Dangerous (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 39

Daniel POV

I could see the rays of sunlight from the sunset through the newly installed blinds. The golden light shone through meeting my dazed, drooping eyes. My head was resting on my crossed arms against the front desk. Mr. Richards was in his office— I could tell he'd felt bad for not being there during the break in situation last time. There was a soft snoring sound as Max slept on the ground behind the counter. He didn't seem to mind that the new security cameras would show Mr. Richards his long, paid nap. I didn't blame him though— the last customer had come in around three hours prior.

I felt my eyelids heavily drawing closed and I shook my head awake. I looked at my watch. Fuck. Three hours left. I slowly stood up from the counter and walked over to the movie isles and closed my eyes, feeling my way through the aisle through the shelves and picked up a movie at random. I opened my eyes. 'The Evil Dead'. No thanks. I shoved it back on the shelf and went to a different aisle doing the same thing. 'Superbad'. Why not?

I walked over and put the CD in, stepping over Max's sleeping body. The movie started and I mindlessly scrolled through my texts with Ethan while it was playing. He hadn't texted me since he'd left and I was getting worried.

Time trickled by. The movie went on but I wasn't completely focused on it. The feeling of anxiety was getting to me. A door opened behind me and I jumped, Mr. Richards was leaving his office. I quickly kicked Max under the counter— he groaned and sat up, grabbing his side that my foot had connected with. He looked around him confusedly before sitting up straighter and pretending he was looking for a movie under the desk. Mr. Richards didn't give him a second glance.

"You boys want me to grab some dinner? I'm gonna head out for pizza." Max and I nodded enthusiastically and my stomach grumbled at the mention of food. I'd had nothing but a banana all day and that'd been before Ethan had picked me up.

He left the store and Max stood up, rubbing his eyes.

"Damn, sorry I left you alone out here Daniel but this shift is killing me. I can't believe there's even two of us scheduled."

"No worries," I laughed and glanced back down at my phone again. It wasn't usual for Ethan to flat out ignore my texts. I was hoping he was on his way back. He'd said he'd pick me up after my shift— he wouldn't bail unless he was in trouble. I nervously picked at my nails and tapped my foot, staring at the tv screen.

"—Daniel? Are you listening?" Max asked, appearing at my side.

"—Wha— oh yeah... Wait what'd you say?" He rolled his eyes,

"I was talking about how much of a dick Christain Bale is as a dude which sucks cause he's awesome at playing batman, but... you clearly have your mind on something else... What's wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing. I'm just super tired." I lied. There was no point in getting Max worried for no reason— especially when he was happily talking about DC and Marvel movies.

"Sure." He stayed quiet for a while and studied my face. I made it look normal, pretending to be interested in the movie. The sound of the door opening and closing really fast caught both of our attention. My head snapped over, expecting to see Mr. Richards. Instead, I saw a pizza box on the ground right outside the glass doors.

"What the— did he fall?" Max walked over to the doors and stepped outside. I nervously followed behind him, a feeling of uneasiness creeping to my gut.

"Max, wait..." I said, stepping outside next to him. My heart dropped and the blood drained from my face when my eyes reached the ground. Mr. Richards' body was on the ground, blood trickling across his face from a gash on his head. I wasn't sure if he was just unconscious, or dead.