“What the—”

“You look like hell.”

He muttered a curse and glared at Darius. I do not need this today. “What are you two doing here?”

Brent pushed past Gabriel and entered the house, with Darius following. “You stopped answering our calls and texts,” Brent said, as if that explained everything.

“I responded to Darius’s text yesterday.”

Darius grunted. “You mean that sorry-ass response you sent?” He sprawled out on the sofa. “And you can dial down the glare, bro. Might as well make yourself comfortable and tell us what’s going on.”

“Because we’re not leaving without answers. Real answers,” Brent emphasized as he sat on a chair. “Glenn couldn’t make it because his parents are flying in today, but he said he might call later.”

The three men engaged in a stare down until Gabriel relented and flopped onto the sofa at the opposite end of the from Darius. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“The last time you did this was after the mess with Christine, so I assume things aren’t going well with Serenity.”

His jaw clenched at the mention of his ex. Darius had always been the most outspoken of the four friends, so it didn’t surprise Gabriel that he’d be the first to speak. He cracked an eye open. “Things are fine between us.” Or they would be once he talked to her.

Brent leaned forward, braced his forearms on his thighs, and clasped his hands together. “Then help us out, G. What’s going on? You haven’t been talking to us, and you look like you haven’t slept in a week.”

Darius held up a hand. “If this is going to take long, we need to do it over food. That bagel and coffee I had earlier is gone.” He studied Gabriel. “Yeah, I can see this will be a while.”

Gabriel opened his mouth to suggest they go back to Ms. Ida’s, since both his friends had enjoyed the food, but changed his mind. The last thing he wanted or needed was a repeat of last night. “Where do you want to go?”

“San Francisco. I figure we can hang for the next couple of days. We don’t leave until Tuesday morning.” He must have seen the look on Gabriel’s face because he added, “Unless you have other plans.”

“Serenity and I are supposed to get together to watch a movie, but I’ll call her and see if we can do it another time.” He was disappointed, but these were his best friends, and they’d flown across the country to check on him, the same way he would have if he thought one of them was struggling with something. It was the least he could do.

Chapter 22

Chapter 22