Chapter 13
If this was a test of endurance, Ares was passing with flying colors. And if it turned into a performance report, well…What did Father know about fucking anyway? The only thing the old man had claimed was a label as a madman and a bullet to the brain.
The murky, shadowy figure standing in the doorway to the bedroom appeared to be watching them, though there were no facial features to help Ares know for sure. Wherever Father had ended up, it wasn’t on this plane of existence. He couldn’t touch him, talk to him.
Hurt him.
He could hover there and bear witness to his son claiming the Starling all he wanted, but he couldn’t do anything about it.
Ares laughed and screwed Eden with more aggression, pouring all his frustrations and hunger into the movements of his hips as he split the voice actor open on his ridged cock.
It was working. With each glimpse of that ring of muscle desperately clinging to his pulsing member, the shadow figure grew lighter and lighter.
Within minutes, it was gone entirely, Ares far too entranced by the man sobbing beneath him to cling to parallel timelines or other universes or whatever the fuck else there could be.
His reality narrowed down to wet heat, a tight cavern, love marks blooming across honeyed skin…The soft cries and whimpers from the man partially hanging over the edge of the couch.
Curious, Ares reached between them, cupping Eden’s dick. He was soaked, sticky, ropes of come dangling from his slit.
“When did you orgasm?” he asked absently, not really expecting a response.
Sure enough, if Eden heard him, he gave no reaction other than a moan as Ares swirled his thumb around his spongy crown. The touch was enough to cause him to squirt again, and Ares laughed and drilled into him as deep as he could get.
Keeping himself buried, he collected the Starling and readjusted so that he was sitting with the other man firmly in his lap.
Planting his feet to the ground for better purchase, he picked up his thrusts, fucking up into his blown hole, even as he wrapped his arms tightly around Eden and clung to him.
He scraped his teeth against Eden’s nape, wanting him to feel how close he was to that vulnerable area. Needing him to know how easy it would be to break him.
How caring he was being by not doing so.
“Lucifer!” Eden’s tone made it clear he wanted him to stop.
With a growl, Ares used his knees to force Eden’s thighs wider, allowing the angle to alter so his cock could drag against different spots within him.
Eden howled and tried to get away, clawing at Ares’ arms, tipping forward in an attempt to unseat himself.
“Is this part of the game?” Ares asked, pulling him back in, sealing him against his chest. He blew a breath against the curve of Eden’s ear, laughing when he flinched away.
“Is this you pretending to resist to keep things interesting?” His mood darkened somewhat.
“Is this how you played with those other lovers?”
“No,” Eden shook his head, “that’s not what this is at all. I just—I need a break!”
“Already?” He clicked his tongue. “No. We’ve just started.”
“I’ve already come three times!”
Had he?
“We’ll work on your stamina.” Ares was certain from that time he’d watched Eden get himself off he would be able to handle this.
“There’s nothing wrong with me,” Eden blubbered, the words coming out broken and between heaving breaths. “It’s been over an hour!”
“It has not.”
“Look!” Eden flung his arm up, where his multi-slate was still attached, and showed him the time.
Ares paid the screen no mind, but he didn’t like the idea of his Starling having a means to call for help. He undid the Velcro strap and tossed the device to the side, clamping a hand over Eden’s mouth when he swore and started to protest.
His other arm slipped lower on his body, holding Eden around the waist so he could continue rutting into him with ease.
“This was what you wanted,” Ares reminded gently, planting a soft kiss on the rise of his shoulder.
He stared at the wet mark he left behind and then rethought his action, clamping down on the area instead to deliver another bite.
A few droplets of blood welled, and he licked them clean.
“We were taught to endure. To conquer. To take reality in our grasp,” he fisted Eden’s dick and pumped in time with his measured thrusts, “and control it unequivocally. If I can control the universe, surely, I can control you.”
Ares dropped his hand from his mouth to flick at the rosy buds of Eden’s nipples, tracing the areola and tugging at his sensitive bits.
“You begged me for this, remember? Begged for a seat on my cock. It’s yours now, Eden.
This space, this act. I may hold full control, but you possess the God of Creation.
Isn’t that a fair trade for freedom? Your soul in exchange for a throne made of flesh and bone.
Tell me you want it, Ransom. Starling. Eden.
My tiny, perfect piece of paradise. Tell me you feel real, and whole. ”
“Full,” Eden clipped out, and Ares grinned.
“That too.” He licked at the side of his neck and then sucked, admiring the hickey left behind for a second before recalling their conversation. “Tell me what I want to hear, babe.”
“And…you’ll stop?” His hands clung to Ares’ arm, nails digging in to draw blood, though it didn’t seem like he noticed he was doing it.
“No.” Ares twisted his dick and set his chin on Eden’s shoulder, watching as another orgasm was wrung out of him.
Thick, white come erupted from his tip, painting the floor and part of the wall.
He continued to wring him through it, loving the mess left behind, the visual proof of what he could make Eden feel.
“Please,” as soon as he went flaccid, Eden tried prying his hand off, “stop! Please! Enough! I can’t!”
“You can.”
“I can’t!”
“You’ll learn.” Ares could train him. This wasn’t the problem Eden was making it sound like it was. Thoughts of that, of pinning him down and all the ways they could experiment in the future, had him reaching his own peak.
Ares shoved Eden down onto his cock and unloaded, groaning through his release as his vision winked in and out and reality was nothing more than the tight grip around him and the gush of come slicking his Starling’s passage for further use.
He sighed and cradled Eden to him, delivering pleased kisses to his shoulder, neck, and cheek. The afterglow wouldn’t last long, he knew that from experience, so he took the opportunity, though brief, to try and calm his piece of Paradise down.
* * *
Reality was an unconscious man in bed, honeyed skin coated in come and sweat.
Blotches of purple and red marred his form, decorated everywhere the eyes could see.
His entrance gaped open, that ring of muscle ruined, frothy white pouring from it to cascade over an abused scrotum and seep into the comforter.
From where he knelt between Eden’s spread thighs, Ares watched that river flow. He’d moved them to the bedroom sometime ago, and the first rays of the sun were starting to brighten the sky out the windows, but he hardly noticed.
He should plug the dam. He’d spent so much effort pumping Eden full of him, after all. Shouldn’t let it go to waste.
Since there was nothing else to do the trick, Ares used his cock, hushing his Starling when that instantly forced him violently awake.
Eden cried and clawed at the sheets, but he didn’t resist—he’d given up that act a while back. Despite its overuse, his body naturally attempted to cling to Ares as he started thrusting.
“There we go,” Ares praised against Eden’s ear. “You know what to do. Milk me, babe. Suck me down and keep me close.”
“You’re a devil,” Eden gasped.
“You’ve made that accusation a dozen times already. Do you remember?”
“No.”
Ares hummed. “What do you remember?”
“This.” Eden whined. “Only this. Has there ever been anything else?”
“No,” he replied. “And there never will be again.”
That settled it.
They were going to miss their flight.
* * *
“Pain and discomfort are of the body, not the mind. They aren’t real.” Mother circled the chair Zar was tied to and frowned. “Up the voltage.”
The assistant, a girl fresh out of college, did as she was told without flinching, twisting the controls to send more electricity zapping through the wires attached to the seat. She took notes as Zar’s eight-year-old body twitched and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
Helplessly, Ares sat in the corner of the room, knees curled up, face half hidden.
One day, they would return every shock, every gasp for breath, every cut…
Soon, this reality would end, and the real one would begin.
* * *
Ares peeled his eyes open and stared sightlessly up at the ceiling while his mind struggled to catch up to the present.
Typically, he drugged himself with hardcore sleep aids to avoid the dreams, but he’d fallen asleep in the tub, an exhaustion brought on by utter contentment getting the better of him.
He shifted and water sloshed, helping to bring him more into focus.
Eden was lying over him, his chest gently rising as he slumbered. The water they’d been bathing in had gone tepid, but the drop in temperature didn’t seem enough to wake him.
That was unsurprising. Ares had kept him on his cock for well over a day. The last he’d spoken, Eden’s voice had been hoarse, and when Ares had carried him to the bath, his body had been limp.
Carefully, Ares sat up, freeing himself from Eden’s weight so he could climb out. He lifted Eden from the water next, carrying him straight back to the bedroom to lay him out on the bed. He toweled him off, making sure to dry him everywhere, from between his toes to between his thighs.
Eden winced and made a sound of protest when the towel ghosted against his cock and balls, and he rolled slightly when it brushed between his cheeks.
Ares tried to be as gentle as possible, drying him there quickly before discarding the towel and heading to the single dresser. Most of Eden’s belongings had been packed already, but there was a single pair of maroon sweatpants and an oversized black t-shirt left behind.
As soon as Ares got him in them, he rearranged him beneath the covers.
“Did I overdo it?” he wondered aloud as he peered down at his sleeping man. He should have exercised some restraint, no matter how many times Eden had asked to be taken. The next time…
Who was he kidding. The next time would be no different. Ares had purposefully left Eden’s right ass cheek unblemished for that very reason.
Next time he’d color him there. Paint his handprints over his unmarked flesh.
Create a masterpiece to rival the one he’d made last night.
Ares forced himself to walk out of the room, grabbing some water from the kitchen before pausing by the couch to take in the mess. Should he clean it? Did it matter? It wasn’t like the Starling was going to be staying here any longer.
Deciding he could worry about it later, he opened his multi-slate and got to work getting them new plane tickets. Once that was done, he sent an email to the Dean of Sacrum Cor, explaining Eden’s delayed arrival, and rescheduled the meeting to sign the contract.
Neither of those things took very long, and he found himself perched on the armrest of the couch, staring at Eden from the other room. He couldn’t trust himself not to take him again, and he needed the Starling to rest.
Was this devotion?
Eden had spent the past two nights being worshiped by Ares’ cock and was now allowed time to rest despite how hard Ares was growing by the second.
If this wasn’t devotion, what else could it be?