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They laughed as anger scorched my insides—not for me, but for Corbin. Fuck them. Why did people care so fucking much about what others did or how they looked? Did no one have anything better to do than put down others?
Fear wrestled with my fury. There was nothing I wanted more than to shut these guys up, to tell them where they could stick their opinions, but my first priority was Corbin and getting him out of here so he didn’t have to hear this, so we didn’t risk him spiraling.
I tried to pull him away, but he tugged his arm out of my hold and opened the door. The two men were smoking, and looked at us with wide, panicked eyes.
“It’s sad, ya know,” Corb said, “that you don’t have anything better to do with your time than to put down others, to hurt others.”
“We didn’t mean—shit,” one of them said.
“You did mean it, though…or you just don’t care. You build yourself up by putting others down. I’ve spent my life dealing with people like you, hating myself and trying to change myself so I could be your idea of beauty, and I don’t…I don’t care about that anymore. Spencer is perfect to me, and I know I’m perfect to him too. That’s what I choose to focus on. That’s what’s important. People like you…you’re just sad. I have too much love in my life to care what you think.”
He turned to me and smiled. My eyes stung with unshed tears. I’d never been so fucking proud of anyone in my life.
I’d never loved anyone more either.
Corbin held his hand out to me. He was so beautiful, he stole my breath. “Let’s go dance, CB.”
“That I can do.” Our fingers laced together, and we left the two men there, mouths agape. They didn’t matter.
The second we were out of the room, Corbin’s face was in my hands, my lips smashing against his. We kissed slowly and sweetly, foreheads pressed together. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “I can’t pretend there wasn’t a second where I flashed back to when I was a kid, to the things I heard. There was a second where I almost thought they were right, but then it just…went away. I feel too good to let them drag me down.”
It might not always be that easy for him, but tonight it was, and that was all we could ask for.
“I love you, Corb.”
“I love you too.”
We made our way back to the ballroom. The piano music still drifted through the room as our arms automatically encircled each other. Corbin nuzzled his body so close to mine that it felt like he was trying to crawl inside me. “Your arms are my favorite place to be.”
“Jesus,” I whispered, running my hands up and down his back.
“Earlier, when I looked in the mirror at us together, I liked what I saw. I saw myself for who I am, not what other people might see, and not that little boy I used to be.”
I opened my mouth to respond, to tell him I was proud of him, but there had been nothing wrong with that boy either. Before I could, Corbin spoke again.
“Imani and I have been working on my bridging the gap between young Corbin and who I am now and realizing that little boy was perfect how he was too. He was a good kid.”
“He was.” My heart thumped against my chest, and damned if I didn’t hope he felt it against his own.
“I wish I hadn’t been so hard on him.”
“You can’t change the past. What matters is that you’re not so hard on yourself now…because that little boy is you and he’s still inside you, Corb.”
We danced close through three songs, until there was a tap on my shoulder, and I stopped to see Marcus there.
“Can I cut in?”
I smiled at him. “Yeah, yeah you can. I’m going to deal with a few things, and then we’ll bail early.”
“Okay,” Corbin replied.
I kissed his cheek, then left him in the best hands he could be in, other than mine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Corbin
Marcus’s arms went around me, my cheek resting against his pec. “Wow…you’re not as comfy as I used to think you were. Too hard. Spencer is way softer and cozier.”
Marcus gave me his deep laugh. “He’s good for you.”
“He is.”
“You’re good for him too. He’s crazy about you.”
“He is,” I answered, not trying to be funny or cocky. Spencer was crazy about me. He loved me. And I was worthy of that love.
Marcus said, “Who would have thought, huh? A few years ago, I never would have seen the four of us here, but it’s right. It’s the way it’s supposed to be. Kai is…”
“Kai is good for you. And you’re good for him. Same with Parker and Elliott, and Dec and Sebastian. Poor guys, getting stuck with friends like us.”
