I wanted them all to leave so I could study him. I wanted to know where those tattoos went. How much of his body did they cover? What did they say?
And why?
Why had he covered himself?
A heavy throb punched me deep in my belly; too heavy for me to pretend it didn’t happen, especially as tiny flutters followed in its wake, undulating deep in my core. My cheeks flushed as hot as the desert.
“Marnie?”
I turned to Beulah who was staring at me in apprehension, confusion, and maybe a little concern.
“His tattoos?” I managed to ask on a breath.
“What about them?”
“He’s covered in them.”
She paused a beat before answering. “Yeah, it’s kind of his thing.”
I tore my eyes away before I strained them, and found myself frowning at Beulah instead. “What does that mean?”
She was about to reply when Lowe returned. “Ugh, let’s get our coffee or I’ll be here all day! Those girls are demanding.”
Those girlswere still screeching next to the image of Jupiter as we walked off, and I wanted to yell at them to leave him alone. It was so reminiscent of being back in high school when Jupiter walked around campus followed by a gaggle of squawking girls, that it had given me a piercing headache. Bile churned in my belly.
Nothing had changed.
“Come on, Marnie. Let’s go and talk about it before they combust under the glare you’re giving them.” She tugged on my arm like Beulah had, and I let her guide me away. “I’m sorry. I should have remembered the team images were along there before I suggested coffee.”
“No, it’s okay,” I shrugged, way more casually and calmly than I felt, because I wasn’t actually sure my insides hadn’t melted away. “It was going to happen at some point, right? I just didn’t realize…”
“Realize what?” Lowe asked when it was clear I wasn’t about to finish my sentence.
And I’d have answered, except for the second time in as many days, seeing Jupiter Reeves had left me speechless.
Chapter 63
Present Day
Iwalked silently through the door to the coffee shop Lowe was holding open, and sat at the first empty table we found.
It was busy and loud; filled with a combination of moms and strollers, Columbia students with laptops, and tourists carrying New York Lions store bags. A table three down from ours was a family of four, and I watched as the two kids pulled new Lions jerseys out of their shopping bags.
REEVES was printed along the top of both, above the number five.
It’s gonna be my number, Star. Five. I’m the fifth planet.And then he’d kissed me, and I forgot anything after that.
Lowe looked around as she sat down, noticed the family and incorrectly read the vacant expression on my face.
“Sorry, it’s going to be hard to avoid him. I’ve got his face plastered over the city.” She winced as my eyes bulged. “Not just his,” she quickly added, “but he’s around a lot more than most.”
My head moved between the pair of them sitting opposite me, interrogation style, because that is the official seat placement if you’re about to become the subject of an intense questioning.
Beulah leaned forward, her fingers interlacing into fists; the glossy red polish of her short nails matched her lips.
“Marnie, you didn’t realize what?” she repeated Lowe’s question.
“That he looked like that, I guess.” My brows drew together slightly. “What did you mean about tattoos being his thing?”
