16. I’m bottomless too
I’m bottomless too
Hunter spent eight days alone in the apartment.
None of them had been easy, but the first day was the hardest. No welcome home party.
No Colby to hug or congratulate in person.
Just his clothes piled in the corner by the couch, which still had his pillow and a stack of folded blankets on it to prove he still lived here.
A few hours after Hunter arrived home, Colby had sent a photo of him in New York, with the river and the Statue of Liberty behind him in the distance.
And there were nightly texts, some drunk or high.
Hunter could tell by the typos. He’d sent some like that too, especially after the wrap party, so he couldn’t complain.
And he wouldn’t. Any messages from Colby were welcome.
Hunter hadn’t told the Range he was back yet, and he didn’t intend to because he had enough in the bank to avoid a real job for a bit.
But he was going crazy sitting around with nothing to do.
He’d filmed the videos for the streaming network with Mikayla and, afterward, accepted her offer to hang out and grab food.
The next thing he knew, it was four-thirty in the morning, and he was on the verge of passing out on the balcony of her two-bedroom Beverly Hills condo.
He’d stumbled out and into an Uber even though it was clear she was hoping he would stay.
There was a part of him that thought about it.
It would be easy. And comfortable. And he wasn’t cheating on anyone.
He was single. But yet… he got in the Uber.
Mikayla was cool about it, texting him the next day and joking with him like always.
Tomorrow, Margo was taking him to lunch. He was looking forward to it because it was better than sitting around here doing nothing but thinking of Colby. But he’d probably yawn his way through it because it was almost three in the morning and he was still wide awake.
He turned off the television he wasn’t watching and forced himself to get up off the couch.
He’d slept on it for the last three nights.
Because the pillow and sheets there still smelled faintly of Colby.
But he was being ridiculous. Stupid. And every morning when he woke with a stiff neck or a pain in his shoulder, he thought of Chris Westchester and that conversation with him and Marc at the wrap party.
He’d lost a flourishing, thriving career.
For kissing a guy. Hunter hadn’t kissed Colby, but he’d done a hell of a lot more.
And sure, it was all in the privacy of these four walls, but still.
Was he risking his career just the same?
A career that was barely off the ground?
It was weird that they hadn’t kissed, wasn’t it? Not that they should kiss… because you kissed people you were romantically interested in and this was… not that. If this was that, they were in trouble.
He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, splashed water on his face, and then applied a moisturizer that Mikayla insisted he start using, peeled off his clothes, and crawled into bed.
He hit the remote for the new air conditioning unit, which had been delivered and installed yesterday, and turned off the lights.
The place was too dark and too quiet, and his head was too noisy.
He needed to jerk off, but every time he started, his mind wandered to images of Colby.
And when he stopped himself and redirected his brain, sometimes even with the help of porn, he couldn’t seem to get there.
He always gave up or went back to thoughts of Colby and came. Hard.
When his phone started buzzing from the night table, it was a relief. He propped himself up on an elbow and snatched it up as soon as he saw the video call request from Colby. He hit accept before he could turn on the lights.
Colby’s face filled the screen. Hunter was still getting used to his short hair, which was darker than normal.
The sun hadn’t bleached out his roots, so the hair remaining was more of a light, golden brown than the yellow of his long hair.
He still looked incredible, though. And as much as Hunter would never admit it, Ford had been right.
Short-haired Colby looked tougher, sexier, and more commanding. But Hunter liked both versions.
“You answered! You did, right? Are you there?” Colby asked, perplexed by the darkness he was looking at.
Hunter reached for the lamp on the bedside table and flipped it on. Colby’s face relaxed into an elated, very tipsy smile as soon as he could actually see Hunter. “Ah! Yes. There you are. Hi, roomie.”
Hunter laughed softly. “Hi, drunkie.”
Colby’s face shifted quickly into a look of indignation. “I am not drunk. I’m… comfortably numb.”
“Isn’t that a song?”
“Don’t talk to me about songs,” Colby huffed, and then everything jiggled as he threw himself back onto…
a pillow? He was on a bed, apparently. “Trevor was a total asshat today. He didn’t like anything I suggested.
We’ve recorded two tracks, and I wanted this new one I wrote for the third, but he was just not having it.
Said it was too… I can’t even repeat it. ”
Colby’s handsome face twisted with outrage. His glassy eyes closed. Hunter tried not to smile. It was not a light matter, but he was just so fucking delighted to see Colby. “Say it. What did Trevor call your masterpiece?”
“It wasn’t a masterpiece,” Colby conceded as his eyes opened again. “But it’s something. It’s good. He called it… Bieber-esque.”
“Did you remind him Justin Bieber is a fucking millionaire?”
Colby made a face. “I don’t want to be Bieber.”
“But you want his success,” Hunter reminded him as he settled back onto his own pillows, the phone above him in his hand. “I don’t want to be Jacob Elordi. I have it on good authority that he may be a dick, but I’ll take his career. And do better with it.”
“Yeah. I’d take Bieber’s success. But I don’t sound like him.” Colby whined, and Hunter tried not to smile, but it was adorable.
They stared at each other through the screen for a moment. “How’s home?”
“Boring,” Hunter replied. “And lonely.”
“Briar’s around. A lot. Her show finally got canceled,” Colby said. “Hang out with her if you’re bored.”
“Okay. Maybe.” Hunter wanted to explain, in detail, that he could hang out with Briar and Mikayla and every person he’d ever met, and he’d still be lonely. “Is Ford with you in New York?”
“Yeah. He moderates the bickering,” Colby said and rubbed his eyes like he was an exhausted toddler. “He quit Range, so I don’t know if you still can get your job back there. Did he text you? He was supposed to.”
“He didn’t,” Hunter said. “I’ll head over the Range tomorrow and see who is running the place now and explain I was on a leave. I’m gonna need something in a few months, so I hope they take me back. In case it’s a while until I get another job.”
“Ford said he left on good terms, and I’ll tell him to put in a word for you,” Colby explained and then smiled confidently. “But you’ll get more work. You’re not working at the Range. Ever again. I know it.”
Hunter laughed. “I think you’re the one manifesting this for me, you know that? Your confidence levels in my career are staggering.”
“You’re the real deal, Hunter Law,” Colby said, and then he smiled. And then he sighed. “I wish I were there. Are you shirtless?”
Colby squinted. Hunter nodded and moved his hand back a bit so more of his naked chest was in view. “Spoiler alert, I’m bottomless too.”
Colby’s eyes darkened so quickly Hunter couldn’t help but notice. A delicious heat bloomed in his belly, and his dick started to stir. “Is it hot there? It’s colder than a witch’s tit here.”
Hunter laughed at his expression. “It’s warm, but I got the AC fixed in the bedroom.”
“Do you always sleep naked?” Colby asked suddenly but didn’t wait for a response.
“I wanted to sleep naked in the van, but I was worried I’d have to get up in the middle of the night, so I slept in underwear.
Which paid off. Imagine if, when the tree fell on it, you’d had to pull my naked ass out of there? ”
“I wouldn’t have minded.” The words came out before Hunter could stop them.
Colby stared at him through the phone, and a smile slowly tugged the corners of his mouth upward. “I guess when I get home, I can sleep naked. I mean, you’ve seen it all.”
“Yeah. I’ve seen it.” Hunter pushed down all the thoughts circling in his head that claimed to be the ‘right thing’ and let his emotions take the wheel. And the emotions surging through him as he stared at his tipsy best friend were longing and lust. “I miss it all.”
Colby sighed again. “I jerked off to you... a picture of you… last night.”
“Which picture?”
“This one I have of you and me by the pool. Briar took it when we had her over for burgers on the barbecue,” Colby explained, his eyes not looking at Hunter’s face.
They were focused on his bare chest, Hunter could tell.
He extended his arm as high as it would go and moved the duvet lower, to his hips.
Colby’s eyes followed the duvet. “We’re lying on loungers beside each other.
You’re in just a pair of swim trunks. You’re all wet from swimming, and your body is fucking hot.
Reminds me of our first hook-up. It makes me so hard. ”
“Are you hard thinking about it now?’ Hunter asked, and when Colby nodded, he added. “Show me?”
It wasn’t an order it was a question. Hunter would always give him an out, in case he wasn’t as weak as Hunter and he could actually take it.
Colby moved. Hunter almost got motion sick with the way the phone was bouncing and jiggling.
But then Colby seemed to prop the phone up on something, and he stepped back and stood.
Hunter couldn’t see his face anymore, but it didn’t matter.
He watched as Colby stripped off all his clothes, piece by piece.
By the time he was naked and wrapping his fingers around his long, hard cock, Hunter’s own dick was rock hard and aching for contact.
“Don’t make this all about me, Hunter,” Colby said and stroked himself. “Show me.”
Hunter sat up, tore the covers away, and turned, propping the phone on the base of the lamp on the nightstand. He made sure Colby had a good view as he knelt on the bed and fisted his dick. “Fucking hell… I wish I were there.”
“Me too,” Hunter replied. “I’d suck you if you were here. I’d let you come in my mouth.”
“Oh fucking God,” Colby shuddered so deeply Hunter could see it through the phone.
He let go of his dick and moved again. After a few brief moments, he came back into view, the phone tilted up, Colby’s legs on either side of it as he sat on the floor, his back against the side of the bed. “You’d let me come in your mouth?”
“Yeah. I think about it a lot. I wanna know what you taste like.”
“Jesus fuck Hunter… oh God,” Colby groaned and began to jerk off like Hunter was doing. “Have you ever done that before?”
“No. I’ve only fucked around with one other guy. In high school. We just rubbed each other over our pants in the woods at a party,” Hunter replied, his thumb slipping over his tip, dragging precum down his shaft. “It was fine, but I didn’t think about more. Not the way I do about you.”
“I want to come in your mouth,” Colby murmured. He was stroking himself at a desperate rate, much faster than Hunter. His tongue slid across his bottom lip, and he forced his eyes open to watch Hunter. “I want to kiss you afterward and taste it too.”
“Holy…fuck… Colb…” Hunter was going to come. Fast and hard. And he should have been embarrassed, but he wasn’t. “I’m gonna lose it. You’re too much.”
“Pretend it’s my mouth on you. Pretend I’m sucking you off. Pretend you’re coming down my throat,” Colby whispered, his voice straining and hoarse. “I’m so fucking close too.”
“I’m… oh fuck…” Hunter felt every part of his body tense as his orgasm tore through him, ropes of cum coating his hand and thighs. “Colb… Colb… Baby… Fuck… Colb.”
“Oh fuck. Yeah. Oh God, I wish I could…” Hunter forced his eyes open so he could watch Colby come all over himself. His head had snapped back, and Hunter missed whatever the last part of that sentence was, but it ended with the word you.
Finally, Hunter had to let go of his dick because it was too sensitive, and Colby had stopped coming and tipped his head back to the screen. They stared at each other, both trying to regulate their breaths. Finally, Hunter huffed out a shaky laugh. “You came like a fucking ocean. Look at you.”
Colby blushed as he stared down at the mess coating him and reached for his discarded T-shirt from earlier. “I know. It’s been forever.”
“I thought you said you jerked off last night?” Hunter said. Colby was moving, taking the phone with him into the bathroom from the looks of the tiled wall now behind him.
“I did but like… It’s different with...”
“Someone?” Hunter offered because Colby seemed to be struggling for the word.
“Yeah.” Colby’s face took on something Hunter couldn’t place. He swallowed and nodded at the same time, before his eyes moved to look at something other than Hunter. “I should go. I want to sleep off this buzz and get up early and work on the song without Trevor bitching in my ear.”
“Okay. Yeah. I need to get some rest.” Hunter said, and something was off. He knew what it was for him… the words of Chris Westchester bounced around his head. He had been warning Hunter, he just didn’t know it.
But things were different now with the industry, right?
“Talk soon?” Hunter said.
Colby’s blue eyes moved back to the screen. He gave Hunter a dimpled smile. “Of course.”
And then Colby ended the call. Hunter blinked at his suddenly black screen and tried not to let the darkness seep into his soul, but it felt like it was.
And that darkness was panic and despair.
Because what if this was something? What if he couldn’t just walk away from Colby and stop this thing they were doing?
What if he wanted more? What if Chris was right and he couldn’t have this thing with Colby and his career?