Purpose Read Online Free PDF Page A

returning to the bedroom.
    Ignoring his guest, Gar emptied his pockets into the top drawer of his dresser. Mindful of Ryan’s presence, he didn’t bother to hide his actions. He transferred money, lots of it, from his pants to the dresser.
    “Do you always keep your money in your sock drawer?”
    Turning, he shrugged. “Good a place as any. I can get to it when I need it.”
    Head tilted, eyes narrow, Ryan stared at Gar. Holding up both hands, he said, “What if someone breaks in?”
    Gar shut the drawer and walked over to his closet. “They won’t find anything.”
    “That’s ridiculous.” Ryan followed him across the small room. Did he think being closer gave more force to his argument? “The first place someone will search is your dresser.”
    “They won’t find anything in there. Trust me.” He removed a tee shirt and cotton pants and shut the door. “Let me shower, and after that the room will be all yours.”
    “Gar….” Ryan stopped when Gar removed his shirt.
    Ignoring his guest, Gar tossed his shirt on the wicker hamper in the corner. He sat on the bed to untie his shoes, before stepping out of his pants. A whiff of gunpowder hit his nose when he held up the pants. It was on him too. Hopefully, the shower would take care of it.
    Ryan stood at the end of the bed, watching silently. Without a thought, Gar shucked his boxers on his way to the shower. Again, Ryan’s heart raced.
    Stupid! Not that he was vain, but he knew how he looked. No fat, tight muscles, nice ass—at least that’s what David used to tell him. If anything, it was better now. He spent so much time oblivious to those around him, he forgot Ryan would look. And since Ryan expected….
    Forget him. Falling into his night routine, he adjusted the water and then brushed his teeth while it got hot. In the slowly fogging mirror, he stared at his reflection. Not a day older. If anything, he looked younger than when It had found him.
    Shower and forget him.
    Settling under the warm, almost hot spray, he put both hands on the wall, letting the water hit the top of his head. Streams rolled down his face and back as he let his mind process the night’s events.
    There was something different about Ryan, something he could feel, but not identify. It wasn’t the kid himself, it was… different. He felt an instant attraction… no, not attraction, attachment. A hand in a glove.
    Disconcerting as it was, it was the other realization that troubled him more. Every day for the forty years, It had impelled him to seek the guilty. The Purpose, his purpose, was never silent or calm. It required him to acknowledge the obvious. His life was not his anymore. With practice, he had corralled it, keeping it under control well enough that he didn’t go insane.
    He still felt It , but it’d gone dormant. The pressure, unwanted and hated, had become so ingrained in who and what he was that its absence proved unsettling. And Ryan, unwittingly or not, was a piece of the mystery.
    Focused on self-reflection, he almost missed the knock. “Gar?”
    “Yes, Ryan.”
    “Can I come in?” Gar listened a moment. Whatever Ryan wanted, it was causing his pulse rate to spike.
    “The door’s open.” He winced. Such a welcoming invite.
    The handle moved and the hinges squeaked. The minute change in temperature as the cooler air from the bedroom mingled with steam brushed over his skin. Ryan had come in but stopped. Probably just needed to piss—it was the only toilet.
    Directing the water onto his face, he almost lashed out when the shower curtain parted behind him.
    “What…?” How long had it been since he’d been surprised? Decades?
    “You said I could come in.” Ryan stood by the curtain, naked, highly aroused, looking for approval. His lips curled into a shy smile as his eyes went from the open space to Gar’s body.
    Staring at him, Gar felt himself smile. A real one, not forced or planned. The kid was trying to seduce him.
    Gar’s smile must have been