Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“What’s offal?” Knox asked between swallowing and taking another massive bite.
“Organ meat. Liver, Heart, brains,” Ezra said patiently, chewing his salad.
Liv scowled. “Ew. Nah, thanks, I’d rather have the pizza. I didn’t know real pizzerias delivered all the way here, wow.”
“And while we’re at this,” Knox said, “Where is here?”
Liv blinked and put his arm around him on impulse. Knox was warm, and his damp, longish hair dripped water onto Liv’s forearm. “Y—yeah. Are we in Canada?”
Knox stiffened for a moment but didn’t pull away or complain. He was now Liv’s boyfriend after all.
Frank shook his head. “Pennsylvania. But you won’t be sightseeing any time soon. You’ll sleep in my workshop, and I’ll have jobs for you in the morning.”
“Your clothes should be washed and dried by then.” Ezra gave them a polite smile as he cut into his slice of pizza with a knife like a dainty old lady in a sitcom Liv watched as a kid.
Liv sighed in relief. “You two are the best people,” he said and made another pizza sandwich just as Knox finished his. With laughter rumbling deep in his throat, Liv turned to face him. He moved the folded bits next to his mouth as he spoke. “Look, I’m a duck.”
Knox snort-laughed and shoved at him. “Shut up! I’m eating! Now I can’t swallow!”
Liv spoke without thinking and wiggled his eyebrows at Knox. “That’s not what you said last night.”
Knox laughed harder, having to hide his full mouth. “I’m gonna choke if you keep doing this.”
Liv grinned and rolled the pizza sandwich into a tube which he poked at Knox’s face. “That also sounds familiar.”
Knox looked up at their hosts as he pushed away the pizza dough dick. “Sorry for my boyfriend, he’s unhinged but only loveably so.”
Ezra pursed his lips. “Should I prepare bibs to go with your breakfast?”
Liv swallowed, glancing at Knox. “Only if you serve us those… what are they—”
“Crayfish,” Knox added, grinning so wide his cheeks dipped a little.
Frank shook his head. “You’re not getting crayfish for breakfast.”
Ezra swallowed a sip of tea and offered Frank a smile. “At least they’re both male, so neither of them will suddenly end up pregnant with twins.”
Liv grinned and stole a kiss off Knox’s sauce-stained lips. “Yep. That’s the great thing about being gay. No condoms needed.”
Knox’s gaze followed Liv, and when he licked his lips after the kiss, Liv definitely felt a shiver go down his stomach. But it was probably just his body being happy about pizza.
“Yep, this stomach is staying hard and flat,” he added, placing his hand on Knox’s belly as his head drummed with the sound of his heartbeat.
“I sure fucking hope you two are on PrEP,” Ezra whispered.
Liv winked at him. “No, only he needs to prep.”
Knox’s blue eyes went wide, his face reddened, and he slapped Liv with a slice of pizza. “Don’t fucking tell them that kind of shit!”
Frank got up. “I see you’re both done if you’re playing with your food. Let’s go get the mattress.”
Knox packed the rest of the slice into his mouth. Man, that thing had lots of capacity, and Liv definitely shouldn’t be thinking about it in the context of shampoo squirts and Knox looking up at him while on his knees.
What. The. Hell.
“Thank you for everything, and sorry about everything too,” Liv babbled, watching Ezra, who stared at him as if he were being forced to share a dining table with a hog. “I pretty much raised myself, so… feel free to tell me which cutlery to use for fish and shit. I’ll do anything for more of that home cooking.”
Ezra cleared his throat. “I didn’t make that—”
“You baked it for us, and that’s what counts!”
“I guess I did.” Ezra put a little piece of pizza into his mouth. Liv had to admit it was an amount that also allowed him to speak without mumbling. This guy had his shit together.
Frank led them to a small room with a single bed which might have been where they would have stayed if Ezra hadn’t suspected them of being psycho murderers. Which was fair enough. They grabbed the mattress and followed Frank outside.
Liv had no idea what time it was, but his stomach was full, his body clean, and he was about to rest his sore muscles in dry clothes. After days of uncertain misery, the current arrangement seemed luxurious, and while the workshop was filled with all kinds of junk and had a dusty smell, it would be a safe place to rest.
But instead of telling them to just put their new bed down, Frank continued through the workshop, to a door on the other side, and when they entered, Liv was astonished by how warm the interior behind it was.
While rough around the edges, the little office they found themselves in was clean and spider web-free, at first glance at least, and there were even two wooden pallets prepared for them to rest the mattress on. Ezra’s idea, no doubt.