That hit hard.
It really did.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “It just…caught me off guard. Am I neglecting him?” he asked, hearing what Gene had said, and now, he was absorbing it.
He nodded.
“Corbin, he makes your food, and he takes you to doctor’s appointments. When you were first hurt, he got your appointments to get your teeth fixed, and he stood by your side. He was with you when the arm cast came off before you showed up here. He’s giving and silently not complaining, but you’re going to bust his balls over who he had sex with before you? That’s a foul. Stop being a bitch. You’re crucifying him for a past sex life while simultaneously taking away his future sex life.”
Ouch.
That was hurtful and eye-opening all at the same time.
Gene said one last thing.
“Don’t be shocked when he reaches his breaking point because he keeps giving and you keep taking. No one wants you to suffer because of what you’ve been through, but you don’t have to aim that anger at everyone because you don’t know how to work through it. He still needs to know you are attracted to him. When Ethan was assaulted, Corbin, I still had to be thereand deal with it. Yes, it's the opposite of what happened to you, but I still had to be ready to go when he was ready to go.”
He blinked and began processing everything.
His heart suddenly hurt.
“You will lose him if you stop fostering the relationship. He’s not your mommy. Stop making him be the one who suffers because you can’t give a little to find a way to offer pleasure to the man. At least try, and if it takes you back there, then stop—but you’re not even trying, and he sees that. Mark my word, someone will come along who will give him what you can’t—or won’t. If you won’t, someone else absolutely will.”
With that, Gene turned, and jogged away. He caught up with Ethan and Will, done with Corbin. Yeah, he left him standing alone in the surf.
The good thing about the man was he would put two and two together to figure it out.
Eventually.
As for Will and Ethan, they were talking, and Will was trying to figure out this mess.
“I don’t know what more I can do,” Will said. “I didn’t do anything. I don’t touch him when he’s scared, and I am there when he wakes up frightened. I don’t know what I did wrong except have a past. We all have pasts, and I wouldn’t be angry at his.”
Ethan was calming him down.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. He’s just testy. It’s our fault. We were just enjoying our vacation. I’ll put Tala away and just be Ethan. Then, he won’t get angry. We warned him, but I don’t think both can happen in the same space. We’ll stop for him.”
Oh, fuck no.
In fact, who the fuck was WE?
Gene was going to kill the man if Ethan shut down because he didn’t want to hurt CorbinON THEIR VACATION—one that Corbin inserted himself on.
If Tala went bye-bye, Corbin was finding himself buried neck deep in the sand on a remote island filled with cannibals.
Trust.
And.
Believe.
“It’s okay, Will. I don’t mind. Right, Gene?” he asked, glancing over at him.
Gene sighed.
And there it was.
Well, there went his sexy submissive, sinking back down, and protective Ethan was back.
