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)
He was too tired to move his head and follow Leo with his gaze but listened to the crunch of sand under his feet. All the locks opened, then the light came on with the tiniest of clicks, and when Leo approached the pickup again, goosebumps erupted all over Zolt’s skin before the door on his side even opened.
“Thank you for coming,” he whispered.
“It’s okay,” Leo said in the softest of voices as he helped Zolt out of the vehicle. “Everyone needs a friend.”
The distance between the pickup and the entrance to Zolt’s apartment was so short yet felt like miles tonight. He wasn’t sure what weighed him down more—the physical pain or the sinking feeling that he didn’t deserve Leo’s friendship. Here was a guy who’d been so badly hurt but still chose to help out the man at the root of his anguish, because he was a good person. Was there a single rotten fibre in his heart? There had been the murder, but he who hath not sinned and all that.
Zolt said nothing, because how could he excuse his behavior or ask Leo for forgiveness? He’d fucked up the one good thing that had happened to him, and that was that. He’d missed his chance and should’ve been glad Leo hadn’t told him to go fuck himself.
“Careful now…” Leo said as he led Zolt to the bedroom and helped him sit. “We’ll check for broken ribs. How’s your face feeling? Did the beard cushion the blow?” he asked with a little smile.
“That bad, huh?” Zolt forced out a chuckle for Leo’s benefit.
“There’s blood all over it. Do you feel good enough to stand in the shower for a bit? It would do you good to warm up and wash off all that blood.”
Zolt shut his eyes, choking up again. He’d done enough tonight, and keeping Leo chained here was the last thing he wanted. “Look, I’ll be fine. You don’t have to do this.”
“But I want to. I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing I left you like this anyway.”
That shut Zolt’s mouth, and he nodded, carefully peeling his T-shirt off his beaten body. “Yeah, okay.”
Leo groaned and grabbed Zolt’s left wrist, turning it as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. “No… did they take your Rolex too? Shit, Zolt. Think next time.” But he was getting undressed as well, and the sight of his lean, muscular body was so familiar by now Zolt ached to touch him.
Leo had already expressed how much he loathed the idea of Zolt soliciting a prostitute, so he chose not to say that the watch had been what started the whole thing. “What can I say, it’s been a day of bad choices.”
Leo shook his head at the extent of the bruising on Zolt’s stomach and helped him up, but he did stay in his briefs while Zolt got naked. “What’s done is done.”
Zolt filled his chest with air. He should’ve been happy that Leo seemed so ready to forgive him, but it made him uncomfortable instead. When their eyes met, glaciers reflecting the stormy sea of Leo’s gaze, Leo’s words from earlier hit him at full force. He’d said that he loved Zolt, that he wanted to introduce him to his family as a life partner, and that he would take his side if things got ugly.
He didn’t deserve such trust or devotion, but he longed to accept it all the same, regardless of how much his brain bucked against ideas of belonging and trust. “I’m sorry.”
“You should be. I bet losing that Rolex made a massive dent in your retirement plan.”
Zolt stiffened. The apology that had come to him with so much difficulty hadn’t even been understood the way he intended. Any other time, he’d have retreated and put his walls back up, but he was too raw to hide from what Leo offered.
“No. I’m not sorry about that. I deserved that. It… it feels good to hurt now, because it’s the only reason why you’re back here. I wouldn’t have called otherwise. I’d have never spoken to you again, even though I’d have wanted to,” he whispered, leaning against the wall when his head spun again.
Leo avoided Zolt’s eyes, heading for the bathroom. “Do you even know how fucked up that is?”
“You think that’s fucked up? Have you already forgotten what kind of guys I go for?” Zolt asked. If Leo decided to leave after all, he’d be there to block his way.
But Leo didn’t storm off. Like a caring boyfriend to the most undeserving man on the planet, he turned on the shower and put his hand into the stream of water to make sure it was the right temperature for them.
“I don’t know, Zolt. What kind of guys do you go for?”
For a few breathless seconds, Zolt was on the verge of retreating, of going back to the living room for a bottle that could make him fall asleep hard and fast, but as his head filled with a cacophony of pulsing, he stepped inside and grabbed Leo’s wrist. “Doesn’t matter. You might be my new type, Leo.”