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’s body buzzed, but he wasn’t sure whether it was from anger or lust, so he shook his head. “The shop’s still open. Let yourself out through the back and carry it all in for now. Just remember to lock up this time,” he said and made his way behind the counter. There. He could be perfectly impersonal and professional. This way, at least, maybe this tiresome arrangement would be less humiliating.
“Me? It’s not my house, I wasn’t the one supposed to lock—oh, whatever!” Leo waved him off and stormed away like a prissy princess covered in tattoos. Ridiculous.
But when he disappeared into Zolt’s apartment, the tension brought upon by his unexpected presence dissipated, and Zolt’s brain cooked with anger. So the rejection had been humiliating, big deal. He should have moved on, ignored Leo, but it was one thing to ignore him when he was one of many, and quite another if he was to stay in Zolt’s small apartment for an unspecified time.
How was Zolt to have hook-ups over? Even if he put Leo on the couch, a guest would need to pass him on the way to the bedroom. And sending Leo away for the night just to get a fuck beat the whole point of having him here for extra protection. If it wasn’t for the money, Zolt might have called the whole thing off.
And, of course, the Smokeys arrived with the drugs on his weekly poker night, so Zolt would have to somehow explain Leo’s presence to his friends.
It was a goddamn disaster.
More customers entered the pawn shop, though regretfully, none were interested in Leo’s engagement ring, which seemed to exist for the sole purpose of being a thorn in Zolt’s side.
At least customers provided him with something to do. He ended up overpaying for a saber an elderly lady claimed belonged to her great-great-great-Grandfather, back in the old country—wherever that was, but he counted it as his good deed for the month.
It took Leo half an hour to get back into the shop, smiling as if he wasn’t involved in drug trafficking. Were he wearing a name tag, anyone could have mistaken him for an employee. Then again, he actually had a patch with his name on the leather vest, so he fit right in.
“Maybe it’s best if you take that off for now,” Zolt said as a young couple left the shop with a guitar.
He couldn’t specify why Leo’s presence bothered him so much. Leo was hardly the first cock-teasing straight guy to reject Zolt, so maybe he was just getting old and not as desirable as he used to be in his late twenties. Or maybe it was because Leo had given in to the kiss with so much passion that Zolt knew Leo could have been his. If Joe hadn’t come in and spoiled it all.
Zolt could risk making a bold move on some hot-cold office worker, but if he got too pushy with Hank’s son, things might get out of hand, and that was the last thing he needed right before he was ready to retire.
Leo opened his mouth, as if he wanted to protest, but then sighed and once more disappeared in the back. He could have been chosen because he wasn’t as memorable as some of his distinct-looking brothers and cousins, so as long as he wasn’t wearing the vest or prancing around with his back bare, a random Jackal might not recognize Leo as a Smokey. Not that Zolt wanted him around the Jackal Brothers in the first place, but they didn’t visit often anyway. And if they came over, Leo would hide in the apartment. Easy-peasy.
“So, do you know how long it’s gonna take?” he asked when Leo came back.
Leo leaned over the jewelry counter, no doubt looking at the ring he’d left in Zolt’s hands. Well, if he wanted it back, he’d have to pay for it. No discounts this time. “Hard to say. Could be days, could be weeks.” In the white T-shirt-blue jeans combo, he could be mistaken for the bad boy next door with nothing but speeding tickets and underage drinking on his record.
All the mixed signals he’d given Zolt in the past had built up resentment, but no matter how unpleasant the rejection had been, Leo was trying to find common ground now, and it occurred to Zolt that out of the two of them, he was the one fussing about not getting the toy he wanted. It was embarrassing.
“And why did he choose you for the job? Or did you volunteer?” he asked, unable to keep himself from teasing just to see that pretty flush emerge from under Leo’s T-shirt.
“No!” Leo protested all too quickly. “I just had the time. Most of the other guys have families, and Jeff’s not experienced enough.”