Page 11 of If the World Was Ending

Yeah, because if Atlas was engaged—to a woman—Colby did want to see it with his own eyes. Even though the idea of going anywhere near his family made his chest too tight to take a deep breath. In the end, he probably wouldn’t go because he wouldn’t be able to get there.

“I’ll count you as a yes, then,” Bonnie said with glee in her voice. “Because I’m manifesting it.”

Oh God.

“I really have to go.” Something moved in his peripheral and Colby turned to see Hunter standing in the archway of the hall that led to the bathroom and bedroom. “Thanks for calling Mom. Talk soon.”

He didn’t wait for her to say goodbye. He put his phone on the coffee table and ran his hand through his hair. “Morning. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Nah, man. All good.” Hunter yawned. He was also half naked, like Colby. Instead of underwear, he was wearing gray sweats, but no shirt. Colby thought Hunter’s body had felt muscular when he jumped on top of him on the bathroom floor, but now he had visual confirmation. Hunter had broad sculpted shoulders, rounded biceps, and rippled abs. It was… impressive.

“I’m gonna get dressed and get out of your way. Thanks again for letting me crash.” Colby grabbed his pile of clothes that Hunter had rescued from the van, which included the jeans he’d been in last night and a vintage Gibson’s guitar T-shirt Briar had given him for his birthday last year. He didn’t have clean underwear or socks, but he’d live for now.

“You can shower if you want. And I can make you breakfast.”

Colby shook his head. “I’ve put you out enough.”

“I was gonna make a breakfast burrito for Leandra anyway,” Hunter said and then turned his eyes to the front door. “But she took off, didn’t she?”

Colby nodded. “Yeah. Said she had a class or something.”

“Yoga on a Thursday? That’s new,” Hunter said, and he looked… wounded. Like his girlfriend’s disappearance physically hurt. But then he blinked and shot Colby a small, soft smile. “Don’t make me eat two burritos, dude. Come on.”

Colby didn’t point out that Hunter could just make one because he was actually fucking ravenous. So he nodded. “Yeah, okay. Wouldn’t want to put you through that hardship.”

Hunter grinned. “Cool! You go shower, and I’ll make the food.”

“You don’t need help?”

Hunter shook his head and started toward the kitchen. “No dude, I wanna surprise you with my culinary prowess.”

Colby laughed. As Hunter disappeared into the kitchen, he called out, “Extra towels are under the sink.”

Who used words like prowess? This guy was a trip, Colby thought, as he walked into the bathroom smiling in spite of the shit show that was currently his life.

Chapter 4

With a condom!

Well shit. Dealing with the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department was not on Colby’s bingo card for the day. But neither was his brother getting engaged. Today was officially an upside-down day, Colby concluded, which is what he called a day where everything goes the polar opposite of what he wanted, expected, or needed. Hunter approached the cop before Colby could even think to move from the front door of the building.

“The tree crushed it.”

“Yeah. I can see that. Is it yours?” the police officer asked. He kept writing what Colby assumed was a citation, a ticket, or something else he couldn’t afford to pay.

“No. It’s mine.” Colby cleared his throat and took the last couple of flagstone steps from the apartment building’s front door to the sidewalk. “Sorry, sir. This happened in the middle of the night, and I was injured, so we just left the van, but I’ll move it. I mean, I’ll try to move it.”

Colby dug his keys out of his pocket as the police officer’s eyes narrowed and he looked at Colby’s forehead. He stopped writing. “You okay?”

Colby nodded. Hunter smiled at the officer. “I fixed him up. He couldn’t go to the hospital. No insurance, but he seems okay.”

“Yeah,” the officer sighed. “Did the tree also knock the date on the parking pass back a year?”

Fuck. Colby’s shoulders sagged. Hunter blinked and then smacked his own forehead lightly. “I should have thrown the old pass out. Sorry. That’s on me. Colby must have taken the wrong one. I can get you my valid street parking pass. It’s upstairs. It was hanging next to this old one.”

Colby stared at Hunter, trying not to look too impressed by his lie, which rolled out of him so damn smoothly. The officer glared, but Hunter didn’t flinch. Colby gave him a weak smile. The officer huffed a little. “So, if the tree hit in the middle of the night, why were you in the van? Because there’s a no street camping bylaw in West Hollywood and the fine is?—”

“Full disclosure, we were drunk.” Colby turned to Hunter. He looked so unbothered. Like this was, in fact, the God-given truth coming out of his mouth. He shot the officer a sheepish smile. “Colby came over for some beers and to swim in the pool. We ended up having too many beers, so I told him to crash on the couch, but at like three in the morning, we remembered he needed the pass to park on the street. So he ran down there with it, the wrong one, because beers, and to make matters worse, that’s when the fucking… sorry… the stupid tree smashed the roof. While Colby was in the van. He really has the worst luck ever.”