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)
Laurent couldn’t believe how a perfectly good evening had turned into such a disaster. He’d first pulled Beast away from conversations about the house, simply because thwarting such plans was his job, but then the spur-of-the moment decision to distract Beast by suggesting expanding their bedroom repertoire turned into an unstoppable avalanche of regrets.
At first, he had thought the test of Beast’s patience a sound idea. One that would once and for all provide the sense of safety and trust Laurent needed to fully give his body to Beast and enjoy their lovemaking without even a hint of fear. Nothing went as planned once he put his idea into motion. In his dumb head, he’d only taken his own anxiety into account, completely forgetting how his actions would affect his strong but loving Beast.
So then he had to explain to Beast why it was that he was so rattled. One thing led to another, and here Laurent was. Alone, even if with hope in his heart that Beast did believe him. He seemed sincere when asking questions, not suspicious like he had been at first.
Laurent just wished to be included more. He wished he was allowed to be with Beast and Knight, not tossed away the moment Beast found something more important to think about. Now that Beast knew of the time travel, Laurent itched to talk with him of things that he’d been forced to keep secret so far. And yet Beast wasn’t there for him, too busy with the new discovery.
Outside the bedroom, a door clicked, and loud male voices spilled out, making Laurent lift his head off the pillow and glance toward the entrance. He soon recognized that Beast and Knight must have left the room where Laurent wasn’t allowed.
It was a thorn in his side.
Laurent slid out of bed and walked up to the door with his feet bare, putting on his glasses on the way. The chill that greeted him beyond the heat of the comforter gave him goose bumps, but he was too eager to hear what was being said to care.
He put his ear against the door.
Knight sounded agitated. “This is history, Beast. We need to have someone preserve those bones for future generations.”
“We can’t call the authorities now. Gray and Rev recently came back from the run, and we have too much cargo in the clubhouse to risk it. This needs to stay quiet for now. Those bones aren’t going anywhere,” Beast said, and Laurent heard the familiar clinking of glass.
‘Cargo’ was another secret Beast would only tell Laurent vague lies about before changing the subject, but Laurent wasn’t an idiot. He knew that some of the sources of income of the Kings of Hell were shady at best. Men left only to come back a few days later with small packages that everyone treated with such reverence they might have been holy objects. It seemed some of the women knew what was really going on but pretended not to, so he followed their example and avoided the topic.
If only ignoring secrets was as easy when it came to the secret room, which hid something of personal value to Laurent’s lover.
Knight let out a groan of frustration. “So the Count is still allowed to make his stupid and unproven claims about Fane and his methods of killing, and I’m supposed to just sit on my hands and listen to his ranty YouTube videos—”
“What the fuck, Knight? What do you care what some dude says on the internet? He’s yet another conspiracy theorist.”
“He’s tarnishing the memory of my ancestors! Do you know that one of his theories is that Laurent was a male prostitute who was in on Fane’s scheme, and the murder was caused by an argument over money?”
Beast remained silent before giving a grumpy sigh. “We both know it’s not true. And it’s not like I’m saying this should be kept under wraps forever, but we need to take into account that a body might attract feds, and we’d have to tiptoe around them until they confirm the age of the corpse. Isn’t the club more important?”
Laurent was still processing the fact that some unknown man was making up lewd things about him when Knight responded, clearly unhappy.
“I guess. We can arrange a reveal with historians and all that once you’re back from the next trip and we have nothing to hide.”
Beast was going somewhere? This was the first time Laurent was hearing about it.
“We’d also need to talk to the others, and we both know King’s not gonna like it. If you want to stop creepy serial killer fans from writing Fane/Laurent fanfiction, maybe you should come up with a case for King to agree to this, because he never really listens to me.”
“Laurent Mercier deserves better,” Knight said, but his voice drifted off, and after another click of doors, Laurent realized Beast and Knight must have left the apartment.