Page 276 of Sticks and Stones
NO.
ONE.
“I wish they didn’t have to do this because of me,” he stated.
When the microwave beeped, Greyson got the mug out and handed it to Corbin.
“Family will do anything for family,” he admitted. “That’s the point of having them. If someone hurt my brother, I’d be out there looking for blood,” he admitted honestly.
And it was true.
If anyone ever hurt Dante, he’d do unspeakable things to them.
As he was talking, Corbin said nothing, but instead, he took his mug of soup back to the couch, and tucked himself under the fuzzy blanket that smelled like Ethan and Gene.
As he sipped the soup, Greyson sat down not far away.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked. “You know, the assault?”
He shook his head, and reminded Greyson of a scared, broken child.
“Not really.”
Greyson immediately backed off. While he knew talking would help the man, he understood that he didn’t want to deal with it at that moment.
He respected that.
“Okay, Corbin. Hey, want to play Clue? I’ll let you kick my ass,” he offered.
He tried to laugh, but instead, tears filled his eyes. Corbin felt so lost and alone. The world felt too heavy to carry anymore, and he didn’t know if he’d ever be okay.
Maybe it would have been better had he not made it out of that dumpster. This was painful, and not physically.
“It’s going to be okay,” Greyson reassured, moving to sit next to him on the couch.
Carefully, he patted his leg under the blanket, and when Corbin didn’t flinch, he reassured him.
“I know that right now it looks like you’ll never recover from this, but the human spirit is resilient.”
Corbin wiped his eyes on his arm, the unbroken one. His whole world had crumbled around him. Two days ago, he had a job he loved, friends he couldn’t imagine not having, and a man he wanted to marry.
Now, he was afraid of his job, his friends were out doing god knew what for him, and the man he loved…he couldn’t be with anymore.
They’d done more than sexually assault him. They’d destroyed his whole world, leaving him decimated.
How was he going to come back from this?
“I’m sorry about what happened to you, Corbin. If you ever need help, and the guys can’t help you, I want you to call me,” he said, pulling his badge out to get a card from behind it.
On the back of the card, he put his personal number.
“I’ll come,” he said, knowing that he’d always have a soft spot in his heart for people who were lost in the system and battered by life. If he could help them, that was his duty. “I promise.”
As a soldier, he’d seen some shit, and he got it.
Oh, he really did.
Corbin took it, and tucked it into his cast until he could put it in his phone.
