AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was in there a long time. Enough for dinner to be done and me to make two plates, putting them both on the table just in case. Worry weighed me down the whole time. Had I done something wrong? It was something I’d often wondered when it came to DJ. I just hoped Corbin didn’t leave me behind as easily as DJ had.
When he came out, he was wearing a pair of his underwear and one of my T-shirts, which was too large for him. He had his own shirts here, and that one had been on the top of the laundry basket, so I knew he was wearing it to be close to me…to smell me, and damned if that didn’t make me feel incredible.
Corbin set his phone on the table beside my plate. I looked down, seeing negative comments on a post. Red-hot anger eviscerated my insides.
“Fuck these people. They’re keyboard warriors who have nothing better to do with their time than to put others down. Don’t pay attention to a word they say.”
“Don’t you think I would if I could? It’s all I’ve thought about all day. And I know it’s my own fault because I keep fucking posting, but I can’t make myself stop doing that either.” He tried to walk away, but I grabbed his wrist and pulled him to my lap.
Corbin came easily, sitting on my thighs, arms wrapped around my shoulders. “I can’t control it…how I feel. You can’t push me into changing.”
“I know, but I can’t not try to help you either. I care about you. I really think you need to see a therapist.” My hand made circles on his back. Corbin nuzzled into me even more.
The room was quiet, both of us just breathing and me touching him while I waited for his reply. “Don’t give up on me,” Corbin said rather than responding about the therapist. “I’m sorry I was an asshole. Just don’t give up on me.”
His voice wrapped a lasso around my heart, pulling me in. “I won’t. Jesus, I won’t.” It wasn’t as if Corbin hadn’t already hooked me before that, but hearing him being so fucking real was my undoing.
I held him there for a little while before we made our way to the couch. I brought my plate, setting it on the coffee table. We both picked at it while we cuddled and watched a show. Eventually, he ended up with his head in my lap, my fingers carding through his soft hair.
“I really like yogurt,” he said softly.
I smiled. “Then I guess we’ll have to stock up, won’t we?”
Still, I knew that wasn’t enough…but for now it was a start.
* * *
I’d met the families of men I’d been dating before, but I’d never been nervous the way I was with Corbin’s. Part of it was because it was him and I liked him so damn much. I wanted to make a good impression because of how I felt about him. But most of my nerves came from him and the fact that Corbin was so anxious.
He’d been edgy in the days leading up to Christmas Eve, and that had been multiplied by a hundred last night before we went to bed, and it carried over into this morning.
“Are you sure you want me to go with you? It’s okay if you changed your mind,” I told him on the way over. We took my car, and I was driving. I’d put on a bow tie and button-up shirt like I did when I worked at the center. Corbin wore a nice black button-up shirt and slacks.
“Are you kidding me? I don’t want to go alone. I’m bringing CB backup,” he said playfully, clearly trying to relax and be himself.
“Will it be that bad that you’d need backup? I mean, I’m game. Just want to know what I should prepare myself for.” My hands tightened on the steering wheel. The world could be such a shitty place. No one should need support to visit their own family, even though I knew that was the case for a lot of people.
“No, I shouldn’t say that. It’s not fair to them. Seriously, my family doesn’t even curse. They’re the definition of sweet and wholesome, which, ya know, means I stick out like a sore thumb.”
Yikes. That was hard. “Do they listen to your podcast?”
“Christ, no. They already think I’m going to burn in hell for all eternity.”
And yep, my anger skyrocketed at that. I knew it. He’d told me before, but it would never not infuriate me. “Do you believe that?”
“No, but that doesn’t make it easier to have your parents think it.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” I reached over and squeezed his thigh.
“Eh, it is what it is. I’m a great fuck. I guess you can’t have everything.”
