Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
“Yeah, I guess.” Titan sighed and leaned toward the coffee table. “Any pizza left?” He opened up one box, closed the lid, and then tried the other. “Last slice.” He picked it up. “I’m taking it. You fuckers don’t deserve it.”
“Colleen has a friend who’s pretty cute. Want me to check if she’s interested?” Tyson said.
“Who’s Colleen?” Travis asked.
“The blond one with the…” Trey hovered both hands over his chest.
“New girlfriend?” Jule asked.
Tyson shrugged. “New something.”
“Yeah, why not,” Titan said. “Introduce me to Colleen’s friend. Fuck Cheryl.”
“Who’s Cheryl?” Trey said.
“She’s the one Tan’s been whining about for the past half hour,” Travis clarified.
“Right.” Trey nodded. “Don’t think you ever mentioned her name.”
Tor chuckled.
“You’re all hopeless causes when it comes to relationships,” Maggie said from the hallway.
Jule turned his head. “Hey, Mags.”
“Hi.” Maggie stepped over his legs and walked to the front door. “Mikey crashed in my room. I’m going out with my friends. Be back later.”
“Need me to move him to his bed?” Titan asked.
“Nah, he’s fine.”
“I’m tracking your phone,” Travis reminded her.
She rolled her eyes dramatically. “I know, Dad.” She left with a wave and closed the door behind her.
“Do you guys think we’re all hopeless when it comes to relationships?” Tyson asked.
“We had shitty parents, man. We’ve never seen an example of a healthy relationship in real life, so yeah, we’re probably hopeless,” Travis responded.
“Not all of us,” Jule said.
Tor’s fingers stopped moving against his head.
Jule looked up at him. “Did you tell them our news?”
“What news?” Trey said.
Jule crunched into a sitting position. “We’re getting married.”
“Holy shit.”
“Holy fuck.”
“When?”
“We’re going to the county clerk of court on Monday to get our license,” Jule said.
“We are?” Tor asked.
Jule nodded. “Three o’clock. I made an appointment.”
Tor made an amused sound. “Thanks for filling me in. What if I’m busy then?”
“Make yourself unbusy. I already told you, this is not optional.”
Laughter echoed around them.
“Not sure you’re demonstrating the whole healthy relationship thing there, Jule,” Trey said.
“Fuck that healthy shit. What this frustrating asshole needs is persistence and a strong hand, not sentimentality. You think he’s a badass for what he survived over the last decade? That’s nothing compared to what’s coming. We’re getting married. We’re going to choose each other and stay together and live a chaos-free, boring fucking life. And I will beat the ever-loving shit out of anyone who tries to get in our way.” He narrowed his eyes at Tor. “You included.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time.” Tor grinned at him. “I know exactly what fighting with you leads to.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ, if you two lunatics are going to bang, go to your car.”
“Jule has a whole ass apartment. Go there.”
“That reminds me.” Jule dragged his gaze away from Tor’s smiling face and over to the rest of the room. “What’s the story with the Vuongs next door?”
“What story?” Travis asked.
“I saw a sign on the lawn when I parked at the curb in front of the house.”
“Oh, right.” Travis nodded. “Mrs. Vuong moved to Gilbert to be closer to Mai and help out with her grandkids. She’s selling the house.”
He turned back toward Tor and raised his eyebrows.
Without skipping a beat, Tor said, “Let’s do it.”
“Yeah?” Jule confirmed.
He dipped his chin.
“Do what?” Tyson asked. “What’d I miss?”
“We’re going to buy Vuong’s house,” Jule said.
“It’s a shithole,” Travis pointed out.
“It’s not that bad,” Jule insisted.
“I can fix it up,” Tor said at the same time.
“And you can’t beat the location,” they both said in unison.
“Christ, I forgot how creepy it is when they do that.” Trey shook his head.
“Better get used it again,” Tyson said. “Baby brothers are finally back home to stay.”
***
“Get fucked, asshole, do you follow Jesus this closely!” Jule shouted into his rearview mirror.
“With as ragey as you get when you’re driving, it’s a good thing you don’t carry,” Tor said.
“That’s why I don’t carry.” He glared at the mirror again. “Seriously, fuck you!”
“Would pointing out that they can’t hear you help or just piss you off more?”
“They might not be able to hear me, but they’d feel me if I stopped short at this light.”
“By feel you, you mean rearend your car? The car we’re currently in?”
“Exactly.”
“That’s a very well-thought out and not at all emotionally driven plan that you definitely won’t regret within five minutes of implementation.”
“Are you trying to provoke violence?”
“That depends,” Tor said. “What are you thinking about right now?”
Jule glared at him. “Killing you.”
“Great.”
They stopped at the light and Jule said, “How is that great?”
“Because if you’re channeling your homicidal tendencies at me, you’re too distracted to aim them at that other driver.”
“I can multitask.” Jule returned his gaze to the mirror and frowned. “Where’d he go?”
“Passed us when you were threatening my life and then ran the red. The camera got him.”
That calmed Jule’s anger. “Really?”
“I saw it flash.”