Read Run This Town 03 - (Watch Me) Unmask You for Free Online

this massive house sitting here in Long Island, empty.
    In the kitchen he leaned against the countertop and faced Lucky. “Are you hungry?” he asked. “We can get something.”
    Lucky stood in the doorway and shook his head. “I’m fine. I want to know why we’re here.”
    Because Lucky was happy when he was in this house, and Elias wanted to see him happy. “I leave tomorrow,” he said hoarsely. “And I wanted—I want to spend tonight with you.”
    Lucky pushed away from the doorway and walked over to him. He stood in front of Elias. “You leave tomorrow.”
    “Yes.”
    “Where are you going?”
    “Away.” Elias waved a hand. “Just… away.”
    Lucky snorted, shaking his head. “Of course.” He barked a laugh. “Why did I expect this to be different?” He yanked the wool cap off his head and tossed it onto the counter. “You should leave now. Why don’t you leave now?”
    “I can’t stay with you.” Elias touched his shoulder. “I can’t be who you want, give you what you want. I can’t, Lucky.”
    He pursed his lips. “Do you have a family? A wife, girlfriend, children, somewhere out there?”
    “No.” Elias cupped Lucky’s jaw, staring him in the eye. “I have nothing and no one out there. It’s just work. It’s a job that I have to do.”
    “What kind of job?”
    “I can’t talk about this.”
    “Because it’s illegal? Because you’re doing something wrong?”
    “I want you happy, Lucky.” And alive. And he’d go wherever he needed to go, be and do whatever to make that happen. It wasn’t as complicated as it might appear.
    “But I’m not happy,” Lucky lashed out. “I’m not. Please.” He moved in closer, gaze seeking, pleading. “Don’t do this. Don’t leave me again.”
    “I can’t.” And this time the agony Elias felt couldn’t be contained. “Lucky, I can’t.”
    Defeat washed over Lucky’s features. He glanced away then back to Elias. “When you go where you go, and do what you do, are you— do you spend time with other people?”
    “Yes.”
    “Women?”
    “Yes, but—”
    “Men?” Lucky closed his eyes.
    “Yes. Lucky, look at me.” When Lucky reopened red-rimmed eyes, Elias touched him, the slide of one finger down the bridge of his nose. “It means nothing. They mean nothing.”
    “Of course it means something,” Lucky shouted. He lurched away from Elias. “Otherwise you wouldn’t do it.”
    “Don’t.” Fuck. Elias tempered his shout. “I’m not discussing this.”
    “I’m your responsibility, aren’t I? A burden you can’t seem to get rid of?” Lucky said. “I just don’t know why we’re even here in this place. You and me.”
    “No.” Elias grabbed him when Lucky would have moved away, yanking him against his chest. “Lucky, the last thing you are is a job, or work, or a task to fucking complete.”
    “But who am I to you, and how do I know?” Lucky’s whisper burned Elias’s skin. “You won’t fucking explain. You won’t say shit. How do I know when I haven’t seen or heard from you in two years?” His fingers pressed into Elias’s wrist. “I’ve been waiting for you, waiting for you to touch me, kiss me.”
    Elias’s hold on him went slack, as did his jaw. “What?” His head and his heart warred, wanting different things, both knowing what the outcome would be. “Lucky, no. You deserve someone like you, someone your age.” Someone without blood on his hands. Someone who wasn’t a killer on a leash.
    “I’m twenty, old enough to know my own mind.” Lucky turned, twisting his body until his chest was pressed to Elias’s, until their thighs were brushing. “I know what I want. Who I want.” His hand skidded down Elias’s chest, slowly, torturously, trailing fire.
    Elias grabbed that fucking hand before his body went up in flames. “You don’t know what you’re doing.” The trouble he was courting, Lucky didn’t know.
    Lucky’s nostrils flared as he bucked into Elias. His erection was hard to