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)
Zolt extended his hand for the box. “It’s yours then.” He didn’t even care to haggle and use the customer’s enthusiasm against him. Maybe he really was turning soft.
The guy went outside, got into his old car, and drove off, leaving Zolt with the jewelry box in hand. He opened it and took in at the simple band with diamonds. “Look what’s back,” he said, handing it to Leo.
“I thought I recognized that fucking box,” Leo groaned at the sight of the ring. “I wish the Jackals had taken it. Then again, at least you can make some cash on it again.”
“We’ll need it if your dad disinherits you,” Zolt said, but the joke came out grimmer than he intended.
Leo raised his eyebrows. “Maybe I should keep it then? You deserve to give it up for that joke alone.”
Zolt faced him and hid the box behind his back. Memories of their first kiss flooded his mind in warm waves, and he found the strength to smile. “What will I get in return?”
Leo took a step closer, a smile quirking his mouth. “I could spare a kiss, but only if you never tell anyone about it,” he whispered in the seductive tone that warmed up Zolt’s heart, even as they stood among the ruins of his life.
Chapter 25 – Leo
Leo needed to pick up his motorbike from the bar where he’d left it last night, so Zolt packed the pickup with his most important possessions, including his sneakers, and some valuables from the pawn shop, and they drove into Reno before heading to Hawk Springs in separate vehicles.
The hour-long solo journey offered Leo plenty of time to ponder what to tell his family, but his brain was a pressure cooker, and the tangle of thoughts inside it became mush very fast, leaving him without answers.
He imagined the myriad of ways in which his brothers might react—from cracking jokes at his expense, through criticism, to outright disgust from his least favorite cousin, Kane. He doubted he’d be kicked out of the club, or told to not date Zolt. After all, Rain had been allowed to join the Smokeys, and she was a lesbian. Of course the guys saw that in a different light, but they were all family, and he sincerely hoped they’d all come around.
Still, he wasn’t looking forward to facing Dad and telling him the truth, and his stomach already hurt in anticipation, because even if he wasn’t taken to the desert and shot, Dad could start treating him differently, reject him, disrespect him or mistrust him. Just thinking about it made Leo want to hide in a shell and never crawl out, but since Zolt was also on the line, he could not hide the truth anymore.
After a life of unsuccessfully searching for love, he was not about to reject the first person who’d made him feel so much solely because his family and friends might not agree with his choice of partner.
Zolt’s pickup slowed down once they entered Hawk Springs, and since the road was empty, Leo sped up to briefly ride alongside him. Zolt glanced his way, and his somber expression transformed into a smile. He kneaded the top of the steering wheel and sat straighter as they made their way through the small town, toward the Smoke Valley MC compound.
Leo could only imagine how Zolt was feeling. While he himself didn’t expect sunshine and rainbows from the get-go, he trusted his loved ones to eventually accept them as a couple, but Zolt’s experience with relatives had been a string of disappointments, and the fact that he trusted Leo’s judgment enough to agree to what they were about to do willed Leo with pride.
Leo would not falter and make things right, no matter what it took.
He gestured at Zolt to slow down as soon as he spotted the police cars parked in the gas station by the club’s compound. They would not drive in there with several bags of coke as the cops sniffed around.
Leo was at loss as to what he should do, but before he and Zolt could have made up their minds about where to wait out the police search, the cops left the compound and drove off.
Zolt leaned back in the seat and glanced at Leo, who stood outside, resting his hands on his hips. “Might be a bad moment.”
Leo shook his head. He suspected the Jackals had tipped off the cops once again, this time certain there would be drugs at the Smoke Valley MC compound, but he hadn’t seen anyone getting arrested yet. “There will never be a good moment, let’s go.”
Zolt’s mouth twisted, and he grabbed Leo’s fingers where they rested on the lower edge of the open window. “If they kill me, it’s on you.”
Leo bit back a smile, overcome with a wave of tenderness when he looked at Zolt’s black eye. Zolt was bigger than him, a tough guy in his own right, yet he inspired such fiercely protective feelings in Leo, he’d challenge anyone who tried to fuck with Zolt.