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)
Rain sighed. “Okay, keep your ass safe,” she added as a joke, but Leo didn’t laugh and hung up.
He collapsed to the blanket in frustration. How was he even supposed to give thought to spawning a kid when all he could think of lately was dick? And not just any dick, but Zolt’s. It was as if his mind had no space left for anyone or anything else. It had felt fantastic for a while, but what had happened earlier left a black hole in Leo’s chest, and it was already eating him alive.
He did want to help out Rain and Mona, but talking about children was only making him agitated, because it drove home the fact that he wasn’t any closer to having a family than he’d been five years ago, while Dad had had Jack, his first son, at seventeen.
And the harder he tried to figure it all out, the less success he seemed to have. The tequila wasn’t helping him solve any of those problems, and as he drank more, his stomach turned into a bottomless pit of hunger that could no longer be suppressed. He could grab something at a drive-through, but the liquor had already hit him and made the world fuzzy.
His gaze begrudgingly wandered to the back door lit up by a single bulb above.
He had leftover chicken in the fridge. If he was quick and ignored all the stupid comments thrown his way, he’d be in and out of that snake pit.
Getting off the pickup bed proved a bit of a challenge, but a few deep breaths of cool air helped, and he walked to the back door with more confidence. He opened the door to roars of laughter that almost dulled Anders’ attempts at explaining something in his harsh accent.
If Leo understood correctly, they were discussing whether Anders, an economy professor, should or shouldn’t fuck his student. Hilarious.
“They taste best when they’re unsure,” Zolt said through his laughter, making Leo freeze in the corridor. He rolled his forehead against the wall, cringing all over when he remembered his own enthusiastic moans, uttered just hours ago while Zolt pounded him from behind.
Neil, Zolt’s closest friend and gym buddy, added his voice to the discussion. “I bet your pet biker is super-confused by now.”
“Hey!” Anders said. “Can we please not change the subject? So Ricky’s an adult, he’s twenty five and smells of a submissive. Why would it be so wrong? He only takes one class with me.”
But all Leo could think about as Sidell cackled like a hyena was that Neil had called him Zolt’s ‘pet biker’. Zolt hadn’t… told Neil about them, had he?
Anxiety and shame were like two sets of shackles holding him in place, but there was no way for him to hide forever, so he shut the door loudly and strode in as if he hadn’t caught any of the conversation. They only stopped for a second before erupting into barked suggestions for Anders. Of course they all wanted to help him out now that the conversation might turn the token straight guy into the butt of the joke.
“Squeeze his ass. You can always claim you thought he was someone else if he doesn’t like it,” Neil said, his gaze briefly darting toward Leo.
“Or you can claim a punch to the face,” Leo mumbled as he reached the fridge.
Sidell took a sip from his whisky glass. “Someone’s sat down on a stick tonight.”
Leo’s body went aflame, and all the tequila rose straight back to his head. He spun around and shoved at Sidell’s shoulder. “The fuck did you say?”
Neil captured his gaze from the other side of the table, which shook as the edges of Leo’s vision blurred. Was he really that drunk? “How about you stop throwing your weight around? You haven’t been invited.”
Zolt sat still, his gaze on the hand of cards he was holding. The bastard didn’t even have the courage to look up.
Leo considered turning his aggression at Neil, but stepped back in the end. Enough was enough. None of those clowns were there to steal their drugs, and he needed to get out of this toxic environment.
He took his plate of chicken and headed out. “I’m going to Reno. I’m done with all this gay bullshit,” he said for Zolt’s benefit, and it worked, because the man stirred and met his gaze at last.
“No, you’re going anywhere. You can’t stand straight.”
Leo snorted, spinning around so abruptly he stumbled into the wall. “Like you care. Get back to your cards, I’ll be back by morning.”
Anders cocked his head. “Do women really fall for that bad boy thing you’ve got going on?”
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out tonight.” Leo spread his arms, but he must have overestimated his drunken coordination again, because the sliced chicken slid off the plate and landed on the floor.