case, it sounds like you want to work on you, and not a relationship. I’m notoriously bad at love,” he admitted. “But I know that when I couldn’t foster a relationship, for whatever reason, it eventually died. Do you think Will would be able to hold you up?”

He wasn’t sure.

“I don’t want to show him me. This isn’t the man he liked at all. I’m a shell now. I think I should do what’s best for both of us,” he admitted.

“And that is?”

“I think I need to break it off. Fixing me is going to take years,” he admitted. “It’s not fair to make him wait for me to be okay with affection, or simple cuddling. How can I ask him to put his whole life on hold for me?”