7. Take care of him, okay? #4
“What? Why? I mean… I’m sorry?” Colby croaked. He had no idea what to think or say. “Is Hunter… I mean, is he… he home? Is he… okay?”
She frowned again and glared at him. “I’m the one giving up my apartment and shoving my life into my car, and you want to know if Hunter is okay?”
“I mean, you said you broke up with him,” Colby replied with a sheepish shrug. “Last time I saw him, he was celebrating getting a part and was going to make you a special dinner. So yeah, is he okay?”
“Go find out for yourself,” Leandra muttered and started to close the trunk. She smashed it down twice, but the lock wouldn’t catch because it was too full. She cursed, and Colby gently stepped in and moved her bags away from the latch.
“Hunter is a great guy, Leandra. You guys have been together a while, right? Can’t you work things out?” It wasn’t his place, and he knew it, but he couldn’t help himself because why would anyone break up with Hunter?
He pushed the trunk down again, and this time it latched.
Leandra moved toward the driver’s side. “Great guys would be down here fighting for me. Great guys wouldn’t ignore all the fucking hints that this wasn’t working.
Great guys…” She stared at him, blinked, and shook her head. “Whatever. I’ve got somewhere to be.”
She flung open the driver’s side door and started to get in the car. But then she stopped, and her gaze landed back on Colby, and it pinned him. She looked serious and sad. “Take care of him, okay?”
She got into her car and shut the door, and Colby stumbled out of the way as she did a three-point turn and drove away.
Fuck. That was… awkward. Weird. Crazy. He was at a complete loss as to what to do next.
He opened the van and put his guitar inside but didn’t climb in after it.
Instead, he just stood there, staring at his phone screen, his text chain with Hunter up on it.
As if he were summoning him, bubbles appeared, and then a message.
HUNTER: I’ve got cheesecake if you want it.
Colby’s eyebrows shot up. Really? That’s how a freshly dumped guy was acting?
COLBY: Sure.
He climbed into his van, dug out a pack of edibles, tucked them in his pocket, then locked up the van and went around the building and into the courtyard.
He took the stairs two at a time to find only the metal storm door between Colby and Hunter’s apartment.
Hunter’s voice came from inside. “It’s unlocked. ”
Colby opened the door and stepped in. The apartment looked the same.
Probably most of what Leandra had taken were her personal belongings from the bedroom and bathroom.
Hunter was sitting at the dining room table.
There were candles lit and a full cheesecake on the table in front of him.
He was staring at it like it was the abyss.
“I finished cooking the steak and shit too. It’s in the kitchen. It’s cold, but if you want it—”
“Nah, I ate.”
“She didn’t,” Hunter mumbled as Colby crossed the living room and entered the dining room. “She just kind of blew up at my news. Told me one commercial wasn’t enough.”
“It’s a fucking lot, Hunter,” Colby said firmly as he pulled out the chair to the right of Hunter at the small square high-top. “And it counts.”
“She’s been fucking Estelle’s son. He’s like… forty.”
Oh. Whoa.
“Who the fuck is Estelle?”
“The elderly lady with dementia that she does in-home care for in Malibu,” Hunter explained, his eyes still glued to the cheesecake.
“When she first started working there, she mentioned Jeff lived there too and that he was a real estate investor. I said, shouldn’t a real estate investor live somewhere other than his mom’s house?
She laughed. Guess it’s not so funny now that she’s fucking him. ”
Colby did not see that coming. He didn’t know what was throwing him more, the fact that Leandra would cheat on Hunter or the fact that Hunter was telling him in a voice that was robotic and lifeless.
Like it was a third-hand story, and he really didn’t give a fuck.
“She said it hasn’t been going on long, but it got serious fast. And then she started packing her shit and now… she’s gone.”
“I saw her in the driveway. I didn’t know that part, though.” Colby watched helplessly as Hunter kept staring at the cheesecake and held his head in his hands above it. “I’m sorry, man. That absolutely sucks.”
“Yeah. It does. I… I really hoped it would work out.” He sighed, finally lifted his head, and grabbed a fork, offering it to Colby. “Can we eat this without plates? Like, just dig right into it like they do in movies when someone is depressed? I’ve never done that, but now seems like the time.”
“Let’s wreck that cheesecake,” Colby declared because he had no fucking idea what else to do.
Hunter picked up his own fork and drove it right into the center, scooping out a messy chunk and shoving it in his mouth.
Colby did the same.
Fuck, it was really good cheesecake.
And Colby vowed to try to be a really good friend to Hunter. The dude definitely needed one.