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)
“Go on boy, hand over your firearm. I know you have one,” the bastard said, pushing words through his large, densely packed teeth.
Leo detested being called a ‘boy’ just a bit less than having a gun pointed at him. How could a single night end up so fucked up? Not only had he just found out Zolt worked with the Jackals behind their back, but also knew that the bald fucker wouldn’t miss this opportunity to badmouth the Smokeys. He’d go right back to his trailer trash family and tell everyone who’d listen that Leo Heller was gay.
Which he wasn’t.
Leo reluctantly reached under his leather vest, calculating what he could use for distraction, but the Jackal’s bloodshot eyes followed every move he made, hands steady on the gun that could fire at any moment.
Zolt raised his hands and took a step closer to the bastard who now held their lives in his big hands. “Look, Joe, can I just roll out of this space? I’m too damn close to the trajectory of those bullets you want to send his way.”
Leo scowled at the man who’d just been kissing him into oblivion and spread his arms. “Seriously, Zolt? Seriously? You gonna let this piece of shit hobo shoot me in your fucking store?”
“What did you call me?” The Jackal yelled, shaking his gun at Leo. He no longer paid any attention to Zolt, who gingerly rolled over the counter, in no hurry to risk his life for one of the many guys he’d surely caught on that same hook.
“Called you a piece of shit, and your good for nothing ‘brothers’ are hobos in leather jackets!”
“You faggot sonofabitch,” the Jackal roared, his eyes bulging out of his round face, and as the tendons in his neck tightened, Leo knew what was coming.
A bullet swished right next to his head, tearing through the air. Leo’s lungs constricted, and he dropped to the floor, already feeling phantom blood drizzling out of a hole in his forehead. A crunch told him the projectile had hit something else, but he only looked up when Zolt uttered an inhuman howl and clashed with the Jackal, smashing him against the wall. They collapsed behind the counter, out of Leo’s sight, but the gun fired again, and the bullet burst through the edge of the countertop, hitting the ceiling.
Leo didn’t have time to think about Zolt’s actual intentions, because right now, Zolt was fighting for both their lives at the cost of damage to his store.
“I’m gonna fuck up both of you!” yelled the Jackal, and seeing his opening, Leo screamed to grab his attention.
That gave Zolt the split second he needed to force the gun out of the Jackal’s hand and get back to his feet. But instead of giving up, Joe fought with the ferocity of a cornered raccoon.
Leo didn’t waste any time. He ran up to them and jumped on top of the fucker. Adrenaline thickened Leo’s blood, but the Jackal bucked under him, as if he were a bull desperate to throw off its rider and trample him to death. “Get some cuffs or something!” he yelled to Zolt.
The gun had spiraled across the laminate floor and hit the jewelry cabinet, far out of the Jackal’s reach, and the bastard roared, thrashing in an attempt to get to it. Leo tried to twist the thick arms back, but it became even more of a struggle when they both saw Zolt bolt across the store, toward a display of pawned weapons.
Leo lost his breath when the huge Jackal managed to slam his elbow into his torso, scrambling away and toward the fallen firearm. This would have been a good moment to draw, but Leo’s fury had reached boiling point. Tonight’s fiascos powered his legs, and he chased Joe down, grabbed the fucker’s nape, and slammed his head into the glass jewelry counter.
Logical thinking only kicked in when the glass smashed into pieces and Joe’s head sank in through a hole full of razor-sharp edges.
He howled like a wounded animal and shook his head, trying to shove Leo off him, but his voice turned into a gurgle, and dark red blood poured into the cabinet, flooding all the rings and necklaces. As Joe stilled, the trickle of blood reached the floor.
Leo stood paralyzed, still holding the Jackal’s head, but the guy could no longer stand.
Some of the sturdier glass broke away, staying in Joe’s gored neck as he toppled over, twitched a few more times, and froze in a pool of his own blood.
The air was so thick with death, the sound of bare feet tapping the floor behind Leo triggered the need to attack first, before the other predator could bite through his aorta.
“Couldn’t you fucking go with what I said?” Zolt asked in a raspy voice.