Standing outside the man’s new room, it was now or never. If he said nothing, he knew it was all over. Deep down, he found that little hope, and reached for it.
His heart hurt too much.
He’d lost Noah, too.
All he knew was the man had a dream about his dead husband, and he was running.
He could save him if he let him. In the process, it might just save Alex, too.
Now, he had to try.
Going up to the door, he began banging on it. No one answered, but he knew he was in there. His whole being told him that he was hiding.
As people looked out of their doors, he held up his badge.
“FBI. Go back into your rooms.”
Oh, and they did.
Before he could really violate the man’s privacy by using the key, the door also opened, and Corbin looked horrified at what was going on.
Well, he should be.
He was horrified, too.
The man didn’t even give him a chance.
That was shitty.
Even if their time together was short, this had been cruel and heartless. It wasn’t lost on him that now, he knew how the people he fucked and ran felt. Maybe it was like his grandfather told him.
He deserved everything that happened to him, and that no one would find any value in him.
“Knock it off!” Corbin hissed, as Alex pushed past him, and stood his ground in front of him.
He wasn’t backing down.
“I’m not going away,” he said. “Not until you give me a good reason why you’re saying goodbye to me. We had something good!”
Oh, Jesus.
This was a flashback.
Truthfully, it was one that he didn’t need.
Will had said something similar when he’d found him after his assault. Corbin had shoved him out of his life, and Will didn’t tolerate it.
That had been one of the things he loved most about Will. He wasn’t a coward like him, and he kept fighting no matter what. He hung in there, even when his feet had been kicked out from under him.
“Can you imagine how shitty it feels to have Elizabeth pull you aside and tell you that your partner wants out? Tell me what I did,” he said, angrily. “Face me, and say it to me!”
Corbin knew that Alex hadn’t done anything wrong. In fact, his only sin was reminding him of his husband.
The scent.
The fire.
The passion.
