To Die For - Davidson King Page 0,22

Well, actually, he was. If he was going to be an ass, then he’d come with me to the clinic and could walk back here for his bike. I put my seat belt on and drove. He didn’t protest, so that took some of the fun out of it.

“He got it stuck in the vent on the floor.” I peeked over to see Max’s reaction, but he was looking at Tank in his doggie seat like he was some experiment.

“He? But there’s a sparkly clip in his hair.” Max tilted his head; an expression of serious concentration adorned his face as he stared at my dog.

“Boys can sparkle too.”

There was silence, and I glanced over in time to see Max smile at me. “Yeah, but none sparkle quite like you, do they?”

I couldn’t answer him. It was such a nice compliment, and I wasn’t prepared for it. So I kept my eyes on the road and drove to the clinic.

Max was quiet as I took Tank in and spoke with the nurse at the counter. She said they’d take him back for X-rays, and the vet would arrive shortly. I hated not going back with him, but I couldn’t be there for the X-ray. Max sat beside me in the waiting room, surprisingly. I thought for sure he’d Uber back to the garage, but he sat there reading a magazine and commenting on the fashion in it.

“You wear black jeans and a white T-shirt mostly. If Atlas didn’t have themed nights, you’d only ever wear that, and you have the nerve to make fun of…” I looked at the picture he was talking about and cringed. “Oh, yeah, that’s like a trash can on fire.”

He laughed, which in turn made me laugh. Maybe being stuck at the clinic and exhausted wouldn’t be so bad with Max here to keep me company.

Chapter Thirteen

Max

It was two in the morning by the time we were back in Sparkles’s Jeep heading to his apartment building. Tank the Mighty didn’t break anything, but it did appear his leg was sprained. So he had this tiny ace bandage on his paw. It was pathetic but admittedly cute.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask you why you were at my building,” Sparkles said as he drove.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell him exactly why I was there. Bumping into Sparkles on the elevator was like some sort of sign that what I was about to do was a stupid idea, so I went with it.

“It was nothing, really.” I hoped it could stay like that, but Sparkles wasn’t known for biting his tongue.

“You either came to see me, which by your aloofness as of late I will call bullshit on, or you knew someone there and were going to see them. Which, you ditching them to come with me to take care of my dog is sort of shitty.”

“Aloofness?”

“No, don’t do that, don’t take that part of the conversation and roll with it. Why were you here tonight?”

I sighed knowing I wasn’t getting out of it. “Okay, fine. I was there to see someone.”

“And?”

“And I saw you instead with your Tank, and it seemed like you needed help.”

“Help? He weighs like, a pound, Max.”

I shrugged. “It’s whatever, Sparkles. I texted them. I wasn’t a complete ass.”

There was a beat of silence before he asked what I knew he would. “Who was it that you were seeing?”

Sparkles tried to give off a nonchalant expression but failed miserably. “It’s a big building, I’m sure you don’t know everyone in the—”

“Oh, I do though, so who was it?”

Shit. “You’re nosy.”

“Yeah, I am.” He chuckled but I knew the question wasn’t going to go unanswered. “My guess is it was either Kirt, who is on the fourth floor, or Roger on the eleventh.”

Wow, that was impressive. “Kirt. Now can we not get into this, please?”

“Get into what?” Sparkles let out a pfft like the idea he’d push the issue was insane.

“Telling me I’m a deviant or a petri dish of STDs or whatever it is you tell people to warn them from me.”

He gasped, eyes wide in disbelief. “What I’d nev…okay, I totally do that, but Kirt’s a nice guy and yeah, so good luck there.”

“That’s it?” He didn’t care? No snide remarks? “Are you feeling okay?”

“Tired but I’m fine. Look, I’ll lay off the STD jokes. I just like teasing you.” It was such a sincere comment that I looked over at Tank as if he’d provide some translation