Love At Last [Be My Valentine]

Aden, Toby - Love At Last (Be My Valentine) [Avidbook, Contemporary (M/M, Gay) Romance] Chapter One Cory I stood with my face upturned towards the clear blue sky, my eyes closed as I took in the taste and feel of freedom and the beginning of my new life. Up until this point, I’d been no more than a doormat and a tool to both my filthy rich parents, but no more. I was so done with trying to find scraps of affection from my parents who were completely homophobic up to their eyeballs. I’d realized from a young age that I was very different from other guys. Yes, my family had more money than they knew what to do with it, but that wasn’t what made me different. I’d been shipped off to boarding school as soon as I was old enough to be left alone. My parents never bothered trying to get to know me. They just wanted me out from underfoot as fast as possible, only bringing me around when they had a big profiled event they needed me to show up for to preserve their standing in the eye of society. The only person who had encouraged and loved me unconditionally was my nana. She was the very best even though she had guessed that I was gay. Yes, I said it gay. I’m gay and if my parents ever found out, they’d disown me faster than I could say ‘yes’. I remember when I was fifteen, she’d called me to sit with her and told me simply. “Cory, love is love. It doesn’t matter who you love. Never be afraid to be who you are, and if people don’t like it, then f**k them.” At first, when she’d started, I’d begun panicking but as I listened to her, I realized, she loved me no matter what and thus she had been the first person I came out to and finally said, “Nana, I’m gay.” Her response then had been, “I know. Now quiet and let’s enjoy the night air.” For a long time, I’d stared at nana, awed and secured in the knowledge that she’d always be there for me no matter what. She hadn’t batted a single eyelid and neither had she looked at me as though I was something unnatural. She was so completely different from her son, my father and his wife who made it vocal how unnatural and repulsive they found ‘gay people’. In that moment, after years of listening to my mother berate me for how elfin my face was and how delicate I looked and how unnatural they found my lack of rebelliousness in sneaking out to sleep around with girls, I felt a little bit free and content. It was also in that moment that it finally struck me that my parents would never understand or accept me for who I was. No matter what I did, they’d always found me lacking and I’d done a lot to get their attention on me. Keeping my grades at a four-point-oh, joining the debate team, winning several awards yet nothing pleased them. Nana and I sat out there for a while, just enjoying the cool night’s air, neither speaking as she squeezed my arm in understanding. A year later, she died and it was as though my entire world had dropped right from under me. Grief and anguish had taken hold of me that I’d been unable to control my emotional outburst. When I’d heard the news, I’d stared in disbelief at my parents who sat calmly before me and shaken my head, refusing to believe their words. Nana had been older than dirt but all I could think about was that she would never leave me. The seriousness on my parents face had been what had finally convinced me after I’d tried to reach nana’s phone and been redirected to voicemail. When my body had started to shake, I’d not felt it until it had turned into a full-on violent body shudder. A keen wailing sound had drifted to me as though from far away. The screaming had continued loud and anguished until I finally realized that the sound was coming from me. My father had retorted to shaking me but nothing seemed to register with me until he’d knocked me unconscious and dark oblivion soothed the all-encompassing pain away into nothingness. When I’d finally woken up, the rest of the weeks and months had passed me by in a blur. I’d sat through the will reading, the enormous fortune my grandmother had left solely to me not registering at all and even my father screaming and threatening to contest the will had not bothered me at all. The lawyer saying that the will was uncontestable and would only tie my father up in a long, pointless court battle that would still not change the verdict had also not registered. The only thing that registered, was packing my stuff and moving into my grandmother’s place by the beach which she’d left for me. Months had flown by in quick succession, the only comfort I could take was knowing that being in her home made me feel a little bit closer to her. It hadn’t been until January had been on the horizon that I’d finally been able to pull myself out of the depression I was in and the knowledge that she’d not want me to wallow for this long or let my life pass me by. Which brought me to starting my first semester in the spring and finally deciding to attend college since I missed the fall deadline. Shaking the melancholy feeling and thoughts away from my mind, I focused on the now and the present. I walked into my new school dorm, glancing down occasionally at the piece of paper which held my room number on it. When I got to the right room, I pushed open the door whilst dragging my luggage behind me. The moment I stepped through the door though, the sight which greeted me was far from what I’d been expecting. Golden delicious rows and rows of long naked limbs froze me in my track, my eyes popping wide open as I took in the sexy, masculine behind standing just a few steps in front of me. The sexy hunk of a man was vigorously running a hand towel through damp dirt blond hair and my eyes hungrily took in every inch of the bared naked skin. Starting from the full stable hair hitting the guy’s shoulder to the muscle play on his broad back to the trim narrow hips then the sudden rise of the twin tight globes teasing my senses. Unconsciously, a gasp tore from my lips and the guy immediately turned around to regard me. I bit my lips to prevent myself from moaning aloud as moss green eyes pierced me from between raised dark blond brows and I was given a view of the full frontal of my stunningly gorgeous roommate. The stranger was rocking a delicious six pack with his rippling muscular build and his flexing arm as he kept rubbing the wetness out of his hair. It was almost a shame to see the guy toss the hand towel away but my attention was soon drawn down to the jutting c**k waving hello in my direction. It was my first time seeing another dude’s c**k apart from my own and it was thoroughly impressive in its uncut, magnificent eight inches length and thick width. Licking suddenly patched lips, it took a lot of restraint not to move forward and suck the beautiful c**k down my throat. I was holding on to my control my a thin thread and the feeling of being compelled to move forward and take his d**k in hand, slowly building up. We might be strangers who just met but for the life of me, it ceased to register in my mind that we didn’t know each other. I mean, for f**k’s sake, how could a single person be this beautiful? It was surreal and the entire package was entirely too perfect. Chuckling drew my attention back to my roommate’s face and his voice washed over me like honey. “Like what you see?” A flush spread through my body, crawling up my cheek and blooming into a full on blush. “I-I uh…” I stammered but my eyes had a will of their own for they dropped back down to the c**k still teasing my senses. “I’m up here mate.” An amused voice penetrated through the fog I had fallen into. Yet, only the sight of the guy stepping into black boxer briefs drew my attention back to his face and I blushed harder for being caught staring rudely, again. “I-I-I uh… that is…shit,” I finished on a half-moan, unable to control the frenzied racing of my heart or the sweat dripping down my back. “You’re f*****g beautiful.” When the words that had erupted from my lips finally made sense in my mind, I dissolved into a flustered mess, unable to believe I’d just blurted that out there. I had no idea if the guy was straight or if he was going to take offense to my blatant staring and words and come at me. I nervously bit my lips, waiting for his reaction and hoping he wasn’t a homophobic jerk despite my being rude since meeting him. I felt as though I would explode any minute from now if he didn’t break the silence between us and as though he was able to read my mind and sense my dilemma, he asked. “Aren’t you coming in?” “What?” With the way my brain was already scrambled, it was any wonder that I was able to form a single coherent word even if I was confused as to what he’d asked me. He nodded at my luggage which I’d forgotten I was holding behind me. “You’re my roommate, aren’t you? Or do you just walk into random rooms and stare at other people?” He asked, not addressing my previous compliment. I nodded frantically then shook a ‘no’ then nodded again and stopped. I glanced behind me and shuffled nervously, unsure as to what to do. Taking pity on me, he began pulling on faded jeans then smiled crookedly at me. “I don’t bite. At least unless you ask,” He said with a wink. Cautiously, I walked further into the room and shut the door behind me, moving towards the other unoccupied bed in the room and sitting down. “I uh, didn’t mean to stare or make you uncomfortable.” “You didn’t.” He pulled a black shirt on, and even though I was somewhat sad to see him completely covered, I tried to look anywhere but at him as he regarded me. “I’m Josh Avery by the way,” he offered. “Cory Newman.” Even though he was eying me curiously without much blinking, I was unable to break away from his intense gaze. Unable to help myself, I began fidgeting under his stare. “It’s okay if you’re gay.” He said it so matter-of-factly, shrugging as though it didn’t bother him one way or the other and I sat there dumbfounded, unable to either deny or admit it. I soon found out the reason why he was so nonchalant about it though when he opened his mouth and said. “I’m gay too. I don’t advertise it but I don’t deny it either.” Josh flopped back onto his bed, staring at me as though waiting for me to respond. Only I was taken aback by his admission and the only thoughts swimming in my head were how he was the first guy I knew who was just like me and completely comfortable with who he was. “I’m gay.” The words left my mouth for the second time in ever my life. The first time had been in front of someone who had loved me unconditionally and whom I had known and trusted. However, this time, it was to a total and complete stranger whom I’d just met not five minutes ago. The thing was that somehow, I felt safe saying those words out loud to him. It also helped that he’d said it first and was no different from me. It was somehow freeing because I knew that he would not easily judge me for who I was. My parents had been the type to believe that being gay was a life choice, something that ‘those people’ decided to be but what they didn’t understand was that it wasn’t a choice just like being straight wasn’t a choice. It was just who we were. Who I am. And it’s the one thing I can never tell them or let them find out about if I still wanted to keep them in my life. “Cool. So where are you from?” “LA born and bred,” I said, releasing the breath I hadn’t noticed I had been holding. “You?” “Family’s originally from Mexico but I’m Chicago born. My family migrated here a long time ago and we’ve been here ever since.” He said with a grin. “Wow. You speak Spanish then?” “Perfectamente. ¿Habla español?” He responded with a grin. “Wow! And I’m lost. I’m not really a language kind of guy. Can’t learn it no matter what.” I said with a shrug. “Got any siblings?” I asked, getting up to put my things away. “A whole house full. I have two older brother, two younger ones and two sisters.” I turned to regard him in shock, thinking he was joking with me but he looked dead serious. “Seven kids? Your parents had seven kids?” “Crazy huh.” He grinned at me, leaning back on his elbow to stare as I arranged my side of the room. “They drive me crazy too, not to mention all the cousins. Lots and lots of them. Trust me, it’s a very big family.” “Wow. I’ve never had a large family. I’m an only child,” once done arranging my stuff, I settled back onto the bed, regarding him with my chin on my palm as though enthralled by what he had to say, which I was. “What’s it like growing up in a big family?” “Exhausting, loud, crazy, total chaos, take your pick. But I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world either.” He said with a smile on those gorgeous lips of his.