Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 119011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Rip off the Band-Aid.
“They found my bike there and worked out that there must be a deal between Zolt and the Smokeys.” Leo took a deep breath. “Also, Zolt’s my boyfriend.”
Dad let out a laugh. “And I’m dating the family dog. Seriously. Can’t you see I’m not in the mood for jokes, huh?”
Leo rubbed his sweaty face with knots multiplying in his stomach. “I’m serious. This is serious.” He grabbed Zolt’s hand and entwined their fingers when he found them as clammy as his own. “I know it’s not what you expected of me, but this is the reality, and you need to know.”
One of Dad’s heels fell from the edge of the table, and he sat back, grabbing on to the arm rests while his gaze burned holes in Leo’s chest.
Zolt’s hand trembled, but that made Leo hold on to it even more tightly. They stood in silence, watching Dad, whose longish mane seemed to have more volume than usual, as if the shock had somehow raised all his hair.
He shot to his feet so fast the chair would have fallen over, were it not for the confines of the corner. “Zolt. What the fuck!” he said, moving as if he intended to circle the room, but after one glance at the chairs blocking his way, he climbed on the table and grabbed the front of Zolt’s T-shirt, yanking him closer.
Zolt let go of Leo and grabbed Dad’s wrists to keep the deceptively strong hands from going for a chokehold. “Hank, come on—”
Leo was having none of it and pushed Dad back, breathing in the smell of furniture varnish and cigarettes that clung to everything inside the room. “Stop it! I know it’s not a good time, but it can’t wait. I can’t be sneaking around with him here until something embarrassing happens and forces me to come out.”
Dad huffed, looking between them so abruptly he’d probably get whiplash. “This is already embarrassing! Since when are you gay, huh?”
Leo shook his head. “I’m not gay. But I love Zolt, so I guess I’m… bisexual.”
Dad scowled, pulled Zolt closer, and smashed his fist into Zolt’s already-bruised face before Leo could have moved a finger. “What the hell have you done, Zolt?”
This time, Zolt didn’t try to remain passive and hit Dad’s solar plexus, sending him back on the table. “Relax!”
Like a beetle that had been knocked over, Dad scrambled back to his knees, but he still held on to his stomach, and his bared teeth promised them both a lengthy and painful death. “You touched my son, you fucking perv! If you think you’re getting out of here on your own feet, you have another thing coming!”
Leo stood between them with a huff. “I’m not a kid, dad! I’m thirty!”
“Thirty and out of your goddamn mind! Two months ago, you were proposing to what’s-her-name, and now this? The fuck are you doing with your life, Leo? Someone sucks your dick a few times and you’re ‘in love’? Hadn’t you come here just last night and told me you can’t be around him anymore?”
The pressure in Leo’s brain rose with every passing second. “We had a misunderstanding last night. What he and I share is so much more than sex.” He thought of the way Zolt adored him, how much fun they had together, how they’d told each other things no one else knew, and how very much at ease he was around Zolt. He’d never experienced a connection so deep before.
Dad had to take a few long inhales before speaking and rubbed his forehead with a tired sigh. “So that’s it? You’re giving up on your future, on family, on children, just because all of a sudden you like dick? Yes Leo, out of all my sons, I expected more of you.”
The words hurt as if Dad had driven a rusty hunting knife into his chest and was now pulling it out, but Leo would take all those punches, because he was the kind of man who stood up for what he believed in. “Plans change, okay? I always thought I’d have a family like you, and that I’d fall in love with a woman who I’d have kids with, but it hasn’t worked out. I’m done following a plan just for the sake of it when I’ve got something real right in front of me. And I’m gonna have a kid with Mona anyway. Times change, Dad. We can’t all be like you.”
Dad just sat there, blinking at Leo, face red, fists clenching. “You got Mona pregnant? Aren’t you best friends with Rain? What are you doing with your life, son?”
“Jesus, fuck, Dad! Of course Rain knows! I never put my dick in her. It was all Rain, Mona, a turkey baster, and my baby juice.”
Zolt scowled, as if the very image offended him.