Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 147673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Beast’s eyes briefly met Laurent’s, but then he looked away and got himself a fresh glass of water, since he’d given his to Laurent.
Laurent put the bowl of chili away and rubbed his lips with a napkin, as other people seemed to do. The low table was a strange choice for eating a meal, but he wouldn’t question it.
“Yes, he’s been very helpful,” Laurent mumbled, and it was a huge understatement. Beast was stirring up so many mixed feelings inside him that he couldn’t focus on gathering information that would allow him to influence the man more efficiently.
Joker gave a short laugh. “King knew who to ask to take care of you. Only the most responsible person here. If it was me, you’d have probably gotten my old clothes and cereal to eat.”
“It would have been a group effort,” said Martina, eyeing Joker with a squint.
"Yeah, yeah! And he's VP now too." Knight pointed to the patch on Beast’s leather vest that said ‘vice president’.
Laurent shifted in his chair uncomfortably, unsure why Knight felt the need to advertise Beast this way. He couldn’t possibly be in love with him, could he?
Jake wiggled on the sofa, watching the patch as if it were the prettiest of brooches, brought in all the way from Italy. “It’s been long overdue, Beast.”
Beast rubbed the back of his neck, looking surprisingly shy, but the slight quirk to his lips and the relaxed body language told Laurent that it was pride Beast was feeling. Everyone seemed to like and respect him here, despite the physical deformity and tattoos that had made him so unwanted at the mall. Whose opinion on the matter should Laurent trust though?
He drank some water in silence, straightening up in his chair, to not seem too timid. He was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people, but his confidence grew every time he learned something new, so he wouldn’t wish to leave them with a wrong impression of him.
“So, Knight, which Mercier line did you say you were from?” Laurent smiled politely, trying to gauge other people’s body language to mirror it, but sitting with his legs spread wide the way Knight was didn’t feel appropriate.
A choir of voices gave an exasperated sigh. What did he do wrong this time?
Beast cleared his throat. “Maybe let’s not overdo it with the past, all right?”
Knight raised his arms. “Come on! I actually meet someone who’s interested and this is what I get?”
Nao laughed. “Then talk to him about it in private. Everyone’s heard about your glorious French ‘lineage’ at least three times.”
“You know what, I know we’re not all here, but I wanted to talk to you guys about what happened to Davy and come up with ideas how to stop this from happening again,” Beast said, putting down the empty bowl on the table.
“My thoughts? We could move the parties to a different room,” Joker said. “This place is massive. There is more than enough space.”
Beast frowned. “And what, jump around the building, constantly move furniture, and lose money on heating of spaces that we don’t use?”
At first, Laurent listened to the argument over the building being in a poor state, and from what Beast was saying, he worked out that someone got hurt by a part of the roof falling on their legs. But what really sparked his attention was the actual argument Beast was making. He wanted to find a new place for the Kings of Hell to move to, just like King had said, and that was precisely what Laurent couldn’t allow.
In the middle of an argument, he cleared his throat and managed to intercede. “Well, as a matter of fact I think this place is quite lovely. It has the maturity of good wine.” His stomach clenched when everyone stopped talking and looked his way. This was not good at all.
Joker was the one to speak first. “Are you gay or just polite? Because between the French accent and the language, I can’t work it out.”
“He doesn’t live here, so his opinion hardly matters in this discussion,” Beast said tensely. “All I want to know is if you’d go to a viewing with me if I found something suitable. Renting out a compound would cost much less than bringing this place back into shape.”
Knight groaned. “Love you, man, but I don’t want a fucking landlord.”
‘Love’? Laurent watched on with wide eyes. Was Beast a bigamist like his father, and had been trying to pull Laurent into that sort of scheme? And he didn’t know how to answer Joker’s question either. Should he admit to it in front of everyone? Beast had said men kissing was fine, and Laurent remembered that in that very same moment, in the crowd of people he’d imagined Beast leaning over him and pressing their lips together. Between William Fane’s betrayal and Beast’s anger over not being allowed to be free with is touch, Laurent had to confine such things to remain in his mind for now.