Page 10 of Illuminated

“More?” he asked again, his voice low, but other than that, untroubled by what was happening.

“Yeah, more. Touch me.”

He pulled my boxers down. He touched me, wrapped his hand around me, and used his thumb to stroke my tip as if he were trying his best to squeeze more precum out of me.

It was so good. It felt too good, or no. Not too good. I’d had casual sex a few times. Not a ton, but enough. The other party was usually far hornier than Auris seemed right now, although I couldn’t really tell. He didn’t seem like he was about to bend me over the sink, that was for sure. Instead, this felt like it was all about me, like I got to demand and was then served exactly what I’d ordered.

Really just a fantasy, then. And who knew, maybe he got off on that. Meeting strangers, playing a part for them. I decided that I didn’t care at just about the moment when he’d milked me enough to make it so it wasn’t painful when he pumped my erection.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I sighed against him, and he cradled my head with his free hand, those strong fingers pulling me in close. His long black hair was a curtain, blocking out the light, hiding the room from sight.

The handjob was good. Better. I’d never had one so good, if I was being honest with myself, and as a result, it didn’t last long.

I shot my load into his hand, moaned while he kissed me, nibbled on the corner of my mouth, and the high of the orgasm was blinding. It made me gasp for air and tremble, made me shiver and yearn, and when I looked and actually saw what was happening around me again, I found his eyes locked on me, his nostrils flaring, and his expression somewhere between rapt and ravenous.

His hand curled against my scalp, not painfully. Just when I registered it as a gesture of possession, he unwound his fingers and took half a step back. He leaned over to a paper towel dispenser on the wall, pulled a bunch out, and cleaned me up, carefully, tenderly.

“I can do that,” I said. My voice was still crackly and a little rough around the edges. I had to steady myself against the sinks.

“I know.”

He was undeterred. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t tell him to get out and leave me alone. Hormones, the brain’s way of mellowing out your thoughts, most likely.

Once he’d wiped his own hands clean, once he’d pulled my pants back up, he leaned in once more, like he’d done when we’d kissed.

“Come join me outside when you are ready,” he said.

He didn’t run out of the bathroom as if he was now ashamed of this, but he left, and that was a good thing.

I needed to catch my breath, and if at all possible, my thoughts as well, because those were all over the place.

* * *

I sat back down in the chair across from Auris. His dark eyes took in my every move without it feeling like he was staring.

I had never had a man give me a handjob in the bathroom of a fancy restaurant, and I wasn’t sure what the accepted protocol was. Then again, he was the vampire with the fancy Windsor knot, and perhaps he did that kind of thing a lot, so I decided I would let him take the lead here. Which… he was a vampire. Strong, fast. Certainly vicious. It wasn’t like I had a choice.

And still, I was pretty sure I’d had a choice in the bathroom, because he’d just done what I’d demanded, hadn’t he? I decided not to think about it too hard for now. I took another sip of wine.

“It’s your turn again,” Auris said. He was absolutely calm, and his lips were a dark shade of red.

“My turn?”

“The game. You ask a question, then I ask a question.”

“I don’t want to play games anymore,” I said.

He smiled, then nodded. “Very well.” He pulled my car keys and phone from his inside pocket, placed them side by side on the table between him and me. “I know a place near here that I would like to show you. It’s abandoned, properly so -- no one has been there in decades, and I doubt anyone beside myself is even aware it exists. However, that has to be your choice.”

Something passed over his face that I couldn’t quite place, wistfulness maybe. The expression was gone before it had any time to settle, and he went on. “My home here in Cromere is no good to me now that the church knows I live there, but I do want to collect a few items before I leave. That will take me an hour or so. You can stay here, have some food, enjoy the wine, and when I’m back, I’ll take you to that abandoned place.

“Or you can leave and forget tonight happened. I won’t seek you out if that is your choice, and you will never see me again.” He rose from his chair, dark and elegant, his hair shimmering in the low light. He walked around the table and bent to kiss my cheek. “Ethan. If you’ll take nothing else, you’ll still forever have my gratitude. You saved me from death tonight, and from much pain ahead of that.”

And he left, walked almost soundlessly back to the door while my heart beat loudly in my chest.

I looked back to the wine he hadn’t touched, looked to my phone and keys and knew that what I should do was grab my things and go, run, go back home and lock myself in just like I and everyone else had done during lockdown.

I didn’t move.

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