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)
Nothing new.
He’d rather remember Leo the way he had been while they’d stayed cooped up in the pawn shop, where only the two of them knew how well their bodies fit together as they slept.
He groaned at the dick pic he received and pushed his phone into his pocket, staring at the old TV where he’d hidden some of the drugs. He didn’t feel like hooking up anymore.
Everything in the store reminded him of Leo. The shelves Leo had put up, and the new blue fish Leo had chosen for Zolt just days earlier. If they had avoided that messed-up conversation at the supermarket, Zolt could’ve been sucking Leo’s dick right now instead of overthinking things like a lovesick teenager.
Mike could be fun to be around, but Zolt had no doubt he’d be an annoying roommate who brought girls over even when told not to. Jack and Zolt hadn’t seen eye to eye since the gun cock-up, and Axel was a grim motherfucker who barely spoke, and Zolt wouldn’t be surprised if his own family sometimes forgot about his existence.
Why did Leo have to ruin everything by questioning the unspoken rules of their arrangement?
Zolt stormed back into his apartment, angered by the mess. By Sidell’s fallen chair, which he still hadn’t picked up, and pissed off at the sneaker cabinet Leo had upgraded with new doors. It would remain an eyesore until Zolt moved, so maybe he should treat it as a sign.
He’d gotten greedy, and what use would all the money be if he ended up with a bullet in his head? If he made his move now, he could be gone before the Hellers sent over another one of theirs. He’d just leave the shop behind and fuck off to the Caribbean with whatever cash and jewelry he had.
But there was another asset he could liquidate fast.
He opened up the back of the old TV to recount the bags of drugs. Ten solid kilos of coke could easily add a hundred grand to his retirement fund, even if he sold it on the cheap. More than enough to make up for the jewelry the Smokeys had taken off him, or the money he’d lost on the guns sold to the Jackals. He would still have to count the cash he had hidden around, but it would come up to a substantial sum, especially once he sold the gold bars later.
His hands were damp by the time he chose Trowley’s number, but he’d already made his choice. Leo wanted him gone? He’d get what he wished for.
***
There wasn’t much good man meat in the bar, but Zolt wouldn’t have to worry about scarcity ever again once he settled in his personal paradise. He’d have enough cash in his savings account to live off the interest, and when he didn’t feel up for a challenge, he’d have escorts gagging for his dick anyway.
And when he didn’t feel like putting any effort into his social life, like tonight, he could just drink his whisky and think about all the guys who could be his if he only wanted.
His favorite dive bar wasn’t particularly classy, but it was located by a busy road into Reno, which offered Zolt what he wanted— visitors from out of town eager to party on the cheap before hitting the casinos.
Zolt emptied another glass and gestured at the bartender, asking for another.
He wondered what Leo had told his dad, but no one called him from the Smoke Valley MC headquarters, so maybe Leo hadn’t gone home after all? Maybe he was sulking in a bar much like this one, drunkenly picking up girls to reassert his straightness and claw any reminders of Zolt out of his flesh, as if they were buckshot.
By the time he had his third glass, the bartender tried to strike up a conversation, but Zolt wasn’t interested in chatting to her, too preoccupied with the clouds passing through his mind like bettas in a fish tank.
He looked at his watch. It was past midnight, and if he returned home in two hours, he’d have just enough time to sleep off the alcohol and receive the Jackals early in the morning.
And then, he’d be off.
Gone. And he would never have to see Leo Heller again.
It would come at the cost of even greater betrayal—the betrayal of Leo’s family—but Zolt was a bastard, so it wasn’t like Leo’s opinion of him could get any lower.
A young guy with a crew cut similar to Leo’s sat next to Zolt with his own drink. “Nice watch. Is that a Rolex?”
Zolt chuckled and presented his wrist to the stranger. So there was some fresh meat in this dump after all. “Why, you wanna touch it?” he asked, rolling his tongue with difficulty.
The guy met his eyes, as if searching for a cue. Not that experienced, then. Too bad it made Zolt think of Leo, for whom he’d been the first in everything. Without Zolt in his life, he wouldn’t seek out any more guys, or at least that was what he’d claimed in a moment of intense emotion. Such declarations were usually words thrown into the wind, but Leo had always been different, so maybe he’d really stick to girls and reminisce about his brief and disappointing time with Zolt until the day he died.