Page 8 of If the World Was Ending

Hunter scratched his head and shot an embarrassed smile at Colby. “Sorry dude. I didn’t do it right.”

“I’ve got none of those things, so no harm, no foul.” He pulled back the blanket Hunter had given him and started to stand up. He was still only in his underwear, but Leandra didn’t seem to care. “I can leave you. Sleep in the van. Not like another tree limb is going to land on me.”

“Just stay. It’s fine.”

“Really?” Hunter croaked, and she frowned at him.

“I’m not a fucking monster, Hunter,” Leandra snapped and then turned to Colby and threw a tight smile at him. “Rest up. I can take a look at whatever the hell happened to your forehead if you want.”

“I cleaned it and put two butterfly Band-Aids on it,” Hunter told her. “It was a cut.”

She nodded. “When was your last tetanus?”

“Shot? Like two years ago, because I stepped on a nail trying to build the platform for the van bed,” Colby answered.

“Okay, then you’re probably good. I mean, if you won’t go to a real doctor, which I’m betting you won’t…” She eyed him, waiting for an answer.

“Nope. Didn’t budget for it.”

“Artists,” she sighed, rolled her eyes, then breezed past them both and disappeared into the bedroom.

Hunter and Colby stared at each other. “I don’t think she’s a monster,” Hunter told Colby because it felt like he had to clarify. “She’s my girlfriend. I think she’s great. Anyway. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I’ll be out of here by nine,” Colby promised. “Thanks again.”

“No problem.” Hunter headed back to the bedroom.

He found Leandra had already changed into a tank top and shorts. She was pulling her long dark hair out of the ponytail she’d had it in and reached for a makeup-removing wipe on her dresser. “He seems nice.”

“He is,” Hunter said, but honestly, for all he knew, Colby could be a psychopath. They could both be gutted with knives from their kitchen drawer by morning. He really didn’t think so, though, especially because he had to convince Colby to spend the night, but… “Thanks for letting him stay.”

She sighed and glared at him through the mirror above the dresser as she wiped off the minimal makeup she wore. “As I said, I’m not an asshole. He’s in a pinch. It happens.”

Hunter got back into bed as she tossed the used wipe into the trash and turned to face him.

“So, was it a good time?”

“What?”

“Your night out. With Cass.”

“It was a night in. Just the girls because Byron is at a conference in Hawaii,” Leandra said. “She was going to go too, but she has a movie campaign launching and couldn’t get away. She’ll fly out on Friday and join him for the weekend.”

“Nice,” Hunter said, but honestly? He didn’t give a fuck what Cass and her boyfriend Byron were doing. Leandra made them sound way more interesting than they were with Hawaii conferences and movie launches. In reality, Byron was a junior accountant with Warner Brothers, and Cass was the second assistant to an executive with the same company. It wasn’t her movie launch, and it wasn’t his conference. They were both just assisting higher-up people, Hunter was sure.

She walked to her side of the bed but hesitated. Her dark eyes shot to the door. “I was going to take a shower. It was muggy by the beach, and I feel gross.”

Hunter’s eyebrows pinched. “Doesn’t Cass live in the Valley?”

“Yeah, but the girls’ night was at Beth’s. Her sister. In Santa Monica,” she muttered and sighed. “Anyway, I’ll skip the shower.”

She got into bed. Hunter reached up and turned off his bedside light as Leandra flopped down on her side, facing away from him. As he settled into his own pillow, she spoke again. “Byron is taking night classes for some advanced certification on his accounting degree. They offer them at USC. And they have a night school program for an accounting certificate.”

“Okay.” He was about to ask her why she was telling him this when she flat-out explained herself, and he immediately wished she hadn’t.

“You could get one, and then you wouldn’t have to wait tables.”

“Numbers make my brain melt,” Hunter replied. “It’s what I hated about architecture when I was taking that in Canada. The math.”