Page 13 of If the World Was Ending

“I’d need your digits for that,” Hunter reminded him with a smile. He held his phone out to Colby.

“Right. Yeah.” Colby smiled and took Hunter’s phone. He punched in his info and then quickly called himself from Hunter’s phone so he would have Hunter’s info too.

Hunter took his phone back, his fingers brushing Colby’s, and it made Colby want to smile again for some stupid reason. Hunter stared at his screen. “Colby Keaton. Cool. I’m Hunter Law.”

“Great.” What a dumb thing to say. Colby chastised himself and then nodded. “Okay, well, thanks. Text me.”

“Yeah. Cool. Have a good day.”

Colby began to slow jog back down the driveway to the street. He wasn’t in a hurry, but he suddenly had excess energy that he needed to burn off.

His shift moved relatively quickly because he was on register and they had a steady stream of customers. Before he knew it, it was time for his half-hour lunch break, and Briar had texted him that she was at the Starbucks in the same plaza. He darted over there instead of hanging out in the depressing break room, which now had a huge crack in the wall and no overhead light because it had fallen to the floor in the quake.

Briar was wearing workout gear and had her gym bag slung over her shoulder. She handed him a breakfast sandwich and an iced caramel macchiato, and when he tried to argue, she held a perfectly manicured hand in front of his face. “You’re injured and homeless, take my fucking charity, asshole.”

Colby laughed. “Well, since you put it so eloquently...”

Briar winked at him and grabbed her own iced coffee off the counter. She led him out to the courtyard, where there were couches and tables. Once they were situated on a couch, she demanded he fill in the details of the night before. He’d sent her a text on his way into work, but it had been vague. Just: A tree fell on the van, and I have a nasty cut on my head. But a dude offered me a position in a band, so, winning?

When he was done explaining everything, Briar let out a low whistle. “Jesus, Colby Carter Keaton! I leave you alone for one second…”

He swallowed down the last of his breakfast sandwich and smiled at her. “I know. It’s a lot.”

“And who is this dude again? Hunter? How do you know him?”

“He’s an actor… or I mean he’s trying to be. And I met him earlier in the day, during the earthquake,” Colby explained.

Her left eyebrow lifted toward her braided hair. “And he found you when the tree crushed the van? And patched you up? And let you sleep on his couch?”

“Yeah.”

“Honey, you should ask this dude to marry you,” Briar announced with a slap of her hand on her knee, like a judge throwing down a gavel. “He is your knight in shining armor.”

“Yeah, but no,” Colby said, and for some reason he felt hot. Was he blushing? Why the hell was he blushing? “I mean he’s great. I think we’re gonna be good friends. But no. I’m not marrying him.”

“Okay, well, you should at least bone him.”

“Everything is sexual for you. God.” Colby rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to put his cold drink up to his cheek to ease the redness. He took a sip instead.

“Nothing is sexual enough for you, Colb,” Briar said softly. Then she leaned over and squeezed his knee quickly and lowered her voice another octave as she whispered, “You’re allowed to be yourself, now. No one is going to punish you for having a little fun.”

“He’s straight. Lives with his girlfriend.”

“Oh. Shit.” It was comical how sad she looked for just a second. “Well, then I should marry him because straight guys who are heroes are like fucking unicorns.”

“Again, lives with his girlfriend.”

She nodded and took a long, slow sip of her drink, her big brown eyes never leaving Colby’s face. He got squirrely again, worried she was about to dive deeper into the subject he refused to talk about—his sexuality—and changed the subject. “What are you even doing here?”

“I’m going to the gym. Duh,” she said and waved a hand around in front of her outfit. “And checking on my bestie. Two birds, one stone.”

“And getting caffeinated.”

“Three birds!” She grinned, and Colby couldn’t help but grin back. Gosh, he loved Briar.

“Okay, so the plan is to just live in this dude’s… correction, this dude and his girlfriend’s parking spot?” she questioned. “How will you get to gigs?”

“I know it’s an unknown fact, but Los Angeles has public transportation,” Colby said and waited for the typical reaction from people who were true Angelinos. Briar’s face twisted into a look of utter revulsion. There it was.