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)
By Leo’s side, he could feel secure.
As they walked downstairs, Leo stopped in the hallway to show off some photos of the club members with their bikes, of Mike as a teen when he still did motocross, and of family gatherings. In a way, Kane being a part of it all put Zolt at ease. It meant that the Hellers didn’t reject any members of their biker family, even those who acted like dicks at times.
A couple was loudly having sex in one of the small rooms close to the office, but Zolt and Leo just looked at one another and joined the party outside. Several people danced to the rock music close to the grill where Kane prepared sausage the color of chili powder and made the air spicy enough for Zolt’s eyes to water, but the majority of the members and their guests chilled in foldable chairs, entertaining themselves with conversation. Even Mike wasn’t going after girls this time and instead chatted to his mom over beer.
Kurt, the VP of the club raised his bottle to Zolt when he saw him. Hank didn’t follow his example, but they had to start somewhere, and if Zolt wasn’t being skinned alive right now, he assumed things between him and Leo’s dad could only get better.
Zolt was about to melt into the small crowd of people, but Leo wouldn’t allow it and led him across the yard. It was too late for retreat by the time Zolt realized he was about to meet Leo’s mom. Sweat beaded on his back when her eyes—so very much like Leo’s—met his from behind Mike’s back.
Leo straightened by his side, beyond hot in the blue-yellow jacket. Zolt knew very well how important Mrs. Heller was to all the siblings, and if he won her approval, Hank would ease up on him for sure. Mrs. Heller had a lesbian daughter, and a gay employee at the gym she owned, so if he played his cards right, he could win this. Just like in poker, he needed the right expression on his face.
Short-haired, pretty, and with the figure of a thirty year old who hadn’t given birth to nine kids, she looked at home in the crowd of leather-clad bodies in her tight black pants and lacy top. They’d met before at one of the biker parties, but those were too saturated with pussy and strippers for his taste, so he hadn’t actually gotten to know Mrs. Heller.
“Leo,” she said once they approached. “Why did I hear the news from someone else?”
Zolt dreaded that it could have been Kane who spread all the gossip in unflattering ways, but it also hit him that he was nervous about talking to her. He rarely cared what others thought of him, yet here he was, sweating bullets in front of the tiny woman in black because her approval mattered to his future with her son.
“I’m sorry, Mom. There was just no right time for this… You’ve met Zolt, right?” Leo asked, but Zolt knew him well enough to recognize the tremble in his voice. It was obvious Leo dreaded this more than he had the confrontation with his father.
Zolt shook her hand, and she told him to call her Abby before getting down to business. “If this really is as serious as I’ve heard, I expect to see you around often, Zolt. We’re a close-knit family.”
She sounded threatening, but once Zolt put what she said through the word-grinder in his head, he realized that the message wasn’t ‘stay away from my son or I’ll pull your balls out through your eyeballs’. Abby Heller was inviting him to visit her and get to know the family. Despite the tense mood around Leo’s new relationship, she was welcoming him into her life.
In a flash of seconds, Zolt saw the future laid out in front of him.
He would live with Leo at the pawn shop. Leo would get ahead of himself, and end up making an extension for extra room, since they’d need a baby-proofed space. Zolt would prospect for the club. It would be annoying at times, especially around Kane, but all in all, he already knew all the Smokeys and they respected him for the way he handled his business.
He’d become a member, get the patches, and join the Smoke Valley MC family despite sharing no blood bond. His life would be nowhere near as peaceful as lounging in a sunchair on a beach, but he would know that all the people in his life were worthy of trust. They’d be a pack of bikers to be reckoned with as they drove into Reno. Years would pass, he’d attend family dinners, weddings, and birthdays, and he would never have to spend holidays on his own.
No matter what he’d told himself, his retirement plan had been built on bitterness and resentment, on lack of trust in human connection, and on the heart that got shattered all the way back in high school. That was no way to live.