Sin 1.0

Sin 1.0

Authors' Notes:

Hello everyone, Evago here. Just a reminder, I write for the pleasure it gives me. And nothing has given me more pleasure than this project with Drew. We did this because we enjoy it. I hope you do too. Sinfully yours, Evago.

Hope everyone enjoys this. We'll get to the rest of the Sins in time. Let us know what you think. Drew

evagoxrush@gmail.com

drewfilchak@gmail.com

The Sin Series

By Evago Rush and Drew Filchak

"Sin 1.0"

The air in Las Vegas struck me first. It was hot and dry. So completely different I had trouble breathing waiting for the cab. Of course the smog didn't help either. But the differences were exciting. Las Vegas! What happens in Vegas...yeah right. Like anything is going to happen to me that I need to leave here. I'm a gamer! I am here in Las Vegas to hang out with my gamer groupies while we goob over an addictive online role-playing game.

It's sheer luck that I am here though. Well not luck, procreation had something to do with it. No, not mine. My guild leader was invited to the Community Summit but his wife is eight months pregnant and he just had to maintain some home faction and keep her happy. Fourteen or fifteen million people maintain active online role-playing game accounts. Granted, my game only has about 2 of those millions, but that is still huge. Our guild, Sign of Chaos, is one of the largest most successful across all servers. I think we rank fourth overall. But we are a younger guild, up and coming, and have to fight hard to maintain our rankings. I think the older guilds should appreciate it. We gave them something to once again fight for.

As a geek I am pretty well dressed and definitely do not look the part. At twenty-nine I can pass for twenty-one, but it is my clothing that gives me away. I don't wear baggy jeans. Instead I wear dark-blue straight jeans, and today a white and gray, untucked button shirt. The watch on my wrist is fashionably loose. My soft brown hair is a little longer than I like but trimmed neatly at my neck and sides. If you didn't know I was gay, you'd think I was anyway. My clothing suits me and fits well. Vanity, thy name is Shelby. I like nice clothes, but don't make the mistake of thinking I am actually hot. I just like my taste in clothing. My nose is crooked, my ears are a little too big and I walk with a limp. Not to mention I get nervous in crowds.

I am so screwed.

In game I am confident, experienced and display good, solid leadership qualities. As the primary recruitment officer I spend a great deal of time getting to know all the members of our 400+ member guild. There will be over twenty of them here on this trip and as I get out of the cab, I am so nervous my teeth are chattering. Of course it doesn't help that Vegas is just so... intense. My god. The MGM is a lion-adorned, dark den of hedonism. The line for check in alone was an experience. Every possible example of Vegas attire could be found here -- the skimpy dress on the forty-something woman who must have a combination of great skin care products and talented surgeons to the worn jeans and black t-shirt on another forty-something woman with glasses and a geeky looking backpack. Gamer.

Finally I had my key card and after nervously declining the help of the staff to take my small carryon case up to my room, I got myself hopelessly lost on the casino floor trying to find the elevator. Damn, there is just no way they intend for you to ever get out of here. Passing the bar I was fascinated by the hum of music and the way it pulsed out into my feet; the base not intrusive, but more so, liberating -- a sound track to the experience. The casino is light ... definitely not shadow ... and definitely not at all what I expected -- a true fantasy world.

By the time I reached the elevator I was out of breath and my knee was aching, but I couldn't wait to make my way to the convention floor and check in. The crowd in the elevator made me uncomfortable and I wrapped my arms around my chest and stood patiently as it stopped on several floors...

This is Vegas. Sin City. It is one of the few places on the globe where a license to be bad is included with your airline ticket. It's a shameful waste of good advertising money trying to tout the city's family offerings, but as everyone knows, Vegas overflows with dollars to burn and nothing to redeem. It's a place of dirty secrets -- hot and primed to spontaneously combust. But then it could never be too hot for me. Heat allows individual pieces to flow together, synthesize and become one. Good analogy. That would be something to remember for the nubile minds waiting for the little bit of manna which will help transform their feeble attempts to write publishable fiction. And to think they're paying top dollar just to be near me throughout the four-day fiction writer's symposium. I know in the secret places of their minds they think that something will rub off and provide a miraculous transformation in their literary abilities. Well, Vegas is the place for secrets -- hot and dirty. Or feeble and desperate. I prefer the dirty ones. They can keep their pretentious self-lies.

I shouldn't be so disrespectful of my students. God, I make myself laugh at times! They are paying me after all, and paying well at that. With 32 students at $500 a pop, I couldn't complain. It's something to do and I get to keep up with my night job while passing the days. It was only a four-day course. Four days ... and nights ... in some of the best air-conditioned accommodations the City of Sin could offer. I love staying at the MGM. Each time it refreshes the memories of previous bouts of hot and dirty sex from past visits which anyone will tell you is the key to vivid writing; keep the details alive and in front of you. I just told that to my students prior to the break in sessions before lunch. And I absolutely needed a break after three hours being sucked dry of ideas from people that could never get enough. As I waited at the elevator, my eyes remained focused in front of me -- not a normal behavior, trust me, but in this moment it was a survival reflex. One of the suckers, an overweight woman from Tuscaloosa, wearing a god-awful multi-colored tent, stood next to me just waiting for the slightest overture to continue with her creative suck fest. '...oh, Alex, did you like my metaphor about beached whales? I felt such a connection with it ...'. It's break time, Momma Leviathan, not suck time. Besides, I wanted to get to my room so I could blow a load thinking about bending that cute, married daddy from the second table over the lectern in front of the group and fucking him into a whole new way of seeing metaphors.

I don't mind the back of elevators. They allow me study time; faces, expressions, bodies. As I watched the people enter that had been standing behind me, I saw tent lady get pushed to the far side. Good. Stay there and keep that blowhole sealed. No one else was worth looking at until this little man, not much more than a pup, entered. I knew without a doubt as he turned and stood with his back to me, that he was the sole reason I found myself in Vegas this time around. Mmmm. Nice back side. I love littler men. They make a nice contrast to my six feet and this one contrasted quite agreeably; brown hair to my blonde, youth to my age, but then everyone was younger than me. Comes with the job. And this one couldn't be more than early 20s, twenty-five tops. The fifteen years between us was perfect. So were those legs in those tight jeans. I might have to revise my age estimate. He wasn't dressed like those young punks in baggy everything. Sure his shirt was untucked, but then so was mine. To me, there wasn't a hotter look on a man than a white button-down long sleeve, open cuffed with the bottom button undone, falling over a nicely packed pair of faded 501s. The open button always allowed for tantalizing glimpses of the saddle horn I'd grab for the duration of my ride ... fuck it all, I loved being back in the Wild West.

And this little colt in front of me needed to be ridden hard. He just didn't know it yet.

Damn! Nice little package, even though the shirt covered a perfect little butt that I'm sure matched his perfect little frame. That married daddy had roused my predator instinct and the devil inside me knew it was home again in the City of Lights -- bad combination for the unsuspecting pup in front of me. Unsuspecting and little insecure, if I wasn't mistaken; all wrapped up in those grey and white sleeved arms. I'll give him security. Just take one step backward, pup. My cock hardened just looking at the impression of his ass under the shirt tails.

My dark prayer was answered by the Big Boss down below as the door opened on the third floor to three obvious relatives from the same pod as tent lady from Tuscaloosa. They needed a lot of room and Pup needed to not let them touch him. He stepped back into me. Thanks, Boss!

My hand immediately snaked around his tiny waist and I pulled that perfect butt against my erection; my satisfaction at his breathless gasp knew no limit. He tried to pull from me, but the command of my whisper in his ear made him freeze. "Don't move, pup. You're where you're meant to be." I lunged once into the valley made by the exquisitely matched mounds of butt flesh. His shudder of fear radiated down the length of his body and into mine.

The elevator doors opened again and while two riders stepped out, the whales kept talking about how refreshing the pool on the 21st floor terrace would be. Tent lady was going to the same place if I'd heard her squeal of glee correctly. As long as no one else entered the elevator, there'd only be a few more moments until it was just me and my colt. "Steady, boy." I growled, my voice covered by the sound of the whales beaching as the doors opened yet again. He was utterly frozen in my grasp, trembling.

Once the doors closed and the elevator proceeded to the 28th floor, I released my grasp. He tried to move from me, but his movement was clipped as I clenched the back of his billowing shirt. My other hand darted beneath his shirttail. "Not so fast, pup." The huskiness of my voice again ground into his ear. My hand slid into his cleft, digging for the trembling hole I knew would be `oh so tight'.

"Let me g... go." Fear laced his stutter, but it wasn't the only thing I heard. A slight pitch raise admitted his reluctant lust for desires he couldn't voice.

The door opened onto the twenty-eighth floor and I moved quickly to block the door with my foot, swinging around to face his wide-eyed expression. The hand that had been previously buried in his trench snaked between his legs and underneath the mound of his balls.

"Room 2810," I growled. "You know there's no other choice."

And I pulled both of my hands free from his body...

I saw him when I stepped onto the elevator, but consciously only acknowledged him as yet another example of Vegas magnificence. He was a taller man with a devilish tilt to his handsome face. Vegas wasn't new to him. Maybe one day I would have that confidence in this maze of sin. Yeah right. I don't have that confidence walking to the corner store uptown and it is only four blocks from my cottage. I was thinking that to myself when some additional passengers forced me backwards into the object of my mental wanderings. For half a second I thought to blurt out an apology, but it died on my lips when I felt him instantly respond in a way that was so astonishing I froze in place.

No one does this! He isn't? Oh god, he is.

His hands snuck around me and he pressed the blatant arousal against my ass and he growled something in my ear. But it didn't make it past the hum of astonishment mingled with the din of the other passengers.

My first thought was, `how could he know I am gay and wouldn't make a scene?' Then he thrust against my ass, no doubt intending me to feel his cock because little more than a few millimeters of denim and fabric separated it from the opening.

He is fucking molesting me in a public lift! What the hell?

But god, the heat of him wrapped around me ... his scent warm and masculine ... and my animal self must have responded instantly to it because I didn't fight him with fury. Instead I made a pathetic sound of dismay. Dismay for what? Longing? Fury? Fear. Yes, fear. It was some kind of fear that led me to beg for him to let me go. But he was all over me for a long moment longer, his hands, his body stroking me, and when he rubbed me between my ass cheeks and then under my balls there was nothing subtle or careful about it. He moved with intent and certainty. As if being his possession was a fact already put paid to.

He said a room number and I was shaking my head inwardly when it sank in about the same time he stepped back and I swayed when freed of his touch. Low throbbing hip-hop was pulsing out of the tinny elevator speakers. It was music that just screamed Vegas and in this moment, it was utterly surreal. The pulse matched the heavy thud of my heartbeat. I could literally feel my heart trying to parallel the base riff.

I must have gaped like a fish out of water. I could feel the burn on my cheeks, a blush of sensual response to be sure, but I didn't know that at the time. My god, he was so wickedly handsome. Imperfect in the cold light of day I am sure, but here in this moment was a man with need stamped on his features in such a way as to make an angel dive from heaven. A pair of tourists appeared behind him, cameras slung around their necks and their polo shirts so neatly pressed they looked stiff. They silenced my broken response. I reached for the button on the panel and pressed the little symbol of two doors approaching one another. All I could think to do was just get away. What else is there to do?

Room 2810.

Pressing hard against my zip ... love this ... still fucking rigid ten minutes after watching the Pup sway in a goddamned swoon after I let him go. God, that boy made me hot! Oh, sorry Boss. My mistake. But he did! Oh, boy did he!

Just as hot as that choir boy from ... Where the fuck did that come from? How long ago was that? I can't ... did I? ... I can't remember ... WHAT THE HELL? Fuck it! Denial danced me away from that thought as quickly as my conscience produced it.

This one made me hot, period! My hand pressed against my erection, groping it briefly. I looked at my watch. It's been 12 minutes. I chuckled wondering how many trips up and down the elevator he's made. One last grope and I turned to my fridge for some bottled water. Ahh. The buttons on my shirt offered no resistance as I made quick work of their fastness. A knock at the door sounded as I finished my first pass over the rigid, hair covered muscles of my chest. My smirk coincided with a rough twist of my left nip. Oh yeah ... nice and primed!

He jumped as I yanked the door open, eyes racing to meet mine then dropping just as quickly to my exposed chest where they stalled on the 4-guage, black rings through each nipple. His eyes widened to show his uncertain desire and I could smell his lingering fear. Hot. Pulsing. How amusing to see his arms clench even tighter around the overnight bag pressed to his chest. When those fawn-like eyes returned to mine his taut face flushed from red to scarlet then paled white. The lips that I'd seen only briefly before the doors closed earlier parted and trembled as he tried to speak.

Not yet, Pup. You're not ready to say anything yet. He read my mind as his lips dropped shut.

"So tell me, little man, just how many trips did you take before you finally left the lift?" He recoiled from my leer, but only initially as I watched his back straighten as if fortified by some absurd notion that he was in control. He even pushed his chest out a little which might have helped with the effect, but the bag ruined it. I grinned.

"I ..."

I'll give him credit for getting that much out.

"Why did you d ... do that? How did you know?"

Well, he does have some balls. They may be on the smaller side, like that perfect body of his. Want to kiss it all over ... where'd that come from? ... but he's got 'em. Now let's see what else he's got.

"Please, Pup, I can spot one of you from across the casino. All dressed up, but still stylishly sloppy, wearing those tight 'come-fuck-me' jeans and trying to use your untucked shirt to hide the perpetual hardon you get from just being near men like me. You keep your arms all tucked up neat and close to your chest, but you're really just begging me to pull them over your head and hold 'em tight while my other hand is busy making you squirm."

His mouth dropped open wide like the door to a storm cellar blown off its hinges by a tornado. That was the response I'd been waiting for. My hand snapped forward before he could even blink and grabbed the hard-on I was certain I'd find. He squealed in surprise and shock, a piglet cornered by the big, bad wolf. I squeezed hard once and then before he could regain enough sense to pull away, my hand moved from his engorged cock to his jaw, tipping his face upward so I could look down into his eyes ... into his soul -- the soul I was gonna claim.

"So what's it gonna be, Pup? You gonna go back to your safe little fantasy world of gaming and 'computer-thrills-a-minute'?" The fear in his eyes immediately dropped as it was replaced by stunned shock. I chuckled. Pups these days. They're so easy. Does he think I don't know what's going on in this hotel? "Or are you going to come in and let me show you just how good I can make you feel?"

Astonishment. That is what it was. Pure, unadulterated astonishment. Did I step off the plane into Las Vegas or some alternate reality? The devil was right here, in front of me, his sin-filled gaze and heated touch was nothing compared to his trip into my soul. I felt detached from my physical response, angry that my body was outside of my mind's control. Yet, staring at him, at the eyes that flicked over me with almost mocking desire, I saw something else. He was jaded and ... alone. I could be just another conquest for his book of tricks. It bothered me, on some profound level, that such a beautiful man could be so hardened and cynical.

He may look into me, but I looked into him as well.

I stepped forward sharply; my arms and bag bumping him and his eyes widened in surprise before he smothered the response and favored me with a satisfied smirk. His lips parted and yet before he could lash me with his slick tongue, I interrupted him. "What a banquet of cherries you must have your pick from in a place so bountifully designed to lure the innocent into your embrace. Do you just glance across the crowd and pick the night's conquest based on some reliable list of perfect conquest traits? And when you are done stealing the last gasp of uneasy pleasure from his lips does it leave you with nothing more than a faint reminder of what it is like to feel connected to your humanity? Or none at all?"

I dropped my bag, narrowly missing his feet, and reached for the button at the V of my shirt, "Do you expect me to dress my own sacrifice and strip for you? I have a place to be in a couple of hours..." Oh yeah, it came out firmly in my soft voice, only the barest tremble in my tone. I locked my eyes on the rings piercing the dark flesh of his flat nipples. This is not how I imagined my first lover. I smothered the ache in my heart and waited.

After all, I might as well get past this. I've been haunted by my lack of experience. But, why did that leave a yawning chasm in my heart?

Such bravado from the little lamb. Such oral confidence. Does he think he can goad me into letting him go? Forfeit my claim on him? He was mine the second he let out that little-lamb gasp in the lift instead of pushing me off and exiting the first chance he got. Nothing he can say is going to delay his rape, his descent into sexual oblivion ... I've waited too long for a sacrifice this perfect to cross my path and walk through my door willingly. He can be cute and beg all he wants.

"Stop there, Pup." My growl reached him before the first button could be loosed. "That's my job, but I must say that your enthusiasm is touching." His eyes snapped from mine as my hand grasped the hardened flesh snaking down my jean's leg. "It touches me all the way to the root of my big cock, baby." I sneered at the shiver of fear and lust racing across his face and down his body. A long stroke down my erection pulled his eyes with it and he squeaked another half-peep as he saw that my cock was considerably longer that two of my hand's widths. "How deep's your throat, baby? How tight's your hole?"

I have to give him credit for not flinching when I took the last step to him and placed my forefinger just above that first button. Time to turn up the heat. My chuckle was as unfettered as a hyena's cry. Literally turn up the heat! His eyes widened in surprise as his chest warmed at the touch. I watched as his initial concern flared into disbelief. "What's a matter, Pup ... too warm for you?" I smirked. "I've got a real fast metabolism. Some say too fast. Wanna walk away, boy, before you get burnt?"

Tears moistened those soft eyes though held back from falling by that same inner resolve I witnessed as he crossed the threshold into my room. His chest pressed upward against my finger defiant to the heat. I nodded. "Good, boy." And quickly grasped the lapels of his shirt with both hands and ripped it clear open, buttons flying everywhere in perfect accompaniment to his shout.

"That's my shirt, asshole!" His fist trying to push against my chest met with a brick wall.

"Baby, once I'm done with you, you can go to any shop in the whole fucking casino and get ten more shirts of your choice. Tell 'em to put 'em on Alex's account." I forced myself to hold back my laugh as his face flushed indignantly. "Those hack, wanna-be writers in my class are paying tons of money for the secret to best-seller writing, even though I think that only the hot-assed daddy is gonna earn it this go around."

His embarrassment from my call boy allusion faded as it was replaced by the pup's show of steel. His eyes hardened. Then before I could stop him he shrugged his shirt to the floor exposing a torso with just a smattered wedge of hair between two lightly-muscled pectorals. My lust amplified itself twice over. The thin treasure trail though was what sent me over the edge. "Now we're talking, little baby!" The distance between us closed as I grabbed his firm little ass and pulled him to me; chests pressing, mouth within sudden reach of his flawless neck.

He shivered again. "Why are you so hot?" His question went unanswered as I latched onto the tendon and muscles stretching from his ear to his shoulder. With my first taste of his salty, sweat-slicked flesh I knew I'd found my new drug of choice. I whirled him around as I feasted on his neck and slowly backed him towards the bed, my unnatural heat flaring in tandem with my desire. Our movement stopped when the back of his knees met the mattress, his moans poured unintelligibly from his slack-jawed mouth. The button on his waistband popped easily as my shaking hand quickly dropped the zipper and crept in alongside the flat abdomen, following the trail to its treasure. I suddenly had to taste his mouth though I seldom graced others with the same intimacy. This kid had me hot and on the border between self-control and my own oblivion.

My shout echoed my dive over the cliff and into his mouth as his tongue battled mine unabashed and wanting. At the same moment, my hand encircled his pulsing, leaking cock still confined in his silk shorts. Any control over the situation I thought I had was gone. How could this be possible? Why the fuck was I kissing him? But I couldn't force myself to stop! His cock in my hand leaked its juice in the same quantities as his spit. I rubbed its length as his body began to shake. His moans reverberated through my mouth ... or were they my moans? I couldn't tell and I sure as shit didn't care. His arms sprang to wrap themselves around my neck causing my tongue to bury itself deeper into his sucking, oral hole. I had to stop this, but I couldn't pull back and then, it was too late. He screamed into my mouth as his cock spasmed in syncopated voice spitting his load into my hand and overflowing my grasp. He screamed a second time and forced my head onto lips sent straight from the gods, hungrily sucking my tongue through his spent passion. My hand slowed its rubbing as my other raised from his ass to gently stroke his hair. Our shared breath slowed, the panting inhalations shifting to longer and softer breaths of the same oxygen. Once he finally released my tongue, he moved to my lower lip and gently applied his teeth.

Somehow, my mind returned to me and I knew I had to reassert my dominion over this ... this pup ... this tally. I pulled my lip from him in mid-chew and began an aborted laugh. His words rocked me to that place where my soul once resided.

"I'm Shelby." They were quiet words, ones containing more than just a name.

NO! I don't want your fucking name! The Damned voice in that soul-voided place began to growl its displeasure. I know! Damnit! My eyes met Pup's and the adoration pouring from him to me had the combined force of three bullwhips breaking my skin simultaneously with their flaming lash. He flew back on to the bed with the force of my denial and I grasped the open sides of his jeans, yanking them to his still-shod feet. My shirt flew from my shoulder and my hand savagely ripped the buttons free of my 501s, releasing my raging scepter of lust. I quickly discarded the pants and growled my fury at his disarming face that showed his hurt at my rejection. I didn't care.

I yanked his jeans over his shoes then ripped the shoes from his feet finishing by pressing my body between his legs. I fell against him, my mouth crushing against his. I said I fucking know! I screamed at the voice of my master inside me, the one who ruled my every breath and would do so forever. My one hand crushed past his balls and dove into his trench pressing against his bud. I felt the heat building inside me as it did whenever my true self began to emerge from its exile. His moans began to change from renewed lust to fear as the temperature of my skin kept rising. I felt my skin rip above my own ass trench and my tail emerge from its hiding place. Long and thick, the sign of my Damnation began its rise to freedom. The boy suddenly shuddered and reached quickly to shove me from my kiss.

"Please, Alex. Please." His voice trembled with desire. "I want you so badly, more than I've ever wanted anyone else." I stared at him while my tail whipped silently behind me, waiting it's time. I'd held my eyes back from shifting to the flaming blood-red that normally accompanied my transformation. But my patience was gone. His patience was gone. I had to take this pup, this soul, now!

"Fuck your desires, boy! I want your soul."

His eyes widened briefly then instantly pooled with tears. "But ...what? I ... but I just want more ... I think I love you ... are you crazy? I thought you wanted me ...I gave myself to you! You don't have to take anything."

His words seared through me ... flesh rendered. I howled in immortal anguish as his words reverberated into the nothingness of my soul! "Shut up, BOY!" And in that instant, the battle was lost, the ramifications of which I couldn't even fathom. My eyes flamed and my back arched upward as my wings burst through my skin, black and shaking, my tail ... the ultimate manifestation of my Fall ... now fully extended, lashed around my hips to grasp the boy's -- this ... Shelby's, throat. The beautiful innocence of his face contorted in shock. It was the conflict between the reality of his desires, his stated feelings regardless of the confusion they presented, and the surrealism of nightmare made real.

"I'm giving me!" The satisfaction running through me from the fear and uncertainty his earlier statements at the door contained was gone. His forced whisper now wrenched my feelings of overriding lust and domination into something utterly unfamiliar and yet fully foreign. Millenniums have passed unnoticed since I'd felt this way; desire to touch without corrupting, to kiss without rage, to replace the black hole that contained his voice with Light once again. "Don't do this ... I just want to love someo ...".

I stopped his words with a 'shhh' as I tapped his forehead while at the same time, blocked him from my mind. Shelby instantly dropped into slumber and solace, the terror and yearning leaving his face. Fuck! The Other Side's gonna have something to say about that one. Even I know better than to use my angelic power on a human! Fuck. Again. Now what? I'd never blocked him before. The realization that I couldn't go either way -- towards the Light that had been denied me or back to the dark eternity this rape would have assured, damnation I'd earned time and time before -- paralyzed me. I fell to the bed beside the sleeping form of my torment. I had to act, had to assure that he wouldn't sweep in and claim what was now mine. Right. Lie to yourself. He'll never be yours and you know it. My tail released its hold and instead of retreating, swept across the tear-stained cheeks in a gentle caress. The touch of the soft, virginal skin, sent a shiver down my spine causing my ass to clench with quieted lust and the desire to give this man, this innocent, what he truly desired. There's no time, damnit!

My bulk swept from the bed, my natural form retreating back into myself as I grabbed his clothes from the floor. In moments, I had him dressed, his shirt falling open without its buttons. From the check-in card stuffed in his jeans pocket I found his room number. 2710. Right below me. Aww. It felt good to chuckle. I hauled him from the bed, my arms barely registering his weight and headed towards the door.

Why did I ever think I'd be allowed? I was damned before I even started.

"Going somewhere, Alex ole buddy?"

There's a fine balance you have to maintain once you've fallen from Grace between remembering that you are an abhorrent parody of your previous Divine Expression but still in existence and knowing that eternity is forever and you're to be forever in Darkness. You can Fall and not be Damned, you can even choose to Fall. But you're Damned once you hear his voice in that place absent of Light. And it was my lust that damned me -- lust for the pleasures my flesh craved, lust for these damnable humans who live such brief existences, yet live them fiercely, and lust for the Love the Light held for them above all creation.

In my frozen state caused by the sound of his voice behind me, from its place always in me, I realized that three choices stood before me. The obvious first being capitulation to the inevitable -- turn around towards the bed, place his acolyte to the lust within each of us on the 700-count Egyptian cotton alter and complete what I'd started. This ... Pup would experience what he could never begin to imagine in ultimate carnal desire ... and lose irretrievable ground in the points tally towards progression along the road to the Great Seven. Or, and this is just an absurdly stupid idea that has no possibility of success, I can continue out the door, proceed to the elevator, take it down one floor, deliver my Torment to his bed and wipe his mind of the Other World aspects of the last hour. Why not do another major no-no? The Other Side's already more than a little pissed at me. If I did, there'd be no escaping my master's wrath, not even with offering him hot daddy downstairs with all his lustful passions that he can only release on paper.

And lastly? No, not even conceivable. Not even on my knees would They listen to me. Not now. Never again. And so I turned toward Lucifer.

"Hey, Boss. What up?" Humans simply can't imagine what it's like to stand in front of the guy and have his attention focused on you. I mean, sure he's good looking and all -- the hair dark, all swept back reaching his shoulders -- but I never 'jones' for him if you get my drift. Unless he tells me to. Then I am Lust defined. Shit. That's an understatement. His passions are ... well, next subject. I am so dead.

Damnit! He's the only one in the totality of my existence that can make me squirm with just a look. Not even his beloved brother can do this to me ... simply because he hasn't embraced Lust like ole Luc has. Lucifer normally makes my skin crawl, not squirm. Again, unless he wants it to. But his brother ... he always gets me hot!

"Enough of the gratuitous thoughts of me and my brother, Alex." Yeah, the whole mind-reading thing. Hate it! "Stop this shit and do what you do best. Finish it with the human."

Sometimes a few nods, slowly made as if in deep thought, suffice to lead whomever you planned to throw off the scent to actually be misdirected. This wasn't one of those times -- never even considered it, actually. But damnit, I'm still Alexiel, Fallen and Damned, yet still me. I have an in-born desire to give people the `Bird' without actually doing it and I absolutely hate being told what to do. Pride. You know, one of the other Seven? You don't Fall just because you fucked up with one of 'em. One or two will earn you some black wings, but not cause a Fall. So I figured, standing here holding something that I really wanted and knew I couldn't have, that I've already got the black wings and a pretty fucking righteous tail, I've Fallen and was Damned, what's the worst he can do?

"Can't do that Luc." That's gonna cost me. He hates it when I call him that. My gaze dropped to look at Shelby's face and for the first time I saw something I wanted more than lusted after. I wanted to kiss him again and see his eyes widen with desire and surprise. I wanted to see him smile. Just once. These humans .... "So thanks for stopping by, good to see you and all, but I'm just gonna go downstairs for a bit."

I turned my back on him. Oh, Shit! Did I just do that? And reached for the door handle. It wouldn't budge. Well, I guess that's that. I went to turn, but was stopped by a voice I hadn't heard in eons. Literally. No Way!

"You lost this one, Brother." Gabriel stood between Lucifer and me dressed as impeccably as always in the latest Armani Silk, not a hair out of place on his outrageously handsome head, at least what I could see from the back. "You and our little Alexiel were stretching the rules and you know it."

"Gabriel. Brother. Long time."

I watched that impeccable head slowly shake. The sound of his chuckle went straight to my balls. No wonder everybody liked this guy. Talk about lust! It was his next words though that actually rocked me to my core.

"Yes, it has been a while, how sad. But you need to just leave now and meet me for an espresso at that quaint place down the street near the fountain display at the Bellagio if you want to play catch up. We have other plans for the beautiful Innocent and his big, bad ravenger. And they don't include you."

Lucifer exploded. "The Innocent, FINE! But Alexiel's mine and you know goddamned well there ain't a snowball's chance in Hell that He'll bend on this one."

Another low chuckle reached my burning ears and slammed into my astonished mind as Gabriel turned his head towards me to offer a wink then faced Lucifer again. "He already has."

My vision faded to white as Lucifer exploded once again into a tirade I could no longer hear. I floated in the void of my stilled thoughts. What Gabriel's words implied was as foreign to my comprehension as with a death row inmate's reprieve at the thirteenth hour. This can't be correct! I know damned well that Gabriel lies, I've witnessed it before! It's not a sin, so who cares? But why me? What kick could he get out of this kind of taunt?

It's no taunt, young one.

Once again, back in the room, Gabriel stood before me, facing me this time. My gaze scanned for him and found no sign of his presence. And ... AND ... he wasn't there! Inside! "He's gone for now, Alexiel, but you and I both know he'll be back knocking soon. For now, take your Charge down to his room before he wakes."

I stuttered. "B ... but ..."

"What, young one? Have you spent so much time with my least favorite brother that you've forgotten that for each of the Great Seven there's a countering Virtue?"

I could only gape at him.

"Prudence, Alexiel. Now go and exercise a little more of it." He smiled and I caught my breath. "I'll check in on you later."

Oh fuck, what a hangover. I just got to Vegas and.... No. I didn't do anything but meet that guy in the elevator. The one who could have been Sin incarnate and he...

I made a sound and it came out rough and broken and the lance of pain in my throat forced tears from my eyes; eyes that felt heavy, weighted and I struggled to wrench them open. "Oh god!" I think I cried, and I felt my fingers dig into the fabric of hotel bedding. I dimly heard the door shut and I jerked upright, the haze of my vision clearing and landing oddly on the TV remote perched on top of the armoire that housed it. Instantly I wanted my own remote so I could see the last hour. Rewind. It was a grimly funny thought that drew a broken, miserable laugh from somewhere inside me.

Was I raped after all? I unbent my knees and swung round to the edge of the bed, inwardly cataloguing all my parts. Nothing but my throat hurt. I felt hot, raw and parched ... and I shivered despite it. There on the luggage rack lay my overnight bag. And on my shoulders hung the remnant of my shirt. I frowned, unbelievably upset over the stupid thing. He promised me a shirt. "Damn you." I muttered and somehow that did it. I started crying. I don't want to know what happened. I don't. The clock told me I was going to have to register tomorrow. I had missed the window tonight. The convention would have to wait.

I found myself at my hotel door, throwing every latch and bolt and afraid it would not be enough. My stomach growled and I rested my forehead on the door, tears dripping off my chin. I felt like the worst kind of fool. Never talk to strangers, Shelby. When did I think I had acquired enough sense to outgrow that? A part of me hated my loving parents for such careful sheltering. I never did risky things and look, the first time I am tempted, I practically get raped. Oh joy. Being gay for me is a disaster. Apparently, I was possessed of all the sense god granted a moth. Courage is not my middle name and common sense sure as hell hasn't paid me a visit.

Shower. Somehow I felt a burning desire, not to mention literally hot-skinned need, to take a cold shower and erase that feeling. The black and white Italian marble felt cool against my hand as I leaned in to adjust the shower. Luckily I didn't require a freezing spray. I settled on a tepid rain and stood under it, shockingly soothed by the simple mundane action. By the time I emerged I had worked myself into an inner fire. For some reason I had made it back here and he had been interrupted. But for some other reason, I didn't see fit to report him. Maybe it was that dismay in his eyes when I told him my name. The grief. For whatever reason he had stopped when he had had all the power.

I would have given him what he so strangely felt compelled to take. I wasn't ready to ask myself why I had been so willing.

It still took me fifteen minutes to work up the nerve to go out the door. I was dialing one of my guild mate's cell as I hesitantly stepped into the elevator. Thank god she answered. "Peggy! Hey, sorry I am so late, I fell asleep. Um, yeah, you wanna? Sounds good, I'll meet you there." She and Toby, Sheeva and Trank in Game, were a couple and thankfully they had not eaten yet. I wasn't alone. Food. It sounded so far off and I was desperate for it -- Craftsteak and Grilled Kobe. Damn, how could I be so hungry?

I was never so relieved to be off of an elevator in my life. I practically ejected myself from the box with one thought ringing in my mind. I wonder if they have stairs?

"Glad to see you got my note, young one. I pretty much figured Lucifer wouldn't take me up on my offer and I simply love espresso."

There should be some heavenly law against Gabriel looking this good. I mean, sure he's got the whole 'heavenly light' thing going on and I don't, but damn, I can tell why he's The Light's favorite. And double damn, I like him out of his fucking Armani for once. That patch of exposed chest above the V-opening of his shirt is ... drives me ... Damnit, Gabriel! He did that on purpose. He should have kept the suit, at least it covered those legs.

"I'm not his favorite because I'm pretty, Alexiel. It's His love's reflection that makes me look the way I do. You know this, just like you know you used to catch every eye in Heaven... and most on earth."

"Yeah, well those days are gone now aren't they, oh Prettiest." Sarcasm. Just what he probably wants now. Real good. "I almost didn't come. I went to see if I could salvage my class since I don't think ole Luc is going to be very forthcoming with his generosity any time soon and I find out the group was ecstatic with the class I'd just taught." I studied his paused expression searching for some hint of enjoyment and found nothing. "My Hot Daddy actually hugged me as he gushed his thanks over and over. What'd you do, tell him the secret to writing a best seller?"

"That's one of the differences between you and me, Alexiel, I told him the answer to revel in his pleasure of discovery, you wanted to tell him the answer as payment for his assured abandonment to the lust that boils slowly just beneath his surface. That's a behavior you'll have to curb if you want to keep 'ole Luc' at bay and fill that hole inside you with Him again."

"Fuck our differences, Gabriel!" What was happening? He's talking like there's really a hope in hell that I have a chance against Lucifer. "What is going on here, huh? You're telling me that The Light is going to just forgive everything and fill me back up, whiten my wings, remove my tail which I happen to like very much, and say 'c'mon home Alexiel, you've been gone too long' ... right. And Lucifer is just going to throw up his hands and say 'okay, guys, you've got him, I'll back off'.

"Yes, Alexiel, that is what I'm saying. Do you forget the enormity of His Lo ...."

"WHY!" I was on my feet, panting with emotion and staring down at THE angel of God with enough fear coursing through me to almost cause me to reveal my wings and fly away from this specter, this demon in an angel's skin. This does not happen! I know, I've checked! You don't get a second chance after what I've done! "Why, Gabriel?!! Answer me! You can't tell me this shit, you can't promise Redemption like this without a reason. So why?"

He smiled and nodded. "Take your seat again, young one, and I'll tell you." His words, delivered with such calm and ... love ... love that I'd not known nor felt for thousands of years, pulled my fear from me like a surgeon removes a tumor leaving life in its absence. "Besides, you're upsetting these nice people."

The absurdity of his statement was surreal! He was blocking our interaction from everyone around us as sure as I was sitting here.

"No, young one. I'm not shielding anything. I too enjoy being amongst them. They're so full of life and passion. Like you, still full of passion. That's why, Alexiel, that's why He's forgiven you." My look contained enough startled confusion to spur his explanation further. "He wants your passion to shine once again. Tell me, when was the last time you allowed Avarice to rule you? Or what about Wrath or Envy? How about Gluttony? In His simplest, most-divine form, He says not since your fall. You've not been Slothful nor Proud, at least not prideful enough for it to count against you. It's been the Lust, young one, that's kept you in this Subsistence. Because you've been blocked from The Light, you've used human definition of the Great Seven and they are woefully incapable of providing true meaning. Your Lust has ruled you and given Lucifer the one thing to keep you Dark. And you've remained Lustful until earlier with the Innocent."

In the crash resulting from my Fall, as I lay in a wretched mass of twisted, darkened wings, I'd known One Thought -- HE'S GONE FROM ME. I'd not thought nor referred to Him as anything but The Light since ... for over two thousand years, and during that time my craving for The Light, for anything to fill the void, led me to first start listening to Lucifer's melody. And then I fell inestimably further into damnation with that first, purposeful rape of an Innocent who simply wanted to feel love ... of any kind. And I knew I was truly Damned. For while I hadn't been able to feel His Light within me, I didn't realize that I could still see It. I knew utter damnation when my existence went finally and truly Dark.

"Yes, dearest young one. That is when it happened. And Heaven Wept."

Tears that I'd not allowed since the Darkness descended, flowed down my face in silent plea for everything Gabriel had just shared, just promised to be true, to hold strong. I looked into Gabriel as he opened himself to me. "See The Light, young one?" And I realized I did. I realized as I blinked back from Gabriel's depths that The Light surrounded me, illuminating every facet of my view with the specter of Divine Grace that dispels the Darkness. The woman to my left surged with Illumination, coloring her skin and making beacons of her eyes ... the man standing in the entryway to the patio was Dark, denied The Light, and I knew why. His Avarice consumed him to the death of all love in his existence.

"Remember, Alexiel? Remember what it is like to have His Illumination to guide you? Now, picture the face of your Innocent. Tell me what you see."

I gasped as Gabriel interjected Shelby's visage into my mind. It glowed with an internal light resulting in the truest expression of joy conceivable in human form ... that moment of ecstasy ... his orgasm at my hands as he stood before me next to the bed, his lips crushed to mine. I lurched back from the vision, horrified at the Darkness of me trying to smother his joy, his light. My chair screeched on the pavement as I pushed from the table yet unable to stand as the vision continued, this time with Shelby alone after I'd left him in his room. Raw fear stared back at him in the mirror as he tried to put the missing pieces back together. His hand shot to his lips as his eyes widened. He remembered for just a moment then reality returned and his eyes softened as sanity again took its rightful place saying `no that just can't be'. Had I broken each of my conquests over the centuries with my cock ... with my tail? I'd never stayed around long enough afterward to know, I'd never seen the after-effects with my own eyes. I'd wipe their minds then leave. Did I intentionally not wipe his mind fully? I almost broke him!

"I ... I almost ... he knows ...." Dumbfounded by my shame my eyes again pooled, this time though not due to longing, but to the actual heart ache of desire knowing that I'll never know the ultimate pleasure of providing that experience for Shelby again.

"Why not, young one? He's now very scared and burned dry by his contact with you. Yet the constant thought in the corner of his mind, back where you will always reside unless he knows love, is that he wants you infinitely though he doesn't understand why."

"So I'm just supposed to go to him? What about my wings? What about my tail?" Despair at newly found Redemption being removed just as quickly overwhelmed my conscious thought. "It's Forbidden! That can't have changed!"

"Ah, young one." Gabriel's eyes shone with compassion and wistful understanding. "You've never understood that nothing is forbidden if it's done from a place of pure love." I blinked once. How have I been so blind! "You'll find him in just under thirty minutes in the west stairwell. He's terrified of the elevator for some reason."

I stood and enjoyed my second look at the new world surrounding me then turned back to grin at Gabriel. "Damn, Gabe! It's bright as fuck out here! I gotta get me some shades before I go find my Pup!" My bright, full-throated laughter matched the Harmony of Light illuminating my heart. "Thank the Dude for me, will ya? I can't ... won't ... oh, hell, just thank Him."

Gabriel's smile balanced the disgusted shake of his head. I turned to leave, but then stopped and turned back. "Uh, so Mr. Big Dude on Campus ... what about ... you know, my wings and uh ... tail? They're both still there and black as Sin. I can feel 'em and ... nothing's changed."

He sighed. "Alexiel, you're still Fallen, just no longer Damned. Something's don't change overnight." A grin formed on his face and the sheer eroticism of it caused my cock to lurch. Damnit! Not now! Gabriel shook his head again and I blushed. Hate that mind reading shit! He grinned wider. "Just keep working on the love thing and the wings will come around. But ... you and I both know you're way too attached to that tail of yours to allow for total redemption."

I wasn't kidding about the stairs. I thought that once I ate I could go to the elevator, get on and...newp! Not gonna happen. I got near the damn bank of lifts and I felt the sting in my throat and my eyes simultaneously. My stomach lurched and the fantastic meal threatened to heave all over the gold and black carpet. God, what happened in that room that I was so afraid of? I could see the anguish on his face, feel my fear and my sorrow. Why the fuck did I feel bad for him?

Something so beautiful shouldn't be so forlorn and filled with rage.

I felt like somehow I did something wrong. I should never have gone to his room, never said yes. Why I felt responsible for his...well, that was just fucking stupid. I am not!

I was eight floors up feeling the heat in my calves and thighs, my chest was just now expanding with deeper breaths when it hit me I had nineteen floors to go and I really had no reason to be afraid of the fucking elevator. Ahead of me was the eighth floor doorway and I was just reaching for it when it opened and there in the brighter light of the corridor he stood in silhouette. I froze. My entire being seemed to form one word.

"No."

He stood uncertainly and I weighed my options. Run down the stairs? That was my only option and vaguely I had this image of him leaping after me his feet never touching the concrete. "Stay away from me." I said instead, my hand locked on the painted metal railing. My voice seemed to echo in the stairwell, and the shadows between the small recessed lights seemed to take on a life of their own, deepening. The same unearthly shadow danced just below his sharp jaw and I swallowed, the sting in my throat crashing into my consciousness.

He hurt me.

"Surprised? You shouldn't be. Your thoughts about me are loud enough anyone could hear you, Pup." Any fallen angel that is. I can't actually hear his thoughts. You have to be Not-Fallen to do that, but I can feel him, especially when his sole thought is on me. I had no need for Gabriel's foretelling at the cafe. Once He dispelled my Damnation with His Light, sensing the pup came instantly. In order to hear Shelby's thoughts I would have to be able to feel His Light, not just see it. That is the dismal experience of Fallen – seeing His Light without feeling it. If I could feel His Light then I would hear His Voice and, in turn, hear Shelby's thoughts.

Who fucking cares. After millennia in Darkness, I could See again. Looking at the pup with my new sight standing mere feet from me brought a startling vision to the forefront; a bed, with me in it and the pup sprawled next to me, both naked, his leg over mine, his head tucked in my arms against my chest. What the Fuck! My eyes pinched to clear the vision. Damnit! Stay out of this! I was pissed. He had no right to fuck with me like that just because He un-damned me. I like my goddamned tail and everything it represented. If you're gonna fuck with me like that, I'd just as soon be damned. Shit. Fuck. Didn't mean that. Hell, I didn't know what I meant. But what I did know was that Pup standing in front of me clenching the stair rail tightly enough to crush it and reeking with confusion and fear and a tone of underlying desire for me lit my fire instantly. Aw, hell! That's just a metaphor. I've had my fill of fire.

But not of him ... holy fuck.

"You're not afraid of me, Shel ... Pup. You're afraid of what you can't remember." Damn. Almost said it ... again. "There's a reason why you can't, so don't freak about it." The expression facing me lurched from pulled-back restraint to straight-forward shock. Those pretty lips dropped and the eyes ... god fuck those windows of infinite desire ... flashed with angry issue. I could ignore both easily enough. "How's your head? And your throat?"

His swallow told me what I wanted to know. So did his resumed fear. "Look, I can help you with both, but if you're going to be a scared little lamb then we can stand here looking at each other and you can go on hurting. Either way, you're mine. I know it. You know it. And you want it."

Stability comes from fortitude within one's soul and his display of personal rectitude, viewed with my new sight, amazed me. Releasing the bar he went to cross his arms over the puffed out chest, but instead arched his back as his hands dropped to the side. "What'd you do to me? Why does my head ... never mind." He shook his head. The inherent dismissal both amused and saddened me. I was only ready for one of those emotions.

"I'd have to touch you to clear the pain."

"Just stay away. Why won't you leave me alone?"

"Because you don't want me to."

"Yes I do!" Such charming emphasis on each word like one of the stage performers from the Strip seeking applause. He didn't mean it. I knew. His heartbeat quickened immediately – instant lie indicator. Damn! It's good to no longer be Damned. All the shit's working again. Well, almost.

"You're lying. The flush on your face says something different. Don't you know lying is a sin?" It wasn't, at least not as far as a major one, but I needed him to think that. His arms crossed his chest, his jaw clenched, my arousal skyrocketed. "Your new shirt is in your room, Pup. You should go try it on. I picked it out to show off your beautiful body." Good. No fear this time -- surprise, but no fear. "If you don't like it, there are nine others for you laid out on your bed." More surprise. Oh. Now comes the suspicion. "I have a way with locks, Pup. Don't worry, I won't sneak in when you're sleeping." Not that I intended for him to get much sleep tonight. The door pressed against the wall as I held it with one arm and stepped back to leave him room to pass.

"I'll take the stairs."

I feel like I haven't sighed in centuries. It's such a mundane way of showing impatience. I'd just as soon blast my way to what I want, but Shelby didn't need more pressure, he needed surety. Shelby. I'm thinking of him as Shelby. Fuck. What's next?

"The elevator is just down the hall. It won't bite you." I looked up the stairwell then turned to make my point by looking towards the elevators. I was his fear. Me. He needed space. "I'll stay here until you reach the elevator. Can't have you being all scared I'm going to hurt you now, can we?"

His eyes flashed as his back straightened. "I'm not afraid of you. I just can't ... figure out your hot and cold or how you ... your ... you."

Every awareness I had of myself fought to keep the leer out of my smile at his words. Two thousand years of leering makes for a pretty deeply ingrained habit. "I'll give you that, Pup. If I say I'm not going to bite you, I won't. If I say I'm different than I was before, then I ask you to believe me. Go to your room and see if you like what I picked out for you." My chuckle gave us both a break in the emotional intensity level.

The nod surprised me as if he'd reached a personal certitude. As he passed me my whisper caused a shudder to sweep through his body. "You have nothing to fear from me, Pup." He didn't stop, but he obviously heard me. God. I loved being Not-Damned! People's first instinct was to trust what an angel said, black-winged or white, fallen or not.

The ass that I've only dreamed about seeing naked moved quickly towards the elevator on top of those muscled but trim legs that I have seen bare. The memory of which burned brightly in my vision. He turned to look at me as he reached the elevator, pressing the call button. It opened immediately and I smirked. Ole Gabe must still be hanging around. Between him and Him there just was no fucking privacy to be found.

My quick smile and even quicker nod was returned as Shelby entered the cab. And I let out the breath I'd been holding for the past thirty minutes then smiled as widely as I had when I first tried out my tail. It was time to pop up to the 27th floor and I sure as fuck wasn't going to use the stairs. Popping around where ever I wanted just had to be my favorite angel trick.

Damn! I LOVED being Not-Damned!

Here I am again. In the elevator. Why do I feel like the damn thing has become a euphemism for something else? Just one floor and a tall, very beautiful man got on board. "This one is going up." I said somewhat hoarsely. My voice had improved, why did it feel suddenly sore and achy?

The smile that crossed this man's face could hardly be called that despite the perfect flash of straight white teeth. His lips, soft and agile, pulled back and curved into the expression without hesitation, but there was absolutely no doubt the expression that reached his eyes was something else entirely, "For now. But, it will come right back down again." His dark hair had the audacity to slip its perfectly slicked coif, a strand of it falling over his brow and in the face of this hard, glittering man I saw a younger man, a boy. What the fuck is it with this knack for reading the soul of a person of late? I mean come on! The door began to slide closed until a hand stopped it.

Does Vegas produce men who are not gods? The one arriving was golden where the other was dark. His equally perfect face had just the right hue of tan to set off his shining blue eyes, eyes that pinned the darker man with an irritated glance. They did not look anything alike, and yet they were everything alike. Like him. Like Alex.

I felt the air thicken, or I imagined it. The door slid closed and I felt as if I had left earth and traveled outside of myself. They both did not spare me a glance, like I was an afterthought. And I was present in a moment where symbolism was everything. One was dark, and you might assume the `bad boy' of the two. The other was light, as if he could have stepped off of a California beach into a Pal Zileri spread. And yet, between the two I felt as if the golden boy had the axe to grind. They sized each other up. And the symbolism continued.

I have this gut feeling, you might say, that I am not in Kansas anymore and never will be again. How did I survive that life before? It almost wasn't a question formed by my own mind. It was an older mind; a mind just as naive, but not as blind and yet, still mine.

You see they didn't speak aloud yet I knew they were speaking. The taller, dark-haired man, his shoulders had stiffened under the sharply pressed tuxedo; shoulders that were perfectly broad. In fact, as different as they were, it was hard, no impossible, to find a flaw in their impeccable appearances. Yet.... oh yet...the golden one, his smirk was taunting, but behind it lay a boy begging for attention from his brother. And the other one, his disdain masked something equally surprising. Sorrow.

The door chimed on my floor and I did not dare give them another glance. I practically leapt from between them. Ignoring the way they both started as if surprised to see me still there, I put as much distance between them and me with long almost running strides. A memory, or a sea of them, seemed to float on the edge of my consciousness and I knew that with any effort at all that shimmering sea would flood me. Oh, it is definitely disquiet that keeps me from gazing at that shadowy mental quagmire. My awareness of who and what I am is slowly eroding, being crafted into something I am not ready to understand. I cannot shake the painful realization that everything I have done in my life has lead me to this place, this experience. And the vain folly of just such a thought is not lost on me!

Vanity is not usually a problem for me. I had the feeling, as I stared at the display on my bed that I might feel a twinge of it if I indulge myself in his purchase. The shirts were clearly not the off-the-rack sort of thing I favored. My eyes landed on a gunmetal gray long sleeved dress casual shirt. The distressed print gave it visual texture and I found myself pulling it over my bare skin in mere seconds, my other shirt in a heap on the floor. Time slowed as it slid against my skin and I was struck by the sensation of him; his fingers sliding up my belly as he deftly buttoned the small black buttons, his breath on my neck. I gasped, my eyes shuttering closed and my arousal surged instantly. Not again, I thought. Why?

A single hot tear slid down my cheek and I realized this was not for fear, or anger. It was love. A tear of love. I know you. I have always known you, Alex. I came for you. What the fuck!

I dashed the offending moisture away and reached for a smaller package, wrapped in brown and gold paper with the name of Las Vegas' newest exclusive resort and casino. Inside a small embossed box fell open and my mouth followed suit. Oh.

The leather was dark, the scent of it hit my nose and my arousal continued to throb behind the zip of my jeans. A g-string. That is what it was. Oh. I don't know what I thought at first, but this had to be just as naughty. I blushed, all the way to my nipples as I tugged it free. The strands of leather slid against my fingers and heat seemed to pool in my groin painfully. He is right. I want him.

My fingers shook as I toed off my shoes and ripped off my pants. I was panting, wanting to wear what he bought me. It was insane, crazy -- dangerous. I wanted what he gave me on my body. It was late, and I would sleep in it. In the bathroom I stared at my reflection not recognizing the alluring seductive waif that stood there. My eyes were shining, my hair just lovingly mussed, not artfully. The shirt hung open and the leather strap of sin and my ass were just screaming fuck me. Oh god. Help me. I palmed my hand on the mirror and closed my eyes.

There he is. Almost running. Ah. The two in the elevator with him are ... goddamnit! They just couldn't fucking leave him alone, could they? What point could they be trying to make? Or is it all just sport for them? All it did was scare and confuse him more than he already is ... more than I've already confused him. He senses the difference between us, yet how is that possible? If fucking Luc has done something, then I'm really gonna be pissed! I get his fear, but ... there's something else too. The confusion I sense in him emanates from a conflict of what's currently happening to him and something that's age old. There is obvious response within him to the power and attraction I exude as Damned or simply Fallen, but I cannot seem to sense the source of the connection between us. That we have some kind of connection is fact. No doubt. The strength of which seemed powerful enough to reach through my Damnation and wrench me from my Dark path. Yet Gabriel in all his obtuse statements didn't hint of the connection other than with his push of me towards Shelby. Fuck him. He's the definition of smug. And he'd better watch his pride or the prettiest of the Archs is going to end up with not-so-white wings.

Enough of him and Luc. Pup's had time to absorb what I've left him. A quick knock and I materialize just inside the room. His scent snapped my head towards the bathroom and in a few steps I stood at the door just before he turned. He seems lost in his own desirous thoughts. For himself or for me? Regardless, the body I'd obsessed over during its three hour absence stood reflected in the mirror ... charcoal grey shirt opened for full exposure of the defined chest with its pert, reddened nipples, left ringed ... faint abdominal lines demarked thought-provoking voyeurism ... the lingering trail submerging into the depths provided by the rich darkness of leather sensually enshrouding my desire. And there, not mirrored, stood my heaven on earth. Twin mounds of perfection separated themselves by the descent of dark leather which plunged into the very depth of my desire's origin. I shuddered. Me. The Fallen, previously Damned soul because of Lust, shuddered at the sight of the millionth ass I'd seen during my existence in Darkness. And yet, no other came close to overwhelming my mind with the same level of desire to caress it with my fingers, my mouth, my tongue, my hard Need.

My glimpse of Valhalla then was stolen in the instant of his turning as he spied me in the mirror, whirling to face me. His mirrored, Davidesque form, now presented in original essence, flexed in the surprise of my appearance. "This is a dream. It has to be." His head shook once as if to clear an ether-shrouded vision. "Even if you picked the lock before you knocked, how can you be standing here an instant later?" Wild eyes are a sure telltale of a trapped animal.

"I don't bother with locks ... or doors for that matter when they stand between me and my desire, Shelby." There, his name for him to hear. "I thought you might have figured that out by now. I want you. I want you beyond desire. Doors mean nothing."

If wild eyes signify trapped prey then clenched abs and shuddering forms signify willing acquiescence to utter submission. He launched his exquisite, beautiful body at me in full reunion; a flight to my long-denied arms. As his mouth crushed mine with voiced longing and passionate surrender, relief filled my soul.

A shockwave similar to the energy release in a sonic boom blasted each thought in my mind. He no longer denies me, denies us! Starved for this feeling, I mauled his mouth as he sucked my tongue as though it contained all the ingredients for life itself. My hand slid to his ass, diving into the cleft inhabited by the negligible leather. I pulled him even closer if possible. His weight meant nothing as I carried him, pressed against me, to the bed where the softness of our altar, no longer of sacrifice but one of common desire, welcomed him, shifting our kiss from animalistic to tender. A gentle tug of his lip combined with my palm slowly traversing his torso brought groaning whimpers.

The view of his flushed face from the few inches of separation I allowed fed my whispered growl. "I want you, but you need to see me first. This is no dream, Shelby." Lips parted, eyes pierced, breath held. The smallest nod answered me. A quick kiss, more a brush, and I pulled back. His shirt lay open offering exposure. The patch of leather, stretched beyond capacity, bared his cock; leaking, throbbing. I froze in my retreat as a spasm wrenched my libido, my body ... my heart ... which started beating for the first time in millennia. What the fuck am I feeling? What is this ache? Slowly my eyes met his and my stasis lifted in the same moment my mouth turned upward in what felt like my first real smile in memory.

His eyes held me from the foot of the bed. Anchored me is a better description. The piercing quality of his stare conveyed every torturous desire I'd ever caused in another human though his contained something more ... a soul level connection. Slowly, I unbuttoned my shirt as well as my khakis. My cock spurt a gush of precum at its final release from the slacks. Once removed, my shirt followed to the floor.

His captivated gaze swept my body as if trying to see each part simultaneously. I chuckled. "Like what you see, Pup? Just wait ... uh," Fuck! Why nervous now? "Just don't freak. I'm very real and I want you to see and know everything before you agree to being mine!" What a satisfying shudder at my declared intention. "Not that I'm going to give you a choice. You're mine. But I will be patient if you need time to accept the fact."

My eyes closed momentarily and the familiar pain of Emergence trembled through me. I quickly locked eyes with him and saw concern at my brief flash of discomfort, then my wings unfurled to their most magnificent height and breadth; towering above us and spanning half the room's length with their ebony shimmer. The light cast from them sourced itself in the reflection of Heaven's Light like moonlight versus the direct Heavenly Light of the Not-Fallen. Still, awe inspiring is an apt descriptive. Their glow illuminated his face above that of the room's pale light. Absolute delight radiated back at me.

"You're an angel." The straight-forward statement should no longer surprise me. It's been made before. The difference this time was that I had no desire, no power on earth or beyond could tempt me, to follow it with the utter ravishment of my quota's ass with my tail and the inevitable subjection into Lust. Not with Shelby. Never again

"Yes, Shelby, I am. And you're my Salvation." His cock pulsed even as the expected question crossed his face. I continued before he could interrupt. "I'm Fallen. They're black because I Fell from Grace due to my Lust. And there's also this."

My tail sprang from its angelic sheath in one lust-filled thrust, curling in the air behind me, long and thick and black. The length equaled my height and it lessened in girth as it reached the tip which was barbed with flexing feathery tendrils that could be instantly razor sharp or malleable and used for ultimate pleasure. His strangled gasp was like the yelp of a baby lion cub in the wilderness encountering its first cobra.

"Oh, god ..." He stalled with stuttered emotion. His cock spat a line of clear desire onto his belly as his fists clenched handholds of the bed's comforter. "You're ... you're ...beautiful! Alex you're beautiful!" His chest panted, his mouth raced between open and closed. "But, how could I possibly have anything to do with your salvation? I don't understand ... I ..."

"I'm now simply Fallen. When I met you I was Damned. Damned because I listened to my brother, Lucifer. Damned because I utterly capitulated to my Lust and made countless others to claim their Lust as their own. You ..." My chest heaved. Emotion wracked me a staggering blow and the truth in my words rang with the Song of Heaven, exultation which had been denied me in Darkness. "You shared your name with me. You said you loved me. You cried your desire for me and you told me, you TOLD me that it didn't have to be this way."

My knees collapsed, drawn to the floor with the emotion of Release, the passion of Sight Restored ... the immersion into Love. Tears flooded me as my cry of anguish, forever held and now transformed, sounded with the newly-born wail of Renewal. My head reared back and my Angelic Voice blared in ecstatic, harmonic tone – deafening in volume. My sight blinded with white Light and the completeness of His Voice. I AM FALLEN NO MORE!

Incredibly and unbelievably, my Angelic shout was returned to me and answered by another. One here in this room! It's harmony the perfect match to mine. Then the shout rocked me to my utter depths. "Oh My Alexiel! At last!"

The fog in my mind snapped free with the stab of a piercing headache. The sharp pain came and went in the same instant washed away by the sensation of love. I love; I was born for, live for, have existed in it from my creation to this moment.

I am a Guardian; an angel assigned to protect His Most Loved. I failed one time. Once, and I have punished myself for it since. Like a curtain being swept back I can see my rage. My bitterness. My resentment.

Alexiel. I blamed you for the hole in my heart.

I told myself it was the innocence you stole from my charge for which I damned you. A lie.

I told myself you used me to get close to that human and betrayed my love and trust. A lie.

I knew your nature and I set him in your path. I betrayed myself. I gave him to you and damned you for taking what was offered when all I really wanted was to offer up myself. Insecurity is not the sole domain of humanity. Even angels have a hard time accepting their own worth. I never understood why you spent time with me, just another guardian angel in the choir.

I turned from you, condemning you when the sin was mine. I desired you. I loved you. And over the ages I very nearly hated you. I fell from grace, albeit by my own hand, because the hurt in my soul had grown so harsh that I needed to find my way again.

Only in the emptiness, I thought, of a blank human life could I escape the poison I had wallowed in. Of course, if we had to count on ourselves alone we would never find the path home. This time I was the offering as I had so long ago desired.

And in this single heartbeat, I know what it is to love because I am undone by it.

He fell to his knees and I was drawn to him. My Alexiel. Mine. His body glistened in the warm light, and I trembled, needing to touch him. My cock pulsed, reminding me of my physical tether. All these things are to feel with, to experience. Life is the greatest gift. The carpet felt rough on the tender skin of my knees. I am not sure what happened, or how, but I was there, before him, knee to knee, bowing my head until my forehead bumped his chest as I wept. I could not see the great white flow of feathers that arched up from my shoulders; I could not hear the clarion of his voice. I could only feel the emptiness without his touch.

"I want to go home, Alexiel. Take me home." I whispered, begging for his touch. Transport me. I stared, my bowed eyes focused on the sheen that formed on the head of his beautiful cock. I wanted his touch, his embrace, his piercing pleasure, because Heaven is found there as nowhere else.

It is shock. Shuddering. Shivering. Stilling.

The combination of His Voice resounding once again from within my soul followed seconds later by the stunned recognition and shock of my eternity-long Desire's unforgettable high-pitched voice lilting like a flower bending in the breeze undid me and made me whole. Two thousand interminable years had passed since I knew the truth of either fulfillment. His Light overflowed from within me and filled the room, touching every shadow, warming every chill. My eyes, previously blinded by the Darkness, now saw His Grace in everything, including that of Sheliel's brilliant wings.

It is joy.

The heat of his forehead pressed to my chest was a new feeling, one that I'd waited forever to experience. Our passions incited the dim flaring of our touch. The potential for allowed passion between us had always been there, the same as now, though we had never allowed fulfillment. He had always held back and then he'd damned me. Now, ruffling white was all I could see. The uplifted spread of his angelic shimmering magnificence comforted me with further joy and my arms pulled him even closer. My Desire was finally with me. Redemption realized. The joy-filled arch of my neck and the lifting of my face toward Heaven brought my final shock.

My own wings poured forth His White Brilliance! Purified through love, the millions of individual feathers writhed in unqualified joy at the return of their Luminosity. My joy was complete and I dropped my head to rest on my lover's hair in total subjugation and gratitude for His forgiveness. Silken essence met my lips and his shudder at the touch matched mine. Then I heard his voice, the normalcy of its melody returned now from the angelic trumpet charge of his ReEmergence. It begged me to return home and to take him with me. There was only one home his words meant.

The movement to my feet occurred as a mere thought, but the heated, silken joy surrounding my cock as it embedded itself to the utter depths of Shelby's throat ... my Sheliel's throat! ... trumpeted itself again with unfettered angelic voice, shaking the balcony windows in ultimate triumph. Heaven-bright whiteness seared my retinas in the moment as acknowledgement of my lover's skills combined with our infinite-long courtship to become a high-speed train to paradise. The contracting, vise-like grip released me for mere seconds only to plunge to the base of my length in concert with my moans.

It is Rapture.

In moments, I found myself barreling towards the undeniable climax and I thrust Shelby's head backward in the same movement that I lifted him with a down sweep of my wings, landing us in the bed's center -- his shout of surprise quickly swallowed by our kiss. White luxuriance cascaded like a silken rain shower around us as he climbed from his knees aided by his wings to straddle my waist locking his legs tightly on my lower back. "Take me Home, Alexiel!" His shout deafened all capacity for my divine Hearing though not a sound was heard in the room.

Another wing stroke lifted him in my arms causing his rigid cock to press against my panting chest then he dropped onto my glistening member allowing one continuous slide to breach his human virginity. His head snapped back in synced time with my own. Our wings expanded to their full reach, his knocking the bedside lamps to the floor in their arch toward the ceiling. Shelby's voice, once light and airy, now erupted in a contorted pain-filled scream that instantly slipped into the angelic tonal reaches as Sheliel eclipsed the pain with palpable, physical ecstasy. My own ecstasy sounded forth in glorious counterpoint to Shelby/Sheliel's harmony. A wing sweep brought me to my feet as my arms lifted Shelby/Sheliel to the pinnacle of my cock then dropped him to meet my upward thrust.

Our angelic chorus silenced as our mouths crashed together. Brilliant Heavenly Light filled every hidden corner of the room. Our Divine Dance escalated with each sweep, each thrust. Tongues delved to the inner reaches as my mind exploded in remembered bliss of just what I'd blocked from my existence by my Damnation. My desire for Sheliel had been locked away from my inner awareness with just the merest remaining wisp of memory ... infinite longing of something more than myself to haunt me over the millennia in Darkness. The ultimate crush of my senses, my spirit, at the loss of His Light had masked my concurrent loss of Sheliel since time immemorial.

My Lust! My Actions! I am the cause of our separation! His Guardianship, his Charge became my obsession! And I Fell in my carnality. My desire for his Charge, for all the brilliant, creative, magnificent expression contained in that one human soul encased in the most spectacular body He ever made – I cast my Love for Sheliel to the winds that sweep between Heaven and Earth for one simple night of carnal lust! And Sheliel's Retribution darkened his wings! FORGIVE ME!

"No My Love!" His denial emphasized itself by another descent on my pulsing cock. My arms clung to him in a fierce effort to contain his ecstatic arch of pleasure. "It was my Wrath that caused my Fall! My self-importance and righteous fervor!"

I thrust in coordination with his next descent, my wings encasing us. "But my Lust! My lust for all things beautifully Human ..."

"AHHH!!!! More! Deeper! I'm HOME!!!!"

It was as I felt the first stirrings of my climax, postponed for millennia, that I heard the guttural, self-satisfied chuckle behind me. It chilled me. I stopped in mid-thrust and wrenched my neck to look behind me.

Lucifer and Gabriel stood ten feet from the bed. I screamed my rage.

"Save it, brother! I just wanted to witness this debacle of lust first hand." Lucifer's smirk was mirrored by Gabriel's and I felt Sheliel's body become rigid with rage in my arms. "Besides, the two of you have failed miserably at shielding your exquisite, though disgusting, Angelic Coupling from the monkeys. They're on their way up now. Can't you hear the fucking phone screaming at you?"

Sheliel tried to pull from my arms, but I growled my refusal to be separated from him. "No!" I shouted and thrust my cock back into his warm depths. His groan, stemming from his deepest inner self, incited my anger at my former master's and current mentor's interference. Lucifer laughed and Gabriel's smirk widened.

Lucifer continued in his taunt. "If you want to know what a real fuck's like little Sheliel, you come see me. I've got the Original Equipment!"

His hyena laughter sent me beyond reason. I grabbed Sheliel tighter as I screamed my response. "GO BACK TO HELL, LUC, YOU SAD FUCK! AND TAKE GABE WITH YOU!" An angelic voice, unleashed with its full fury, is enough to shatter windows. I launched upward in one great sweep, popping to the space above the hotel as Sheliel clung to me, my cock remaining buried to its root.

Sheliel's laughter erupted to drown out Lucifer's cackle and Gabriel's grinning wish for our happiness as our combined Heavenly Illumination brightened the surrounding blocks and lighting the Strip beneath us. Several wing beats later, while our light no longer lit the street, the combined action from my wings and Sheliel's tightening hold on me caused me to spasm. I thrust repeatedly, my orgasm loosing itself deep within him as he arched in shared climax. Our collective surprise explosion, still unshielded, lit the area around and beneath us as brightly as a massive firework rocket. The blinding sensation staggered my senses.

And the Chorus of Heaven Sang.

In the Light, the frequency of Angelic being, pleasure is not exactly physical. Our coupling was ferocious. It was fierce and exquisite. But in the seconds after that explosion, in the fading hum of Seraphic thunder as the cool night air surrounded us, I felt instead the unfamiliar pull and stretch of my wings. I felt the physical anguish it is to be angelic. I was bearing his weight, the weight of an angel not accustomed to his Divine Light. Awkward in the stroke of his wing and breathless in the wonder of self-discovery, Alexiel was enraptured by more than just our reunion. He was bathing in His Light. Starved for it, he had transcended our love to that of the Father.

It was a journey I was not yet ready to share. I felt the memory of Shelby; my human self, fading and there was an ache in its absence, a pang of regret. I had chosen the human life to discover faith. Not to rediscover it, but to discover it. An Angel is born and the grace of God is around him from that very moment -- something I had taken for granted to my everlasting shame.

"Do I love you enough?" I wondered aloud.

His gaze snapped to mine, glittering in Holy Light. Hard and fierce that light is. Of course he loves me. It radiates from him, but is that his love? Or is it His love? The wonder of my humanity was slipping away and I shoved against him to grasp it.

I remember everything now. I long for the love that is not written in my being, for the love that I have to work hard at keeping not just earning. Heaven wrote our love for each other in the Light and wonder of our divine selves. There is no such thing as faith in angels. The fire of mortal love is passion. Something angels can barely taste of. It is found in a glance, in a touch, in humor and teasing. Passion has to be rekindled and stoked as love ages. A sensation and reward known only in the ache of His absence, mortality means the search for His lessons and that is the birth of faith.

I want Alexiel's love in the emptiness not the fullness of Light.

He barely blinked, his eyes narrowing as I snapped free. I am not long from Grace and the unfurling of my wings was like a crack of thunder. I do not know what he felt when I swept away from him. I closed my eyes against the memory of his image.

Across time and space I stepped and when I staggered to my feet, the tile floor outside the elevator rushed up to meet my face, stopped just in time by the slap of my human palm as I caught myself in the fall. From somewhere beside me I heard a woman's voice as she gasped and urged her partner to help me up. I waved the balding man away and in the warm glow of the foyer light I staggered to my feet. The glow of light seemed to shimmer in an unearthly fashion. I stiffened as I felt the familiar rush of anxiety wash over me. Like a dream, the angel in me faded, leaving behind a rush of good feeling and loss tumbled together.

I stared at the back of my hand as I reached for the call button on the wall, summoning another elevator. My pale skin was flushed with slight color, and the cotton of my t-shirt was like burlap.

The darkness returned in the sweep of Sheliel's massive wings. Not the darkness from an hour past after a smirking Gabriel passed on His forgiveness to lift me from my self-imposed solitary. That darkness had only been seeing the Light, not living the Light as I had upon our immersion in love in Shelby's hotel room. No, the darkness that returned when Sheliel swept from our coupling was sourced in my heart – the same heart that had previously no room for love in the black abyss lasting two millennia. While I wanted to rage at the injustice committed against me after finally ... finally ... experiencing connection with him, I also realized that it was of my own making.

I'd never deceived myself before. Sheliel left me not to cause hurt, but to stop us from something else, something that I just didn't get. From the time since his Remembering in the hotel room until just moments earlier, Sheliel's radiance matched my own; same vibration, same frequency. Now suddenly, his energy was reduced, changed. The implication was staggering. He'd chosen to forget me ... us.

Why, Shel? The question became living emotion.

A last wing sweep and the thermals incessantly flowing over the desert carried me into a lazy glide. My thoughts dissipated leaving me with the pain of my Self. But in the silence, I found that I wasn't as alone as I'd thought. He was there in all His completeness and Light as if I'd never left Him. No judgment, no recriminations, just Love. And with the Love came the All-Knowing understanding that I'd forgotten was the true meaning of being in His Grace. It was instant bliss. The next instant was total comprehension. The last, decision. I felt His smile in the same instant that I received his approval. I understood the reason for Sheliel's decision and his departure.

And I popped one last time across time and space.

Shelby stood before me leaning with his arms against the rail, his suitcase next to him. He lingered as if unwilling to depart. The lights of the Strip illuminated the edge of his features; my attraction for him now multiplied exponentially since he first stood in front of me in the elevator. Before me were the denim-covered twin mounds of my undoing, remaking and rebirth. Truly Heaven on earth!

You have to be one of His angels in order to even comprehend what it means when I say that I heard Him chuckle. It's like a burst of radiant joy coursing through you, yet originating from the very center of your being.

:Your lust and irreverence is worthy of great song, Alexiel.:

There's no literal translation for His voice. It's more of a feeling, one so potent with love it's impossible to describe. The longing I'd had over the millennia to feel even one breath from His lips knew no equal. And before I removed myself from direct contact with Him again, this time by conscious choice and with His full blessing, I needed just a bit more.

:But that's why you love me, right?:

:Yes, Alexiel.:

:Uh ... I learned my lesson on the Lust stuff, you know, make sure its love-based and all ... uh ... but you already know that.: Sometimes I just forget myself and the damnedest things come out of my mouth. :How about if I promise to work on the irreverence thing?":

To feel Him smile is truly the ultimate orgasm. Oh shit! I can't believe I just thought that while I'm communicating with HIM!

The Cherubic and Seraphic Choir presents as His laughter. They were deafening. And I knew that Him and me were good again.

:You are perfect, Alexiel.:

A sudden wistfulness engulfed me. If I were to follow what I knew to be the true path for myself I was going to consciously forget about being one of His angels ... consciously cut myself off from this ... sustained orgasmic connection. But the true meaning of Sheliel's question `Do I love you enough' was `can I trust in my `always love for you' to transcend our angelic being and become sourced in the human experience?' Not the experience of being an angel, albeit a fallen angel, that has always known the love we shared, but being fully human and having faith enough to trust that we'd find a new love for each other. I've always had faith. I was born with it. I am an angel of God. You're not given a chance to believe or have faith. You just do.

So will I? Have Faith? Will I be able to love Shelby as a human and not lose myself like so much of humanity does? Will I remember the lesson that it took me 2000 years or more to learn?

:You are perfect, Alexiel.:

I don't know if it will ever be okay to sigh in the presence of the Almighty, but I did it anyway. :I'll miss you ... again.:

His smile filled me again as I felt my angelic being solidify and meld into human form one last time. A stray thought and a flash of panic ... BUT WHAT ABOUT MY TAIL??!!!

Fucking Cherubim and Seraphim assholes! And then my knees gave out.

"I told you, Brother. There was no other way for this to end. Time to pay up."

"This is bullshit, Gabriel, and you know it. If He'd stayed out of it, it'd be you doing the paying." The bitterness in his words belied the slight humor in his eyes.

"Whatever. You just can't stand that you're no longer his favorite, can you, Luc?"

The air struck me first. It was hot and dry. Of course it's hot and dry, this is Vegas, dip shit. The touch of soft skin against my cheek registered second. The aroma of sweat filled my nose at the same time a light, tenor voice reached my ears.

"Whoa. Are you okay?"

I looked up into grey eyes separated by a slightly crooked nose. A few blinks later and I could focus on the words spewing from the guy's mouth. A quick nod in response to his repeated questions of my condition and I sat up. Blood rushed to my head and filled my mouth with the oily taste of metal. The guy stood up while words continued to flow out of tight lips.

"I was leaning on the rail watching the action down below on the Strip," he turned from me to point towards the street and flashed me a view of his butt. "And then I heard a thump behind me and there you were. What happened?"

His butt encased in the tight blue jeans became my sole focus. "I think," I began as I reached for his outstretched hand, pulling myself not only to my feet, but into near-direct contact with him much to his surprise. "I think it was the vision of your perfect little ass in those jeans that caused me to collapse." My words forced an immediate flush to his cheeks and he flexed to back away. I smirked and snaked my arm around his slender waist. He froze, mouth open mid way, eyes wide.

"Yup," I continued, my arm pulling our groins into now direct touch before sliding down to grasp a handful of his muscled butt. "The sight of your ass in these tight jeans caused all the blood to rush from my head to my crotch."

The guy pushed from my grasp to step back against the railing. His stunned look turned into a slow grin then his eyes dropped closed as a wide smile exposed perfect teeth. My heart and my cock lurched as one. This guy's a total babe!

"That's the worst come-on line I've ever heard." Then he laughed and as his chin lifted with mirth his neck became exposed. I just gotta ravish this guy!

"Well, it's really the truth. The last thing I remember was your ass." At this point, I couldn't avoid a smirk. "My name's Alex."

His head shook in dismay. "Unbelievable." The slight pause before his next words caused my normal confidence to waiver. It steadied when he continued. "I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm Shelby."

"Well, Shelby. If you'll buy me a drink, I think we can call it even."

End