Page 279 of Sticks and Stones
Greyson said nothing.
At first.
“Then, it sounds as if you’ve made up your mind. Corbin is still in there,” he said, gently touching his head. “You don’t need to worry about that. He survived this. There’s no doubt inmy mind that he’ll be okay, with or without Will. My only advice is take time to heal, and definitely get into therapy.”
And Corbin hoped he was right.
“I love him. Do you think that saying is right? You know…if you love something, let it go, and if it comes back to you, it’s meant to be?”
Greyson wasn’t sure.
“Do you believe it?” he asked him. “That’s what matters most—not what I believe. Your relationship is only something you can make that decision about, Corbin.”
He wasn’t sure.
Only, Corbin knew one thing.
He couldn’t be the strongest one in a relationship anymore. What he needed was someone to hold him together for a change.
Corbin’s world had flipped upside down.
And he was so confused.
* * * Blackhawk & Cantrell * * *
Operation Cleanup
Renegade’s Home
Ten P.M.
To get that show on the road, they texted Truck, and while they were waiting for him, they swept the house to see if anything was there.
They split up, one man taking the upstairs, and the other the downstairs. It was the quickest way to get it done in time.
Upstairs in Renegade’s bedroom, Ethan found so much porn that he could have opened his own store to rent it out. It ranged from snuff films, to things that the man had recorded himself that Ethan was absolutely never going to view.
He had a feeling it would make him sick.
Call it a hunch.
On the man’s dresser, he found a secondary phone, and it looked familiar.
Picking it up, he saw the screen saver come on, and he had confirmation.
This was Corbin’s phone.
When he opened it, to check the photos to make sure, inside, there was a picture of him, Gene, and Corbin that had been taken on Christmas day.
They had just finished playing Clue, and Gene had beaten them all for the tenth time. It had been a fun day, filled with laughter and love.
Scrolling through the rest of the phone, he found the text messages, and they were all read by someone else, and he knew that because they were definitely after Corbin had been left in the dumpster.
They were from Will.
Reading over them, Ethan felt the pain the man had been feeling.
‘Corby, I’m scared. You’re not answering your phone, but someone else is. Where are you? Are you hurt? I’ll come for you. I’ll find you. Please answer me, Corbin, I can’t bear the idea that you’re somewhere without me. I love you.’
