Chapter 11
11
ELIAS
E lias loved a hot shower. It was one of the select human comforts he had found himself especially attached to, alongside hamburgers and comic books and vaping. No one knew about any of these interests, but he cradled them in his hands nonetheless, a small respite from the endless white noise of his existence. And one of his favorite things about a shower was his ability to let his mind wander in it.
Could he gather almost any and every type of information with a snap of his fingers? Perhaps, but it was such an overlooked luxury to just be able to wonder, to think of the world as it might be, as it could be, rather than simply as it was. Elias did not care to be all-knowing. He wanted to be able to wonder whenever he pleased.
He wondered what the first shower, both natural and mechanical, had felt like to humans. He wondered how many different kinds of showerheads there were in the world, and he wondered about the various bathing rituals each culture had. Then he wondered how mortals had continued to evolve these shower designs into works of art in many places. High-end hotels had been rather impressive to him each time he’d had a chance to visit them.
He also wondered how mortals had decided that fucking in a shower was a good idea. Though that thought may have had something to do with the sounds coming from the other side of the wall currently.
He tried to tune it out, more for their privacy than his own annoyance, but that proved quite a task. Soon, his mind had simply threaded the sounds along the path it was currently following, and his thoughts descended into more... dangerous areas.
Like Tlalli and Cahuani.
It turned out Anthony had been right about them. Elias knew because he’d seen them fucking. He hadn’t meant to, really. He’d heard Tlalli’s phone go off that morning, and he’d dashed into the bathroom to grab it before it woke Anthony. He’d swiped up to quiet it, and before he could process what was happening, the video was playing, and he’d been unable to look away. Now, he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
And the longer he stood there under the spray of the water, trying to block out the sound, the clearer the video played in his mind. Tlalli’s full breasts bouncing against the couch, her face screwed up in pleasure, Cahuani’s bulky figure slamming into her from behind, and her moans spilling out into the space, intoxicating him in a way mortal champagne never could.
Then, without warning, the scene began to change, evolve, and Elias was there with them too...
“Fuck . . .”
Powerless to fight it, Elias wrapped a firm fist around his hard dick, biting down on a whimper that threatened to scrape his throat raw due to how sensitive the shaft was. He wasn’t easy to impress, to affect, to rile up. He prided himself on his ability to remain neutral and nonplussed. Yet Tlalli and Cahuani both had imprinted on his brain in a way he couldn’t quite explain, and inspecting why would take far more energy than Elias was willing to spend.
But he was good at picking up bad habits. He enjoyed making himself more human than he had to be. And there was no sin Elias would ever be more guilty of than hedonism.
He pumped his cock hard and fast, muttering and mumbling and cursing under his breath. His consciousness whipped out of the frame long enough to wonder if Tlalli was still sitting on the couch outside, but that consideration only made him more desperate. He pressed his forearm against the wall, then leaned forward and bit down on it to muffle his groans.
Someone on the other side of the shower wall screamed in climax. Elias came with a sharp howl into his own skin, painting the gray shower wall in broad white strokes. His knees nearly buckled with the force of it. It had been a long time since he’d let himself indulge. He’d had a few partners in Heaven every now and again, but it took a lot to seduce him, and he preferred to entertain himself in other ways that required less effort. Still, he could admit it. He’d forgotten how good it felt to cum.
Shame began to collect on his skin, but he quickly washed it off before climbing out of the shower. His head spun with the possibility that Tlalli was still right outside the door, and suddenly, without warning, the overwhelming urge to see her and tell her what he’d done was at his neck. It was the kind of guilt that dragged mortals to the confessional. He wanted to bathe in it.
Though when he did finally leave the bathroom, the room was empty, and disappointment fell into his stomach like the heaviest stone. He didn’t let it fester, however. He never let it fester. It had been a mistake to picture her, to think of her like that at all. It had been a mistake to watch that video for any length of time.
He and Tlalli weren’t anything. They weren’t even friends. The only thing they shared was this cursed existence and the bleak future the angels envisioned.
Plus, trying anything with her, especially right now, would only bring Anthony’s wrath down on him, and nothing in this world was worth listening to that boy cry and whine about some shit that was none of his business. Again, Elias had better ways to spend his time. That was half the reason he hardly indulged in the other people in the first place. It was always too complicated and more trouble than it was worth. With Tlalli, that would prove true tenfold.
Those thoughts alone cleansed Elias of whatever melancholy he had invoked a moment prior, and he left the room with a clear head and the desire for a new indulgence.