Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 128417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“Yeah, Reed. We’re living canvases,” Will agrees with solemnity. “We’re artists and art, all at the same time. We’re living performance art and our tattoos are our way of flipping the bird to mortality.”
“That’s right,” Josh says emphatically. “Getting barbed wire would be like saying, ‘Mortality, fuck you. You might be gunning for me, but you’ll have to get through my barbed wire to get me, motherfucker. Raaaaah.’”
Reed rolls his eyes.
“So lemme get this straight, boss,” Henn says, pursing his lips like he’s considering something very serious. “You got YOLO stamped on your ass because you were flipping the bird to mortality?”
Josh laughs. “Absolutely. Now, when the Grim Reaper comes for my ass, maybe he’ll see it and stop and say, ‘Never mind.’”
Everyone laughs.
Carmen leans into me. “Josh is hilarious,” she whispers.
I nod and bite my lip. “He sure is.”
Josh swigs his drink happily. Man, he’s having fun tonight.
“Okay, okay, I cannot tell a lie,” Josh is saying. “I must admit, I wasn’t thinking deep and profound thoughts about my mortality when I got YOLO stamped on my ass. I wasn’t thinking much of anything, actually. I was just a twenty-year-old asswipe who thought he knew everything.”
“Aw, don’t be too hard on yourself,” Reed says. “All twenty-year-old dudes are asswipes who think they know everything. I know I was.”
“How old are you, Will?” I ask.
“Twenty-three,” he replies. “And I don’t think I know everything.”
“Well, I thought I knew everything when I was twenty-three,” Reed says, shaking his head. “Turns out I sure had a whole lot to learn between twenty and thirty.”
“Ditto,” Henn agrees. “Jesus, has it really been ten years since Josh got his stupid YOLO tat? Oh my shit, we’re getting old.”
“Remember when thirty sounded so old?” Reed says, looking wistful.
Josh nods. “I never thought I’d make it to thirty.”
“Really?” I ask, the hair on my arms standing up. “Doesn’t everyone think they’re gonna live to a hundred and three?”
Josh shrugs and takes a bite of his food but doesn’t reply.
I look at Josh for a long beat. When I opened my door to him last night and wordlessly took him into my arms, the look on his face was so vulnerable, it took my breath away—and, just now, that exact same expression flashed across his handsome face.
“Jeez, before we know it,” Henn says. “We’ll be forty and in the middle of our mandatory midlife crisis.”
“Jesus. Who knows what fucked up shit Faraday will do then?” Reed says. “He’ll probably get himself a midlife-crisis car like a fucking Lamborghini or some shit like that. Oh, whoops. Already did that.”
“He’s got a Lamborghini?” Carmen whispers to me, her eyes wide.
I nod and she mouths, “Wow.”
“Hey, might as well have the douche-car to match the douche-tattoos,” Josh says, clearly not the least bit offended by Reed’s jab. “Like I always say, ‘Go big or go home.’ Right, Kat?”
I lean into Josh and put my head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I feel like an idiot.”
He kisses the top of my head. “We’re just teasing you, babe,” he whispers back. “It’s what we do if we like you. No worries—never worry in this crowd. We’re just playing.”
“So how about forty, big guy?” Henn asks Josh. “Can you imagine that?”
Josh shrugs but doesn’t reply. He takes a bite of his food.
“Well, I can picture all of us at forty,” Henn says. “We’re all exactly the same as we are now—strikingly handsome, fucking geniuses—only difference is we’re married and driving minivans full of screaming kids.”
Reed makes a scoffing noise. “I think your crystal ball’s got a loose wire, bro—at least relating to me.” He swigs his drink.
“No ‘married with children’ for you?” I ask Reed. But, really, I’m indirectly asking Josh—hoping maybe he’ll join in the conversation. Why has he gone suddenly mute?
Reed shakes his head emphatically. “No, thanks. I’m gonna be an eternal bachelor. Dudes like that have the right idea.”
“I think there are plenty of men who think they’ll never get married, but do,” Carmen says. “When they meet the right woman.”
“I think so, too,” I agree.
“Not me,” Reed says. “I’ll be the last man standing.”
“I’m with the girls on that one,” Henn says. “When a man finds the right woman, he doesn’t wanna let her go. Okay, maybe not you, Reed. You’re admittedly a tough nut to crack. But, still, even with you, a man can never say never.”
“Oh, you can say never when it comes to me,” Reed replies with a chuckle. “I’d bet anything on that.” He winks at Henn. “Wanna make a bet with me on that, Henny? Name your price.”
Henn rolls his eyes. “Don’t even try your Jedi mind tricks on me. Unless we’re playing poker, I’m never betting against you again. I’ve learned my lesson on that.”
Josh laughs.
Reed looks at Carmen. “Why do you think that about self-proclaimed eternal bachelors? Have you witnessed a guy like that changing his tune?”