Now I’m getting goosebumps. That sounded ominous. “And the ship?”
“A ship for leaving.” He bows his head. “A clock for the time remaining, and a skull for death who never waits.”
Oh my God. “Why? Why so morbid?”
“I’m not morbid.” He shakes his head. “You asked what they mean. I told you.”
“Jet…”
“Finish the coffee. I’ll take the shower first.”
***
I give Jet a ride to the shop, and it’s quiet. Too quiet. Something’s on his mind, and I don’t know if it’s the fact Joel didn’t return before we left the apartment, or if it was the phone call he received as I was getting dressed.
I think again of what he said about his tattoos, and the same shiver runs through me as it did then.
A soul. Time. Leaving. Death.
And underneath, rebirth.
Is that positive, or negative? Does that mean he believes in rebirth, or that rebirth is gone, not to be found?
Or am I making up stories in my mind, and the symbols don’t really mean anything to him? Some people get ink just because it looks good and cool.
Yeah, okay. Jethro doesn’t strike me like that kind of guy, though.
I study his clean profile as I park the car down the street from the bookshop and kill the engine. “Was it your cousin again?”
“Huh?”
“The call. He called you yesterday, too, didn’t he? Donna told me.”
He closes his eyes, rubs them. “Candy…”
“Let me help, Jet.” I pull down his hands, stare into his reddened eyes. “Let us help. With whatever is hurting you.”
He doesn’t move when I unlatch my belt and slip my arms around him. He gathers me close and rubs his face in my hair.
“Your hair smells like my shampoo,” he whispers.
“It is your shampoo.”
“First my coffee and then my shampoo. What next?”
“Your clothes?” I inhale his scent of musky boy and soap, and close my eyes.
“Damn.” He groans. “I can’t go into the shop with a hard-on, Candy pop.”
“You think you’ll like me in your clothes?”
“And even more out of them.”
“You have a one-track mind.”
“Only when you’re around.”
I pull back, laughing. “So you won’t tell me what’s going on with your cousin to get you so stressed? Not even a hint?”