To Die For - Davidson King Page 0,11

And he was right.

So, we walked for a good twenty minutes, all around the building. We turned the corner back to where the entrance was, and I noticed two cars outside of Ashley’s Haven. There was nothing over there except the studio, and the cars were directly by the front door. Tank stopped and finally peed, and I observed what was going on. Which was a whole lot of nothing at first. The cars were just there.

I started for the entrance to my apartment when I heard car doors close. Turning, I saw four very large men walk toward the door of Ashley’s. One tried the handle, obviously finding it locked. I lifted Tank in my arms and shouted from across the way.

“Hey, the place is closed.”

All four guys turned in unison…Creepy. One spoke, “Yes, we’re aware. Our boss bought the building from Earl Hester.” He said it in such a way that it excused him from entering my place of business.

“Are you the new landlord?” I stayed across the street. I was no match for those guys, and no one else was around at this hour.

“My boss is, yes.”

“Well, you need to contact the tenant of that building and give them twenty-four hours’ notice before any sort of inspection or whatnot.” Tank started wiggling, likely disliking how I was shouting.

“I see,” the man said. “I must’ve misunderstood Earl. I will contact the tenant. Have a good evening.” It was so odd, the whole thing, I mused as I watched them get in their cars and drive off.

I rushed inside my apartment and not caring about the hour, called Earl. He seemed as surprised as I was, seeing as papers weren’t signed yet. Apparently the new landlord, who wanted the dinner with all his new tenants, was going to sign the official papers with Earl after that.

Earl promised to make a few calls and let me know what he found out sometime this afternoon. By the time I calmed down, showered, and got ready for bed, it was already five in the morning. I hoped to get at least two hours of sleep before my class, but I had a feeling rest wasn’t going to come easy.

Class the next day was rough. I got maybe thirty minutes of sleep, and my legs felt like tree trunks. Alexandra, being the angel she was, took over most of my classes. Around two, Earl came by, and we went to my office.

“So, any news?” I asked.

“It seems it was a miscommunication. Dates got mixed up, but they promised not to show up again until everything is official and will give notice.”

“Earl?” I propped my elbows on my desk and rested my chin in my hands. “Who is this new landlord? What’s his name?”

“It’s more of a corporation—”

“Last night one of the guys said ‘Our boss,’ Earl.”

He shrugged. “From what I understand, there’s a project manager for each property, so at the dinner you’ll meet the one for this building and the guy at the head. There are so many names, Lane, I—”

“This doesn’t feel right.”

“It’ll be great, he just…the guy said he wanted to meet everyone at once. Asked to keep it under wraps in case the deal fell through. He didn’t want hard feelings or anything anywhere.”

Nothing about this sat well with me, but at least no papers were officially signed. “Fine, when is this meeting dinner thing?”

He smiled and handed over a card. “Tomorrow night. Seven. He got a private room at Vayne’s.”

Vayne’s was one of, if not the best restaurant in all of Haven Hart. Private rooms were booked out months in advance, so something told me this guy was a bigwig.

“Okay, I’ll see you then, Earl.”

Chapter Seven

Max

I wasn’t proud of myself…Well, I wasn’t proud of myself after I had the information I finally had. As soon as I got home from dropping Sparkles off, I booted up my computer and googled Ashley’s Haven Dance Studio. I read the entire site. Lane Ashley. That was Sparkles’s real name. As I stared at his picture on the site and looked at the gallery of photos, I was enthralled. He was in so many different poses…The guy was seriously talented. Why wasn’t he dancing with some company, why teach?

I didn’t fall asleep until close to ten that morning, but it was okay because I didn’t have to be at work until five. I dreamed of Sparkles, dancing just for me, naked. But with each turn, twist, and leap, shadows covered parts of