Run This Town 03 - (Watch Me) Unmask You (23 page)

The sound of the elevator had his feet moving, his grip tightening on his gun. He stepped to the side, held himself still as he waited for the visitor to come into view. Footsteps neared.

Stavros entered the room. His ex was… locked up tight would be the phrase to use. Everything about Stavros was locked up tight and he moved mechanically. Behind him, another man appeared.

Tek.

Elias moved away from the shadows. “Bit late for the party.” He didn’t relax, nor did he let go of his gun. He’d killed Stavros’s family.

Stavros’s gaze flicked from his father to the two women on the floor. His shell cracked, the cold demeanor melted away, and agony flickered over his face. The pain in his eyes grew and grew, stark devastation bright.

“She was mine,” he said, quietly, but Elias didn’t miss the danger or threat in those three words.

“You have no idea what she did—”

“I know what she did!” Stavros got in his face, hand around Elias’s throat in a flash, slamming him into the wall. “I know what she did and she was mine, Elias. Mine to deal with.”

Elias ignored the chokehold and glanced from Stavros to Tek who stood in the doorway, expression bored as he stared at the death around them. “You told him.” He expected Tek to be loyal to him. “Goddamn you, Tek.”

“Tek tells me everything,” Stavros murmured. “Given the right incentive.”

Tek looked away, cheeks red.

Elias pushed Stavros away and went to his friend. He grabbed Tek’s shoulder, forced him to meet Elias’s gaze. “So you made your choice.” It fucking hurt, even though he knew why. He knew the reasons, but he hated that. Hated the decisions made by and for Tek that had his friend aligned with the last person he should.

Tek lunged at him, body pressed to Elias, a hand at Elias’s hip, his lips bruising Elias’s for a feather-light second. Then he was gone, pushing Elias away and striding over to Stavros, standing at his side.

That act cut to the fucking bone. “You don’t know what you’re doing.” Anguish burned his eyes. “Tek.”

“Tek is mine.” Stavros’s mask was back in place, his tone brusque, eyes freezing. “You know what that means, don’t you, Elias?”

He knew. God, he knew, which was why he wanted to shoot Stavros in the fucking eye and grab Tek, run away with him and stash him somewhere where nothing bad could hurt him. Touch him. Taint him.

But Tek wasn’t that person Elias first met in prison. He was far more damaged, his hate of himself deeper than anything Elias had ever seen. What Tek needed, Elias couldn’t give. And his friend was a grown man who made his own terrible decisions. Elias could only watch. He could only ball his fists and stand by, and he would do everything in his power to put Tek back together when he exploded.

Because he would.

Soon.

He looked at them, the bodies, the blood and the men. Especially Stavros, who wasn’t coming at him, wasn’t killing him, and he knew. He swiped a hand over his mouth, trying to wipe away the pain.

“Tek.” His voice broke. “Don’t. I don’t need your protection.”

“You should leave,” Tek said. “Before you can’t.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” Elias went to him, touched him, his face, left a spot of blood behind. “You don’t owe me anything, don’t protect me.”

He just stared at Elias, blank. Gone. His Tek was gone and Elias wanted to drop to his knees and mourn. He shook his head. He didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to leave Tek alone with Stavros, but he did need to make tracks. He still had too much work to do if he wanted to get his family back.

“You know where I’ll be if you need me,” he told Tek as he walked to the elevator. He then flicked his gaze to Stavros. “I hope we never see each other again.”

Stavros’s lips twisted. “You can hope.”

In the elevator he peeled off his gloves and shoved them into his coat pocket, frowning when he found something in his right pocket. He pulled it out, held it up.

A thumb drive.

It definitely wasn’t there when he’d donned the coat earlier in the day. Then he remembered Tek’s lips on his, his hand on Elias’s right hip.

His friend might not be lost to him after all.

“What is it?” Lucky peered over Elias’s shoulder at the computer screen.

His husband had come to the condo and gone up to the bedroom to find Lucky’s laptop. He’d told Lucky that his friend, Tek who Lucky had yet to meet, had put the drive in his pocket when Elias wasn’t looking.

He had no idea what could be on it. Then.

Because now as Elias stared at the computer screen, cursing and tugging on his hair, Lucky figured he knew now.

“Elias, what is it?” He said he’d dealt with the threat to them. Could this be yet another one?

“It’s— Fuck!” Elias pounded the mattress.

Lucky grabbed his hand, kissed the knuckles. “Tell me.”

Elias took a breath. “When we were in prison, I’d asked Stavros to help Israel and Tek, too.”

Lucky nodded. He remembered that from their talk. “Right.”

“Each man had something he wanted. Israel wanted to find his parents. He’d been stolen from a hospital room or something like that, and the woman who raised him as her own…” He shook his head. “Let’s just say she was fucking psychotic. She killed his baby sister. Killed his stepfather.”

“Christ.” Lucky covered his mouth.

Elias scrubbed a hand over his face. “Is wanted to know where he came from. Where be belonged, but Stavros couldn’t find any answers.”

“Okay.” Lucky still wasn’t getting it.

“He lied, Lucky.” Elias pointed to the laptop. “This? This is all the information about Is. Where he came from. Who his parents are.”

“Holy shit!” Lucky stared at the computer screen with renewed interest. He saw dates. A familiar name. “What—” He pointed to the name. “Him? And the woman— Jesus Christ.”

“I have to tell him.” Elias got up and started pacing. “Do I tell him? And how in the hell did Tek get this information in the first place?”

“Okay. Okay.” Lucky went to him, smoothing a hand down his chest. “First things first. Of course you tell him. He’s your friend. He deserves that from you. Second, do you really care how Tek got it? The point should be that he knew it was important and he made sure you had it. Obviously he wanted you, and Israel, to know.”

This world his husband lived in, the people who inhabited it, it was a strange and convoluted place on the surface. But when Lucky allowed himself the time to look deeper, he found they operated on a code of honor all their own. It was difficult to comprehend sometimes, even tougher to admit who his husband was. What he did.

“Yeah.” Elias closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Yeah.” He opened his eyes and hugged Lucky, pulling him against his chest.

Lucky wrapped his arms around him, putting his head against his heart. In a corner of the room, Maddie slept in the bassinet Elias bought to replace the one Lucky had left at home. The gentle rocking coupled with the low music helped her go to sleep when she was cranky, which she’d been all day.

“Thank you,” Elias murmured. “For being here. It means everything.”

“I thought about leaving again,” Lucky admitted. He lifted his head and placed his right fist where his head had been, over Elias’s heart. “But you’re right. It might have put us in danger. And I know you’d just show up anyway.”

“I’ll always come for you.” Elias thumbed Lucky’s jaw line. “Always.”

“I know.” Lucky nodded. “And I want that. For you to always come to me.” He pressed a kiss to Elias’s throat. “Not gonna pretend it doesn’t hurt me. Not gonna say it’s not fucked up, what you’ve been doing for all these years,” he said. “It’s beyond. But I get it. I know why.” Knowing the answer to that question went a long way in helping him to accept things the way they were, not the way he’d thought they’d been.

“I am sorry,” Elias whispered against his forehead. “Sorry that I brought all this down on our heads.”

“But it’s over.” How he could say that so calmly knowing Elias had just killed three people in his name, for them, Lucky didn’t even know. His reality was different now. The fact that the men who’d broken into their house were all gone, that also helped. “We can concentrate on other things.” Lucky stepped back. “Israel is downstairs.” He glanced over at Maddie then picked up the monitor and took Elias’s hand. “Let’s not make him wait.”

They walked down the stairs together, Elias holding the open laptop. Israel and Reggie were out on the balcony overlooking the Coney Island amusement park. They stood together, shoulders brushing, Israel’s right hand shoved into Reggie’s left back pocket. Both were dressed in t-shirt and jeans, but Lucky made out the twin bulges in their waistbands. He didn’t think he’d seen them without guns, but considering the life they led and the business they were in, that was par for the course.

“Is.” Elias called out to his friend and when Israel glanced over his shoulder, Elias motioned him inside. “Got something I think you’ll want to see.”

“Got something for me?” Israel asked as he walked over with an eyebrow raised. The word “Gunman” was etched in red across the front of his tight black t-shirt.

Reggie remained on the balcony and Lucky motioned for him to join them. He stepped off to the side as Elias sat on the couch and Israel sat beside him. Reggie walked over to Lucky.

“What’s up?”

“Um.” Lucky pointed to the men on the couch. “Why don’t you, uh, join him?”

Reggie frowned. “Why?”

Thankfully Elias started talking to Israel, loud enough for Lucky and Reggie to hear. “I saw Tek today, he was with Stavros.”

Israel cursed viciously. “Motherfuck.”

“He was also in Lisbon, but that’s not the point.” Elias sighed. “Tek gave me something. This.” He tapped the thumb drive still inserted into the laptop.

“What’s on it?” Israel didn’t sound particularly interested.

Elias waited a beat. “The identity and whereabouts of your birth parents.”

The room fell into an expectant silence. Israel’s mouth opened. He shook his head then opened it again. Reggie went to him, knelt beside him. They weren’t touching, but watching them felt suddenly like an intrusion on their intimacy.

“Stavros lied to you, Is. He knew all along, he’d found them back then when we were inside Rikers.”

Israel shook his head again. “I—”

“They’re right here, Is.” Elias touched his friend’s shoulder. “Your parents. Look.” He held out the laptop, but Israel didn’t make a move to take it. He dropped his right hand, reached for Reggie who grabbed him and held on.

“I don’t—” Israel cleared his throat. “I don’t need to know. I don’t want to know.”

“Is,” Elias said.

“It’s too late now. I mean, what does it matter?”

“It’s up to you,” Reggie said softly. “Whatever you decide. You don’t have to look if you don’t want to.”

After a beat, Israel cleared his throat and nodded to Elias. “Tell me.”

“Mark Dulles is your father. Seraphina Cook is your mother.” Elias delivered the blows quickly, softly.

Israel was shaking his head. “That Senator dude? The one who—”

“That one.” Elias nodded gravely. “Seraphina was my target once. She was running Christopher Cook’s operation after he died and Haimon sent me after her.” He blew out a breath. “I let her go in order to save a man, an undercover agent who I found out a few days ago is actually Dulles’s son.”

Lucky watched Israel’s face, the shock and the disbelief. He could relate to that, finding out the truth about who his own parents were hit him like a ton of bricks.

“They had an affair,” Elias continued. “And it says here Seraphina went down to her native Jamaica to have the baby. Her intent all along was to give it—you—up for adoption. She didn’t do that, and there’s no explanation for why.” He looked at Israel in apology. “She paid someone to take you to a hospital and leave you there. Josephina Jermaine stole you from that hospital.”

Jesus.
What kind of heartless person did that to a baby, an innocent?

“Dulles never knew she was pregnant, until years later. Which is when he paid Haimon to have her killed.”

Israel didn’t say anything. He just looked… shell shocked.

“Is.” Reggie touched his face.   

The baby monitor cackled and Maddie’s shrill cries came through. Elias got up from the couch and placed the laptop in his place.

“I’m with you, my friend.” He patted Israel’s shoulder. “However you choose to handle this, I’ll be with you.” He met Lucky’s gaze and jerked his chin toward the stairs.

They went to Maddie, leaving two men and a computer behind.

****

Lucky shifted from foot to foot as he stood watching the water. He’d been walking all over Coney Island and his feet were killing him. He was freezing, too. The early December weather wasn’t fucking around, but he had to admit he was having fun just hanging with Elias and Maddie.

It’d been three days since Elias came back from where he’d gone to deal with the last of the threats. Three days since he’d given Israel the information about his parents. They’d come back downstairs later after bathing and feeding Maddie to find the laptop on the couch, the thumb drive missing, and no signs of Israel and Reggie. Elias had been trying to get in touch with them since then, but nothing. Lucky found himself worrying about the men, wondering how Israel was dealing with the truth about who his parents were.

That shit had to be the worst kind of pill to swallow.

Elias hadn’t mentioned anything about them going back home yet. They hadn’t done much except sleep and be with their daughter. They’d found themselves in a bit of a time out, a vacation sort of. They did manage some late night talks about Elias’s life throughout the years, about his fear for his friend Tek.

His husband shared a lot, but some things Lucky didn’t want to know. Reggie had been right, a man deserved to have his secrets. Lucky was confident he knew the most important ones. Reconciling the man he knew, the man he’d loved and married with the man Elias actually turned out to be, that was hard. It took work, conscious work on Lucky’s part, to look at Elias and remember all his husband had confessed to.

Some things he knew for sure. He knew Elias loved him. He knew he loved their family. He knew Elias was beyond sorry for how everything played out. He wasn’t sure that this time was the last he’d have to come face to face with Elias’s past. Knowing his mother and father had been a part of the crazy Konstantinous group was also difficult to comprehend, but Lucky couldn’t hide from the hard truths. Neither could he sit inside that heavily fortified condo down the block and be afraid.

So here they were, taking in the eerily empty Coney Island on a late December evening. Lucky had never been there before and he made a note to himself to revisit when it was in full effect come summer time. They hadn’t discussed them, where they stood. But really, they stood where they’d always stood.

Side by side.

He’d silently slipped his ring back on his finger. No fuss. Neither of them mentioned it, but every so often he’d catch Elias’s gaze straying to it, his throat working. Despite everything, Lucky couldn’t see himself leaving Elias. Yes, he’d panicked and wanted to hurt and punish Elias by running out of their home, by having his lawyer draw up those papers, but even as he’d done all that he’d known he wouldn’t go through with it. He didn’t get married on a whim, without thinking it through. He didn’t agree to having a baby, building a family, only to have it torn to shreds. He wanted his family, wanted Elias, and he’d do anything necessary to make that happen.

Even forgive.

It wasn’t easy, wouldn’t be washed away so quickly. He knew that. They’d have to work at it. Put in work to get back to where they were, but it wouldn’t be that hard, when he thought about it. Not if he wanted it. They’d agreed to hold off on another baby for a while, but did agree they’d try adoption this round. The killer for hire was retired, in his place a man who held a legit nine to five.

“Hey there,” someone purred at his left ear.

Lucky turned toward the sound with a frown, ready to snap at whoever the stranger was, but no one was there. What—

“Now. Now. Frowns on such a gorgeous face?” The voice came from his right side and Lucky spun.

A man stood there grinning at him. A man with short dark hair, tattoos for fucking days, even around his throat and more piercings than Lucky could count in his face. He was dressed in a simple black t-shirt under a gray, unbelted military style coat that hung open, dark blue jeans, and tan boots, and he eyed Lucky like a spread he couldn’t wait to dig into.

“Enjoying your stay in Coney Island?’ the man asked. The twinkle in his eyes got on Lucky’s nerves, but his voice, tinged with some kind of accent, made Lucky want to find Elias and rub against him.

“Huh?”

The bold stranger laughed.

“Who are you?” Lucky asked. He was familiar, but for the life of him, Lucky was drawing a blank right then.

Mystery Man grinned. “That’s not important.” His face turned serious. “Take care of my friend,” he said, voice soft, yet commanding.

“What?” Lucky blinked.

“He loves you.” He touched Lucky’s cheek, a fleeting thing. Lucky stepped back and sucked in a breath.

“Don’t touch me,” he snarled. Who was this guy?