Just a Number (Downtown #1) Read Free Page A

biochemical engineering nerd, handled the product testing, development, and manufacturing. I rounded out the group with my public relations skills.
    After doing all of this, we thought; why not make a real product? And that is what we did. With the help of research students and professional chemists, we put out an all natural, edible erection product. Though we, as young men, didn’t need it at the time, we thought one day we might.
    Fortunately, I still do not need the cream, but it can be found in vitamin stores, natural foods, and health shops—mint and cinamint flavors. We have all made a very nice profit over the years, along with the A+ grade we received while shocking our professor and fellow students with our graphic presentation on storyboards. No demonstrations. No animals tested. Trey, along with a laboratory staff, ran test studies.
    Trey. That was our focus of the night. It turned out his longtime fiancée had had enough. She wanted the dress and a date to go with the ring he gave her five years ago. He said he loved her; he just wasn’t ready to take the long walk down the aisle of matrimonial bliss. Another man was. Arriving home to his empty house earlier, he found a wedding announcement.
    Stephanie Ann Kramer and Daniel Paul Jackson
    were married on Saturday before their families and
    friends in a civil ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada
    Talk about a fucking sucker punch. Along with the newspaper clipping and her engagement ring, sat a short note. It said that the groom was her high school sweetheart. He had recently contacted her on social media. One of those cheating apps. No. Not the one hacked and blabbed all over the wire. Let’s face it; they’re all potential cheating sites. Anyhow, he told her he never stopped loving her and, if he could, he would marry her on the spot. She obviously liked that idea as she had become Mrs. Daniel Jackson, according to the newspaper clipping. Her last words were: I’m sorry. I love you. I wish you happiness. Ironic words for a Dear John note.
    Dirt all laid out on the table, it was time for the usual guy pep talk bullshit. Let me just say, we’re all assholes. Even the good ones. It’s our way to cope. To avoid. To sweep our feelings under the rug. Enough said; let the assholisms and drinks fly free.
    What a bitch!
    Fuck her!
    You’re better off without!
    There’s pussy everywhere!
    She wasn’t right for you!
    Good riddance!
    I can’t tell you who said which expression. It was pretty much a bunch of rants and repeats of the same words. But you get it; we raked her over the coals. We had his back. He was right. She was wrong. God!—I was glad I didn’t do that relationship shit.
    Moving on, we caught up on the rest of the crap going on in our lives, and ribbed each other. No one escaped a bit of ridicule all in the name of friendship and juvenile male bonding. Of course, I was sure to get my turn.
    “Our boy has a bit of a beard going on. Must be reading romance novels on plane trips,” only Rex would make that remark. He would definitely know if that was a trend to be read about. However, I wasn’t going to be the one to rat him out. He would have to be the one that divulged his literary expertise.
    “Mountain man thing going on?” Everything not clean cut and shaven had to be wild and rugged to our perfectly groomed Trey. Used to stark, sterile laboratories, he was meticulous.
    “Not your usually sexy stubble,” Leo added, causing us to laugh at him.
    “I knew you found me sexy.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him.
    “Ha! That’s what I hear from Cindy. ‘Why don’t you skip shaving today? Leave some scruff like Dash.’ Ugh!” Leo rolled his eyes and took a swig from his IPA bottle.
    “So, Cinnamon has a thing for me?” I teased him with a nudge. Which prompted him to lovingly punch my arm. “Hey! Easy; I have to go work a retreat in a couple days.” We loved to badger our non-bachelor buddy.
    Leo, married with kids, always met us for a quick