UNMASKED

#20

Eli wasn't gonna lie, he was genuinely curious about what an angry Matthew was like. To be fair, he'd never really had to deal with that, mostly because Matthew rarely got mad at anyone. Especially not him.

Now, here he was, sitting on the couch with a positively furious Matthew staring down at him while they both looked like absolute crap.

If he weren't so sure it would make things worse, Eli would probably laugh. It was all just too funny to have Matthew be so mad over Eli trying to save his ass. Still, in hindsight, he probably should have tried to be more understanding.

"So, you're just gonna stare angrily at me, or can I go make a sandwich?" Definitely not the best way to start the conversation.

In Eli's defense, he was hungry.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just having a hard time understanding what you could have been thinking." Eli didn't appreciate the sarcastic tone. That was his thing.

"Mostly that my stupid boyfriend was gonna get killed because he trusted the shady daughter of a criminal—who also tried to kill him. You know, just as long as we're talking about stupid choices." Eli finished with the fakest smile he could muster. Matthew's glare reached a new level. Eli wasn't really impressed. "Look, I didn't do it because I wanted to. I showed up because I knew you were in trouble and honestly, Adria doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in me." Which really wasn't a surprise.

"And you think I trust her?"

"I hope not. Because if you do I'm seriously going to start questioning your sanity." Not that Eli didn't do that already.

"Eli, I'm working with Adria to keep you safe. You literally walking into danger is really just making it all useless."

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I supposed to just sit here binge watching true crime shows and wondering if you'd get your own episode when you finally got yourself murdered?" Honestly, Matthew would probably enjoy that if it didn't require him getting murdered.

At the moment though, Matthew was probably too upset to even consider the thought. Instead, he let out a tired sigh, and sat on the couch next to Eli.

"Why can't you just try to stay safe?" he said, sounding absolutely exhausted and pretty much at the end of his rope. Which Eli didn't appreciate, considering he felt very much the same.

"Why can't you?" Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to ask, but Eli was feeling petty at the moment.

"Eli," Matthew groaned, covering his face with his hands as he leaned forward. Personally, Eli thought he was being a tad bit too dramatic. After all, it wasn't like either of them died.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna go make a sandwich." Eli stood, fully intending to get some food before his stomach ate itself. He did his best to ignore the ache in his leg.

"Why can't you take things seriously?" Matthew asked from his seat, and Eli paused after just a couple of steps towards their temporary kitchen.

"I am. Which is why I even went in the first place. Or what, did you think I missed the part where the guy after us is a freaking mercenary?" Eli figured that was a pretty good sign of how dangerous the guy is. "Kinda sounds more dangerous than the usual mugger you go after, and honestly, this whole plan was a fucking mess and it's not like I could trust Adria to help. For all I knew she planned the whole thing to get rid of you." Sure, Eli might have been ranting a bit, but he was just done with the whole argument. He was pretty sure he should just walk away before he said something stupid.