Page 89 of Light Up
“Oh!” Tal chuckled. “Have you done anything bad?”
“Not today. Not yet. Give me time.”
The chuckle turned into a laugh.
“Is it okay if I stay up here for a bit and rest?” Corey asked.
“Of course it is. I’ll go and give Benjamin a hand.”
Corey did need to rest, but it was more that he wanted to build up a reserve of courage, a layer of resilience to cope with what was to come from Louis. While he was steeling himself, he’d wrap the presents he’d bought.
Once the parcels were hidden under the bed, he went downstairs. Slowly. The incision where his spleen had been removed was a little sore. He needed to be careful not to disturb the Steri-Strips. Corey didn’t regret leaving the YMCA but he was increasingly anxious about meeting Louis again.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he heard Tal talking in the kitchen. Louis was back. Corey caught his own name mentioned and took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be comfortable to hear but maybe if he listened to what they thought about him, it would give him chance to come to terms with it before he faced them.
“Mojo says he told you,” Louis snapped. “Yet you still went to get him.”
Told him what? Corey’s heart thudded.
“Why would you do that?” Louis asked.
“If you want us to leave, we’ll leave.” Tal’s voice was calm.
“No, we don’t fucking want you to leave. We wanthimto leave but that’s not going to happen, is it? You’ve invited him to our house for Christmas. Not what we had in mind. But I’m not going to shove him out the door. I do have a heart.”
Corey released a shaky breath. A twisted knot of sorrow lodged in his throat. He hadn’t been wanted, then finally Tal had wanted him, and now he didn’t remember that he did…
“I want to be with him,” Tal said. “If he’d been my boyfriend, wouldn’t you have liked him to come?”
“But he’s not your boyfriend. If he was, of course he’d be welcome. But you don’t know him. I know more about him than you.”
No, you don’t, Louis.
“He’s damaged,” Louis said.
Oh God.
“Aren’t we all in some way or another?” That was Tal.
“Not that sort of damaged. He’s not right for you.”
“How do you know?” Tal sounded annoyed.
“Look at him. He’s not strong enough to hold you down, assuming he’d want to.”
That wasn’t the fucking point. Corey silently raged.
“He wouldn’t need to,” Tal said.
“You’re going to get attached, he’s going to let you down and you’ll be the one in need of psychiatric care.”
Corey stiffened. That was enough. He clenched his jaw, crossed the hall and went into the kitchen. All three of them turned to face him. Benjamin looked down, Tal looked guilty and Louis frowned.
Corey stared at Louis. “You’ve read my medical notes.”
He was pleased when Louis paled.
“I don’t think you should have done that.” Corey kept his voice quiet and controlled. He refused to show how pissed off he was.
