Chapter Four #3
“Well, if you must know, it was with my last boyfriend. I told you that I’m a bottom, Corbin. What did you think that meant?” he asked. “I don’t know why you’re so surprised that I’ve had sex in ways that you might not like since you’re more dominant in bed.”
Corbin went there.
“But that far bottom?” he asked. “Gene and Ethan bottom?”
Will shrugged.
Someone was getting a little judgy, and Will didn’t like that. You couldn’t look down your nose at people when they were literally the ones who pulled you from the fire to save you.
Corbin was forgetting that.
He sounded disgusted, and that annoyed Will because what happened in someone’s bedroom was no one else’s business—especially two men that opened their home to Corbin, and saved his life in ways no one else could.
“I like sex and having fun in bed. I don’t think that’s something bad. Sex should be enjoyable and something two people can experience together.”
Corbin stared at him.
“It’s not fun with me?” he asked.
Will opened his mouth.
But Corbin cut him off.
“It’s okay. I forgot I’m broken and inadequate. You had a better life before me. Let’s just stop talking about this. The point was made.”
Oh.
Holy.
Shit.
That was so far from the truth that it stole Will’s breath that this man could think that.
Will had never given him that impression.
EVER.
Loving Corbin through his trauma was an uphill battle most days, and it looked as if Will was going to have to fight again.
But it was so difficult.
Will knew that he was on the cusp of crying because this went south when he hadn’t seen it coming. He had that same feeling again, like the day he showed up at Ethan and Gene’s condo after Corbin’s assault, and he broke up with him.
It was a punch to the chest.
Truth be told, he didn’t know how to fight this battle. He didn’t know what he’d done to make the man so angry with him.
Before he could say anything, they had company. They were standing in the surf, and Gene and Ethan had backtracked when they realized they weren’t behind them.
“What’s going on?” Gene asked, seeing the anger on Corbin’s face.
Will said nothing.
He just stood there, frozen in place, trying to hold onto his emotions. Being Corbin’s person wasn’t always easy—like now.
He understood that the man was struggling, but Will had not done anything to be the focus of his anger.
“Come on. Just tell me,” Gene said, already suspecting what it was. This had the fingerprints of a twisted-up crotch goblin all over it.
Will went there.
“He’s angry with me because I had kinky sex in my past with other lovers. For some reason, he’s decided to compare himself to the ghosts from my past, and punish me for it.”
And that said it all.
Oh.
Hell.
No.
Will was a freaking saint.
He defended Corbin, protected him, and was sacrificing a whole hell of a lot to be with him. There was no way he deserved to be the whipping boy to Corbin’s anger.
So, it was time.
That talk was happening now, and it wasn’t going to be a happy or pleasant one. They happened to love Will, and Corbin had made him part of their family.
So he deserved the same protection when someone was crossing the line.
Someone, Corbin Price, needed a ‘come to Jesus talk’, and it was Gene who would be handing that one out.
He glanced over at his man.
“EJ, take Will and go for a walk. I need to have a talk with our young friend, here.”
Corbin opened his mouth to say something, but this time, Gene silenced him.
“Don’t,” he warned. “You are NOT in control of your emotions, and you’re making a mess with anger. This is for your own goddamn good.”
The tone said it all.
Gene was not thrilled with Corbin’s behavior, and if they knew anything about Gene, it was that he didn’t let someone pile onto a person who didn’t deserve it.
He fought for the underdog, and now, it was Will—not his lover.
Proving he had a little common sense left, he shut his mouth, and didn’t add to it.
Good for Corbin.
Hearing the tone, Ethan put his arm through Will’s, and steered him away from them.
It was for the best.
“Let’s go down the beach a little,” Ethan said, putting space between them. The man had tears in his eyes, and that wasn’t fair to Will.
He deserved to be protected, too.
When they were out of earshot, Gene lowered his voice.
“What the fuck?” he asked. “Are you purposely being a douchebag to hurt that man?”
Corbin opened his mouth.
So Gene warned him.
“If you offer up a pathetic excuse why you think it’s okay to run him through the wringer, I’m slapping the stupid out of you. I’m at my limit for nonsense, Corbin, and that’s why we took a vacation so I could come back less bitch-slappy!”
Corbin sputtered, and said the stupidest thing he possibly could.
“I don’t think our sex life is your concern!”
He stood his ground.
“It is when you’re about to destroy the best thing in your life for being an idiot, and I’m going to have to do damage control and fix the mess!
You’re asking a lot of him, and he’s giving you all he has,” Gene said.
“You cut off the man’s sex life, and now, you’re going to crucify him because he had one before you? ”
Corbin was to the point.
“I tried to let him go. I told him this wouldn’t be easy, and that he should move on. Everyone worked against me and talked him into staying.”
Gene stared at him and took a deep breath. He was trying to be patient.
Oh, but Corbin would go from good to turmoil with the flip of a coin.
Lordy, but this man could test the patience of a saint. That was for damn sure.
It was a damn good thing he had been in a good mood before this Corbin meltdown.
Never let it be said that Corbin didn’t need to be doing therapy. He absolutely did.
Now, he was questioning if he should be given his gun back and allowed to help him and Ethan when they got back to Philly.
Because this was pure, raw anger, and it was pointed at the wrong person.
“So, now, we’re the bad guys for helping you keep your relationship intact? Do you hear what you’re saying? You’re now pissed at us over sex. Corbin. Man. Come on!”
He was bright red.
“It’s not easy for me. Do you think I want to feel like a eunuch?” he asked. “My whole sexual being has been ripped out of me. Yeah, I want to know what my boyfriend was like in bed, when he was with others, because he never was like that with me. I deserve to know what’s wrong with ME!”
And that was the wrong answer.
Because he needed to cool off, Gene shoved him backward into the surf, and the man fell into the waves. He came up sputtering.
“What the fuck?” he asked.
Gene pulled him up with very little effort, and shook him a little for good measure.
“Just now, you needed a hard reset, Corbin. Now, for the rest. The man loves you, and he’s willingly not having sex at all, even if it means for the rest of his life. He’s a saint. The man has gone four weeks without you even touching him.”
Did Gene forget what he’d been through?
“I was assaulted. I can’t.”
Gene stopped that.
Then.
And.
There.
“YOU WERE ASSAULTED, but he wasn’t. You can’t give your lover some attention?
You don’t have to let him fuck you, Corbin, but come on.
A hand job. Heavy petting. He’s a bottom, and you’re not.
He has needs, too, and the bottom will put their lives on hold for their person.
You’re playing nun and forcing him to also. ”
Corbin blinked.
That hit him hard.
It really did.
Oh, and Gene wasn’t done.
“You don’t have to have sex to get your partner off.
When I’m in bottom mode, or when I was prior to EJ, I didn’t get off a lot.
No one touched me. I was there to offer pleasure to my top.
Maybe your bottom needs some pleasure. You can fool around and not have sex.
If you can’t bear to be touched, tell him that, and you touch him.
It’s that simple. You might be recovering, and sex isn’t for you, but he’s not recovering, and sometimes, sex is badly needed to have peace. ”
He said nothing.
So, Gene pushed on.
“Are you afraid to touch his dick?” he asked. “Does that freak you out?”
It took him a second, and Gene was really trying to be patient with the man because he was a victim, but he couldn’t let Corbin make that his whole identity. Then, he’d never get out of it alive.
“No.”
He continued.
“Are you afraid to make out with him and use a toy on him?”
He shook his head.
None of those things, as he mentioned them, freaked him out, and none of those things made him feel panicky. It would just not get him hard.
That part of him had disappeared.
Giving Will pleasure didn’t scare him at all. The thought of it just didn’t turn him on.
“Then why aren’t you taking care of his needs?
Yeah, you were raped, Corbin, and that takes time, but he wasn’t.
If he’s giving you clues about sexual pleasure, maybe take them.
Use what he’s sharing, and take that into consideration.
A relationship has to be fostered. You can’t ignore a person’s needs because yours have changed. If you do that, it’ll slowly die.”
He never thought about getting Will off, but still not having to have sex.
It didn’t horrify him.
The idea of it wasn’t horrible.
“You can make your man cum, and just watch. If you can’t bear to give him head, jerk the man off.
Use a toy in his ass. You can get Will off, so he’s not forced to jerk off in a shower somewhere.
You need to foster a relationship through the good and the bad times, period, despite him saying he’d give up sex.
No man wants to do that, Corbin. He’s saying that for you out of love. ”
He heard what he was saying.
Only, Gene wasn’t done.
“I’m going to hold your hand while I tell you this. You need to hear it. Know it comes from a good place.”
Well, that couldn’t be good.