Revived (The Dungeon Black Duology 2)

Sean gawked and just stood there. Holy shit.

“You see those?” Max pointed to Sean’s cuffs, his voice dark.

Jack glowered and yanked harder. “Yeah, what of it?”

“Those mean he’s mine.” Max let him go with a shove. “And I’m done fucking sharing. Sean, let’s go.”

Sean blinked, still in shock, as Max turned and stalked off, but quickly snapped out of it and looked at Jack.

The dude was bristling, even his nostrils were flaring.

Sean laughed and thumb-pointed in Max’s direction. “Right? And that’s him nice.”

Jack didn’t appear amused, but who the fuck cared.

Sean kicked it into gear, only to frown and look around. Where the hell was Max? He scanned the vicinity. Damn. Max must’ve been moving fast. Sean couldn’t even see him anymore. He picked up the pace, hopefully heading in the right direction.

There. Up ahead. Some twenty feet away.

“For fuck’s sake,” Sean muttered. “You trying to lose me?”

Knowing Max, he probably was.

Sean clenched his teeth and side-stepped a couple, but a flow of patrons swiftly blocked his path. Ugh. Goddamn it. He tried to shuffle around them, but doing so took longer than he’d hoped. By the time he finally worked his way past, Max was, once again, out of sight.

Sean scowled in frustration. He needed to find him—and should probably do it fast. Because, no fucking joke, when Max came to his aid, he’d looked damn near ready to blow. Although, why, Sean could only friggin’ guess at this point. Maybe Max was mad. Maybe he was jealous. Honestly, who the fuck knew. After all, it was Max who told Sean to dance with others. Yet when he did, Max started throwing around mine. Sean’s head spun, but this time it wasn’t from alcohol. This time was all thanks to Max. The more Sean engaged him, the less he understood about the man. Max made no sense, so Sean never knew what to think.

He did know one thing, though. Knew it for sure. Max was currently a full-fledged walking time-bomb.

So, yeah, Sean needed to find him fas—

Commotion broke out, loud shouts rising up ahead.

Oh, fuck…

Sean stepped on the gas and powered forward, “moving people out of his way” with renewed vigor. He arrived at the scene just a few seconds later, spotting two visibly shaken bystanders off to the side. Boys who looked barely a day over twenty-one, but were unquestionably there together. As a couple. No doubt the trigger for the sudden turmoil, since others stood shielding them against “hostiles”.

Sean’s hackles rose instantly. He couldn’t be more disgusted. Those bullies gave humans a bad name.

And then he heard it. Scott’s friend barking Max’s name.

Sean’s eyes shot wide. He shoved to the center, only to find Kai grappling with Max’s arm. Trying like hell to hold it back, so Max couldn’t punch some guy in the face. A guy, as it were, Max had up against a wall, pinned by his throat by Max’s hand. The dude wasn’t there alone, though, because his buddies kept trying to intercede. Which pretty much forced Kai to abandon Max’s arm in order to turn and play defense. Man, he moved fast, too. Nailed both guys in a blur with a move that looked kind of martial-artsy. Whatever it was, it got the job done. Both guys stumbled back as Max clocked their sneering friend. Security swarmed in a heartbeat later and broke shit up.

Sean exhaled, feeling equal parts anger and pride, as he watched Max being ushered toward the exit. Anger, because that fight hadn’t needed to happen. Pride, because Max had defended those two boys. Looked like his time-bomb had come in handy. Those homophobes probably never saw Max coming.

Sean hustled outside and, a half block later, finally caught up with his scrapper.

“Max,” he panted, falling in beside him. “Holy shit. That was—Fuck—Are you okay?”

Max didn’t break stride, not even a little. “I’m fine,” he muttered tersely.

Sean exhaled and shook his head. “Those dudes were total douchebags, but what you did back there was really fucking cool.”

Max didn’t reply, just kept his eyes straight ahead.

“I’m sorry you got kicked out.”

“Doesn’t matter. Was leaving, anyway.”

Sean looked at him. “You were?”

Max stopped. “We were.” A taxi pulled up. Max grabbed the door. “Get in.”

What the— Sean eyed their yellow ride, then looked at Max. “You called… a cab?”

“Yeah. I called a cab. Right before I broke up your little dance party.”

Sean smiled and scratched his head. “But what about Scott?”

“He split. Sent me a text.” Max gestured impatiently. “Now climb your ass in. Jesus Christ.”

Sean laughed. Couldn’t help it. Max exasperated was adorable. “Fine. Okay. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” He walked over and ducked down to get inside.

Max rumbled something low and smacked his ass.

Sean jerked, nailing his head on the doorjamb.

Which, of course, was when Max decided to finally laugh. “So fucking graceful. You sure you were a gymnast?”