To Die For - Davidson King

Chapter One

Max

The sounds of boisterous laughter jolted me awake from my arousing dream. Every part of me wanted to slide my hand under the sheet and jack myself off to relieve the serious pressure, but it wasn’t an option because I lived in a house with people who didn’t believe in boundaries. Judging by how close the laughter was, I had maybe a minute until one of my sisters barged into my room.

I was able to slip my pants on before the inevitable happened. “Max, Ma wants you to run to the butcher and get those sausages she ordered.” Frances, my youngest sister, had a mischievous grin, as if she found joy in invading my privacy.

“Get out, Franny. You know I work late. Ma knows I work late. You’re harassing me.” I wagged a finger in her direction. “I also know she got those sausages, so fuck off.”

Her tinkling laughter always made my bad mood brighten, and I couldn’t hold my frown.

“Fine. You wanna sleep all day and miss Mama’s lasagna, that’s up to you.”

There was no way I was missing that. A quick look at the clock showed it was almost two in the afternoon. I had to be at work around six, so I had plenty of time.

“Let me shower, I’ll be down soon.”

After she left, I made my way to my en suite. Being the oldest, and the only male in the house, I had the biggest space. Living with my mother and sisters wasn’t ideal, but it was necessary. When my father passed away ten years ago, we all had to come together to make ends meet. My father was old-fashioned in that he was the breadwinner and went to work but my ma didn’t. She stayed home and took care of the house and kids. Between the four siblings, we were able to get jobs and keep things running really well.

I started the shower and, as I washed, thought about my life. Teresa, only two years younger, was married and had two kids. She and her family lived three blocks from us and while we no longer had her income, we did just fine. My job was pretty fabulous; I worked at the greatest gay club in all of Haven Hart. Joker’s Sin was unique, had the best of everything, and was run by my close friend Atlas Durand. He was a showman and had built the place up from nothing. When he asked me to run the bar there, I took it seriously and with the amazing paycheck, I knew I could help take care of my family while doing something I loved.

“Max!” I heard Teresa’s shout right as I shut the water off. Rolling my eyes, I snagged a towel and dried off.

“What?” I yelled back. There was never a low-volume conversation with my family. She was downstairs and unless I went to meet her, we would have this talk through the floor.

“Barney has bags of ice, and he needs help.” Barney was her husband. Great guy and likely didn’t need my help, but that didn’t matter to my sister.

“Be there in a few. I just got out of the shower.”

I quickly dressed and met my family in the dining room, where Maria, my other sister, was just placing fresh-baked bread on the table.

“There’s my boy.” Ma came around the table, held my face in the palms of her hands, and kissed my cheeks. “You work so hard, so late. Here, sit and eat.”

“You know, Ma, I work at a daycare for eight hours a day. Why don’t you ever love me like you do Max?” Maria asked as she sat beside Frances.

“Hush and eat your food. Kids are a blessing.” That was how Ma answered questions she didn’t want to answer—by saying something was a blessing.

We made small talk as we ate. Barney told us about his construction company and the new project he was working on. Teresa worked from home, so she was able to be with Steven and Valarie, my nephew and niece, who were three and one, so I heard about the exciting and often gross new things happening there. They were great kids, and Ma doted on them all the time since they were the only grandkids. Like right now, she helped feed Val so Teresa could eat.

Maria and Frances didn’t have a lot to say about their jobs, and when there was a sudden silence at the always loud table, I knew what was coming.

“How about you, Max?”