“You look like roadkill,” Mack said.
He felt like it too. He’d cracked open a bottle of rotgut as soon as he got home from Gretchen’s and, after assuring his parents he was fine, collapsed in bed to do what people always did after getting dumped by their girlfriend and charged with assault.
He drowned his sorrows.
He allowed himself to get just inebriated enough to almost forget that the last time he’d been under these covers, Gretchen had been next to him. The sting of betrayal was as sharp tonight as it had been this morning. He needed her. He loved her. But apparently it only went one way. Because the minute he was at his lowest, she was going to pull her disappearing act again.
“Where’s my family?” His mouth was wicked dry, and when he tried to sit up, the room swam. He fell back again with a groan.
“Downstairs,” Noah said.
Malcolm patted his gut. “Your mom made us a huge dinner.”
Colton’s stomach pitched at the thought of food. “How long have you been here?”
“About an hour.”
“An hour? What time is it?”
Vlad looked at his watch. “Almost six.”
At least he hadn’t slept through his meeting. Buck was supposed to come over sometime tonight with Desiree, his publicist, and whoever else was necessary when one’s career was swirling down the drain. Colton had avoided social media and the news all day on Buck’s advice, but he didn’t need to see the coverage to know it was there and that it was probably bad. The downside of avoiding the reality of his career troubles was that it gave him far too much time to ruminate about his broken heart.
“Other than eating my mother’s food, what are you doing here?”
“What do you think?” Vlad said. “You’re in crisis. We’re here to help.”
Colton sat up again, carefully. “Unless you can get that asshole to drop the charges, there’s not much you guys can do.”
“We’re not here about that, dipshit,” Mack snorted.
Colton looked at each of their faces as a sunrise of understanding pushed through the hangover clouds in his brain. Their presence had nothing to do with saving his career and everything to do with her. They were going to try to pull some book club shenanigans. “No. No way. Absolutely not.”
“Yep,” Noah said. “So get up, take a shower, shave your ugly face, and brush your goddamn teeth because your breath could wilt flowers.”
Colton threw the covers off his lap. “Forget it. Gretchen dumped me, and that’s all there is to it.”
Malcolm shook his head. “All there is to it? When has that ever been the case?”
Colton stood, but a wave of nausea had him leaning against the nightstand. The guys all backed up several steps to get out of the kill zone in case he spewed.
A few deep breaths later, Colton straightened. “Remember when you guys were all like, Don’t hurt her, asshole, and I was like, What if she hurts me?, and you guys were all like, Ha, like that would ever happen? Remember that?” He extended his middle finger and waved it back and forth to cover the lot of them. “Yeah. Fuck you.”
Mack rolled his eyes. “Stop being so dramatic. It’s a speed bump.”
“I told her I loved her, and she threw me out and said she’s moving to D.C. That’s more than a speed bump.”
“So? Stop her,” Mack said.
“I don’t have time to stop her. I have to figure out how to save my reputation and my career. And why the fuck should I try to stop her? She dumped me when I needed her, so don’t get any big ideas about planning some kind of grand gesture. If anyone needs to be grand-gestured, it’s me.” He jabbed his finger into his chest for emphasis.
The guys acted as if he hadn’t spoken. “Liv, Alexis, and Elena have all been trying to reach her,” Mack said, “but her phone keeps going to voice mail.”
“She probably turned it off. That’s what she does when she runs away from home. You’re wasting your time.”
His father’s voice suddenly called up the stairs. “Is Colton alive?”
“Barely,” Mack yelled back.
“Tell him to get down here. Now.”
Great. Now what? He looked at the guys, but they all just shrugged as if they had no idea what was going on. He wasn’t sure if he trusted them. Colton forced one foot in front of another until he was confident that he could actually walk. “What’s wrong?” he asked, stopping at the top of the stairs.
His parents stood side by side looking up at him. “He won’t take no for an answer and is threatening to stay out there all night if necessary,” his father said.