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“Oh yeah? What’s it like owning a gym?”
“Boring,” Ben said. Which was true. But the real reason he was starting to hate it was because of all the damn customers. People kept wanting to talk to him about shit he didn’t care about. He told his manager to take care of it, but so many of them insisted that they needed to talk to him. He was tired of it. He didn’t want to hire a new spin class instructor, or approve the timetables, or replace the shower faucet in the last shower stall in the men’s changing rooms. He didn’t want to deal with any of it.
A car turned into their street. It wasn’t a cop car, so Ben waited for it to sail past. To his surprise, the flash car skidded to a stop in front of them, and a vaguely familiar face climbed out.
“Levi,” the guy said. “Are you alright?”
Levi said something about hand necklaces. But Ben didn’t hear him because another guy was getting out, and this one he definitely recognized.
“Dominic,” Ben called. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Dominic stopped, looking at Ben in shock. Then he looked at the other guy who had gotten out of the car, and Ben realized why he knew him: this was Dominic’s former client and current boyfriend, movie star Austin Wayne.
Levi gasped and stared at Ben delightedly. “Holy shit! Ben! The hot, old army buddy you mentioned!”
He looked at Dominic at this last statement, who made a face that implied he would like to laugh if he wasn’t so tired.
“Hot, old what?” Ben repeated. He had a hundred questions, like what the hell was Dominic doing telling twenty-something models about him, why did the model say it like that, and why were they here in the first place? They clearly knew Levi, but how? And most importantly, why was Levi even paler than ever and starting to sway?
“So gross,” Levi whispered, staring at Ben’s bloody face. Then he passed out, right into Ben’s arms, the same moment that a cop car came blaring around the corner.
CHAPTER 3
Levi woke up in a hospital bed. Which was strange, because he didn’t feel that bad. He’d only woken up in a hospital twice before: once after his appendix burst and he needed emergency surgery, and once after he went a little too crazy at a party and needed his stomach pumped. Both times, he woke up groggy and medicated.
As far as Levi could tell, he wasn’t on any medication. His neck hurt, but the pain wasn’t very deep, and he was still dressed in his normal clothes, not a hospital gown. What the hell happened?
As soon as the question registered, memories flooded back. Leaving the club. Realizing he was being followed. Grabbing a hot silver fox and watching him get his nose bashed in while he tried to fight off Levi’s attacker. Sitting on the street with him while they waited for the cops. The disgusting blood streaming into the silver fox’s beard…
Oh, god. Levi had passed out because of his stupid blood phobia? Did he fall into the lap of the guy who saved him? He groaned, which made Austin, who was sitting in a plastic chair beside his bed, look up from his phone.
“Why am I in a hospital bed?” Levi demanded, his raspy voice getting stronger with every word.
“Uhhh,” Austin said. “Because you passed out?”
Levi threw up his hands angrily. “So? I got lightly choked. I’ve had worse fooling around in bed! Where’s—?” he snapped his fingers until the name came back to him. “Ben? He’s the one with the nose thing! And the knee thing! Is he in a hospital bed?”
“They tried to get him in one,” Austin said. “He told them to fuck themselves.”
Despite his frustration, Levi laughed. That sounded like Ben. At least, based on the little Levi knew about him. Which was actually quite a bit, if he thought about it. He knew Ben owned a gym, knew how to fight, and used to be in the army, which was probably how he got that old knee injury. He also had some practical experience with BDSM, was friends with Dominic, and didn’t punch Levi for flirting with him. He was intriguing. If Levi wasn’t so disgusted by the blood drying on Ben’s face, he might have hit on him harder.
Levi got out of bed and went to touch his choker necklace. To his surprise, it was gone. “Where’s my necklace?”
“They took it off to check your neck,” Austin said. He dug the choker out of his pocket. Levi put it back on, feeling more at ease with the comforting weight around his neck, even when it made his bruises twinge. He pressed against his neck and winced. He probably looked like shit.
“Any paps?” he asked Austin.
Austin shook his head. “Some tried. Dom took care of it.”
Levi snorted. He bet Dominic took care of it. When Austin was in the hospital, Dominic had bodily thrown several paparazzi out for trying to photograph Austin in a vulnerable moment.
“Where is Dom?”
Austin hesitated in a way that made Levi rabidly curious, then said, “Uh, he’s organizing something outside.”
Levi twisted to look out the door, which had a window imprinted into the top. The hallway looked empty to him. “Organizing what? Are they tracking down the guy who attacked me?”
“They already did,” Austin said with a sigh. He stood with Levi and continued, “He’s part of a small but dedicated group of activists who have turned to violence to get their voices heard. They’re funded by some pretty big names, so they have a lot of reach. Remember that photoshoot you did for that perfume brand that turned out to be legally experimenting on animals? And caused that oil spill in the Mediterranean? I think there was something else, but I can’t remember. Point is, it’s pretty bad.”
