To Die For - Davidson King Page 0,57
worry, Max, I won’t leave you.”
Those words seeped through my skin and surrounded my heart. “Good.”
He walked away in search of Atlas, and I heard Ciro say doors were opening in five. I was ready for the night to begin only so it could end, and I could wrap myself around Sparkles.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Lane
It was two days later on a bright autumn day that I was standing in a vacant building with Max and the realtor.
“And you’re saying it’s two floors?” I asked. I was impressed with the first floor. It had plenty of room and was only three blocks from my other studio. My clients would be able to find it easily enough.
“Yes, it’s a living space. Why don’t we go take a look?” the realtor suggested, and Max and I followed him.
He was right; it was completely livable. I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw this pop up while looking for a new place. I shot an email off and got a reply only fifteen minutes later. I wasn’t sure if it was too good to be true or what the deal was, but I wanted it.
“Can I ask who the owner of this building is?” Max asked, and I knew he was worried Dorian owned this one too.
“The owner of this building is leasing it out through my firm.” He smiled, but that wasn’t an answer.
“Okay, but that’s not an answer. I’m just getting out of a crappy situation with a bad landlord. I’d like to make sure he doesn’t also own this building.” I tried not to sound upset, but if he wasn’t going to tell me, I wasn’t going to take this any further.
The realtor sighed. “The owner is Terrance Blackrose.”
Max chuckled. “Black owns this building?”
I turned and looked over at Max. “You know the owner…Oh wait, of course you do, you know everyone in this town. Is he a good guy?”
Max laughed again but quickly stopped when the realtor cleared his throat. “Um yeah, he owns that Red Rose Security Agency. His now-husband Quill used to be a bartender at Joker’s Sin before Black swept him off his feet and gave him a better life.”
“He sounds like a good guy, then.” I smiled at the realtor. “If Max says he’s a good guy, I’d like to fill out the paperwork.”
“Great.”
I spent the next half hour writing the same stuff and signing my name and was told I’d hear back by the end of the week. We walked onto the street, and I didn’t feel like returning to my place, so Max and I decided to grab a coffee and sit in the park.
“You can live and work in that place, and it’ll still be cheaper than what you’re paying now.” Max sat beside me on the bench as we watched kids toss coins into the fountain.
“I know. This Terrance guy either doesn’t need the money or it’s haunted…or there was a murder there. But whatever, it’s still better than being under Dorian’s thumb.”
Max chuckled. “Agreed. I’m sure the place will be great.”
We sat in comfortable silence until Max jumped up. “I know what we can do now!”
My eyes darted around. “Here? Now?” Surely he wasn’t talking about sex.
He appeared confused, but it morphed into laughter. “Put a pin in that, we can totally do that another time. But we can get our costumes for the Halloween party at the club.”
Atlas was going to have a scary party where the whole club was a haunted house. Upstairs was being transformed into a frightening walkthrough while downstairs would remain the dance club with spooky music.
“Great idea.”
We finished our coffees and headed over to The Dress Box. They always had costumes, and I was sure they’d have something perfect to wear.
I hadn’t thought much about what I was going to be for Halloween, but Max was saying how he was going to go as Ghost Rider. He went on about finding a mask since he had the rest of the outfit and the motorcycle.
“I can totally turn your face into a skeleton.”
“Yeah?” He smiled.
“Sure, now help me figure out what I’m going to be.”
It took a while, but I finally got the idea of going as a marionette. The shop owner had a costume and she gave me a few ideas of what I could do to make it look even more genuine. Max was a little weirded out because marionettes scared him, but that just made me want to be one even more.
The last few days,