6. Hiero

Chapter six

Hiero

T here were two ways to enter the wet t-shirt contest at Church, buy your own way in or “arouse” the interest of a sponsor. Those wishing to be staked were given a number and lined up on stage to make their appeal to the crowd. The trick was to tempt a buyer without giving away the goods, to tease what your wet clothing might soon reveal. In the three years we’d been hosting the wet t-shirt contest, not once had a fae put themselves up for backing.

Until now.

Skylar Larkspur stood in the lineup with his long raven hair pulled back in a complicated braid. The sides of his head were shorn, highlighting the many pieces of jewelry that decorated his delicate, pointed ears. His heavily lined lavender eyes sparkled with excitement, and he wore a blue silk robe and not much else. No shoes either, which was worrisome. Delicate fae feet had no business being bare in a place where hooves and boots went clomping around .

He smiled and waved at the gathering crowd, and when a few patrons hooted and hollered in his direction, he teasingly flashed a little thigh as well. Was he nude underneath? My fingertips burned with the urge to glide across that porcelain skin. If the crowd’s enthusiasm was any indication, the fae’s prospects were promising.

Frito was acting as emcee, going down the line and asking each contestant why their “assets” were worthy of the common laborer’s hard-earned coin. One of the ogre brothers from the previous night touted the size of his cock, “the biggest you’ve ever seen,” though I was fairly sure we’d all seen it before. A dwarf made a similar boast, though he called it his “diamond sword” whilst pumping his hips. A banshee promised to wail as a sign of impending doom (no takers), and a goblin swore to reveal a map to his treasure–also not chosen because goblins were notorious tricksters. Finally, it was Skylar’s turn to tout his wares, and when Frito asked him what he had to offer, he dipped his head and said quite coquettishly, “Have you ever seen a pair of fae wings unfurled and in the flesh?”

I’d never seen a fae’s wings, since their prudishness was legendary. It was rumored to be a sex thing, a fae only unfurled their wings while in the throes of passion, but that was probably a lie, because many of them could fly, and they’d need to unfurl their wings to do so.

“Will you let me touch ‘em?” an ogre called, the brother of the one on stage.

“If you’re very careful,” Skylar said in his best bedroom voice. “You’re so big and strong. I wouldn’t want you to hurt me.”

At that his violet gaze swung in my direction, and I nearly choked on my own spit.

“I’ll stake him,” I said before the ogre had the chance to commit. If anyone was touching those wings, it was going to be me. Skylar went up on his toes, clapping his hands and beaming with triumph as if he’d planned it all along. I knew I’d been had, but it wasn’t the first time and it likely wouldn’t be the last.

“Pony up then,” Frito called brazenly, also annoyingly smug. I loosened the leather purse at my hip and tossed a few silver coins into the community tankard. If Skylar won, I’d get half the pot. If he lost, I’d lose my coin as well, but it was no skin off my back. He’d be supplying me with masturbation fodder for the next several months. And besides, when was the next time a fae as… liberated as this one might make an appearance at my bar? Likely never.

The music began. My cousin Bronwyn, our DJ, played something with a sultry downbeat so the contestants could shake their money-makers while building suspense for the crowd. Skylar moved with subtle sensuality, as if he were in his bedroom and dancing for his gratification alone, or perhaps that of an intimate partner (me, obviously.) His robe parted to reveal a pair of ruby red panties that outlined his cock rather spectacularly. Then the silky material slipped further from his shoulders, baring more of those curious tattoos that glimmered and shifted across his skin like a lover’s sweet caress. I could hardly be pressed to notice the dwarf swinging his dick around like a garden hose or the ogre plucking at his own pierced nipples like harp strings. I didn’t even bother with the succubus grinding on the stripper pole. My eyes were only for Skylar Larkspur.

As the music reached its crescendo, he turned around and abandoned the robe altogether like a butterfly shedding its chrysalis. The beat dropped and the fae did as well, showing off his athleticism as he squatted low to the ground before rising again, ass cheeks jiggling with seismic vibrations. The boy had an ass that was made to be plowed. And squeezed. And smacked. Visions of my red handprints on that round, succulent flesh flashed behind my eyes. Perhaps fae boys really did do it better? Then, as rhythmic as a snake, Skylar extended both tattooed arms on either side and unfurled his wings.

More than a simple curiosity, they were a majesty to behold. Translucent in some places, opaque in others, they resembled the silky fabrics he so favored. They shimmered in an iridescent rainbow of colors for which I had no name, for as soon as I thought to identify one, the hue had changed. Their structure was fascinating as well; they looked light as a feather yet surely must be tensile enough to propel a body into flight. Perhaps the fae had hollow bones? His wings seemed to operate of their own accord, shivering the way a body might in the final throes of ecstasy, pulsating and throbbing in time with the beat .

Skylar glanced over his shoulder and caught my expression, which must have been that of open-mouthed lust. He flashed me a devastating smile. I’d forgotten to signal for the “wet” part of the t-shirt contest, so it was a surprise even to me when the sprinklers came on, dousing the participants in a shower of rain. Skylar laughed and twirled with his impish face angled heavenward, mouth open to catch the water droplets on his tongue. His wings refracted light from every direction, and I was captivated by his every move.

Time blurred then, for my attention was solely focused on the boy on the stage, and I had a premonition of all the ways in which I would make him smile and laugh, watch him move in both joy and in ecstasy. Even beyond having him as a bedfellow, there was an urge to know what made him tick–his dreams, his fears, the secret desires he told to no one else. As if trapped in some lucid dream, visions of the two of us unspooled like a ball of yarn leading me to a path where our futures intertwined.

“We won,” Sklyar shouted, his face electric and his body suddenly in my arms. Somehow I’d missed the announcement and was yet distracted by Skylar’s wet skin against mine, so much of it that I didn’t know where to place my hands without accidentally molesting him. His wings fluttered about like a chimney swift. On instinct, I reached out to protect him from injury, then drew back sharply. Was that a sex thing too?

“You can touch them,” he said with his arms slung casually around my neck, mouth so close to my ear that I felt the vibrations of his husky voice over the din of music. I stroked along the edge of his wing, smooth as silk and cool to the touch. The appendage shivered, seemingly aroused, and lust bloomed in Skylar’s gemstone eyes.

“Does that feel good?” I asked as I caressed him again, garnering the same reaction with an added shoulder roll.

“That feels wonderful, ” he said with a deep, satisfied purr.

“I want to touch you everywhere, fae.” I confessed, emboldened by his arousal and succumbing to the desires within me.

“I’m yours for the night, stud. Bought and paid for. You can do whatever you want with me.”

“You earned that money outright,” I said, not wanting to blur the lines of consent.

“Let me have my little fantasy. I’m a very willing boy who’s oh-so-eager to please. Tell me what you want… Daddy .” His words were whispered like a dulcet lullaby, and the use of that endearment stirred the dominant craving within me. Did he know, or at least, suspect?

“I want to be inside you,” I told him.

“Then what are we waiting for?”

We were surrounded on all sides by a mass of writhing bodies, saturated with sweat and amped up on sexual fervor. The bathrooms were likely crowded as well. I wanted more than a quick and dirty encounter with the fae. I wanted to explore this wondrous body and show Skylar Larkspur what a borderlands halfling could do. Make him shiver and moan and cry for his Daddy as he climaxed in my arms .

“Come with me.” I grabbed hold of his hand. The air around us shifted and a light mist dusted my skin as Skylar shook out his wings then shuttered them closed. With his wings now tucked, we moved urgently toward the back of the bar, down a hallway and through a warded threshold where I punched in a security code to unlock the entry to my private quarters. The heavy double doors opened to reveal a winding stone stairwell led to my second-story apartment.

We made it as far as the hallway outside my door before I had him pinned against the wall with one hand in his braided hair and my pelvis grinding against his. The angles of his body were sharp, his muscle tone lean, but his skin was so very soft and luscious. I nibbled and tugged at his delicate pierced earlobe with my teeth. Skylar moaned and bared his throat for me to taste him–cinnamon and orange zest and something sinfully sweet. With a splash of bourbon, he’d be the most delicious cocktail I’d ever sampled.

“I want you badly, fae,” I told him. I could no longer deny it, but to utter his name would only weaken me to his every whim.

“I want you too, stud. Take me to your lair and fuck me like you own me.”

“Say please,” I growled.

“Pretty please, Daddy?”

I spun him around and trapped his long, tapered fingers against the wall, then licked a stripe along his spine, from the join of his vibrating wings all the way to the nape of his neck where the stray hairs had come loose from his braid. I wanted his scent all over my bed sheets and saturating my skin. My groin punched against his ass and he arched back, presenting for me like a proper slut.

“You want Daddy to take control of your pleasure tonight, boy?” I asked, my voice deepening as my dominant instincts took over.

“Yes, sir. Tell me what to do. I only want to please you.”

“What do you like?” I asked, having my suspicions already.

“I like fat cocks drilling my insides so deep I can barely breathe. And when I tell you I can’t take anymore, I want you to hold me down and make me.”

“Safeword?” I asked before we got in too deep.

“Succotash.”

“I’m bigger than average,” I warned.

“I’m counting on it. Fill me up, Daddy. I’ll make room.”

“You gotta let me know if I’m being too rough.”

“I’m a tough cookie. I can take it.”

I reached over and used my clan’s signet ring to unlock the door to my apartment, still with Skylar trapped against the wall. The fire within me was by now a blazing inferno, but my sense of self-preservation finally kicked in. I’d made a habit of fucking frivolous, emotionally unavailable men. Men who were attracted to my physical oddities or my bulk, and after a few rounds of athletic sex, left me high and dry. The worst was when we’d spend a fantastic night together only for me to discover the next morning that they’d disappeared without a trace. It left me with a hollowness inside that was becoming harder and harder to bear.

I had a hunch this fae was a runner, so before crossing the threshold of whatever this was, I spun him around and took hold of his chin to level his heated gaze with mine. “Daddy has a condition. We’ll call it rule number one.”

He blinked at me, wide-eyed and waiting.

“I’m going to take you apart all night long, baby boy, and if you’re very good, I’ll allow you to come. But when I wake up tomorrow morning, I want to find you still rumpled in my bed sheets. Is that understood?”

He nodded, gave a small smile, and said oh-so-sweetly, “Yes, Daddy.”

Music to my ears.