Page 91 of If the World Was Ending

He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her into a hug because he needed to feel her support—anyone’s really, but she was there, and she was trying to be a good friend. And that’s when he saw Hunter standing half hidden by a towering palm a couple of feet down the path. It was the glow of his cigarette that caught Colby’s attention. He was just a shadow, but Colby knew it was him.

He let go of Hannah as Hunter stepped forward. “What do you want?”

“I should go… do anything but stay here,” Hannah said quietly before she turned and disappeared back into the hotel.

Hunter stared at Colby. There was a break in the plants where it dipped in for an elaborate stone fountain. Colby stepped into the alcove and glanced up at the fountain, which featured a half-naked man holding a circular dish with little stone birds all around it. The water filled the dish and cascaded down into the larger well at the base.

Hunter followed because, of course, he did. Colby dropped one of his ass cheeks onto the edge of the fountain base and sucked in the last of his cigarette. He dipped the butt into the water to make sure it was out and then dropped it on the ground. Colby stared. Every second they remained silent made him angrier. “What? What do you want from me?”

Hunter didn’t even try to act cool. “I don’t want us to hate each other, Colb. That kind of breaks my fucking heart.”

Chapter 29

Let me in

Colby knew in that moment he was not going to be able to pull it off—the hostility, the cold aloofness. None of it. He stared at Hunter’s shoes. They looked expensive. He was sure, like Colby, that everything he was wearing was a gift or a loan. For some reason, that made him smile when he glanced at his own shoes, which were Yves Saint Laurent suede loafers that cost almost a grand but were gifted to him for this event.

“Do you remember my Adidas sneakers I used to wear every day?” Colby asked him. “Because I had no other pairs of shoes.”

Hunter chuckled. “Yeah. You ended up putting black electrical tape on the sides where the sole was falling off.”

Colby smiled, and God, it felt good to look up and find Hunter smiling back. “The sole fell off entirely hiking Fryman the day before I moved out of the apartment. I brought it home and taped it back on, even though I haven’t worn them since. And now I own like…eight-hundred-and-fifty-dollar designer loafers.”

Hunter looked at Colby’s shoes and shook his head. “Tell me it’s not fucked up that now that we’re finding some success, we’re getting tons of free shit we don’t need because we can afford to buy it. But when we were trying, no one would help us, and we had to duct tape our shoes.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“I donate a lot of the stuff I get,” Hunter said.

“So, if I see a guy on Skid Row in designer shoes, I have you to thank?”

Hunter laughed and rolled those big, warm eyes of his. The ones Colby longed to get lost in again. He sighed and swallowed down his longing because it served no purpose. “What’s next for you?”

“I got a part in a superhero thing. No one knows yet. I just accepted today, and they didn’t even make me audition. It’s a collective thing with names I can’t even…” Hunter shook his head, then looked around and stepped closer, bending a little to get closer to Colby so he could really whisper. And then he rattled off the names, and Colby tried to absorb them, but he was more focused on how Hunter’s breath danced on the shell of his ear and how the feel of his closeness still made his cock stir. “And the pay. Like, Colbs, I can’t even… I could pay the apartment rent for forty years.”

“You didn’t move?” Colby wanted to know. It felt stupid to focus on that, with all this amazing stuff Hunter had just confided, but it mattered to Colby. The idea of someone else living in that dump bothered him, but the idea that Hunter still lived there was absurd.

“No. I did. I had to. That apartment doesn’t have a locked front gate. Anyone can wander into the complex,” Hunter said and ran a hand through his hair as he looked away, focusing on the greenery around them instead of Colby’s face. That was a good thing because Colby couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face. “I’m renting a place in Spaulding Square. It’s only two bedrooms, but it’s an actual house. It has a pool too, if your AC ever breaks wherever you are.”

He finally looked at Colby again and threw him a small smile. Like nothing ever happened between them. Colby nodded but couldn’t respond. He didn’t know what to say. Hunter was still right on top of him because he hadn’t stepped back after whispering to him. Colby found himself lifting his hand and touching the thin, smooth fabric of Hunter’s pale jacket. Hunter inhaled slowly, deeply. “Where do you live?”

“With Trev in a small house in Laurel Canyon.”

“That’s great,” Hunter replied, but his voice didn’t lift. “Do you love Laurel Canyon like you thought you would?”

Colby shrugged. “Yeah. The place. The vibe. Not the house. Or Trevor.”

He needed to stand, even though there was barely enough room. Maybe because of that. Colby had never been great at subtle. Now he and Hunter were chest to chest and almost eye to eye. Hunter had that slight inch on him. His shoes must have a bigger heel because, flat-footed, they were pretty much even. Tonight Colby had to tilt his head up slightly, and then the words just… escaped. He really wished they hadn’t even as they were tumbling out. “I miss you.”

It was the worst possible thing he could say. He knew it, but he said it anyway, and then he stepped around Hunter and walked away. Hunter grabbed his wrist and tugged him off the main path back into the shelter of the fountain alcove. He said nothing at first. The air was scented with night jasmine, and somewhere in the distance, there was murmured talking.

“Colbs… Not now. Not here.”

“Where?”

Hunter looked physically pained. “Nowhere. Not now.”

“Are you and Mikayla really a thing?”