To Die For - Davidson King Page 0,29

in an almost graceful move, Max hopped the bar and started racing toward the bathroom.

“Oh, shit!” I slammed the ice on the bar and started chasing after Max. On my way, I saw Toby. “Toby! Max is about to beat the shit out of someone, get Atlas!” Toby’s eyes widened, and he started talking into a mouthpiece.

“Move,” I heard Max yell, and I tried to follow, but a second later I heard a crash and the sound of flesh hitting flesh.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, you piece of shit?” I made my way through in time to see Max slam Dorian against the wall.

“I see the little fucker got you wrapped around his cock too.” Dorian chuckled, not at all worried what Max would do to him.

“You hurt him, I hurt you, it’s that simple.” He punched Dorian in the gut.

“Max, stop!” I got between them just as Dorian’s guys and Atlas stormed into the room.

“Enough!” Atlas shouted. Dorian’s men grabbed him, and I pushed back with Max. “Max, go to my office. And you.” He rounded on Dorian. “Start talking.”

I grabbed Max’s hand and pulled him out of the bathroom toward Atlas’s office. No one stopped us, and when we were behind the door, I locked eyes with him.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” I said to Max, who looked as if he didn’t care if he’d started a war…and that was exactly what he’d done.

Chapter Seventeen

Max

I had just been handing a drink to a regular when I heard someone say a guy got hurt in the men’s room. I asked what he was talking about, and some other man said he saw this big dude kick a smaller one. When Shane leaned into me and said Sparkles was the one who got hurt, I felt this rush of anger. I moved along the bar where I saw Nolan, his boyfriend, Seth, and Sparkles. Seth was tending to Sparkles, and I got more information. I didn’t know who did it and didn’t care. I saw red, tore through to the bathroom, and when I saw the smug-faced Dorian, I was more than happy to punch the shit out of him.

Hearing him say things like Sparkles had me wrapped around his cock bothered me. I thought he was his landlord, but there was so much more to the story, and I was beginning to think Sparkles’s outburst, when I started asking questions, was because this was a part of his life he didn’t want anyone knowing about.

I tried to calm myself in Atlas’s office while he dealt with the situation. Pacing was all I could do. Sparkles sat on Atlas’s couch, every so often making eye contact with me. I wanted to say something, but lingering feelings of anger kept slamming into me.

We’d only been in there for about fifteen minutes when Atlas came in. He glanced at Sparkles, then at me.

“What the hell were you thinking?” He stood a few inches from me.

“The guy assaulted Sparkles, what was I supposed to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know, you have this earpiece and microphone that goes directly to Ciro…You know, the head of security for the whole place. Maybe you should’ve started there?”

I wasn’t sure how to explain that I’d had no control over myself. Like, I’d heard someone hurt Sparkles, and I saw the mark on his face and reacted. “So, if someone hurt Toby, you’d have just called it in and let Ciro handle it?”

I didn’t realize how what I’d just said sounded until Atlas’s eyes widened, and Sparkles slowly rose from the couch.

“No. I’d have beat the guy and kicked him out,” Atlas answered. “But Toby is my partner in everything. I love him. This isn’t the same thing.” Atlas’s brows lifted. “Is it?”

“Whoa,” Sparkles said. “Let’s not have confession hour, okay? I’m fine. I appreciate what Max did; it was actually sort of sweet…if not somewhat barbaric.”

“What happened, Sparkles?” Atlas turned to him and I could see his features soften.

“Well, what did Dorian say happened?”

While I too was curious what the guy said, I also had a feeling it would alter whatever Sparkles said in response.

“He said you two were fooling around in the stall. When you were done, you went to leave, slipped, and hit your face on the floor. He said he assumed you were embarrassed, and that’s why you ran out of the bathroom—”

“No way!” I interrupted. “The guy who helped Sparkles said he saw the guy kick him, and