The best part was his hands #3
Colby was painfully aware that the videographer wasn’t the only one filming.
The twenty-something girl whose present he was working on had her phone right up in his face as he fumbled with getting a decent corner on the video game he was wrapping for her.
And phones were up in the line too. It made his skin feel hot and itchy.
Then the videographer said, “Favorite part of living with Hunter Law, Colby?”
“What?” Colby sputtered and immediately taped his finger to the package. Goddamn.
“You two were roommates, so the lore goes, so what was the best part of living with Hunter?” she repeated, then added, “And the worst? Come on, give us the scoop.”
Colby’s brain shouted the answer, and it rattled around his head like a lost pinball.
Best part when he accidentally on purpose sucked my dick.
Worst part? When he stopped. Best part? The way he’d smile at me when he thought no one was paying attention.
His face when I’d get off stage and walk straight to him, even when he was behind the bar working.
The way he’d say shit that I knew he would never tell anyone else, and it would make me want to confess my truths, in actions, not words. And I did. And it was—
“Jesus Colbs, you’re making me look bad here,” Hunter chuckled and bumped his shoulder against Colby’s softly. “Is it that hard to think of a good memory?”
Their eyes connected, and Colby looked away immediately, focusing on his nails on his one hand as they picked the tape off his other and freed it from the wrapping paper it was stuck to.
“There were so many good times, it’s hard to pick,” Colby said to the videographer.
“He’s the easiest roommate ever. But like if I had to pick one thing, it’s the breakfast burritos. He’s a decent cook.”
“He was a starving artist, so I could have put salsa on cardboard, and he’d have praised it,” Hunter added, and everyone around Colby laughed.
“Same questions for you, Hunter.”
“Easy. Worst part was when he was living in his crushed van in my parking spot before he moved into the apartment,” Hunter said, and Colby stopped wrapping, his whole body fixated on Hunter’s calm, passive voice.
“I always worried he’d get robbed or the van would implode on him or something because it was in rough shape.
I didn’t want to get famous for being the dude who had a dude die in his parking spot. ”
Everyone laughed again because, of course, they did. Hunter was charming as fuck. “And the best part was his hands.”
Colby felt every ounce of blood in his body fall into his feet, like someone turned off the power supply on a fountain.
What the actual fuck was he doing? Colby couldn’t even lift his head to glare at Hunter and figure it out.
Hunter let out a soft chuckle. “Our apartment was rent-controlled, AKA falling apart, and Colbs would fix shit without even asking. Cupboard doors that were falling off, a towel rack that was barely stuck to the wall, the shower door that screeched like a ferret caught in a foot trap. He fixed all of it. And also, watching him play guitar with those hands was insane. Do you know how fast your fingers have to move for some of his songs? That’s talent, man. ”
The videographer seemed thrilled with that answer and not at all weirded out. The customer in front of him was smiling. “I love that you guys were friends. So cool.”
“Still are buddies, right, Colbs?”
Colby dared to look over at him. He couldn’t risk holding his gaze, though, and turned back to his hands as he handed the woman his badly wrapped gift. “Sure thing, movie star. Always good to have a superhero on speed dial.”
Everyone laughed, and Colby felt slightly better.
When their three hours of wrapping were finally up, the woman ushered them back into the tent. “Great job, everyone. You’ve raised more money today than we did in a week of guest wrappers last year. I’m thrilled. Thank you.”
Everyone looked pleased, and then she got serious again, clapping her hands as two security guards the size of minivans entered the tent, joining the two already there.
“This is where they try to chase you to your cars, unfortunately, so we have Bruno and Tito to make sure Colby and Hunter get to the parking garage. We have SUVs waiting. Hannah and Darla, Mike and Scott will escort you, ladies. Don’t pause.
Don’t stop for photos or to sign anything or you’ll be mobbed. ”
Great. Colby was then ushered out quickly, sandwiched between Bruno’s front and Hunter’s wide, warm back, with people pressing in and yelling excitedly at them.
Tito got them into an elevator just past the cupcake store and made sure no one joined them.
They wouldn’t have fit anyway. Tito and Bruno were both over six feet and probably five hundred pounds combined.
Hunter and Colby were now pressed between them, face to face.
Hunter’s breath danced deliciously across Colby’s skin, and that stupid dick of his took notice.
So did his heart. And then, as they chugged slowly up to the private sixth floor of the parking garage, Hunter’s hand brushed his at their sides.
His fingers tangled with Colby’s. No one could see.
No one noticed. Colby’s heart fluttered painfully.
The elevator doors slid open, and all four of them peeled out of the metal box.
Bruno walked around the area to make sure no one snuck up here, and Tito held open the door to the first of two waiting SUVs.
Hunter walked out of the elevator backward so he never took his eyes off Colby.
“You really going somewhere hot for Christmas?”
Colby shook his head. “No.”
“You with your family?” He wasn’t moving toward the waiting car.
He was just standing there, staring at Colby, and Colby shook his head again.
Hunter’s mouth twitched like he was going to frown, but he didn’t.
Instead, he walked up to Colby, stopped right in front of him, so close that Colby’s heart thumped and his breath caught, and then he slapped a hand over his shoulder and squeezed. “Take care of yourself.”
“You too. Later.”
Hunter leaned forward. “Later.”
And then he was gone, and Colby was climbing into an empty SUV.