Chapter Twenty-Six

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Spencer

“Holy shit, Corb. I forgot how sexy you look in a tux. What if I keep having to sneak you away throughout the night just so I can have my hands on you?”

We were standing in front of the full-length mirror in my room, in matching black, shawl-collar tuxes with bow ties. Corbin’s dark hair was a little longer than mine on top, his sides shorter.

I playfully dusted my shoulder off. “Damn, I look good too.”

Corb chuckled. “So. Fucking. Good. I was going to say the same thing. I’ll be the one pulling you into bathroom stalls and closets so I can get my hands on you.”

“Gonna be quite the busy night for us.” I winked.

“Don’t move,” Corbin said, then walked over to grab his cell off the dresser. He came back to stand beside me, opened his phone app, and said, “Smile.” We both did so, and he took a mirror photo of us. The next one we posed in, before he added, “And now one back to back, like secret service agents.”

I cocked a brow. “That’s how secret service agents stand? Where did you get this info?”

“I’ve had a dream about it, but then, they were naked…maybe they were FBI.”

I laughed. “How did you know they were either considering it was a dream?”

“Because it was my dream. Duh. Shut up and pose with me.”

“Your wish is my command,” I teased.

“Fucking swoon.”

We did Corbin’s silly photo idea, which really was fun. That was one of my favorite things about Corbin. How fun he was.

For the last one he said, “Now kiss me.”

It wasn’t as if I was going to argue, so I did as he said, and he snapped one more photo. I watched as he pulled up his social media. He posted less than he used to, which I considered progress. Nothing changed overnight, but Corbin was doing better.

But despite talking about us on The Vers, he hadn’t posted photos of us together, so this would be a first. “You don’t have to,” I told him.

His forehead wrinkled cutely. “Why wouldn’t I want to?”

I shrugged. “Like I told you before, I’m happy with who I am and how I look. I know you love me, and you said my weight doesn’t bother you and you’re attracted to me, but people fucking suck. And even if you’re okay with it, I still wasn’t sure if it might be something that would bother you when people saw us together.”

His whole expression changed. Gone was the smile from a moment before, and small wrinkles formed around his eyes, which were dimmer. “Do you think I’m ashamed of you?”

“No.” I shook my head, then amended, “Not consciously. Sometimes I wonder, though, but not because of what’s in here.” I touched his chest. “Because of what’s out there and what it does to what’s in here.” This time, I kept one hand on his heart and the other on his temple. “I don’t want to be the reason something hurts you or makes you feel bad.”

“Jesus, Spence. You’re not. You’re so fucking not. I’m proud to be your man. You make me feel better than I ever knew was possible.”

Oh. Well, shit. That was… “Christ, I love you. So fucking much.” I held his face in my hands and pressed my lips to his. Corbin let me sweep my tongue inside, every little piece of my plan for tonight clicking into place. This was right. We were right. There was nothing in this fucking world I wanted more than to make this man happy. “You’re very good,” I teased, nuzzling his throat. “You can get anything you want out of me.”

“That’s why they call me The Charmer.” Corbin winked, and then I watched as he posted the photos to social media, with the caption: My CB, then heart-eye emojis. Then he edited his bio to Taken by this sexy man, and tagged me. I pulled my phone out, adjusted my bio to My baby, and tagged him too.

“We’re so fucking cute,” he said, looking at our photos. “Real happiness feels good.”

“It’s a good look on you.” I took his hand. “Now come on. The party doesn’t really start until we arrive.”

“Obviously,” Corbin replied.

*     *     *

The gala wasalways held at the Monica, which was on the ocean, not far from the beach where I’d met Corbin for the first time.

We took a car service to keep up appearances, but what Corbin didn’t know was that Morgan would be dropping my car off later for a surprise I had in store for Corbin.

The driver opened the door when we pulled up in front of the Monica. I got out first and held my hand out for Corbin. He smiled, then took it, the two of us not letting go as we headed inside. I wanted him to feel so fucking loved and happy tonight. While things were going okay, he’d been down since the night we’d met with his family. I couldn’t imagine how he felt, and I, along with the Beach Bums, had been doing our best to make sure he felt how loved he was.

The ballroom was gorgeous, decorated in gold and white. Music drifted from the grand piano, where a woman sat playing.

People approached me almost immediately, thanking me for the night, asking me questions or just saying hello. To each and every one of them, I introduced Corbin as my boyfriend, and I swear, he smiled every time the word left my lips.

“Hey, kid,” we eventually heard from behind us, and turned to see Marcus, Kai, Parker, Elliott, Declan, and Sebastian.

“Hey, Daddy.” Corbin winked before Marcus hugged him, kissing Corbin’s temple. “Hey, Stepdaddy.” He gave the same treatment to Kai, making everyone chuckle.

“This is incredible,” Sebastian told me. “I read up a lot about this event. You do really amazing work for the queer community, Spencer.”

“Thanks. It’s what I’ve always wanted, but it’s still never enough. We’ve come so far, but there’s still so far to go.”

Especially when you considered people like Gael, who were still teased, and Corbin’s family, who still held on to their hurtful beliefs. To pretend things were perfect did a disservice to queer people.

“The money raised goes to the center?” Declan asked.

“Most of it, yes. But we’re also involved in a lot of programs, like trying to make sure PrEP is more accessible to everyone, scholarship programs for queer youth, job training, mental health access.”

“My man is fucking awesome,” Corbin said.

“No, you are.”

We laughed and kissed.

“Gross,” Marcus joked.

We were gross and I loved it.

Elliott said, “My parents are out of town, otherwise they would have been here. Mom asked me to remind you to contact her if you need anything, but I want to offer myself too.”

“Me too,” Sebastian added. “This is the kind of stuff that matters, what I’d like my legacy to be.”

Everyone else agreed as well, and I knew it wasn’t just lip service with these guys.

“Thank you. Really, that means a lot to me.”

One of the waiters came by and offered us champagne, which we took. We talked for a while, and occasionally I’d have to excuse myself to go help with something. When I got back to the group, Corbin had a plate and was eating, which made me smile.

When he saw me, his mouth automatically pulled into a grin like just being in the same space as me made him happy. How the fuck I’d ever been lucky enough to earn this man’s love, I didn’t know, but I wasn’t ever going to fuck it up.

“Can we do that sneak-away thing now?” Corbin said when I approached. “Because you’re really hot and I want my hands on you.”

“Be good,” Marcus told him.

“You have sex with Kai in Declan’s office at Driftwood all the time.” Corbin pouted.

“Shh!” Sebastian looked around, clearly nervous people heard him.

“Can you not remind me?” Declan asked.

“If we find a closet, who will watch the door for us?” Corb asked.

“I’m game.” Elliott raised his hand.

Parker swatted his arm. “Don’t encourage him.”

“You mean to tell me that if I said I wanted to see my pretty boy on his knees for me, you wouldn’t find a closet with me?” Elliott cocked a brow.

“Point taken.” Parker turned to Corb. “You watch the door for us, and we’ll watch it for you.”

“What am I going to do with you guys?” Marcus asked.

“Wait. I want to have kinky gala sex too, baby.” Kai grinned.

“I mean, it’s not a bad idea.” Marcus placed a possessive hand on Kai’s neck.

“Um, so…we can’t be left out, Dec.” Sebastian pumped his brows.

“Lord help me,” Dec answered, and everyone laughed. “We’re idiots.”

“The best thing to be.” Corb smiled, took the last bite of his food, handed Marcus his plate, and said, “Let’s go.”

“Are you really going to hook up?” Parker asked.

I took Corbin’s hand and let him lead me. Each step we took was faster than the one before it as we slipped from the room and down the hallway. There were people everywhere, and no place we could discreetly disappear.

“Your gala is a cock block,” Corbin teased, and we laughed and sped up, rushing like we would die if we didn’t get our hands on each other. I was so fucking hungry for him and loved that he felt the same about me.

When we turned into another room, we saw French doors leading onto a balcony. Corbin’s gaze caught mine, and we both rushed toward it.

The door was ajar, and just before my hand touched the knob, a voice drifted from outside.

“Did you see Corbin Erickson’s dating Spencer from the center? I follow Corbin online and listen to The Vers. I have a friend who hooked up with him. He said he’s cocky and superficial, so I don’t know what the fuck is going on now.”

“Yeah, all I know is he needs to whip his boyfriend into shape.”

“More like he’ll end up putting on weight himself. That always happens when people get together.”

They laughed as anger scorched my insides—not for me, but for Corbin. Fuck them. Why did people care so fucking much about what others did or how they looked? Did no one have anything better to do than put down others?

Fear wrestled with my fury. There was nothing I wanted more than to shut these guys up, to tell them where they could stick their opinions, but my first priority was Corbin and getting him out of here so he didn’t have to hear this, so we didn’t risk him spiraling.

I tried to pull him away, but he tugged his arm out of my hold and opened the door. The two men were smoking, and looked at us with wide, panicked eyes.

“It’s sad, ya know,” Corb said, “that you don’t have anything better to do with your time than to put down others, to hurt others.”

“We didn’t mean—shit,” one of them said.

“You did mean it, though…or you just don’t care. You build yourself up by putting others down. I’ve spent my life dealing with people like you, hating myself and trying to change myself so I could be your idea of beauty, and I don’t…I don’t care about that anymore. Spencer is perfect to me, and I know I’m perfect to him too. That’s what I choose to focus on. That’s what’s important. People like you…you’re just sad. I have too much love in my life to care what you think.”

He turned to me and smiled. My eyes stung with unshed tears. I’d never been so fucking proud of anyone in my life.

I’d never loved anyone more either.

Corbin held his hand out to me. He was so beautiful, he stole my breath. “Let’s go dance, CB.”

“That I can do.” Our fingers laced together, and we left the two men there, mouths agape. They didn’t matter.

The second we were out of the room, Corbin’s face was in my hands, my lips smashing against his. We kissed slowly and sweetly, foreheads pressed together. “Are you okay?”

He nodded. “I can’t pretend there wasn’t a second where I flashed back to when I was a kid, to the things I heard. There was a second where I almost thought they were right, but then it just…went away. I feel too good to let them drag me down.”

It might not always be that easy for him, but tonight it was, and that was all we could ask for.

“I love you, Corb.”

“I love you too.”

We made our way back to the ballroom. The piano music still drifted through the room as our arms automatically encircled each other. Corbin nuzzled his body so close to mine that it felt like he was trying to crawl inside me. “Your arms are my favorite place to be.”

“Jesus,” I whispered, running my hands up and down his back.

“Earlier, when I looked in the mirror at us together, I liked what I saw. I saw myself for who I am, not what other people might see, and not that little boy I used to be.”

I opened my mouth to respond, to tell him I was proud of him, but there had been nothing wrong with that boy either. Before I could, Corbin spoke again.

“Imani and I have been working on my bridging the gap between young Corbin and who I am now and realizing that little boy was perfect how he was too. He was a good kid.”

“He was.” My heart thumped against my chest, and damned if I didn’t hope he felt it against his own.

“I wish I hadn’t been so hard on him.”

“You can’t change the past. What matters is that you’re not so hard on yourself now…because that little boy is you and he’s still inside you, Corb.”

We danced close through three songs, until there was a tap on my shoulder, and I stopped to see Marcus there.

“Can I cut in?”

I smiled at him. “Yeah, yeah you can. I’m going to deal with a few things, and then we’ll bail early.”

“Okay,” Corbin replied.

I kissed his cheek, then left him in the best hands he could be in, other than mine.