“I’m sorry I hurt you to protect me. I’m not proud of that. I want to make it up to you.”
Alex stopped him.
“There’s nothing to make up to me. We don’t have anything as a foundation. It was a one-night stand, and it isn’t important.”
That stung, but Corbin knew he deserved it. Instead of giving up, he kept trying. There was something there, and he had to hope he could fix this.
His gut told him that it meant something, and Corbin wasn’t a quitter. When he’d first met Will, he’d felt this way, so now, he was digging in.
“I want to create a foundation for us, Alex. Tell me about your past. I can tell you have scars too, but Elizabeth wouldn’t tell me. She said I need to get that from you. Help me bridge the connection to share.”
He stood there, and then, he retreated back to the couch to regroup.
“I don’t think I can. It’s horrible.”
Corbin came around the table and sat down not far from him.
“Yesterday, you wanted something with me. Is that gone now?” he asked.
Alex shrugged.
Honestly, he wasn’t sure. He was incredibly attracted to the man, and he genuinely felt safe around him. More than that, he went by his gut, and what he felt for Corbin in a mere few weeks eclipsed what he’d felt about Noah over years.
“Then, trust me to be here for you. I made a mistake by hurting you, and making you feel like you didn’t matter, but you do. I think I deserve to know what I’m up against here.”
Alex stared into his eyes.
“What happened to your back?” he asked, testing to see if the man would be honest with him, or not.
At his question, Corbin wasn’t shocked. More times than not, he forgot about his physical scars, until someone he got naked with pointed them out.
Like now.
So, he kept trying to build a foundation, so he had a leg to stand on. Will said he was the one, and he believed it. Now, he had to find a way to get Alex to open up to him.
So, he shared.
Standing up, Corbin pulled off his shirt, and turned around so Alex could see them better. Then, he turned around, and undid his pants.
“Uh…”
He stopped him.
“There’s a method to my madness. Everyone asks about the back, and they follow up with my thigh.”
When he dropped his pants, he lifted the boxer on his leg, and showed him.
Alex stared at it.
It was a skull. He’d felt it under his hand last night when he was giving him a blowjob, but he had been a tad bit drunk and enjoying the moment to focus on it.
Corbin explained as he pulled his jeans back up to hide the evidence of his past.
“I was on a case. I went undercover when I wasn’t ready, and the bikers in the bar taught me a lesson. They left me for dead after raping me. There were five of them, and they branded me. I was going to be sent off into the sex trade, but they got too rough and went too far. That was what saved me from being killed later by a buyer, and who knew what?”
Alex actually looked ill.
All the decent people did when he shared his past.
