Read Before the Darkness (Refuge Inc.) Online
Authors: Leslie Lee Sanders
Tags: #erotic MM, #Romance MM
shoulder and offered his hand. Elliot grabbed it
and allowed him to pull him to his feet. Without
a second lost, Adam placed an arm around
Elliot's waist and together they continued their
trek toward the dental office.
"Where's your family?" Elliot asked as
they made their way past huge chunks of
cement blocks that were rocked and shaken
from the nearby houses and small buildings.
"Probably dead," he said, nonchalantly.
When Elliot looked at him with raised eyebrows,
Adam ignored his questioning stare and said
nothing else about it. Instead he gestured with
his eyes. "Watch your step here."
"Sorry about your family." Elliot carefully
stepped over a small pile of debris.
"No need for that." Adam paused and
looked into his eyes. A stern look. An honest
look. "I think we're the only lucky ones."
They walked slowly, cautiously as they
approached the dental of ice. The small parking
lot was littered with trash, papers and other
garbage they had to maneuver around and over
to get to the door.
"Were you living alone?" He glanced at
Adam's hard, bare chest and quickly looked
away. Something about his physique helped him
take his mind off of impending doom. He wasn't
quite sure if that was a good thing or not.
"Just me and my iancée." He scoffed,
shaking his head. "She ran like everyone else.
Took off toward Denver with her family as soon
as she got news of the asteroid. I'm sure if those
assholes gave us a year's warning instead of a
couple days she would’ve left a year ago. Either
way, look how far running's got her."
"Well, you don't know." Elliot shrugged,
being extra cautious with his step. "Maybe
there're tons of people still alive in Denver and
—" He didn't bring attention to Adam's second
scoff. Clearly, speaking about his iancée and the
possibility of her being alive was a touchy
subject. He guessed it would be since she left
him in Hell to fend for himself.
"I know you're trying to stay positive,
Elliot, but like I said, we're the only lucky ones."
2: Escaping Reality
Arriving at the abandoned dental of ice,
Adam led Elliot to a plastic chair in the corner of
what looked like the front lobby. Elliot placed his
nearly empty bottle of water on the loor beside
him and took a seat. His chest rose and fell
rapidly as he took in a few deep breaths, forcing
himself to relax.
The of ice looked like a closet of junk. It
didn't look any different than the littered lot
outside. Tables, chairs and even computers were
scattered around as if a massive whirlwind tried
to carry them away and failed. The dimness
made it dif icult to make out the largest of
objects in the darkened corners due to the
power outage that extinguished all electricity
since the irst quake but, nonetheless, they had
shelter. Where was that
okay we're safe
feeling?
Adam sat his backpack on the loor and
began to move furniture around the room. "I'm
gonna try to clear some space and block some
of these broken windows."
Elliot sat silently, watching Adam move
about the room. Adam was an attractive man
with exceptional features. He seemed young,
probably in his mid to late twenties like Elliot. He
looked tall, it and strong. He gauged Adam's
strength from the way he effortlessly lifted a
huge potted tree and placed it in front of a
broken window to hold up some drywall he had
placed against it. Even the way Adam spoke
interested him. Not all of his sentences were
brief and to the point, but those that were urged
Elliot to listen regardless.
He had so many questions for Adam but
didn't know which to ask irst. "How long were
you and your iancée together?" Good start to
engage in friendly conversation, nothing too
personal right off the bat.
Adam continued to move around the
room, eyes diligently searching the cluttered
loor. "Four years." He picked up and threw
some empty, crushed boxes aside.
Elliot raised an eyebrow. "Were you
happy?"
"As happy as a person could be." He
kicked a pile of papers into a corner, the rustling
sound bounced off of the walls for a few
seconds. "How about you? Were you living
alone?"
Elliot grimaced at his injured, bloody leg.
He assumed Adam didn't directly ask about his
marital status because he shamelessly exhibited
his favorite Made with Pride T-shirt. Thank
goodness same sex marriage wasn't legal in
Arizona. He’d regretted many dumb things he'd
done and getting married to Jeff would’ve been
one of them. He's always been so impulsive
when it came to Jeff. He knew he would've
married Jeff without thinking twice about it. All
Jeff had to do was ask. Pathetic. Anyhow, Adam's
question seemed to be an attempt to change the
subject.
As happy as a person could be
. Adam sure
didn't behave like a happily involved man. And
judging by his iancée's eagerness to leave him,
she wasn't happily involved either.
"Yeah, I lived alone for the past week or
so." He glanced at Adam, anticipating his
response. "I was staying with my boyfriend until
we broke up last week."
Adam paused and looked back over his
bare shoulder at him. "Sorry to hear that."
"He accused me of taking him for
granted." He scoffed and wiped his eye with a
knuckle.
"Sorry about that too." Adam chewed his
bottom lip and stood motionless for a few
seconds. What could he possibly be thinking
about? He then continued to move furniture
around the room. "You know that saying that
goes something like, be thankful for every day
because you don't know what the future holds?"
Elliot nodded, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I've
heard people say that plenty of times."
Adam paused, looking ahead with a
vacant stare. "I really get the meaning now."
"Yeah, crazy how it takes an asteroid
nearly killing you to make you understand
things."
Elliot watched Adam clear a path and
made his way back to his side. He knelt down
and pulled back a piece of the fabric around
Elliot's leg. "So, did you?"
He squint his eyes, confused. "Did I
what?"
Adam looked up, locking eyes with him.
"Did you take him for granted?"
He stared back into those enticing, bright
green eyes. Even without the sun shining
directly into them, they still shined like emeralds.
"Relationships are complicated and it takes two
to make it work. I didn't take him for granted. He
just didn't want to put in the effort to make it
successful."
Adam grinned slightly. "You don't like to
be wrong, am I right?"
"You're
wrong."
He
looked
away
sheepishly.
"Of course." A slight grin lingered on
Adam's lips. "How does your leg feel?"
"Hurts like hell."
"We need to ind something clean to
wrap around it so it can start healing." Adam
stood then made his way down the hall to one of
the back rooms. From Elliot's angle he couldn't
see anything back there but he heard the crash
and bang as Adam threw things around. He
waited and Adam returned with a small bottle of
antiseptic and gauze still in its sterile package.
"You need to come see this." Adam paused,
wide-eyed.
Panic hit him in his chest like a
sledgehammer. "What is it?" Another body?
Several dead bodies?
"Calm down." Adam put his hands out
before him. "A broken water main out back. It's
like a geyser out there. Come on." He placed an
arm around Elliot's waist again and helped him
up from his chair. Slowly they made their way
down the hall—where two rooms were located
adjacent to each other—and out the back exit.
There it was, a beautiful jet of clear, fresh
water shooting up about twelve feet in the air
from a huge crack in the side of the road near a
water hydrant. It rained down in huge drops on
the hot, littered street around them. Elliot smiled
when a breeze brushed some water droplets
against his hot, dry face. So refreshing.
"I'm going for it." Adam unbuttoned and
unzipped his dark blue jeans.
Elliot couldn't help but stare, watching
Adam's ingers slide unintentionally slowly and
sensually down the length of his ly. "What are
you doing?"
"I'm gonna take advantage of this while I
can." Adam pulled off his socks and shoes and
slid his pants off. He threw them both down by
the exit door. Standing in a pair of dark blue
boxer-briefs that hugged his narrow hips and
irm ass in a way that made Elliot's breath catch,
Adam pointed to Elliot's Cargo shorts. "Need
help out of those?" When he didn't answer,
Adam lifted an eyebrow and added, "You might
not experience this again."
Suddenly Elliot had an intense urge to
look back east, but he fought it with everything
he had and lifted his T-shirt over his head
instead. "You're right. I might not experience
this again." As soon as he stripped himself of his
socks, shoes and shorts, he carefully limped
toward the spouting water.
Adam, in all his excitement, ran directly
toward the jet. Arms outstretched, he stood
under the falling water and savored it as it fell
over his taut body.
Elliot slowly limped his way over. Cold
water fell over his almost naked body and he
gasped as the irst drops hit his thirsty skin. It
was more refreshing than he could ever
imagine. He replayed Adam’s words in his head,
over and over.
You might not experience this
again.
So he tilted his head back and soaked up
the freshness, remembering how each cooling
drop felt on his aching body. He opened his
mouth wide and allowed the water to ill it
before swallowing, tasting. Amazing. He listened
to the plop, plop of water splashing and
collecting into the puddles around him. Damn
near bliss.
"I'll go get our water bottles so we can ill
them up." Adam jogged back to the of ice. The
sun hit the water droplets on his skin at the
perfect angle, causing light to re lect off of his it
body and his smooth back muscles to glisten.
Once he disappeared inside, Elliot closed his
eyes and allowed the rays of the sun to heat his
skin.
You might not experience this again.
Before long, Adam was back under the
stream, illing their bottles to the brim with the
pure, cool, refreshing goodness. "That darkness
is moving in. Maybe we should go back inside
and I'll take a look at that leg." When the bottles
were illed, he wrapped his free arm around
Elliot's waist to assist him in his walk back to the
office.
Elliot quickly turned in his arms. For a
second that felt like hours, they stared into each
other's eyes. In that moment, which felt like an
eternity, a sense of hope trickled over him. The
intense sense of promise guided him as he
brought his lips to Adam's. The water streamed
down over their bodies as he closed his eyes
and gently sucked Adam's bottom lip. Adam's
lips relaxed and a rush of warm, granola-
scented breath brushed the cool, wet skin of his
upper lip.
Then Adam bowed his head, breaking the
kiss. He still had an arm embracing Elliot while
he effortlessly cradled the two water bottles in
the other arm.
"I'm sorry," Adam said in a soft and low
voice.
Before he could say anything else, Elliot
reminded him, "We might not experience this
again." He looked into Adam's eyes, seeing what
he couldn't fully see before but always knew lay
hidden under a thin layer of dust that was no