Wild Card Ch. 02

However, less than half-an-hour after lying back down to go to sleep, he had jumped up and ran off to the bathroom. The sounds of him retching made it difficult for me to get back to sleep, even after he'd cleaned up and come back to bed. Luckily, Cory had fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, otherwise I wouldn't have attempted this call. Although, I still called from the living room, and kept my headset on, so I wouldn't wake him up.

"At least I know what to tell his brothers," Keenan said. "Cory's parents still refuse to tell them what happened. His mom kept telling them 'not while we have company' and begged them to act like nothing's wrong until the holiday was over."

"And they just went along with it?" Preston demanded.

"That's bullshit," I said. "How the fuck can you just fake that kind of shit?"

"I agree." Keenan shrugged. "But, I don't know what else to tell you. That's just how they are."

"Makes sense then that Cory wouldn't want you to tell them what happened," I said.

"What?" Keenan sputtered.

"Yeah," I said. "I told him that I texted you guys so you'd know he was safe, and he asked me to tell you not to say anything to his brothers."

Preston rolled his eyes. "Still running. I swear, I need to come back so I can kick his butt back in line."

"No," I said. "I got it covered. Besides, he feels guilty enough about me being here."

"I don't like it," Preston said.

"Neither do I," Keenan said. "I don't like keeping this kind of thing from his brothers; they deserve to know."

"But, forcing Cory to confront this doesn't feel right, either," I replied. "Maybe he just needs to run for a little while."

"I don't know about that," Preston said.

"If he's not ready," I said, "then he's not ready."

"God, I feel like fucking shit, now," Keenan said. "Been pushing him to tell his family for years, and kept getting on his ass because he kept putting it off."

"I encouraged him, too," Preston said.

"Only because I did," he argued, his eyes becoming watery. "I should've known better. If I hadn't—"

"It would've happened eventually," I said. My throat tightened. "But, he's got us, so he'll be all right."

"Yeah," Preston nodded. He wiped his eyes, the only one of us not in the least bit shy about letting other guys see him cry. "Cory has us three. And everyone else besides."

I nodded in agreement, but I was pretty sure I wasn't the only one who worried about that being enough.

~*~*~*~