To Die For - Davidson King Page 0,12
him. It was as if my brain wasn’t giving me permission to see him naked unless I got the okay.
At work I was distracted. I kept giving the wrong drinks to the wrong people and just couldn’t focus. Truth was, this was where the not feeling proud of myself part was kicking in. Should I not have googled? If Sparkles came in tonight, would he take one look at my face, point at me, and yell that he knew I’d cyberstalked him?
“Max, what’s up with you?” Atlas stood in front of me as I was heading to the other side of the bar. His whiskey eyes were narrowed, but the rest of him screamed that he was concerned.
“Just distracted is all.”
“That’s not like you; take a break and come with me.” He turned, not making it a choice. I let Shane know I’d be back and followed Atlas into his office.
“Sit,” Atlas said as he pointed to his couch. I did as I was told as he leaned against the front of his desk, arms crossed. “Talk.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. A million thoughts ran through my head, none sounding right. It all got jumbled and finally I just said, “I googled.”
Atlas’s brows shot to his hairline, and his mouth opened, but no words came out for a moment. “You googled, is that literal or some sick sort of—”
“Like on the computer, you perv.”
Atlas released a breath and came to sit next to me on the couch. “Start from the beginning, Max, ’cause I’m lost. You’re never distracted at work. Your job is art for you, and so many regular drinks are muscle memory. Yet you’re out there giving whiskey sours to people ordering Guinness.”
“Fine.” I went on to tell Atlas about driving Sparkles home, the studio, and then the googling.
“So, you went online and looked up the studio Sparkles told you he worked at, found out his name, and now what?”
I rolled my eyes. “I looked it up specifically to get his name. I had motive.”
Atlas chuckled. “Don’t you think Sparkles knew the possibility of you doing that?”
When Atlas said that, it made sense. Maybe Sparkles telling me he worked at the studio was some sort of mini olive branch.
“But should I tell him I know his real name?” I asked, wondering and hoping Atlas had some guidance for me.
“I think you honor the fact that he likes being called Sparkles and has never asked you to call him anything else. When I introduce myself to people as Mr. Durand, I’m not allowing them to call me Atlas.” He smiled at me and patted my shoulder. “You can tell Sparkles you know his real name if it helps you sleep at night, but respect his wishes if he asks you to not tell anyone, and to continue to call him Sparkles.”
“I can’t picture him as anyone else.”
Atlas nodded. “Yeah, me either.”
I didn’t ask Atlas if he knew Sparkles’s real name. I suspected he did—he knew a lot about the people in the club.
“Now, since I have you here.” Atlas stood and went over to his desk. “We’re doing a charity show for the LGBT Community Center.”
This was the first I’d heard about it. “Okay, um, when did this happen?”
“I got a call this morning from the director of the center. He asked if Joker’s Sin would do a charity show or something to raise money. Feels like a good idea. Great show and the center gets help.” He pulled out a blue paper. “I was just playing around with a few ideas for it. What do you think?”
“Drag and Drinks Charity Event at Joker’s Sin?”
“Has a good ring to it, don’t you think?”
It did, but I didn’t personally know any drag queens. I’d been to a few shows, but that was it. “Did you get some drag queens?”
He shook his head. “No, but I had an idea about that. I was hoping Sparkles would show up tonight—he’d be great with helping. So, if you see him, let me know. Otherwise, we can talk more about it tomorrow morning with Toby, Ledger, and Ciro.”
“Sure thing.” I handed him back the paper. “If it works, it sounds like a fun night.”
“Yeah, and I’ll need you to come up with a special drink for the evening. So, start getting creative.”
I smiled and was feeling a lot better when I left Atlas’s office. He was so much more than my boss—he was my friend, my brother. This place worked because he gave