Page 364 of Sticks and Stones
He closed his eyes.
“I think I deserve to know that,” Will said. “I think I deserve to know if you feel anything toward me, like I feel for you.”
Corbin didn’t lie.
“I’d never stop loving you, and I wouldn’t leave you. I’d carry you until you could carry yourself,” he finally admitted.
And there it was.
Will put his hand over Corbin’s unbroken one, and gently squeezed it.
“Then why do you believe I wouldn’t do the same thing? Why do you think so little of me that you believe theONLYreason I’m with you is for sex?”
He didn’t know what to say. Corbin’s mind was reeling from what Will had just done.
He’d flipped the script.
“Corby, we’re meant to be. What happened to you sickens me, but not because of you. Because of them.”
He still said nothing.
Will turned him in his chair, and made him face him so they could talk.
“Baby, I can live without sex,” he said, his fingers on Corbin’s chin. I can’t live without you. I’d rather never have sex again, but have us than have sex with someone else. If I walk away, I’ll always think about you, and know that I let my husband go. I’ll always know that I found the love of my life, and I was too weak to fight for him. I’m not leaving you, Corbin. I’m fighting.”
It was all too much.
Corbin began crying.
He couldn't hold it back anymore.
As he shook, Will got up and stood beside him, wrapping his arms around him. With tenderness and love, he let the man lean on him.
With gentle kisses to his temple, he whispered words of promise that Corbin needed.
“I bought those rings a week after we met,” he admitted. “I knew then that we were going to be together for the rest of ourlives. I still believe that, Corbin. I still know that you’re the one I’ll always love.”
He didn’t know how to navigate this. Corbin felt lost.
“I’m broken,” he whispered.
Will held him.
“Then let me fill you back up so we’re one and not two different people. I want to be with you, Corbin, and it’s not because of the sex. It’s because when I’m with you, I feel so much love. I feel whole. What they took from you was precious, but don’t let them take us from you too. You can fight back for that, and win. If we stay as a couple, you beat them. You didn’t break. You beat them.”
Corbin slowly wrapped his arms around the man’s waist, and held onto him.
“I hurt so bad,” he whispered. “My heart hurts so much right now. I’m lost, Will. I’m so fucking lost that I don’t know how to get back to me.”
Will would protect him.
Until.
The.
End.
“I won’t leave your side, and I won’t give up, Corbin. You fought to get out of that dumpster and to get help. You fought to live through that unbearable torment. You fought to live. Now, fight for me. I promise I’ll be here to hold you together and chase away the memories of that. I’ll carry you because I’m strong, Corbin. Love is strong. Let me show you.”
