The Revelation (44 page)

Josh leans his lips right into my ear. “What’s the
over-under on how long it takes Sarah to get him up there?”

Josh’s hand is on my bare thigh, making my skin buzz
with every touch of his fingertips. His cologne smells divine. His
eyes are a scorching blue. I feel intoxicated, though I’ve barely
had a sip of alcohol. I feel drunk on Josh.

“Come on, PG. Give me your prediction.”

“I’m not gonna say an amount of time,” I say. “I’m
gonna go with the number of Scotches, instead.”

“Ooh, good call. How many?”

“Two more tops, and then he’s gonna be singing like
a tone-deaf canary.”

“Two
on the outside
, huh? That’s pretty
ambitious.”

I shrug. “That’s the over-under. So you’re betting
over
, then?”

Josh grins broadly and runs his hand up my thigh,
right up to the hem of my mini-dress, making my skin erupt in goose
bumps. “I’ve learned my lesson, babe. I’ll never bet against you as
long as I live. If you say two Scotches is all it’s gonna take to
get my brother up there, then that’s what it’ll take.”

The “Living on a Prayer” guy leaves the stage and
we’re treated to three adorably silly women launching into a
heartfelt rendition of Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On.”

The waitress approaches our table. “Hey, folks,” she
says. “Another round?”

Josh looks pointedly at everyone, gathering drink
orders, and I shake my head, signaling I’m good. For some strange
reason, alcohol just isn’t hitting the spot tonight.

But Josh doesn’t seem to understand my headshake.
“Yeah, sure,” Josh says absently to the waitress. “Another round.
Plus Patron shots for everyone, too, please. With limes.”

“And a club soda,” I add. “Please.”

“And a couple bottles of champagne, too,” Jonas
adds. “We’re celebrating tonight.”

“Oh yeah?” the waitress asks. “What are we
celebrating?”

“Oh, just, you know,” Jonas says, pulling Sarah into
him, his face bursting with pure happiness. “
Life
.”

Oh, jeez, those two. I’ve never seen two people more
madly in love. I wish so badly I could watch Jonas pop the question
to Sarah next week in Greece. I’d bet dollars to doughnuts she’s
gonna lose functionality in all four limbs and flop on the ground
like a freshly caught trout.

The waitress leaves and Josh leans back in his
chair, adjusting his dick in his pants. God, he’s a sexy dude.
Gotta love a man in a designer suit whose dick is so big, it won’t
fit comfortably inside his pants.

“Well, Jonas might be celebrating
life,
” Josh
says, “but I’ve actually got a few specific things I’d like to
celebrate tonight.” He raises his old-fashioned and the rest of us
follow suit, holding up our various drinks. “First,” Josh begins,
“I wanna celebrate Hannah officially joining our
Ocean’s
Eleven
crew. Welcome, Hannah. You fit right in.”

“Thank you,” she says, pushing up her glasses.

“We all have our roles to play, Hannah,” Josh
continues. “So now that you’re officially part of the crew, I’d
like to christen you our cookie-baking Olivia Newton-John.”

Hannah nods. “Wow. Thank you. I accept my role with
humble gratitude. What’s everyone else’s roles?”

“Well, he’s the asshole,” Josh says breezily,
motioning to Jonas. “And also the comic relief, though hardly ever
intentionally.”

Sarah laughs.

“Sarah’s our George Clooney—our fearless leader—and
also Jonas’ handler. Without Sarah, Jonas becomes very, very
cranky—so I’d like to take this moment to expressly thank Sarah
Cruz for coming into my brother’s life. By doing so, you’ve made
mine immeasurably better.” Josh beams a huge smile at his brother,
and, much to my surprise, Jonas laughs heartily.

“Thank you,” Sarah says, blushing. Jonas kisses her
cheek and I swoon.

“Henn’s our fucking genius, of course,” Josh
continues. “I’m sure that’s not news to you, Hannah—plus, the guy’s
heart has a ten-terabyte storage capacity.” He flashes Henn an
adoring look.

“Yes, I’m well aware of that,” Hannah says.

The look on Henn’s face is priceless. Oh my effing
God. He’s adorable.

“And you and Kat?” Hannah asks. “What are your roles
in the crew?”

“Well, unfortunately, I’m nothing but a playboy—just
coasting on everyone’s coattails, pretty much—not particularly
useful or smart—just the eye candy of the group.”

We all laugh.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s wise and powerful beyond
measure,” I say.

“Oh, well that’s true,” Josh agrees. “Hannah, you
might as well learn it now: I’m wise and powerful beyond anything
your feeble mind could possibly comprehend. Let me just say, in
advance of whatever pearls of wisdom I’ll bestow upon you one day
in the near future: you’re very welcome.”

Hannah laughs. “Okay. Thank you, Josh, in advance.
Wow, I’m honored to be in your presence.”

“As you should be. Thank you. And Kat here—well, the
list is too long to say it all right now, but I’ll give you the
Cliff’s Notes version. She’s our secret weapon. The Party Girl with
a Hyphen who also happens to be The Party Girl with the Heart of
Gold. Plus, she’s a suicide bomber, a terrorist, and, sometimes, if
you really rile her up, a very stubborn cat.”

I giggle.

Josh chuckles and squeezes my hand. “And, she’s got
the best laugh you ever heard, as I’m sure you already know. The
girl laughs like a dude.”

“I’m well aware.”

I giggle again.

“Hey, I have an item for the toast,” Jonas says.

“Hang on, bro,” Josh says. “I’m not done with Kat.”
He looks into my eyes. “She’s loyal. And honest. A force of nature
when she wants something. She loves her family. And her hair smells
incredible.”

I can’t breathe.

Josh holds my gaze for a long beat. “There’s more,
but we’d be here all night,” he says softly. He kisses me tenderly
on the lips and my heart bursts out my chest cavity and zings
around the bar.

“I wanna salute Sarah for making it through her
first year of law school...” Jonas is saying. But I’m only
half-listening. I’m caught in an alternate universe with Josh. Yes,
Sarah was absolutely right. He’s screaming his feelings for me from
every mountaintop the best way he knows how. And that’s enough for
me.

“Well, jeez, don’t jinx me. I gotta get through my
exams before I’m toast-worthy,” Sarah says.

I manage to peel my eyes off Josh’s face and look at
Jonas and Sarah, clasping Josh’s hand.

“But you finished your classes yesterday,” Jonas
says. “No reason not to celebrate that.” He grabs her hand and
kisses the top of it and she melts.

“Can I add an item to the toast-list, too?” Sarah
asks. “I wanna toast Henn and Kat for officially becoming
mill-i-on-aires
this week
.
Congrats, guys.”

“Didn’t you get your finder’s fee money this week,
too?” Henn asks.

“Yeah.” Sarah beams a smile at Jonas. “But I can’t
even think what to do with it—I want for absolutely nothing these
days.”

Henn and I shoot a look at each other like that’s
the stupidest thing either of us has ever heard. I’m glad Sarah’s
googley-eyed in love and all, but who couldn’t use an extra million
bucks, for crying out loud?

“Yeah, congrats to all three of you,” Josh says. He
grabs my hand and kisses it the way Jonas just kissed Sarah’s hand,
making me swoon, and raises his drink to me. “Which reminds me of a
biggie. To Kat. She officially took a leap of faith today and quit
her job to start her own PR firm. Congrats, babe. Sky’s the
limit.”

Everyone expresses congratulations and
excitement.

“I’m so excited for you,” Hannah says. “Even though
I’ll miss you terribly.” She sticks out her lower lip.

Of course, I’m not blindsiding Hannah with this
news—I told her about my plans earlier today at lunch, and she was
full of congratulations and excitement then, too, but she also
cried. “Working with you has been the best part of my job,” she
said.

“Well, like I said at lunch,” I say to Hannah, “the
master plan is to bring you on as soon as humanly possible, Hannah
Banana Montana Milliken,” I say. “As soon as I know what I’m doing,
you’ll be my right-hand woman.”

Hannah raises her drink. “Cheers to that. Just call
me and I’ll come running, girl. Whatever you touch turns to gold,
Kitty Kat—I have no doubt your new company will be golden,
too.”

“Thank you, honey.”

The waitress returns with our new round of drinks,
plus the shots and bottles of champagne, and we pour bubbly all
around.

“What are you gonna call your new company?” Henn
asks.

“PGPR?” I say without confidence—but even as I say
it, it sounds pretty lame. “Short for Party Girl PR,” I add, hoping
that clarification makes the name more palatable.

Sarah scrunches her nose.

“You don’t like it?” I ask.

“Kinda stodgy, don’t you think? A little boring—and
you’re anything but boring.”

I twist my mouth, considering. She’s got a
point.

“It’s not an accounting firm, right?” Sarah asks.
“It’s publicity. It’s gotta have some pizzazz.”

“Yeah, at first I thought maybe Party Girl PR—but
that sounds too much like an event planner.”

“Yeah, you’re right—it kinda does. Hey, but you’re
the Party Girl
with the
Heart of Gold
, right? Hannah
just said everything you touch turns to
gold
. Why not Golden
PR? You could have a sexy golden-blonde avatar of yourself as your
logo. That’d be adorable. Or, hey, better yet, maybe even Golden
Kat PR and make your logo a sexy golden cat with long
eyelashes.”

I look at Josh and he nods enthusiastically. “Either
one. Probably have more luck securing Golden Kat for trademark
purposes.”

“Great idea, Sarah,” I say. “I’ll look into
that.”

Sarah smiles. “You bet, baby. I got a million
ideas.” She taps her temple. “I’m at your service, baby.”

“Thank you.”

We grin at each other.

“Okay, everyone, get ’em up,” Josh says—and we all
raise our glasses of champagne. “To Hannah and Henn, and to Sarah
for finishing her first year of law school, and to three newly
minted
mill-i-on-aires
, and, last but not least, to Kat and
her new baby.” Josh looks at me, his blue eyes sparkling. “YOLO,
Kat—I’m glad you’ve decided to go for it. May you climb and
conquer.”

“Hear, hear!” we all shout, bringing our champagne
to our lips.

“Wait!” Sarah blurts and we all stop. “
Duh
.
We gotta toast Climb & Conquer!” She raises her shot of
tequila. “This one we gotta do with Patron, in Joshy-Woshy’s
honor.”

Everyone raises a shot glass.

“To Climb & Conquer,” Sarah says. “I can’t wait
to watch the Faraday twins ‘climb and conquer’ every peak of their
dreamscape.”

Jonas and Josh share a look of unmistakable
excitement.

“Hear, hear,” everyone says, clinking glasses.

“Please hire me soon, Kat,” Hannah adds and everyone
laughs.

“I’m so proud of you,” I whisper to Josh, squeezing
his hand.

“Thanks,” he says, his blue eyes sparkling. “I’ve
never been so excited about anything in my life.”

As everyone throws back his or her shots, I put my
glass down, untouched. Just the smell of the tequila is making me
kinda queasy. Maybe it’s something I ate?

Josh kisses my cheek. “To new beginnings,” he says
softly into my ear. He grabs my tequila and downs it for me,
seemingly unfazed by my disinterest in it. “And to giant leaps of
faith.” He kisses my lips and rubs my cheek with his thumb. “I
missed you this week, PG. I was going out of my mind.”

Boom
.

That’s it.

Put a fork in me.

My body can’t physically contain these feelings any
longer. This sexy beast of a man’s got me hook, line, and sinker.
I’m gonna tell him how I feel when we’re alone later tonight. I
can’t take it anymore. I love him and I’ve got to tell him so, come
what may.

Sarah leaps up suddenly, pulling gently on Jonas’
muscled arm. “You ready, hunky monkey boyfriend?” she asks. “The
alcohol has started to kick in—it’s time for you to pay your
debt.”

Jonas grimaces—but Sarah’s persistent. She pulls on
his arm again, flashing a seductive smile. “Come on, love,” she
purrs. “You lost fair and square and you know it.” She leans into
Jonas’ ear again and whispers something, and Jonas begrudgingly
stands and lets her lead him toward the stage.

Josh flashes me a look of pure astonishment. “You
were right.”

“Of course, I was. I’m always right when it comes to
two things,” I say.

Josh chuckles. “Men and PR, I know, Party Girl.” He
gazes at his brother for a beat. “Look at him,” he says, motioning
toward Jonas and Sarah taking the stage. “God, he must really love
that girl.”

Josh

This is officially the most entertaining thing I’ve
witnessed in my entire life.

Jonas and Sarah are doing a God-awful rendition of
“I Got You Babe” by Sonny and Cher. Sarah’s actually pretty
good—she really comes alive up there. But Jonas is so fucking
terrible, the entire bar is on its feet, cheering him on. But why
am I surprised? Even when Jonas sucks at something, people love him
for it. In fact, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure people
love Jonas
especially
when he sucks at something, not
despite it.

How Sarah gets my brother to do any of the shit she
gets him to do is beyond me. But there he is, standing in front of
strangers, singing this ridiculous song to her at the top of his
off-key lungs. And, by God, he actually looks like he’s having fun.
Well, fun mixed with pain—utter, tortured, unthinkable pain. But
with Jonas, that’s just about the best anyone could ever hope
for.

I put my hand into my pocket and finger the edges of
the poker chip sitting there. Now would be a fantastic time
methinks. We’re all nice and loose. I look at my watch. We’re not
due at the laser tag emporium for another hour. All is going
perfectly according to plan.