Page 88 of Hurricane Love

“Let's head back inside,” Diego said, ushering Wylie through the front door before locking it behind them. Neither of them tried to act tough this time around; they went straight to the bathroom, climbing back into their fortified nest with the lantern glowing softly beside them.

As the apartment shook and groaned around them, Wylie's mind refused to settle. It ricocheted from one worry to the next—his family, his friends, the residents of Sunset Village, and all the homes and memories the storm threatened to wash away.

“Hey.” Diego's voice cut through the noise in his head. “I can hear you thinking. You good?”

A small smile tugged at the corner of Deigo’s mouth, but his brow was furrowed with concern. There were a hundred things Wylie wanted to say, and judging by the strain around Diego’s eyes, the feeling was mutual. Instead, Diego slipped an arm around him and pulled him closer, a silent gesture that said he had his back.

Wylie marveled at this man who had shown up every single time it mattered—for him, for Hannah and Nancy, for the residents of Sunset Village, even for their beloved pets. Diego never asked who deserved his loyalty. He simply gave it.

“Yeah,” Wylie said, leaning into him. “I’m good.”

“I think we're going to make it,” Diego said, his quiet certainty a soothing balm to the fury raging outside.

Wylie smiled, a tendril of hope unfurling in his chest. “Yeah. I think we will.”

After all, if they could survive a hurricane, they could survive anything.

CHAPTER 20

DIEGO

The stormfinally abated sometime around 4 a.m. When the worst of the winds had died down, they both crawled into bed and passed out almost immediately, exhausted from the stress of the day and waning adrenaline.

The next morning, Diego awoke early to find Wylie already up and climbing the walls, eager to get back to Sunset Village to assess the damage. But the streets were still flooded and powerlines were down, which made the roads treacherous. The old folks were going to wait until the roads were cleared before returning home. The power was still out with no word of when it might be restored, but everyone was safe.

They spent the morning caring for the animals, feeding them and taking turns walking them up and down the breezeway since the parking lot was still flooded while the other person brought their kennels outside and hosed them off. Some of the dogs needed baths too. His apartment smelled like literal dog shit due to all the animals having diarrhea because of their fear of the storm, but they’d all survived it.

Nearing afternoon Wylie was starting to spiral, so Diego figured out a safe-ish route to the beaches to visit the trailer park,having to make several detours due to floodwaters and downed trees.

When they got there, they discovered that all of the trailers still had their roofs, and only one home had severe damage due to a tree landing directly on top it. The tree must have come from somewhere else entirely, uprooted by the storm and deposited there in the Village.

Wylie called the owner of the trailer and documented the damage with his phone. There was a chainsaw in the maintenance shed and Wylie powered it up to cut off the largest of the tree’s branches while Diego hauled them away. Then, with the aid of Mac’s 4-wheel drive and some ropes, they dragged the remaining trunk off the trailer, then used tarps to cover the hole in the roof, securing it tightly to the frame until it could be repaired.

There was a lot of debris around the property, including several more downed trees and fallen branches, so they worked into the night chainsawing and piling up yard waste for an eventual trash collection. Eventually, residents began filtering back in, surveying their homes and checking in with the two of them. They were anxious to be reunited with their pets, so Diego and Wylie drove back to his apartment to collect the animals and deliver them to their owners. Since they were still without power, they decided to have a big barbecue in the yard to grill the meat that was in danger of spoiling. The meal was good, the company even better, and Diego was dead on his feet by the time he and Wylie made it back to his apartment somewhere around midnight.

“So,” Wylie said to him after they’d showered the sweat and toil of day off of them and were lying together in bed. “There was something you wanted to talk about?”

Despite his bone-deep exhaustion, Diego rolled onto his side and grabbed hold of Wylie’s hand. He’d been wanting to pitch this idea since the bus ride back from Gainesville, but he wanted to do it in person, and then there was the hurricane and its aftermath to get through. Even with that threat having passed, he wasstill just a bundle of nerves, worried he might say the wrong thing or accidentally be an asshole about it. The stakes were high, and what if Wylie had decided he wasn’t worth it?

Keep it simple.

“I love you,” Diego said, staring intently at the man he hoped would soon be his. “And I want to be with you.”

Wylie’s eyes scanned his face as if searching for any points of weakness. Any doubts. “Give me your best argument for why we should be together,” Wylie said.

Diego’s mouth quirked because this was so typical of the man he’d come to know and love. He’d need evidence to back up his claim for his lawyer-in-training. Well, he was going to give it his best shot. “First off, you can’t cook for shit, so you really need me if you’re going to survive law school,” Diego said as a matter of fact.

Wylie opened his mouth wide in mock offense. “Excuse me?”

“You know it’s true.”

“I make a mean scrambled egg.”

“Yeah, and that’s about the extent of it.”

“Does this mean you’re going to cook for me, then?” Wylie asked, sounding interested.

“Cook for you, care for you, let you work me over for orgasms and praise.” Diego didn’t usually pull the sex card, but he’d do that and more to convince Wylie to give him another chance.