<span style="font-size: 15px"><span style="font-family:Open Sans">“It says that you are temptation in it's purest form,” Marcus told him, wondering how a foreigner might interpret that compliment. Marcus laughed as Luca went on to offer compliments of his own.<br/>
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“Not so natural for me, but you lead well,” he spoke as they continued, only to take a breather by the bar, and then, his car. Things were going good, as good as they ever had before for him, but as much as Marcus tried to be perfect, it wasn't something he could uphold all of the time. Luckily his harsh grasp didn't last long, and Luca seemed able to forgive, or forget that small little lapse. Some other people may have seen it as a red flag of sorts. Marcus just wondered how long he could keep the good behavior up. He didn't want to hurt Luca, not intentionally, but he could be irrational, and easy to frustrate.<br/>
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“Yeah, I'm okay,” he promised with a smile as he lead him back into the bar. Luca had put in a good fight with the alcohol, but decided he'd had enough. Marcus thought that was fine. The young man was plenty intoxicated. Luca's question only brought with it improper thoughts, the young man asking in that naive way of his.<br/>
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“Other sensual things to do besides Samba, perhaps,” Marcus offered with a raise to one brow but didn't go into much more detail than that. They'd called last call, and things were starting to slow down some.<br/>
<br/>
“We should probably get going before the drunks hit the road,” Marcus told him as he led him back out to his car. “Do you want to go home with me, Luca?” he questioned brazenly. Marcus had come to the realization his answer didn't matter. Marcus had no intention of taking Luca home. He leaned over to open the glove box in his car, removing a bottle, his hand covering the prescription for Diazepam. He opened one and offered it to Luca.<br/>
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“The American secret to avoid hangover. It'll make everything stop spinning as well. We have a pill for everything,” Marcus told him. That was a lie. It was actually a sedative prescribed to Marcus for when he couldn't sleep. Mixed with alcohol, it would be intensified. Next, he handed him a bottle of water from the backseat. He could only hope the mix didn't kill the young man, but he'd drank on them before and he did okay. It just made him extremely tired.<br/>
<br/>
With Luca asleep in his backseat, Marcus made two stops. First to his place to grab some things in a hurry before locking up his apartment, and next to his brother's house. He called him, sitting in his vehicle, and a sleepy Eliot came out. He took one look in the car and blanched.<br/>
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“My god, David. What did you do? And bringing him here, I told you <i>not</i> to do that anymore,” the man snarled.<br/>
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“I didn't kill him,” Marcus corrected. “I don't plan to, actually. I need the keys to dads old logging cabin. This'll keep me out of trouble for a bit.”<br/>
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“Kidnapping someone is going to keep you out of trouble. Explain that to me, Dave.”<br/>
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“He's foreign. Just came over. No family here that I can gather, and no one to call him in missing. I thought this one through a bit more, but I need to hurry. Could you just get me the keys?”<br/>
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Eliot let out a heavy sigh and went back to his house to retrieve what he came for.<br/>
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“What about your work?” Eliot wanted to know.<br/>
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“It's only a five-hour drive. I don't go in except for three days a week now anyway. The rest I can do from there,” Marcus explained.<br/>
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“Please be careful. This is a little more involved.. than just cleaning up one of your messes.”<br/>
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Marcus nodded.<br/>
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“Call and get the power turned on.” The electric bill would come to Eliot, which Marcus would then take care of. Their parents would never know.<br/>
<br/>
And from there Marcus took i-278 headed towards Maine. He was going to the area he'd grown up in. A part of the North Maine Woods to be exact. His father owned a company logging out there, which he'd eventually sold off, to purchase a retirement home south. The old family cabin was something too sentimental to sell, and too remote to do much with. They'd entrusted it with Eliot, who vacationed there occasionally. Perfect for the sort of thing Marcus needed it for. A few renovations and it would be perfect for hosting Luca.<br/>
<br/>
The drive took a little longer than expected, based on a few stops. One to check if Luca was still breathing, and the other for gas. He made sure to fill up before hitting some of the more remote gas stations that didn't take card, and took the remote mountain roads all the way to his destination.<br/>
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His eyes fell on the sleeping young man, wondering how long he'd be conked out for. The diazepam usually stayed in his system for about six hours, so he imagined if Luca was still asleep after that, it wouldn't be because of the drug in his system. As a result, he moved quietly and opened the door to the cabin before going back to the passenger side of his car.<br/>
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“Luca,” he started softly, sliding his arms beneath him to get him out of the vehicle. “I'm going to move you now. We're home.”<br/>
<br/>
Getting Luca inside was a bit of a struggle, and he ended up just picking him up entirely, and laying him on the couch. The place needed a bit of a spring clean, but it was pretty much the same as it always had been. Hand carved oak furniture and that same taupe couch he hated with the elk skin rug in front of it. It was a compact three bedrooms, with a basement beneath that used to be his father's den. He took joy in knowing he'd be converting it into something much more useful if Luca proved to be <i>resistant</i> at first.</span></span>