CHAPTER 15

I'm honestly at a loss for words, I've met guys that Korinna has been involved with but I've never had a run in with one of her exes until now. And he's an ex that still has some feelings for her. Kori starts to move over to me but I hold her hand up which freezes her in place and when I look up I can see the tears starting to work their way down her face. I watch her sit on her bed before I get up and step out of the room, once I close the door behind me I walk myself to the bathroom and take a moment to compose myself. Her ex, she wants me to be friendly with her ex. It's not jealousy because I trust Kori but I can't seem to shake the feeling that someone should have asked me to sit down and listen, I know I don't have the best track record with sit down reveals but it's better than 'Hey Guy, I used to fuck him now we're friends and I want you two to be friends as well, okay'. I rub some cold water on my face and dry off before heading back into Kori's room. I get back inside and see that she's not having a good moment.

Apparently in my absence Kori decided to strip down to her underwear and laid down to cry in her bed under the covers. My presence has a minor reaction in the respect that she starts crying harder. I get myself stripped down to my underwear and crawl into bed with her, once in bed Kori rolls over and grips me like I'm going to run away at the first available moment. I let her cry and try to interpret the rambling that comes out of her mouth as she tries to explain. Mostly I seem to catch a lot of 'I thought things would be fine for him to be around because we're good together' and 'I don't want this to be the end of us'. I finally get her to stop crying and get her attention so we can talk.

"You need to give me a heads up honey. I don't like surprises much and I hate secrets," I tell Kori calmly.

"But you got so quiet when you figured out that he was one of my exes that you left the room," Kori says, still tense from crying.

"Honey even I need to collect myself for things like this," I tell her, rubbing her back.

"So is Ben gonna make it past tomorrow, I don't want to think I just went through a bad afternoon just to have him get bumped out because you don't like him," Kori asks meekly.

"That's up to him, you can tell him that he has until after school but he needs to really prove this to me. Especially after he broke up with you," I say, getting a moment of silence from Kori that answers one question," Oh no, you broke it off with him. Actually that makes me feel a little better."

"That's mean Guy," Kori says pouting a little," Yes I broke up with him for the same reason I didn't really look at you till Heather screwed it up. He was nice but I don't need nice all the time, sometimes I need a guy to crawl in bed and make me feel better and sometimes I need him to put me up against a door and fuck me like a bad girl."

We continue to cuddle and relax in Kori's bed until a knock on the door shakes us out of our warm moment; it's Mary at the door wondering if we're doing okay and if I'm staying for dinner. I let Kori down gently by telling her that I can't, I really need some more time to talk with Dad and hopefully get him convinced that if there is something to work out we can do it ourselves. I get dressed and Kori walks me out where I get a warm kiss before heading home.

It's still an hour out from dinner time and the family is just idling by when I get in the door with Mom and Liz in the kitchen and Katy sitting in the living room with Dad. Dad nods to me and Katy pokes me as I walk past heading to my room to put my stuff away. I walk back out to the living room and head straight into the gym, I sit down and before I can even figure out what I'm going to do or say Dad comes in behind me and closes the door. I watch him sit down on the only chair in the gym while I'm on the floor.

"So what are we doing here so close to dinner," Dad asks, gauging the situation.

"Well either we're settling what the hell's been going on for the past two months or I'm running away to Texas," I tell him, letting the sarcasm out for the last part of the sentence.

"Okay well considering I know how much money you have access to I'm pretty sure the trip down will stop before the state line," Dad jokes before getting a little more serious," Honestly I'm beginning to wonder why you're having such a problem trusting me?"

"Well after you kept the visitation hearing from me then expect me to just smile with the fact that you could have softened the blow of having to leave everything behind for six weeks but decided to just let the bomb drop right at the last minute yeah I'd say I'm having trouble trusting some of your decisions when they involve me," I explain to Dad.

"Alright, well understand that I was trying to keep that from you because I thought nothing would come of it," Dad explains starting in," I probably should have said something after the first month but I didn't, that was me trying to protect my son."

"Not telling me doesn't protect me, it leaves me with no defense," I reply.

"No you're right with that, but you don't ever walk into a fight thinking you're going to lose," Dad tells me using the rules he's taught me as an analogy.

"So can I just not be roped into some ridiculous therapy crap and talk about something a little more current," I say changing the subject," Kori and the girls are wanting more people to be involved with the little group I have been forming and Kori wants me to give her ex a chance."

"And you feel a little jealous and want to punch him in the face," Dad replies, taking an interest.

"I tried that, he can fight but didn't want to push me," I tell Dad explaining the confrontation," It was only later that I figured out that Kori and him had been together, she said it was in the past but why bring him around?"

"Well when it comes to exes not everyone has a scorched earth policy like you do Guy. If she wants him around it's probably because she can trust him and believes you can too. What you need to figure out is can you trust her to put a good person in front of you and not try to screw around on you," Dad says, giving me his overview of my problem.

I sit quietly and think about what Dad said as he gets up to leave me to my thoughts. Kori broke it off with him but I'm still not sure why she brought him around other than the fact that it actually took me a bit to get him down so I could punch his head into the ground. I can give him a shot but he deals with some serious shame before I can consider him an outcast. Another knock on the door and Mom lets me know that dinner is ready.

Dinner and the rest of the night go quietly for me since I stick to my room and sit around thinking about what's been tossing my life around for the past few days. Heather isn't only going bat shit crazy but she's recruiting a small cult of followers. I've got the girls listening to me and leading everything in a way that makes sense to me. Finally I have Dad giving me some breathing room, why is it a fight is usually the best way to get the tension out so that I can get shit worked out? These thoughts are what put me to sleep.