Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Elain threw her bag on the floor as soon as she entered her apartment. It had been a shit day and an even shittier week. She had worked full days for the past six days since two of her coworkers were sick and she was completely exhausted. And on top of that, she only had two days to finish the assignment for her business class. The assignment she hadn’t even started. She knew she should have turned down some of the shifts at the coffee shop but she really needed the money and, as the people pleaser she was, she didn’t want to let her co-workers down. 

But now here she was, in desperate need of rest but too jacked up on coffee to be able to actually sleep. She thought about starting the assignment but she knew very well that she would have to delete everything tomorrow anyway since she never worked very well after 9.30 PM, and that was 30 minutes ago. 

Elain let out a breath and walked to the refrigerator. She wasn’t hungry, but maybe she could pass the time by eating something? Unfortunately, she hadn’t had time to do her weekly grocery shopping, so the only things she had were a half full carton of milk, some eggs, juice and a sad looking broccoli. She wasn’t exactly craving any of it. She shut the refrigerator door again, looking around her apartment for anything to do that could help her sleep. 

Watch TV? 

No, she knew that it would take her at least 25 minutes to find something to watch, and when she started watching something, she always had to finish at least one episode. She couldn’t commit to that right now. 

Read a book?

No, she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on any sort of text right now. 

She pulled out her phone from her back pocket. Maybe some mindless scrolling? 

Or maybe she could…

No. No, she shouldn’t. 

But as soon as the thought entered her head, it was the only thing she could think about. Just imagining it made her press her thighs together to relieve the ache that started building there from just the thought of it. 

The thought of him . 

If you asked any of her friends, they would tell you that Elain most definitely didn’t watch porn. She was too much of a prude and too innocent. And maybe they were correct - she wouldn’t watch porn. She had tried it once or twice but she couldn’t make it past the first 30 seconds without thinking about the objectification of the female body. And then she started thinking about that documentary she had watched once about how porn can ruin the way people enjoy sex. And the other documentary about how young girls are groomed into porn. 

And then she had to turn it off, feeling disgusted by herself. 

But then one night a few weeks ago, she overheard two customers talking about audio porn. Just the fact that these two girls talked about porn so openly had made Elain blush. Elain made a show of wiping down the already clean counter just to appear busy, but actually, she was intrigued. And curious. She couldn’t really wrap her mind around the concept of audio porn. Was is just the sounds of people having sex? How could that be arousing?

But one of the women said that she probably had one of her best orgasms ever after listening to a certain audio and Elain had been single and horny for months now (to be fair, she had been horny for years since her ex, Graysen, couldn’t pleasure her at all), so that night, Elain put her phone on incognito mode, and searched for audio porn. She hadn’t known what to expect, but she certainly hadn’t expected to find out that there were multiple apps for audio porn. She also realized that you could find it on regular porn sites, and on reddit of all places (but then again, you can find most things on reddit, she thought to herself). 

Elain didn’t really know where to start but since she didn’t want to support the big porn sites, she felt that an app might be better. And maybe it was fate, but one of the apps had a 30 day trial for new members. Her finger hovered over the install button for a few seconds. Was she really contemplating downloading a porn app? What on earth would her friends and sisters say if they found out? Would they make fun of her?

Probably. 

But, would they ever find out? What were the odds of them going through her phone? Absolutely zero. 

There was no way anyone would find out unless she actually told them. Moreover, this was just her researching something she was curious about. She would delete the app in just a few minutes anyway. She just needed to know what it was. There was absolutely no other reason. And she knew that she wouldn’t like it. She detested porn. This would probably be just as horrible. But still, she needed to know. 

So she downloaded The Night Court app, fully intending on deleting it after listening to one or two audios. 

That had been weeks ago. 

The app was still on Elain’s phone. 

All because of him. 

To be fair, the first audio she had listened to had indeed made her want to delete the app. She had just clicked the first link she had found and been prepared to hear two people have sex. She just thought that audio porn was regular porn but without the visual stimulation. 

She couldn’t have been more wrong. This kind of porn was definitely more of the interactive kind where the listener played a role in the fantasy. Elain had promised herself to listen to three minutes before turning it off, and exactly at the three minute mark, that’s what she did. First of all, the voice of the male actor did nothing to her. His voice was soft and teasing, but not in a good way. And the southern lilt to his voice wasn’t her cup of tea either. But the thing that really made her dislike it was the fact that he called himself daddy . 

Elain had never been one to kink-shame, mainly because she liked to pretend as if she knew nothing about kink. Sure, her sex life had never been anywhere close to kinky, but the books she sometimes read begged to tell a different story. She had, however, never enjoyed daddy kink. So when the voice actor said “I think it’s time for daddy to punish his little baby”, Elain cringed and stopped listening. It was definitely not for her. 

But she decided to give it one more go. After all, it couldn’t be called research if she didn’t listen to at least one more audio. She scrolled through the different categories until she found something that didn’t sound too horrible. She stayed away from anything with the words daddy, baby girl and kitten. She also scrolled past anything about pain, punishment and degradation.

And thank god she did. Because after a good ten minutes of scrolling, she found him. 

Shadowsinger.

The man with a voice soft as velvet and dark as shadows. He made her body sing in ways she had never imagined possible. And she had no idea who he was, which was part of the thrill. He could be anyone. He could be an ugly dude living in his mother’s basement, though Elain doubted it. With a voice like that, she reasoned, he had to be hot. In her mind, he was definitely hot. In her mind, he looked like all the dark haired love interests she had read about in her romance novels. 

After just listening to him for a minute, Elain knew that she would be paying for this app for quite some time. 

And here she was, weeks later and still craving his sensual voice and dirty words. Elain had never imagined that she liked dirty talk, but god had she been wrong. When done right, it was the hottest thing imaginable. 

And tonight, Elain really needed someone to just take the edge off so she could sleep. 

Phone in hand, she made her way to her bedroom. She unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down her legs before getting under her duvet. She still felt too exposed to touch herself without being covered. She reached for her headphones on the nightstand and swiped on her phone until she found the app that she had strategically placed in a folder called “health and fitness”. Nobody would ever think that she hid her porn there. 

In her favorites folder, there was only one name; Shadowsinger Audio. 

She clicked on his name, which brought her to his library. So far, she had listened to eight of his works. She was a bit embarrassed when she thought about the fact that she regularly consumed porn, but she felt a bit better knowing that this man willingly posted his audios to this app. She found the audio she was looking for; one of his guided mastubation sessions. He had made quite a few and they were Elain’s favorites. She didn’t really like the ones that involved too much roleplay since they didn’t feel very authentic. Some of them were okay though, especially the ones with a good story. 

This one was called “making my good girl feel good after a long day”, which was exactly what she needed. 

She made herself comfortable in bed and pressed play. 

“You’ve had quite the day today, haven’t you?” the smooth voice asked, sending tingles down her spine in an instant. She nodded, even though there was no one to see her respond to the question. 

“I know. You really do work too much. Do you need me to make you feel better?”

She nodded again and put the phone down beside her. 

“I wish I could be there with you,” he said. “I wish I could feel your soft skin, but since I’m so far away we will have to make do.”

Elain closed her eyes and tried to relax into his voice. Every single time, she was almost surprised by how it made her insides melt. His voice was like whiskey and honey, smokey and sweet all at the same time. 

“First, I need you to undress for me. Can you do that?”

There was a pause and Elain reached for the hem of her top and pulled it off her body. Then she reached back and unclasped her bra. Her nipples were already hard. She was just about to undress fully when he said, “keep your panties on though. I want to see how wet we can make them before I let you touch yourself properly.”

Elain let out a little whine at the command. She felt silly yet aroused. This man could make her feel things no other man could. And he wasn’t even real. He was just someone who recorded porn for a living. It didn’t matter though. This was exactly what she needed. 

“Good girl,” he purred. “You are so fucking beautiful.”

The praise sent shivers down her entire body. A soft ache had settled between her legs. 

“Now, I want you to run your right hand up your stomach, over your ribs and just gently touch the outside of your breast.”

Elain did as she was told. 

“I want you to softly caress your chest and then I want you to touch your breast with just your fingertips. But don’t touch your nipple yet.”

Elain let her fingers explore her soft skin. Slowly, she drew circles around her nipple, making sure not to touch it even though she ached to do so. 

“Good. Now, do the exact same thing with your other hand.”

Breathing slowly, Elain let her left hand mirror her right hand. Her nipples were hard and aching, desperate to be touched.

“Fuck, you look so good like this. I bet you are so desperate for more right now. If I was there, I would straddle your hips and take one of your nipples in my mouth, letting my tongue play with it while my hand cupped your other breast. I bet you would taste so sweet. But since I’m not there, you will have to help me. I need you to slowly and gently touch those pretty nipples,”

Elain let out a breath and let her fingertips draw smaller and smaller circles until she could tug her nipples gently between her fingers. I felt so good. She imagined her handsome stranger straddling her, just like he said he would. In her imagination, he was faceless, but it didn’t matter. She just needed to imagine the weight of his body and his hands on her skin. She imagined that his hands would be bigger, rougher. She imagined his head on her chest, his warm mouth teasing her nipple. A small moan escaped her lips.

“Such a sweet girl for me,” he murmured, his voice even deeper than before. “That feels good, doesn’t it? Are you imagining me on top of you? Because I am thinking of having you underneath me. Pinning you down with my hips. You would be able to feel just how hard you make me.”

And yes, she was imagining just that.  

“Now, let your hand travel lower. Caress your soft stomach. God, just thinking of how soft you feel is driving me crazy.”

Elain had never particularly liked her stomach. It was indeed soft, and she usually joked that you could tell that she liked pasta and cinnamon buns from just looking at her. But when this man told her that her softness was attractive, she believed him. She felt beautiful. She let her hands stroke down her sides and then across her stomach, just under her belly button. 

“If I was there, I would kiss every inch of you. I would lick and bite and nip, unable to control myself. And I know you would like that. You would be begging me for more,” he chuckled. “Always so impatient. But I would take my time. I would make you beg.”

I whimper escaped her lips at those words. She would definitely beg this man for more if he was here. If he was real. She was already getting wet and they had just gotten started. 

“You would be so desperate for me to kiss you, but I wouldn’t. I would want you all needy and wet. All worked up. Because that’s what you need, isn’t it? You need me to take your mind off everything else in your life.”

Elain nodded, mouthing the word, ‘yes’. 

“You need me,” he growled. “Say it. Tell me how much you need me. How much you want this.”

Elain hesitated for a second, but then whispered, “I need you” into the darkness. 

He chuckled again. “I know, sweetheart. So fucking needy.” She could hear him let out a long breath. “Now, I want you to stroke your hips and your thighs. Feel how soft you are. Imagine my strong hands touching you everywhere.”

Elain moved her hands over her hips, down to her thighs. She squeezed, imagining a pair of rough hands on her. She let her thumbs stroke the inside of her thighs. She was so warm, so hot. She knew that she was wet already. 

As if he could read her mind, he asked, “you’re wet already, aren’t you? Always so wet and eager for me.”

And once again, Elain whimpered ‘yes’, as if he could hear her answer.

“You need to have your pussy touched, don’t you? You’re aching so badly.” There was a teasing tone to his voice that drove Elain mad. If he had been there with her, she would have told him to stop playing. To stop teasing her like this. 

“Since I’m so nice, I’ll give you what you need.”

She almost wanted to thank him. 

“You can use one finger and feel just how wet we have managed to get those pretty panties of yours.”

Elain almost snorted. Her panties were definitely not pretty. They were full coverage, gray cotton. And they said “Tuesday” even though it was most definitely Friday. But she didn’t think of her underwear for long because she had been given directions. Elain let her middle finger stroke between her thighs, feeling just how damp the fabric was. He was just about to move the finger up to where she needed it most when he said, “I didn’t tell you to touch your clit.”

Elain let out a frustrated groan but kept her finger over her entrance. Luckily, no one was here to witness the fact that she got even wetter when he told her off like that. 

“I know,” he cooed, “I know that you want my fingers on you right there. You want my fingers and my mouth and my cock, don’t you? God, I wish I could taste you. I bet you taste as sweet as honey. I could stay between your legs all fucking day. Wouldn’t you like that? I bet you would.”

She could honestly not think of anything she wanted more right now. 

“Fuck, those little whimpers you would make. Just thinking about it…” he growled. He actually growled and fuck if that didn’t make her oh so very wet . 

“Are you wet, huh? Tell me how wet you are for me. Tell me what I’ve been able to do without even being there,”

‘So wet’ Elain mouthed. She was breathing quickly now. If he didn’t let her touch herself soon, she would just hit pause and take care of it on her own. But as always, he seemed to know exactly what she needed. 

“Take your panties off now, sweetheart. I need to have access to all of you.”

Without missing a beat, Elain slid her underwear down her legs. 

“Fuck, look at you. So fucking pretty for me,” he said, his voice smooth and rough at the same time. “Spread your legs for me, sweetheart. Show me exactly how wet you are. Show me where you so desperately want me to touch you.”

Without even thinking, Elain spread her legs under the covers. She was hot all over and aching for his touch. Or her own touch. Hell, she was just aching to have an orgasm at this point. Elain had placed her hands on her thighs again, not daring to touch herself before he told her to. He could obviously not see her, but there was just something so arousing about following his directions. It made her feel good. 

Shadowsinger chuckled. “So wet. I know you want to be filled up. To be teased and tasted and fucked until you beg me to stop. Isn’t that right?”

Elain focused on his words, imagining her faceless stranger in bed with her. He wouldn’t be naked though. No, in her fantasies he was most often fully dressed. She didn’t know why, but there was something about that power dynamic that was extremely hot to her. 

“Now, you can use one finger again and touch yourself, but not your clit. Not yet. You have to be patient for me, angel. Patience is always rewarded, you know that.”

Elain used her middle finger to part herself. God, she was wet and hot and horny and desperate. She circled her entrance while waiting for him to continue. There was a thrill in not knowing exactly what he would have her do next. Would she be allowed to finger herself? Would she be able to touch her clit anytime soon? Was there something she should do with her other hand while she fucked herself?

And as always, Shadowsinger had answers to all of her naughty questions. With a teasing tone, he murmured, “you want to push that finger inside, don’t you? You would like to imagine that it’s me touching you, filling you up.”

Elain could do nothing but nod, too lost in her own arousal to care about how silly it was that she responded to a pre-recorded audio. 

“Go on, then. Push inside.”

Elain didn’t hesitate. She pushed one long finger into herself, moaning at the sensation. It was wonderful and not enough at the same time. She needed more. 

“That feels good, doesn’t it? Go on, move it for me. Fuck that tight little pussy with your finger,” he ordered, and Elain obeyed. “It’s not enough, is it? You need more, hmm?”

Yes, yes, yes , Elain though. Please give me more. 

“I know,” he cooed. “I know. You can use one more finger, but make sure not to come yet. Not that you would. You need even more than that to come, don’t you? Greedy girl.”

Again, Elain did just as he said, adding a second finger. In doing so, the heel of her palm grazed her clit and she had to really focus in order not to give in and just fuck herself fast and hard. Elain’s eyes were closed even though it was dark and in her mind, she could almost see Shadowsinger there with her - in her bed, next to her. His long fingers buried deep inside her while whispering all kinds of naughty praise in her ear. 

On multiple occasions, she had thought to herself that if this man had a girlfriend, she was probably the happiest woman in the world. She must definitely be more than satisfied…

“There we go. You’re doing so well. My good girl.”

Elain shivered at the praise. Listening to him speak to her like that sent electricity through her entire body. 

“But you still need more. You’ve had such a shitty day and you need me to make you feel good. I know that I’m teasing you, but your mind is exactly where I want it. The only thing you can think of right now is how good this feels. You are just waiting for me to tell you what to do next, isn’t that right? You need me to tell you. You need to give up control. You need me to own your body, if only for tonight. And that’s exactly what I am doing. Owning you. Teasing you. Telling you what to do and what not to do. I might even be driving you mad since I am taking my time doing so,” he murmured. 

Elain bit her lip. She both hated and loved that he knew what she was thinking. What she was feeling. How on earth could he do that? 

“Okay, now take your other hand and move it to your lips. I want you to take two fingers into your mouth.” Elain hesitated for a moment. She had never sucked on her own fingers unless it was to lick something away - like ice cream or chocolate. But she trusted him, and to be honest, if she didn’t like it she could just stop. Nobody would know. So she took her middle and ring finger into her mouth, sucking on them experimentally. It didn’t feel wrong, exactly. But she didn’t understand why she was doing it either. 

That is, until he spoke again. “Good girl. Fuck, you look so good like that. Do you know how often I imagine you like this, all naked and needy and with your mouth full?”

Elain blushed at the words. 

“God, if I was there, I would fuck that pretty little mouth while you touched yourself. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You always had such an oral fixation,” he chuckled. “I want you to imagine me doing just that. I want you to close your eyes and think about me putting my big cock between your lips, fucking you, using you.”

Elain’s eyes rolled back in her head at those words. And when he let out that low, sensual growl again, she moaned around her finger. She was imagining him standing next to the bed now. She had turned her head, just as she would have if he was really there. She was imagining him thrusting into her mouth, filling her so completely. 

She almost came from just thinking about it.

“Okay, I think it’s time to put you out of your misery. Now, I want you to press the heel of your palm to your clit.”

Elain did as ordered and gasped at the sensation. God, she wouldn’t last much longer. 

“Good thing you have your mouth full, or else your neighbors would hear just how much you are enjoying this,” he teased. “Go ahead and fuck yourself. Do exactly what you need to get closer, but don’t come. You are not allowed to come until I tell you to.”

Elain kept her fingers in her mouth as she started to fuck her own hand. She was moving her hips, getting the friction she so desperately needed. Her mind was completely blank. The only thing she thought about was waiting for his next words. Right now, his words were like a religion and Elain had most definitely joined the cult. 

“Okay, angel. I’ll count down from ten, and when I reach one, you can come.”

She rolled her eyes in frustration and slowed down her movements. She would have to make it to ten. She just had to. Nobody would know if she didn’t, but it wouldn’t be as satisfying. And she wouldn’t deserve the praise at the end if she came sooner, so she made sure to concentrate and keep herself on the edge for a while longer. 

“10, 9, 8, you’re doing so well. Just a little bit longer,” he said, but Elain barely heard him. She was too lost in her pleasure to pay much attention right now. 

“7, 6, 5, there we go. Such a good fucking girl.”

Elain wondered why he waited a small eternity between every single number. He must be a freaking sadist, she thought. 

“4, 3, 2 almost there, sweetheart. I know you’re close now, aren’t you? So fucking close.”

And Elain was close. She was so fucking close. In her mind, she was laying naked on her bed, fucking her hand while this handsome stranger was fucking her mouth. He was dressed in black and had only unbuttoned his trousers in order to give her his cock. And that mental picture was what tipped her over the edge.

Just as he said, “One. That’s it. You can come now. Come for me,” Elain came. She came hard, moaning around the fingers in her mouth. His voice was drowned out by the rushing in her ears for a few seconds, and when she came back down again, she was happy to realize that he was still there. Or well, his voice was. 

Elain took her fingers out of her mouth and relaxed into the bed. She kept her palm pressed to her heat as she came down from the orgasm. 

“Such a good girl. Are you feeling better?”

Elain nodded, too lost to pleasure to do anything else. 

“Good. You know I always want to make you feel good. If you need me again, don’t hesitate to call.”

And with that, he was gone. 
And she was alone again. 
Alone, tired and satisfied. 

All thanks to Shadowsinger.
Whoever he was. 

Chapter Text

Like so many other nights, Elain found herself with her hand between her legs and the sultry voice of Shadowsinger in her ears. 

“Ask for it. Ask for me to take you.”

Elain whined in frustration, but mouthed the words nonetheless. Even though he wasn’t really there, it was as if her brain was telling her that she might get to come if she did what he asked. It was silly, really. But she was desperate. And horny. And fuck, he was teasing her. 

The title of the audio hadn’t been lying. “Teasing you until you beg”. 

Elain was begging. She had been begging for the last five hours. In reality it might not have been more than fifteen minutes, twenty tops, but it sure did feel like an eternity. At first, he just teased her with words. Telling her to lay completely still while he told her all the dirty, naughty things he wanted to do to her. The places he would lick and bite and fuck. 

And then, when she was practically panting, he allowed her to touch herself. She had and almost whispered a ‘thank you’ because she was certain that he would let her come after all that verbal teasing. 

But then the real teasing began. It was like the sweetest form of torture and Elain didn’t know if she hated it or loved it. She only knew that she wanted more.

Needed it. 

He had brought Elain close to orgasm two times already, and each time he had ordered her to stop just before she reached her peak. She was getting frustrated by now and she didn’t dare trust that he would let her come this time. 

“Oh, sweetheart. I know,” he purred in her ear. “I know you’re desperate to come, but you can hold on for a bit longer. It will be worth the wait.”

And for some idiotic reason, Elain trusted him. She trusted that it would be worth the wait. So far, he had never let her down. But he had also never teased her like this before. 

“Are you begging yet?” he asked, his voice low and seductive. Every time she heard his voice, Elain imagined herself being wrapped in velvet. It was smooth and soothing and made her go feral in a way she never had thought possible. And yes, she was begging. 

“Please,” she whispered into the darkness of her room. She was rubbing her clit just the way she liked it but slower than usual. She didn’t want to accidentally orgasm without permission. She didn’t want to disappoint him, even though he would never find out. 

Shadowsinger chuckled then and the sound made even more heat flush Elain’s core. God, she was wet. And needy. She needed to come. 

“Fuck, you’re so pretty when you beg. I love how desperate you get for me. How needy you are for my cock.”

Elain’s eyes rolled back. That stupid bastard had to let her come soon or she might die. 

“I bet that little pussy feels so empty right now,” he growled. “If you only knew how much I want to fill you. How much I want to make you mine. I just want to stretch you out until you’re blissfully full and fuck you until you forget you own fucking name.”

Elain had forgotten her name a long time ago by now. The only words in her brain were “ Please ,” and “ Shadowsinger. ” Or “ Shadow ”, as she had started to refer to him in her head. 

“You’re being such a good girl for me, you know that? Letting me tease and edge you all night. Next time, I should tie you down and tease you with a vibrator. And every time you think you’re about to come, I’ll remove it. Again and again until you’re begging me to take you. Until you’re ready to be fully mine.”

Elain let out a low moan, imagining herself tied to her bed, her dark stranger on his knees beside her. She wondered what it would feel like to actually be teased with a vibrator like that, by a man with a voice like his. It would surely be even more intense than this?

Elain was positive that she wouldn’t be able to handle it. 

And that made her wonder what would happen if she couldn’t handle it. What would happen if she came too soon? Would she be punished?

Was there really a punishment worse than being teased like this?

She doubted it. Though, her imaginatoin wasn’t very good when it came to sex and she was certain that Shadow would be able to come up with something that she would never even be able to imagine. 

“I want you to go a bit faster now, sweetheart. Fuck that pretty little cunt with your hand.”

She did what she was told and prayed to gods she didn’t believe in that this would be the last time. That this was when he would let her come. 

“Good girl,” he purred, and as always, the praise went straight to her core. “You’ve been so good for me. I think it’s time for your reward. Would you like that, angel?”

Elain could do nothing but nod. 

“Then come for me, sweetheart. Show me just how hard I can make you come. I want to hear how good it feels.”

Within two seconds, Elain was shaking. And within five, she was gasping, reaching that peak. Her eyes rolled back in her head and then she was coming. The orgasm gripped her and sent her into another dimension. She was moaning, begging. Thanking him. She was probably loud, but she couldn’t even care about that because fuck, it felt so good. 

Afterward, she just lay there. She couldn't move. Could barely think. The only thing she could do was to stay still and enjoy the feeling. 

When her brain finally functioned again, her first thought was; I wonder what it would would feel like to fuck a man like that?

She blushed at the thought. Even though no one was there to hear her, she still wasn’t used to such crude thoughts entering her head. She also wasn’t used to having great orgasms, so there’s that. 

She had been with men before, but she had never ever had a single orgasm during sex. In the beginning, she faked it. She thought that it was her duty to come and if she didn’t, there was something wrong with her. After an orgasm-less year with her ex though, she was certain that there was something wrong with her so she just told him that she couldn’t come and that it was okay. 

He stopped even trying to get her off after that.

But somehow, and she didn’t understand why, she imagined that Shadow would be able to make her come. He had already made her come with just his words, so surely he would be able to make her come if he could use his body? If he could use his fingers or his tongue or his…

No. No, she should not be thinking such things. It was one thing to listen to audio porn in the middle of the night, but a completely different thing to imagine him fucking her for real. It felt like crossing some sort of invisible line. Especially since they would never meet in real life anyway. If she thought about him too much, she was afraid that she might be disappointed by any other man she slept with. 

But god, Elain couldn’t help but envy the girl who got to date him. 

–------------

It was a gray Tuesday in Velaris. Elain was working a eight-hour shift at the coffee shop and she had just celebrated the third hour of said shift ending and the fourth beginning. The small victories in life. 

To be fair, she actually liked her job. She enjoyed talking to customers and making lattes and cappuccinos. She liked her co-workers and her boss was actually really nice. She was just tired. She felt like she was in a constant state of never sleeping enough and drinking too many caffeinated beverages, which wasn’t the best combo at the end of the day. 

Today, she was working with her best friends, Nuala and Cerridwen. They had gotten to know each other here at the coffee shop and she had liked them instantly. Today, Nuala was in the back while Cerridwen and Elain handled the register and the orders. The coffee shop was almost empty, which felt great after a busy lunch. Only a few stragglers had stayed and they all sat behind their computers, probably working on their school work. They looked like college students, which is why Elain wasn’t surprised by the fact that they seemed to be able to make a cup of coffee last for two hours. Which college student wanted to buy two cups of coffee? 

No one. 

But they all wanted to access the free wifi. Elain didn’t care. She knew what it was like to live with shitty wifi in a small apartment. For years, she had shared her space with her sisters and she would go out to study any chance she could. She almost wrote a thank-you-note to her favorite coffee shop when she passed her final exam. 

She was wiping down the counter when the door opened. She didn’t look up since it was Cerridwen’s turn to take the orders. Elain lifted a stack of take away cups and wiped the surface underneath them. 

“Hello, what can I get you today?” Cerridwen asked the customer. 

“Just coffee, thank you.”

Under any normal circumstance, Elain would have rolled her eyes. That was such a vague order. But today, she froze, towel in hand and eyes stuck on the clean countertop. A tingly sensation traveled down her spine, as if someone had opened the door again and she had been struck by a cold wind. But it was June and she was warm. 

Too warm. 

Was it…

No, it couldn’t be. Her mind was playing tricks on her. 

Elain could hear the smile in Cerridwen’s voice as she asked, “What kind of coffee? We have latte, cappuccino, frappuccino, espresso, americano, iced latte, cortado–”

“Honestly, I have no idea what that means. I’ll just have a coffee. Black.”

Elain dropped the towel. 

She knew that voice. Or at least, she thought she did. But it couldn’t be him. That would be too weird. He probably just had a very similar voice. That could happen, right? That two people were born with the same voice. Like voice twins. 

Voice twins was definitely a thing. 

Elain didn’t dare to look at him, which was good since she was unable to move anyway. 

“Would you like the Brazilian, Ethiopian or Colombian blend?” 

There was a beat of silence and Elain could hear her heartbeat in her ears as she waited for him to speak again. Surely, she had been mistaken?

“I, uh–”

“Do you want me to just give you my favorite?” Cerridwen asked, just like she always did when people couldn’t make a decision. It happened more often than you would think. 

The customer chuckled. “Please. I will probably not even be able to tell the difference.”

“Oh, you will. You’ll have one sip and then you’ll never be able to drink any other kind of coffee. It’s just that good.”

Finally, Elain unfroze. Not completely, but she was able to force herself to look in his direction. It was the chuckle that was her undoing. That god damned chuckle that she had heard so many times by now. She would never forget that sound. Never forget how it made her insides melt. 

In front of the register stood a tall man. A very tall man. He was dressed in black trousers and a gray button down. His dark hair was short, but not too short. It was a bit messy, as if he had just raked his hand through it. And then there was his face. His complexion was darker than Elain’s. Almost golden. His lips were full and his eyes were sharp. 

And those eyes. Those dark hazel eyes…

He was looking at her. Those eyes were looking straight at her. 

Fuck, he was even more handsome than Elain could have ever imagined. How on earth could a man look that good? It must surely be illegal. 

And then, when Elain thought it couldn’t get worse, he shattered her by smiling. It was small, a barely there tug at the corners of his lips, but a smile nonetheless. And if Elain thought him handsome before, this little smile just transformed him into a god. 

And Elain just stood there, staring at him like a madwoman. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. It was him. It was really him. And he was here, in her coffee shop, on a regular gray Tuesday. It was wrong. It was all so very wrong and she was a weirdo. A frozen statue of a weirdo. If she didn’t move soon, the twins would have to make a plaque and put beside her that read; Here stands Elain Archeron, the weird girl that listens to audio porn and stares at strangers. 

“Hello.” Cerridwen’s voice was what finally pulled Elain out of her own mind. Elain dragged her eyes away from him and tried her best to focus on her friend. She could feel herself blush. Cerridwen was looking at her, an amused expression on her face. 

“Yes?” Elain asked, feeling as though she had missed something when she was stuck in her trance. 

“I asked if you could get this man his coffee. The good kind,” Cerridwen offered the man a smile before returning her gaze to Elain, eyebrows raised in question. 

“Oh, right. Yes, of course. Coffee. Good.” Elain was babbling. She had forgotten that it was her job to actually make the coffee while her friend took the orders. 

Elain turned around and walked over to the three thermoses that stood lined up against the back. She reached for a cup and poured him a generous amount of coffee. He had wanted it black, right? She hoped so, because there would be no room for milk. 

Carefully, she balanced the cup and slid it onto the counter. “There you go. Coffee.” She wanted to slap herself. Obviously, it was a cup of coffee. She didn’t have to tell him what he ordered. But at least he had his coffee now and then he could go away and Elain could go back to having a normal day where she wasn’t thinking about the fantastic orgasm she had experienced just last night. An orgasm that he inspired. 

Fuck. 

Now she was thinking about it. 

The man said nothing, but Cerridwen kicked Elain under the counter. “He wanted it to-go.”

Elain stared at her friend, and then at the cup in front of her. And surely, she had given him a regular cup. Not just that, she had poured his coffee into a cappuccino cup. 

She knew that she was an even shade of red when she reached for the cup. “God, I’m so sorry. I’ll just–”

“It’s fine,” he said, amusement in his voice. 

Elain dared to look at him again. Was that really right? Did he sound amused? Most customers would be annoyed by such a mistake. But on his face there was no trace of annoyance. There were, however, a few small lines around his eyes as he smiled at her again. 

Shit. 

He should stop smiling. 

Smiling like that might ruin someone’s life. 

“I’m usually not like this,” Elain muttered, more to herself than anything as she started to make her way over to the sink to pour the coffee down the drain. She shop’s policy was that they weren’t allowed to just pour the coffee from one cup to another. If they used the wrong cup, they had to start over. 

It was wasteful and Elain hated it, but there was nothing she could do. 

He chuckled again. “We all have those days. Just take your time.”

“Thank you.” 

Once again, she made her way over to the coffee station. This time, she really thought about what she was doing. 1. A take away cup. 2. Pour coffee. 3. Put on the lid. She checked everything off in her head as if it was the most complicated order she had ever gotten. 

“Here you go,” she said and handed Shadowsinger his coffee. No, not shadowsinger. The customer. He was a customer. And a stranger. And she had no right to think of him as anything else. 

Even though he is clearly a sex god. 

She gave herself a mental slap. 

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience.” She was looking at his chest now. She imagined that it would be safer to focus on his shirt. She didn’t want to become a babbling idiot again and his dark eyes seemed to make her into one. But she was wrong. Oh, she was so wrong. Because when he reached for the cup, she could see the fabric stretch over his pecs. He had pecs and they looked strong and his arms looked strong too and…

Oh, my god. 

Get your mind out of the gutter, Elain. 

“Thank you. And there was no inconvenience. I promise I won’t leave a bad yelp review.”

Was that a joke? Was this man funny too? 

Elain thought that men like him only existed in romance novels. 

She still didn’t dare to look him in the eye. 

“Well, that’s very kind of you, sir. Have a great day.”

She expected the man to leave now that he had his coffee. But he just stood there, looking at her. Had she forgotten something? She looked around to see if Cerrdiwen was preparing some food for him, but she was nowhere to be found. Elain spun around, looking for her friend. She was gone. When had she left? 

When Elain faced the front of the store again, he was still there. Still looking at her. And damn, she looked at his face again. 

She knew, without a doubt, that she would never be able to listen to his audios again. She would have to delete the app. She couldn’t listen to him now that she knew what he looked like. When she knew what his body looked like. When she new how lovely his eyes were–

“Can I get you something else?” she asked, mainly because she couldn’t stand the awkwardness. She might also want to hear his voice again. Just one last time. 

His eyes went to the baked goods to his right. “Well, I haven’t had lunch yet. What would you recommend?”

Elain desperately wished that one of the twins would make an appearance so she could hide in the back. She was usually very good at recommending food to customers, but right now her mind was blank. 

“Uh,” she started. “It depends on what you’re in the mood for. We have both savory and sweet options.”

“Well, I am known for having a big sweet tooth.” A crooked smile played on his lips and Elain was done for. That voice. That sexy, smooth, silky voice did things to her even when it didn’t whisper naughty things in her ear. Even when it didn’t call her a good girl . 

And now she was imagining him smiling at her like that, calling her a good girl while he fucked–-

No, stop it. 

“Well, then I would recommend the cinnamon rolls or the chocolate babka,” Elain said when she was able to force herself back to reality. Those were the things that most customers ordered, so they were safe to recommend. 

“Hmm,” he said, appearing to be weighing his options. “Which is your favorite?”

“Oh, I– they’re both good.”

“I guess I’ll have both then.”

Elain nodded. With a body like that, he didn’t look like a man that ate two desserts in one day. But then again, he probably worked out a lot so he might burn off the calories quickly. Or maybe he burned off the calories in some other way…

“Yes, right. Of course. Both are good.” Elain hurried to put the two sweet treats in a box before her mind had the chance to make a fool out of her. 

He paid and she handed him the box. She didn’t ask him anything else because she couldn’t risk him saying anything because, apparently, her brain was a horny little mess that wanted to ruin her life. 

But he didn’t leave. Elain wanted to sink to the floor and hide. Where the hell was Cerridwen? And why were there no other customers in line? Why couldn’t the universe be kind to her just this once?

“Thank you,” he said after what seemed like an eternity. Elain wanted to sob because that meant he was leaving and that she wouldn’t have to be tortured by his voice anymore. 

The way he tortured and teased you last night…

He held up his cup and gave her one last smile. She noticed that there were a few specks of green in his dark eyes. They were mesmerizing. “If this coffee is as good as your colleague promised, I guess I’ll be seeing you again.” he said. 

Elain hoped that the coffee was disgusting. But she knew it wasn’t. It was fantastic. 

She should have fucked up his order. 

“Well, I hope you’ll enjoy it.” Elain put on her most customer friendly smile. “Have a nice day.”

“You too.”

And with that, he was gone. 

Elain was just about to stick her head in the freezer when Cerridwen finally made an appearance. 

“Where were you?” Elain hissed. “I was all alone. What if there had been a rush of customers?”

Cerridwen looked around. There were only two people in the entire shop and they both seemed transfixed on their computers. She shrugged, “looks pretty dead to me.”

“But we're always supposed to be two people out here.” Elain usually wouldn’t care. She had worked the register alone multiple times, especially when there was a lull in the early afternoon. But today, she cared. Today, she had been visited by a sex god and made an utter fool of herself. She blamed Cerridwen.

“Anyway,” Cerridwen said, “we needed more take away cups.”

Elain looked at the full stack of cups and then back at her friend. “You’re not carrying any cups.”

“Whoops,” she said and winked at Elain. “I guess I forgot them. Silly me.”

“I hate you,” Elain muttered. 

“No, you don’t.”

Elain was just about to answer when the door opened and a stream of people made their way into the shop. The rest of the day was busy, thank god. She barely had time to think about the fact that Shadowsinger had been just on the other side of that counter. 

By the end of the day, she had almost convinced herself that it was a dream. Almost. But of course, her stupid friends had to remind her of him.

Elain was mopping the floor while Nuala was cleaning the espresso machine. “So, a little birdie told me that a very handsome customer flirted with you earlier.”

“Really?” Elain glared at her. “Was this little birdie your backstabbing sister?”

A wide smile spread across Nuala’s face. “It might have been. But she didn’t have to tell me. I could feel the sexual tension all the way to the kitchen. The sandwiches I made were extra sexy today because of it.”

“Stop it.”

“No, really. I had to take a peak and damn girl. He was hot!”

“He was just a customer,” Elain muttered and mopped the same spot again. And again. 

“Mhm, just a customer,” Cerridwen interjected. “Because you usually stare at customers like they are the most delicious cake in the history of cakes.”

“Maybe I was hungry. I hadn’t had my lunch break yet.”

“Sure, you were hungry,” Cerridwen teased. “Hungry for him.”

“Shut up.” Elain ears grew warm. She hated how easily she blushed. She turned to Cerridwen, “Also, just so you know, we are not friends anymore. You betrayed me. You left me alone with him.”

A smile spread across her friend’s face, “So what? I thought he was just a regular customer.”

Elain tightened her grip on the mop and cursed her friends under her breath. And then she cursed herself for being so freaking awkward. 

“So, did you get his number at least?” Nuala asked. 

Elain shook her head quickly. “God, no. Of course not. Also, if I did find him attractive, which I’m not saying I did, he would probably not be interested in me. You should have seen me. I was a babbling fool.”

“At least you’re a cute fool.” Cerridwen patted her back. “Also, he was into you. From the moment he walked in, his eyes were focused on you. He barely even acknowledged me when he gave me his order.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. That’s why I left. He looked like he wanted to talk to you. Or actually, it looked like he wanted to do many things that didn’t involve talking.” Cerridwen wiggled her eyebrows and Elain couldn’t help the pathetic giggle that escaped her lips. Quickly, she slapped her hand over mouth. 

“Aw, he has you giggling,” Nuala teased. 

Elain thought about all the other sounds he had been able to elicit from her. Whimpers and moans and–

“Why are you blushing, Elain? Were you thinking of all the naughy, dirty things he could–”

“Stop!” Elain all but shouted. “For the love of god, stop.”

She couldn’t tell her friends that she had recognized his voice. She couldn’t tell them that he was the reason why she slept better than ever. That he gave her mind blowing orgasms a few nights a week. Orgasms that she now had to give up. 

The thought of deleting that app felt worse than her break up with her ex boyfriend. 

“He was handsome, okay?” she admitted. “I found him attractive and I was running on like four hours of sleep so I was extra awkward but that’s it. He’s not interested in me and I am not going to date a customer so can we please just drop this topic. I will probably never see him again anyway.”

The twins glanced at each other, a secret conversation playing out between them. Obviously, they couldn’t read each other’s minds, but they could communicate with only glances. And Elain really didn’t like the way they were looking at each other now, mischief in their eyes. 

“Fine, we’ll drop it. But if he comes in here again, it’s fate and you should definitely make a move. You haven’t dated anyone since Graysen. You need to–”

“I don’t need anything but some peace and quiet right now,” Elain interrupted. 

Nuala held up her hands in defeat, “Okay, I’ll be quiet. But if he asks you out on a date, I’ll hope you say yes.”

Elain snorted, “Yeah, as if that would ever happen.”

They didn’t know what he sounded like. They didn’t know what he could do with that voice of his. If they knew, they would know that he probably wasn’t single. Also, Elain could obviously not go on a date with him because she knew . It would be awkward and weird. Like, if they went on a date, should she tell him that she knows what he does for a living? Should she tell him that she’s a big fan of his work?

Elain imagined sitting down in a restaurant with him and telling him that he’s great at audio porn. Just the thought of it made her want to bury her head in sand like an ostrich. 

Luckily for her, they would never see each other again and he would never ask her on a date and she would delete that app and everything would be just fine and normal. 

Everything would be fine, except her libido. 

But that was a sacrifice she would have to make. 

That night when she got into bed, she reached for her phone. It was a habit by now. After a long, stressful day, she usually sought comfort in the husky voice of Shadowsinger . But tonight, the app was gone. 

She had deleted it on the bus ride home just so she wouldn’t be tempted. 

With a sigh, she clicked on the Youtube icon and searched for some ASMR instead. Before Shadowsinger, the sound of a brush on a microphone or some soft whispers made her relax and drift off to sleep. But tonight, the sounds felt like sandpaper in her ears. 

“Stupid Shadowsinger,” Elain muttered and turned off her phone. “Why did you have to be real?”

Chapter Text

“One more shot,” Nuala shouted over the music as she scooted into the booth next to Elain. Cerridwen was on her other side nursing a beer. 

“I might die if I take one more,” Elain answered, knowing fully well that she would succumb to the bad influence of the twins. Not that she minded. She really needed this. She had been working way too much and school had been kicking her ass for the last couple of weeks. And she hadn’t been able to sleep well since that handsome man walked into the coffee shop and ruined her life. 

Basically, she blamed Shadowsinger for her sleep deprivation. It wasn’t more than fair. 

Cerridwen laughed beside her and nudged her arm, “We will all die sooner or later. And I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather be drunk when I die.” She reached for one of the shots Nuala had placed on the table.

“What is it?” Elain asked, one last attempt to tell herself that multiple shots was never a good idea. 

“It was called Orgasmic bliss .” Nuala wiggled her eyebrows. “Sounded like something you might need.”

“Nuala,” Elain gasped, feigning a horrified shocked expression. And failing miserably. “Not in front of Jesus.”

Elain pointed at the man who had been dancing vigorously on the dancefloor for the past 30 minutes. His shirt was soaked with sweat and his long hair had earned him the nickname ‘Jesus’.

“From the way he was looking at you earlier, I think he might volunteer to give you a different kind of orgasmic bliss,” Cerridwen said and nudged one of the small glasses closer to Elain. “Come on, birthday girl. You only live once.”

Elain rolled her eyes but picked up the shot. “Live, laugh, love.”

Nuala raised her shot to and shouted, “Carpe fucking diem.”

“I will regret this in the morning,” Elain muttered under her breath and raised her glass to Nualas. 

Cerridwen followed suit. “To orgasms.”

“To orgasms,” Elain and Nuala said in chorus, and then they downed the shots. 

It was sweet, an artificial taste of strawberries and cream filling sliding down her throat. Nuala had wanted to get them tequila but Elain had promptly put her foot down (both literally and figuratively.) She wanted to remember her birthday and if she had tequila, there was a very big possibility that she wouldn’t. 

“It was better than the last one,” Cerridwen commented. 

Nuala turned to her sister, a teasing grin on her face, “What, you didn’t like the Cum as you are ?”

Cerridwen wrinkled her nose, “whoever came up with that shot should go to jail. The consistency was a bit too accurate.”

“Not in front of Jesus, Cerr.” Nuala teased. 

“Sorry Jesus,” she shouted.

And of course, ‘Jesus’ turned around, sending the girls into a giggling fit. 

Rita’s was packed tonight. Sweaty bodies dancing closely on the dancefloor, people sharing pitchers of beer and couples making out in the corners. Elain hadn’t been out for god knows how long, which was probably why she was already starting to feel a little bit drunk. It felt great. Her mind was finally quiet and she found herself thinking that maybe, just maybe, she would be able to fall asleep and sleep the entire night for once. 

That would truly be the best birthday gift she could receive. 

“Hey, speaking of orgasms and bodily fluids,” Cerridwen said, leaning forward. “Guess who I saw yesterday?”

“Harry Styles?” Elain guessed without missing a beat. 

“Taylor Swift?” Nuala added. 

Elain shook her head, “No, I bet it was Gordon Ramsey.”

“If she had seen Gordon Ramsey she would have died on the spot from happiness,” Nuala said. “I think it was…Kanye West.”

“Or Kim Kardashian?”

“Donald Trump?”

“The Queen of England?”

“Shrek?”

“Harry Pott–”

Carridwen put her hand over Elain’s mouth. “No, you idiots. I don’t even want to know how you connect those people to orgasms and bodily fluids.”

“Harry Styles and Taylor Swift could give me orgasms any day,” Nuala said and raised her half empty glass of beer in a salute to mainly herself. And maybe to Harry Styles and Taylor Swift too, Elain wasn’t sure. 

“Yes, I know, you horny heathen. But this isn’t about you.”

“So who is it about then?”

“The birthday girl, of course.”

Elain furrowed her brows. “Me? Did you see my sisters?”

Cerridwen shook her head, a teasing smile on her lips. “Nope. Better.”

“Did you meet someone who said that I have won a hundred billion dollars?”

“Better,” she said, her smile turning into a grin. 

“What is better than a hundred billion dollars? I mean, unless I won two hundred billion dollars. That would definitely be better than one hundred–”

“God, you talk a lot when you’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk,” Elain lied. “I’m tipsy.”

Nuala patted her back. “Whatever you say, sweetie.”

“Okay, you’re not allowed to guess anymore because you obviously suck at it. I saw your sexy stranger,” she exclaimed, holding out her hands to emphasize how amazing this was. 

Elain just stared at her. “Who?”

“Oh, don’t play coy. The sexy, dark, brooding, mysterious stranger who ordered a coffee when he actually wanted to order you.”

“I think Elain would like to be ordered around,” Nuala interjected. 

Elain could feel her face get hot. Thank god for the dim lights because she definitely didn’t want the twins seeing her blush like this. Because yes, she did like being told what to do by that sexy stranger. She liked it a lot. And she missed it. 

“Get your head out of the gutter, Nuala,” Cerridwen said. “Anyway, he came into the coffee shop yesterday.”

“Okay?” Elain tried to seem unaffected by the news when she actually wanted to scream. He had returned to the coffee shop? There was a chance that she might meet him again? 

That wasn’t part of her plan. 

Her plan was to never think about him or his velvety smooth voice ever again. 

“Yes, he came in and said that I was right about the coffee being the best he ever had.” Cerridwen looked smug. “And then…” She dragged that last word out, trying to increase the anticipation. “He asked about you.”
Elain, who had just taken a sip of her luke-warm beer, had to cover her nose with her hand as she started coughing. He had what now?

“What?” she was able to croak out. 

“Yes, he asked if you were there because, apparently, you are very good at recommending food,” she wiggled her eyebrows. “He looked disappointed when I told him you had a few days off.”

“Oh,” was all Elain could think to answer. 

“Oh?” Nuala raised her voice. “That’s all you’re gonna say? OH?”

“Well, he was probably just hungry.”

Nuala rolled her eyes. “You are so clueless. You didn’t think that Jesus was checking you out and now you think that the sexy stranger asked for you because he was freaking hungry. You need to look in a mirror, girl.”

“Jesus was not checking me out. He was just looking for a new dance partner.”

“Sure, whatever you say.” Nuala leaned back against the black leather seat. “But aren’t you even a little bit curious why the sexy stranger asked for you?”

Yes, Elain wanted to shout. Yes, she was curious. Of course, she wanted to know why he had asked. She knew that it couldn’t be because he craved cinnamon rolls or other sweet treats, but Elain couldn’t even fathom that he would have any interest in her either. He was Shadowsinger , for god’s sake. He was the man she had dirty fantasies about when she didn’t even know what he looked like.

She touched herself to his voice. 

Even if he did want to see her for some reason, she was relieved that she hadn’t been at work that day. And she would never admit that she was curious because she shouldn’t be. He was a sex god and she was…Elain. Plain Elain. She wasn’t funny or exciting. Definitely not exciting enough for someone like him. 

Elain knew that she couldn’t keep telling the twins that she didn’t care because they could see right through her. But she couldn’t tell them the full story either, so she went with, “Sure, I admit it. I would like to know why he asked for me. I can’t really think of a good reason since I was a babbling idiot the last time I saw him and we only spoke for a minute. But that doesn’t matter because I will never see him again, so that’s that.”

And I will never hear his voice again, she added silently. 

There was a beat of silence between them. Or, it wasn’t really silence since every sound was drowned out by a horrendous remix of an old pop song from the nineties. The twins looked at each other quickly, a silent communication clearly going on between them. Elain took a sip of her beer, trying her very best to ignore the way they were looking at each other, and then at her, and then at the bar. They were probably just trying to decide what shot to order next. Telepathically. 

Elain almost laughed at the silly thought when Nuala leaned in closer and said, “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

“What?”

“I said,'' she gripped Elain’s chin and turned her head toward the bar. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

As soon as the words registered, Elain saw what the twins had been staring at just seconds ago. Or more accurately, who they had been staring at. 

It was him. 

He was here. 

The sexy stranger. 

Shadowsinger. 

He was here, at the bar she used to visit regularly and god, he looked good. Too good. Looking like that should come with a warning sign. 

Tonight, he was dressed in black, easily blending into the darkness of the club. Yet, there was something about him that made him stand out. That made Elain’s eyes seek him out, like a moth to a flame. 

She took in the leather boots, the fitted black jeans and the black T-shirt. She let her eyes travel up his body and when she reached his face, she quickly realized her mistake. 

Because of fucking course he was looking right at her. And Elain just wanted to sink through the ground because both times they had been in the same room, he had caught her staring. 

For a beat, he did nothing but look straight at her, holding her gaze. Then, with a small smirk on his lips, he raised his glass of amber liquid towards her and gave her one single nod. Was that his way of saying hello?

Elain could feel herself blush again, and once more, she was happy that the dark club hid her pink cheeks. 

She suddenly felt sober. Or well, not sober, but definitely more tipsy than drunk. 

When he turned back to his friend at the bar, Elain realized that she hadn’t been breathing. She took a deep breath and sank down in the booth, reaching for her glass. When she tipped it back, she realized that it was empty. 

“Shit,” she muttered and put the glass down more forcefully than she intended. 

“Was that a shit, he’s here or a shit, I need more alcohol ?” Cerridwen teased. 

“Both,” Elain sighed. “Why is he so good looking?”

The twins laughed and huddled closer to Elain. Probably to make sure that they could all hear each other better.  

“I mean, shouldn’t it be illegal to have a face like that when he also has a voice that…” she trailed off, realizing that she almost told her friends way too much. 

The twins looked at each other, a puzzled expression on their faces. “Well, well, well,” Nuala said. “I didn’t know you had a voice kink.”

“I don’t,” Elain answered quickly. Too quickly. 

She didn’t have a voice kink, per se. It was just his voice that made her kinky.  

Elain was very glad that her friends couldn’t read her mind. 

“Oh, my god. You do,” Nuala gasped in fake shock. “You’re blushing.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Oh, stop lying to yourself, El. You think he’s hot and his voice gets you going.”

“No,” Elain muttered, more to herself than anything. She was a bad liar on any normal day, but give her some alcohol and she was the human version of a fountain of truth. She really did have to bite her tongue in order to not blurt out that this very sexy man did audio porn. And that she listened to audio porn. Or used to, at least. 

She missed the porn. 

Well, that was something she never thought she would say, or even think. 

“Please, go talk to him,” Cerridwen said. 

“That is definitely out of the question.”

“Why?”

Elain stared at her friend. “What do you mean, why? I can’t talk to him. Firstly, because he is a customer and I…”

“He’s only a customer because he wanted to talk to you, silly. So that’s not a problem. What’s your next excuse?”

Elain worried her lower lip between her teeth. “Well, he is way out of my league. I mean, look at him. He’s all dark and cool and mysterious and I’m…” she gestured at her floral dress. “Me.” 

“Yes, you are,” Nuala said. “And you are the cutest. And I bet he thinks so too.”

“Yeah, well. I’m drunk. You know that I get weird when I’m drunk.”

Nuala shrugged and finished her beer. “Well, I think you’re cute when you’re weird. Also,” she slammed the glass down on the table, “it’s your turn to get us drinks.”

Elain's eyes went from her friends to the bar where a certain stranger still stood, and then back again. “I–I don’t...”

“It’s only fair.” Nuala pushed back the glasses on the table to make room for new drinks. “I’ll have a beer.”

Elain turned to her friend. “But I’m the birthday girl,” she pouted, trying to seem sweet and innocent even though she knew her friends wouldn’t fall for it. “I shouldn’t have to get my own drinks.”

Cerridwen rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she reached for Elain’s arm, “I’ll get the drinks, but you are going to help me carry them.”

Before Elain could protest, she was being dragged through the dark bar. Jesus was still dancing like a maniac, which was fitting since the DJ had decided to play that Maniac song from the Flashdance soundtrack. Elain felt hot. Now that she was standing up, she definitely felt more drunk than tipsy, or at least somewhere in between the two. Another drink would surely push her over the edge. 

She looked down as she walked, cursing herself for wearing heels. She smoothed a hand over her dress. Why had she worn this dress? It made her look young and inexperienced. Like someone who spent their time frolicking in fields while singing about hills being alive. She stuck out like a sore thumb among the people wearing dark clothes and sneakers. 

“What do you want?” Cerrdidwen’s voice cut through her inner monologue. Elain looked around and realized they had made it to the bar. “I–-uh…”

Her friend shook her head and turned back to face the bartender, “She’ll have a beer too.”

Elain just nodded, not really caring about the drink because at that very second, she realized exactly what her friend had done. 

Cerridwen had squeezed in next to the sexy stranger. He was standing with his back against them, talking to a very big man with a man bun. He was almost as handsome as Shadowsinger, but in a burly kind of way. 

The only thing separating Elain and Shadowsinger at this very moment was Cerridwen’s body. Elain knew that she had done this on purpose. She leaned in closer so she could speak in her friend’s ear, “Seriously?”

Feigning innocence, Cerridwen just smiled sweetly at Elain. “What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

What happened next felt like a scene playing out in slow motion in front of Elain’s eyes. The bartender put their drinks on the bar and reached for the bill Cerridwen had put down. But she didn’t reach for the drinks. 

No, she took a step back. 

She took a step back and just happened to bump into Shadowsinger. Elain could do nothing but stare at the smug look on Cerridwen's face as he turned around. “Oh,” she mouthed and if Elain hadn’t been frozen in place, she might have turned around and bolted out of the bar. 

“I’m so sorry,” Cerridwen exclaimed and turned around to face the man. Elain didn’t dare to look at his face so she forced her eyes to focus on his hands. He was still holding his drink, thank god. This would have been even worse if her friend had made him spill his drink. 

“That’s okay,” he said, his voice louder than Elain had ever heard it. 

Of course it’s louder. He’s not whispering in your ear, telling you to be a good girl for him. 

He was looking at Cerridwen for a few seconds before recognition dawned on his face, “Oh, I recognize you.”

“Well, it is said that you never forget the person who gives you your best cup of coffee.”

Elain could hear him chuckle and she decided to dare a glance at his face. Just one. And at that same moment, he shifted his gaze too. Their eyes met and Elain could feel her mouth go dry. There was such intensity in his eyes. And he was so freaking hot. And she was drunk and her friend was a traitor. 

“Hi,” he said, a small smile forming on his lips. 

“Hello,” Elain answered. She hoped that she sounded confident, but she doubted it. She reached for one of the glasses on the bar just to have something to do with her hands. The glass was cold and wet and for a moment, Elain thought about just running back to their booth. His eyes were too intense now and he looked like some sort of dark angel as he stood there in front of her. From this distance, she could see tattoos peek out from underneath the sleeves of his shirt. They looked like shadows wrapping around his strong arms. 

The things he could do with those arms…
Elain blinked hard to force her mind out of the gutter and when she focused her eyes on her friend, she was staring at her with a shit-eating grin. 

“You know what, “ Cerridwen said. “I really need to pee.”

Elain shook her head, trying to silently tell her friend to stay. When Cerridwen started walking toward the bathroom. Desperately, Elain called out, “Do you need me to come with you?”.

“No, I’ve had a lot to drink. I’ll probably pee for like fifteen minutes.” And then she was gone, swallowed up in the crowd. 

When Elain turned back, he was looking at her with an amused expression. She wished she knew what he was thinking. And she also wished that he would go away. Not because he was offensive in any way, but because he made her nervous. 

“Well, I should get back to my other friend,” Elain said just as he said, “The cinnamon bun was great.”

Elain blinked at him, “what?”

“The cinnamon bun,” he repeated, “The one you recommended. It was great.”

“Oh, I’m glad. I made those,” she said, and as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it. He didn’t care if she had baked something. He was just being polite. 

His eyebrows shot up slightly, “Really?”

Elain nodded. She had no idea what to say. Why was she so awkward? Why hadn’t the alcohol made her talkative yet? 

“Do you know each other?” a voice behind Shadowsinger asked. 

Elain had totally forgotten about the man with the man bun but now he was her favorite person in the world because he was her saviour, coming to rescue her in this sea of awkwardness. 

Elain shook her head to say no, they did not know each other, but Shadowsinger answered before she got the chance. “She works at the coffee shop, you know the one by the river.”

A look of confusion passed over Man Bun’s face, but then something must have dawned on him because his face split into a giant smile. “Oh, is this coffee girl?”

Elain stared at him. Coffee girl? What the hell? 

“Cassian,” Shadowsinger said through gritted teeth. It sounded like a threat. 

Man Bun, or Cassian, picked up his drink from the bar and patted Shadowsinger on the back, giving him a look Elain didn’t understand. “You know what, I suddenly have the urge to dance,” he announced before turning to Elain. “It was nice meeting you, coffee girl.” 

And then he was off. 

And she was alone with the only man who had ever made her come. 

Elain hated her brain. 

The man in front of her shifted on his feet, looking a bit uncomfortable. Elain was glad to see that she wasn’t the only one who wasn’t entirely at ease right now. And she could have left it at that. She could have told him to have a lovely evening and returned to her friends. But she didn’t. No, her brain just hade to make things a bit more awkward for her. 

“Why did he call me coffee girl?”

Shadowsinger, or whatever his name was, looked at the dance floor and then back at Elain, an apologetic look in his eyes. 

“I might have told him about you”

Elain stared at him, not knowing what to say to that. Had she heard him correctly? “What?”

He let out a deep breath. “I might have told him that there was a very beautiful girl at a coffee shop I visited a few weeks ago. He came up with the nickname.”

Elain had stopped listening after ‘beautiful’. He thought that she was beautiful? 

“What?” she asked again because apparently, her brain was unable to form any other word. 

He chuckled and scratched his head. “I’m sorry if it’s weird and please tell me to fuck off if I make you uncomfortable.”

Elain shook her head, willing him to continue. She needed him to continue. He found her beautiful? Elain didn’t dare to breathe. 

“I came by the coffee shop a few days ago,” he said. “I might have asked for you.”

“Yeah, my friend just told me.”

“Did she now?” he leaned an elbow against the bar, the stance making him look a bit cocky. Elain had no idea why she liked it. “I thought that she might.”

“Why did you ask for me? Did you want another recommendation for a sweet treat?”

His eyes left her face and traveled down her body, taking her in. He was looking at her as if she was a sweet treat. Her drunken mind really liked that. 

“No,” he said after what felt like a small eternity. Elain had to press her thighs together when his gaze returned to hers. What was he doing to her?

She told herself that she felt like this because she knew what he did for a living. If she hadn’t listened to his audios, she wouldn’t find him this attractive. It was just her brain playing tricks on her. Her brain and the alcohol. 

“Okay,” she said, feeling uncertain now. She had no idea what was going on. She glanced back at the booth she had spent the majority of the evening at but the twins weren’t there. She scanned the venue until she found her friends - with Jesus. They were dancing with Jesus . Elain rolled her eyes and bit her lip to hold back a smile. They looked like idiots, which she was absolutely going to tell them later. 

“What’s your name?” Shadowsinger asked, pulling her attention back to him. 

“Elain.” She took a sip from her beer just to have something to do. She probably shouldn’t drink more but there was some sort of comfort in having something to focus on that wasn’t the tall, sexy man in front of her. 

With a gentle smile, he said, “That’s definitely better than coffee girl.” He reached his hand out in front of her. “I’m Azriel.”

She looked at his hand and thought that it was a bit odd, and a bit old fashioned, to offer her a handshake. And since Elain had always liked all things odd and old fashioned, she took his hand. “Well, that’s better than…” Elain shut her mouth quickly, looking at their clasped hands in horror. She had almost called him Shadowsinger. 

“Better than what?” he asked when she didn’t continue. He had let go of her hand and Elain hoped that he didn’t think that the condensation from the beer was hand sweat. 

“Uh,” she started, scrambling for anything to say. “It’s better than not knowing your name.”

He regarded her for a moment, clearly knowing that she had been about to say something else. But he let it go. Thank fuck. 

“So, Elain,” he said, and she felt a shiver run down her spine when he said her name in that velvety voice of his. “What brings you to Rita’s tonight?”

“Oh, I’m here with my friends. They kind of forced me to go out.” She pointed to Nuala and Cerridwen on the dance floor. With a shrug, she added, “It’s my birthday.”

He clinked his glass to hers. “Happy birthday.” He took a sip from his almost-empty glass and Elain followed suit. 

“Thank you.”

“So, how many birthdays have you had before this one?”

Elain couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up. “Is that your way of asking me how old I am?”

Azriel cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe.”

“Haven’t your mother told you that it’s rude to ask a lady how old she is?”

“She has,” he said, setting down his empty glass on the bar. He stepped closer to her and Elain was certain that she had stopped breathing again. He leaned down, his face just centimeters from hers. His breath on her ear gave her goosebumps all over her body. “Are you a lady then?” he asked, his voice low and oh so inviting.  

Elain had no idea what to say to that. She had no idea what he was asking her. Well, actually, she did have one guess, but no… He couldn’t be asking her that , because that would definitely bring this conversation into flirting territory, and he wasn’t flirting with her. Right?

“I turn twenty five today,” she blurted out. She’d rather tell him her age than answer his question since she had no idea what the answer would be.

He hummed, the sound making her shiver again. He stood up straight, his eyes focusing on her’s again. They looked almost black in the dim lights, far from the warm hazel eyes she had almost drowned in a few weeks ago - but equally inviting.  

“So, how old are you?” Elain asked. For some reason that she didn’t understand, she wanted to keep the conversation going. 

“Twenty nine.”

She nodded. She would have guessed that he was older than her, but 29 wasn’t too bad. A four year age difference was okay. 

Okay for what? she asked herself. It’s not like they were in a relationship. For all she knew, he had a girlfriend. 

Elain desperately hoped he didn’t, even though she had no right to hope for such a thing. 

“So, has your birthday been good so far?” he asked. 

“Yes. I finished an assignment that I have been working on for the past week and then I had dinner with my sisters. And then I came here.”

He nodded, listening intently to every word - which was impressive since the music was so loud. Elain had almost forgotten the music and all the people around her. She was too focused on Azriel. 

Azriel . That was a great name. It sounded like something from a fantasy novel, she thought to herself. Like a fallen angel, condemned to live in darkness and shadows. 

“You go to school?” he asked and Elain had a feeling that he also wanted to keep the conversation going. She had no idea why. She wasn’t particularly interesting. 

“Yes. I’m taking a business class. I want to open my own bakery.” Elain cursed the alcohol for making her overshare. Azriel obviously didn’t want to hear about her plans for the future. 

“Impressive,” he commented, and, to her surprise, he actually seemed to think so. “You’ll probably have people lining up within the first week. I should know, I have tasted your buns after all.”

Elain’s eyebrows shot up and she had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing. When Azriel realized what he had said, he visibly cringed. “Shit, that came out wrong.”

Elain waved her hand in front of her, trying to calm herself. “No, it’s fine,” she said, her voice still full of laughter. “Thank you for saying that. I mean, the part about people lining up.”

“It’s the truth.” He was still smiling at her. Elain raised her glass to her lips to take another sip of beer just as someone bumped into her from behind. She jerked forward and felt her glass slip from her hands. Instinctively, she reached her hands out in front of her because she could feel herself falling, and she did not want to land on her face.

She heard the glass shatter on the floor just as her hands found something firm and warm.

Azriel’s chest. Her hands were splayed on Azriel’s chest, his heart beating steadily beneath her palm. He reached out, gripping her waist to steady her. He was so close now. So close, and he smelled so nice. Elain looked up and met eyes full of concern, silently asking her if she was okay. She could do nothing but nod.

When he saw that she was okay, he looked over at the man behind her. “Hey, asshole. Watch it.”

There was venom in his voice now. Something sinister slithered from him as he cursed the man who had pushed Elain and Elain did not want to think about why it made her hot all over when he used that tone.

Unfortunately, Elain realized as she looked back, the man who had pushed her was Jesus, and he was drunk as a skunk. He just laughed at Azriel and gave him a thumbs up. Up close, Jesus looked nothing like Jesus. He was white and blonde, but the sweat had turned his hair a darker color. He smelled like stale beer and regret. He was clearly too drunk to realize the consequences of his actions tonight. She looked at Azriel, and something told her that he was thinking the same thing because he just ignored Jesus after that, which Elain was very thankful for. 

“Are you okay?” he asked, still holding on to her waist. 

Elain stood up straighter, letting her hands fall back to her sides. “Yeah,” she breathed, “I’m fine. Are you?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled and put a hand over his heart. The exact spot she had touched just moments ago. “All good.”

Azriel motioned for the bartender and told him about the broken glass on the ground before gesturing towards the exit, “Want to get some fresh air?”

Elain froze. Her sister, Nesta, who was the queen of clubbing and one night stands, had warned her about this.  She had told Elain that if a man ever asked her to leave the club, he was only expecting one thing. And it wasn’t that Elain didn’t want to have sex with Azriel - it was just that she couldn’t. Shouldn’t. Not only was she a bit drunk, but she also knew something about him that made everything more complicated. And to top that off, she had never had a one-night stand before. She didn’t think that this would be a good time to change that. 

Elain opened her mouth to tell him no, but that’s not what came out. Instead, she blurted, “I don’t like one-night stands.”

That’s it. Elain was never drinking again. Never ever. She wanted to trade places with the puddle of beer at her feet, slowly seeping into the floor. Azriel must think that she’s the weirdest person ever. 

She wouldn’t blame him. 

But when she met his gaze again, there was amusement dancing in his eyes. “Me neither,” he said, cocking an eyebrow. “But I do like fresh air.”

Elain closed her eyes for a second. She was warm. Hot. The air was heavy with the smell of sweat and alcohol and her shoes were covered in beer. Fresh air sounded like a splendid idea. 

So she nodded, not daring to open her mouth again. She never knew when drunk Elain would make an unwelcome appearance. 

Azriel led her through the crowd, only stopping to whisper something in his friend's ear as they passed him. Cassian the Man Bun nodded and looked at Elain. “If he’s being an ass, it’s totally okay to kick him in the balls,” he told her, a big smile on his face. Azriel rolled his eyes. Then, Cassian came closer and leaned down to whisper something to Elain. 

“But in all honesty, he’s not an ass. He can seem a bit cold, but I promise he’s not.”

“You done, Cass?” Azriel interrupted, leaving Elain feeling confused. Why would he tell her that?

“Yep! I found a new friend anyway,” he nodded toward the dance floor. “Don’t wait up.” He winked at Azriel and walked away. 

Azriel shook his head as if this was a regular occurrence between the two of them. 

“Do you live together?” Elain asked.

“God no. We haven’t lived together since we shared a dorm room in college. Cassian just has a weird sense of humor.”

As soon as they stepped outside, Elain felt as if she was breathing for the first time in her life. It was a chilly night but she welcomed the cold air on her hot skin. The pavement was full of people. Most were huddled together and smoking cigarettes, some were waiting for taxis or friends. 

Azriel walked a few steps and leaned against the wall. He took a deep breath and in the glow of the street light, Elain couldn’t help but admire the beauty of this man. He wasn’t just hot and sexy - he was beautiful. His dark hair stuck to his forehead and his t-shirt was pulled tight over his muscled chest. 

The chest she had been touching just moments ago. 

She blushed at the thought. Azriel looked at her, an expression on his face that she hadn’t seen before. 

“You’re cute when you blush.”

And that just made her blush even more. She decided to ignore that comment because she had no idea what to say. 

Elain stepped closer, but not close enough to touch him. She stood in front of Azriel, her shoes almost touching his boots. She took a deep breath, the cold air feeling like a balm to her drunken soul. With each breath, she felt as if she was regaining pieces of her sanity. 

They stared at each other in silence for a while, and Elain couldn’t help but wonder if he was waiting for her to say something. Maybe he was giving her the power of deciding how this night would go. She could walk away and leave him here - but she could also stay and talk to him. And even though she had wished to never see this man again earlier tonight, she found herself intrigued to learn more about him. She couldn’t explain it, but there was something about him that made her want to stay. Not very long ago, he had been Shadowsinger - the main character in all her dirty fantasies. But now, he had transformed into Azriel, and Elain wanted to know this version of him too.

“So, you know what I do for a living, but I know nothing about you.”

That was a lie, but he didn’t have to know that. She wondered if he would admit that he did audio porn. Elain knew that it was more socially acceptable to do such things nowadays, but she didn’t know if anyone would ever tell a stranger about it. She certainly wouldn’t. 

He chuckled. The deep, warm sound made its way straight to Elain's core. “Yeah, I’m very mysterious.”

“Like a villain in a fantasy novel.”

“A villain?” He raised an eyebrow. 

“Or maybe a morally gray character that is able to redeem himself at the end.”

“Definitely better than a villain,” he laughed. “I’ll take it.”

“What would your powers be?” she asked him, definitely feeling the effects of talkative, tipsy Elain now. 

“My powers?”

“Yes. If you’re a character in a fantasy novel, you need to have some sort of power. Like magic or having an army of dragons.”

He smiled at her, his brown eyes warm and kind. “An army of dragons sounds cool as fuck, not gonna lie. But I would probably like to be more stealthy. Maybe I’d be a spy or something. I’d definitely be really good with a sword.”

Elain had to bite her tongue to keep herself from saying something inappropriate. 

“How about you? What would your powers be?”

Elain pretended to think about her answer, but in all honesty - she had been thinking about this since she was nine and read her first Harry Potter book. 

“I would be a witch. I would do spells and potions and things. Maybe grow my own herbs and use them to do magic.”

“You’ve thought about this before,” he teased.

Elain tried to hide her smile, “Maybe.”

“What kind of spells would you do then?”

“Oh, you know. Just the standard spells. Love spells. Conjuring demons. And if someone hurt my friends, I could make them regret it.”

Azriel laughed, the sound turning Elain’s insides warm. “Remind me to not get on your bad side.”

What would you do, Azriel? What would you do if I did something bad? she wondered. Would you punish me? Torture me? Tease me?

Elain shivered at the thought. 

“Cold?” he asked.

She shook her head quickly. “No. Are you?”

“No, I’m still quite hot.”

“Yes, you are.” The words fell from her mouth before she could stop them. Stupid, tipsy Elain. 

Azriel held her gaze, a small smirk playing on his lips. “So are you.”

Okay, maybe tipsy Elain wasn’t that bad after all because he was definitely flirting with her, and she would gladly let him. There was just something about him that made her feel at ease. He made her feel comfortable. Safe. Even though they just met, Elain somehow trusted him. She had no idea if that was smart or not, but right now it felt great. 

She smiled at him. “So, are you ever going to tell me what you do, Azriel?”

His eyes turned darker when she said his name. She hoped he didn’t notice the way she pressed her legs together. “You sure you want to know?”

Oh god, was this it? Would he really tell her?

“Yes, I can handle it.” Elain said playfully

He took a deep breath as if he needed extra strength for what he was about to tell her. Elain held her own breath and tried to come up with the appropriate way to respond when someone told you that they did audio porn. 

Azriel let out his breath and looked at her with a serious expression. “I’m a software engineer.” 

“What?” That was definitely not the answer she had expected. Azriel’s expression went from serious to humorous in a matter of seconds. He was messing with her. 

“I know, it’s not very mysterious,” he chuckled. 

Elain could do nothing but stare at him. Was he serious? For just a second, Elain wondered if she might have been wrong. Maybe Azriel wasn’t Shadowsinger? Maybe…

But no, Elain was certain. There was no doubt in her mind that the man in front of her was the man that had brought her to orgasm too many times to count. His voice was forever etched into her brain. She knew that she was right, and even though part of her wanted him to know that she knew what he actually did for a living, she also understood why he might not want to tell a stranger about such things. So even though her drunken brain wanted to ask him about the audio porn, a more sensible part decided to play along in his lie. Even though Elain usually hated lies, this was a lie she could understand. 

“Oh, I don’t know… It’s definitely more mysterious than working at a coffee shop. I mean, I’m not even sure I know what a software engineer does.”

“I would tell you, but I really don’t want to bore you.”

Elain had to bite her lip to hide her smile while simultaneously fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Sure, he didn’t want to bore her. It had nothing to do with the fact that he wasn’t an engineer. “Maybe you can tell me another time,” she said, knowing fully well that they might never see each other again. And knowing fully well that he wasn’t actually an engineer. 

“Another time, huh?” Azriel asked. “So I haven’t scared you away?” 

“Not yet.” She looked up at his immaculate face and wondered how someone could be so perfect. So beautiful. Yes, maybe she was drunk and maybe the alcohol mixed with the dim light out here made everyone look extra attractive, but god, it wasn’t fair. How could a man with a voice like his also have a face like that, and a body that made her want to sin. 

And then she wondered what someone like him saw in someone like her. She had been a nervous mess the first time they met, so how had she been able to catch his interest? 

“Azriel, why did you ask for me?”

Azriel shook his head as if he, too, had been lost in thoughts. “Sorry?”

“In the coffee shop. You asked Cerridwen if I was there. Why?”

He held her gaze as he stepped away from the wall and stood up to his full height. “Why do you think?” 

There were a few logical reasons, of course. Elain knew that she wasn’t ugly, but the way she had acted… It couldn’t have been attractive. She hadn’t even been able to give him the correct cup - a mistake she had never made before. “I have no idea,” she answered after a bit of consideration. She didn’t want to guess. She wanted to hear it from him.  

He took a step closer and Elain forgot how to breathe for just a moment. He was so tall, she had to crane her neck in order to hold his gaze. “I wanted to ask for your number,” he admitted. 

“Why?” 

He smiled at her, and he was so close she could smell his cologne. She wanted to bury her face in his neck and inhale. God, he smelled good. “Because you are very beautiful, Elain. Surely, I can’t be the only customer to ever ask for your number.”

He was right. Multiple men, and women, had asked for her number, but she had never once considered actually giving one of her customers her number. Well, until now, that is.

She knew that his voice had caught her attention that day at the coffee shop, but there had been something else that had made it impossible for her to forget him. Had it been his beauty, or maybe the soft, teasing way he had spoken to her? Or the way he told her that it was okay to make mistakes? She had no idea, she just knew that she hadn’t been able to listen to his audios since the day they met because since that day, he wasn’t just Shadowsinger anymore, he was a real person. A real person that she wanted to know more about. She might have told herself that she never wanted to see him again, but in all honesty, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. Clearly, there was something in her that felt drawn to him, like a moth to a flame, and it couldn’t only be because she had touched herself to his voice. There had to be something else. And even if there hadn’t been, she surely felt it now. She wanted to know more about this man. She wanted to know more about Azriel. Something told her that she wouldn’t regret getting to know him, but that might be the alcohol talking. But even if she did meet him again and he turned out to be a complete douchebag, that meant that she would finally be able to stop thinking about him all the time. Right now, he was a mystery, and it’s human nature to be drawn to mysteries. If she got to know him, she would finally know if she could trust her gut or not. So yes, she would have given him her number. 

“No, you’re not,” she answered truthfully, “but you’re the only one I would have given it to.” 

A purely male grin spread across his face. “Is that so?” 

“Yes.”

“And why is that, Elain?” His voice was lower, teasing. 

She felt a shiver run down her spine when he said her name like that. Elain felt her new-found bravery falter. She had never flirted so openly before, and she had no idea what to say next. She couldn’t admit that she had recognized his voice since he clearly didn’t want to tell her about his real job, nor could she tell him that he was the most attractive man she had ever seen. And she certainly couldn’t tell him that she needed to get to know him just so she could stop making up all kinds of wonderful stories about him in her head. God, why was it so hard for her to seem cool and mysterious when it seemed like second nature to Azriel? 

After a while, she just settled on, “Well, you are very beautiful too.” Elain could feel herself blush again. She hoped that he didn’t find her silly for calling him beautiful. Most men probably preferred being called handsome or hot, but this man truly was the embodiment of beauty.

He smiled at her as if she was the first person to call him beautiful. “And I make you blush.” As if in slow motion, Elain watched Azriel raise his hand and slowly caress her cheek with his fingertip. She forgot how to breathe, how to speak. His touch sent electricity down her spine and she wanted to tell him to touch her more. Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but she was suddenly very aware of the fact that they were very close, and that she wanted him even closer. She never felt like this. No one had ever made her feel like this. What was this man doing to her?

Well, whatever it was, she wanted more. 

“Yes, you do;” she breathed. 

Azriel’s hand fell back to his side and she could have sworn that she saw him curl it into a fist, as if he was trying to restrain himself from touching her. They were so close, their chests almost touched. Azriel’s face showed no emotion as he looked down at the small space between them. There was a beat of silence. The door to the club opened and the horrendous music from the dance floor filled the air. Elain bit the inside of her lower lip - a nervous habit. She had no idea what to say. No idea what to ask. She only knew that she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about this man and now he was here, and he was clearly interested in her, even though she couldn’t understand why. She only knew that she didn’t want this to stop. Because god, she wanted this man. She had never felt such raw attraction before and she needed him to not walk away from her now. He had to stay, just for a little while. 

“Do you want to go back inside?” She asked the first question that popped into her head and hoped that it didn’t sound like a suggestion. She really didn’t want to return to the club. 

“No,” he answered, his eyes still intensely focused on her. 

“Oh, okay.” Elain breathed. “What do you want to do now then?”

Without missing a beat, his hand came up to cradle her cheek again, his touch soft and warm. Elain leaned into his warmth, her eyes never leaving his. “I really want to kiss you, Elain.” 

That admission made Elain feel braver than ever before. So for the second time this evening, she placed her hands on his chest. His heart was beating faster now and Elain felt smug knowing that she affected him in some way. 

She stood up on her toes, bringing her face, and her lips, closer to him. She had no idea where this confidence came from but she intended to make the most of it. “That sounds like a very good idea.”

“Good,” he said, his voice low and raspy as he closed the remaining gap between them. His hand went to her neck, tilting her face just the way he wanted it. Elain’s eyes fluttered shut as he brought his lips to hers. 

It was soft at first, his lips just gently grazing hers. He tasted like winter and whiskey. Elain curled her hands into fists, gripping the fabric of his shirt. When she deepened the kiss, he let out a groan. Swiftly, he turned them around so that Elain’s back was against the wall. His body was pressed even closer now and she could feel just how much he wanted her. 

She teased his bottom lip with her tongue and he opened up for her, letting her in. 

Offer and permission. 

For a few moments, Elain forgot about the club and her friends and the world. All of her senses were full of Azriel - the feeling of his muscular chest under her palms, the taste of him, his scent. It was enough to drive her crazy. 

She moved her hands to her neck, pulling him even closer. She needed more. Needed things she didn’t even know how to ask for. One of her legs hooked around his waist and he moved his hand to graze her thigh, his lips never leaving hers. The kiss was hot, passionate. She couldn’t even feel the cold air or the rough texture of the wall. She only felt him. 

Only wanted him. 

“Azriel,” she moaned as pressed himself even closer. She was so wet. So desperate for more. She wanted him to tell her all the dirty things he could do to her. She wanted–

“Get a room,” someone shouted, effectively bringing them both back to reality. Azriel leaned his forehead against hers. “Fuck,” he groaned, kissing her gently again. 

“Maybe we should…” Elain started but she didn’t get a chance to finish because Azriel let go of her thigh, smoothing her dress down. 

“We should probably continue this another time.” He nodded towards the entrance where Nuala and Cerridwen stood. “Somewhere private.” 

They twins were staring at them, an amused expression on both of their faces. As soon as Elain met Nuala’s gaze, Nuala gave her a thumbs up. 

“Sorry about them,” she said, feeling her cheeks grow hot again. 

“Don’t be,” Azriel said and stroked her cheek. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have talked to me if your friend hadn’t accidentally bumped into me earlier.”

Elain smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “I better get going. They live on the other side of town so they’re staying with me tonight.”

“Lucky bastards,” Azriel chuckled. “Can I see you again?”

“Yes,” she answered a bit too quickly. Elain realized that she probably seemed a bit too enthusiastic about the prospect of seeing him again but she couldn’t muster up the energy to care. 

With a smile, he handed her his phone. “Put your number in here and I’ll text you.”

Elain did exactly that, making sure to check the number twice before saving it and handing the phone back to Azriel. 

“So,” she exhaled, not feeling very confident when she knew that her friends were following her every move. “I’ll see you around?”

“Definitely.”

Elain walked over to her friends and even though she really tried to play it cool, she just had to glance back at him one last time. But when she looked over her shoulder, he wasn’t there. It was as if he had stepped into the shadows and just disappeared. 

Weird. 

“Dry humping against a wall, huh?” Nuala said and wiggled her eyebrows. “So much for not wanting to talk to him.”

“Well, technically, they weren’t talking,” Cerridwen said. 

“And technically, you both are a giant pain in my ass.”

“You love us.” Nuala draped her arm over Elain’s shoulders. 

Elain laughed. “Yes I do.”

When Elain came home that night, she found that she had two new messages from an unknown number. Her drunken eyes made it a bit difficult to focus on the text, but she managed after a bit of concentration. 

Unknown

Did you get home safely? 

 

Unknown

This is Azriel by the way

 

Elain smiled to herself and added him as a contact on her phone. 

Elain

I did! 

 

She thought back on the night. It still felt unreal. She had kissed Shadowsinger. 

Shadowsinger was Azriel. Azriel was Shadowsinger. And Elain had definitely enjoyed kissing him. Kissing him was even better than listening to his voice telling her to touch herself. 

Her lips still tingled from the taste of him. Her body still buzzed with energy from the way he had touched her. It also buzzed from the alcohol she had consumed, which might explain the next message she sent. 

Elain

You have a very nice voice.

Chapter Text

“Tell me again how I’m the best wingwoman in the world.” Cerridwen smiled broadly at Elain as she walked into the living room, carrying a teapot. 

Elain was spending her day off with her friends and it was the first time they had been able to talk to each other properly since Elain’s birthday last week. And of course, the twins had bombarded her with questions about Azriel as soon as she stepped through the door. Elain had tried her best to play it cool - too seem as if she didn’t care much about him, but she had been unable to hide the smile that the mere thought of him brought to her face. 

Cerridwen was very happy with herself, to say the least. 

“You left me all alone with a stranger,” Elain said and poured herself some tea. “Some people would call that stupid and dangerous.” The warm, spicy scent of the tea filled the room and once again, Elain was reminded of Azriel’s dark, sensual scent. 

God, she was ridiculous. Why couldn’t she stop thinking about him? 

Nuala rolled her eyes and reached for the ornate teapot. “Elain, you wouldn’t have talked to him if Cerridwen hadn’t pushed you a little. And then you wouldn't have been almost caught for indecent behavior in public; which would have been a shame.”

The memories of that night made Elain blush. Thinking back on that night, she barely recognized herself. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that she would let a stranger push her against a wall and ravish her like that. At first, she blamed the alcohol, and yes, it probably did play a part in her actions that night. However, she also knew, without a doubt, that she would have done it all again. Sober. 

She had expected to feel ashamed when she woke up. Yet, apart from the hangover, she had only felt excited. As if her reckless behavior woke something inside of her that had been sleeping for too long. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. 

Shadowsinger. 

Azriel. 

How his lips had felt so hot against hers and the way his strong hands had gripped her thigh as he pressed himself against her. 

And she definitely hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the fact that Azriel was Shadowsinger. That Azriel had given her mind blowing orgasms without even touching her. That she had touched herself to his voice, night after night. 

And now, she was texting him night after night instead. Funny how things work out sometimes. 

“Well, believe it or not, but I’m quite happy that I wasn’t caught and charged with indecent behavior.”

“Well, you were caught,” Cerridwen reminded her. “A lot of people saw you.”

Elain threw a small pillow at her friend. “Don’t remind me.”

That was probably the only thing she regretted from that night - that they hadn’t found somewhere more private. But then again, she hadn’t expected them to do that . When he said that he wanted to kiss her, she had imagined their lips touching for a few seconds. She hadn’t imagined everything else that happened. She hadn’t imagined feeling as if electricity was coursing through her body and the only way to release it was to be closer to him. She had never felt like that before. She had never felt such burning passion, not even for her ex-boyfriend. This was something different. Something new. 

Something she wanted to experience again. 

As if on cue, her phone buzzed. Elain put her cup down and reached for her phone on the table. She didn’t miss the way the twins smirked at each other when they caught a glimpse of Azriel’s name on her screen. 

“If it’s a shirtless picture it is your duty as our best friend to show us,” Nuala said and took a sip of her hot tea. Elain just glared at her friend as she tapped the notification. 

Azriel
So, I have a very important question. 

Elain smiled as she typed her answer. 

Elain
Please, ask away! Unless you are going to ask me if dachshunds are cuter than corgis, because that’s an impossible question to answer. 

Azriel
Damn, that was exactly what I was going to ask. It’s the short legs, isn’t it?

Elain smiled to herself as she typed her answer. 

Elain
What can I say? Those short little legs are my kryptonite.

 

Azriel
Noted

The cutest gif of a corgi walking on a treadmill appeared on her screen just as Cerridwen peeked at her phone. 

“Seriously? Dog gifs?”

Elain hugged her phone to her chest. “What’s wrong with dogs?”

“Nothing. I was just expecting something sexier.”

“Well, don’t blame me for your dirty mind.”

“So tell us something about him then,” Nuala interjected. “Is he a good kisser? Are you going to see him again? Are you…”

Elain held up her hand. “Fine. Just let me answer this last text and then I might answer some of your questions.” She narrowed her eyes at Nuala. “ Some of them. And not the filthy ones.”

“Boo, you’re no fun.”

Elain stood up and walked over to one of the armchairs across from the sofa just to make sure that the twins couldn’t read their conversation over her shoulder. They never sent each other anything even remotely sexy, but she still wanted to keep it private. 

Azriel
Jokes aside, I actually did have something to ask you. French or Italian?

 

Elain
Are we talking men, or…

She bit her lip to hide her smile as she waited for the small dots in the corner to turn into a new message. 

Azriel
Food, Elain. We’re talking about food. 

 

Elain
Well, then I will have to go with French I guess. Why? 

 

Azriel
I just wanted to know where to get us a table for Saturday. If you’re free, that is. 

 

Elain almost dropped her phone when the message appeared. She had to read it three times just for the words to actually register. Was he asking her out? 

“Okay, now you have to tell us what he’s writing.” Cerridwen’s voice brought her back to reality. 

“I–I think he just asked me out.”

“You think ?”

Elain nodded. “He said he wanted to know where to get us a table for Saturday.”

“Oh my god,” Nuala groaned. “He couldn’t even be more obvious. Yes, he is asking you out.”

“Are you going to say yes?” Cerridwen asked. 

“I– should I? I mean, we have only known each other for like nine days.”

“This isn’t the regency era, El. He’s not going to court you for weeks before taking you on a stroll along the river while a chaperon walks right behind you to make sure you’re not being indecent.”

“But if you want a chaperone, I volunteer as tribute.” Nuala raised her hand in a gesture Elain recognized from the Hunger Games movies. 

“That is quite literally the last thing I want. But thank you.”

Elain chewed the inside of her bottom lip as she considered her answer. They had only known each other for a few days and all of their conversations except for one had been via text. Sure, texting Azriel was great. A lot of guys were useless when it came to texting but Azriel really knew how to carry a conversation. But still… was it weird that she wanted to go on a date with a man who did audio porn? Could they actually have a relationship when she already knew how good he was at dirty talk? She wished that she could ask the twins about this but she really didn’t want to tell them about Azriel’s audios on the Night Court app. She didn’t know if it was a secret, but it still felt wrong to tell others. And she really didn’t want them to find his audios. She knew that she would never hear the end of it if they found out that she was going on a date with someone who did porn.

Also, she should probably talk to him about his real job before she told her friends about it. She had tried to bring it up, she really had. But every single time she had written the words “audio porn”, “Night Court App” or “Shadowsinger”, she had chickened out and deleted the message. The closest she had come to telling him was on her birthday when she had texted him that she liked his voice. She cringed just thinking about it, but luckily, he had ignored her message. But now they were texting all the time and Elain had a nagging feeling that she should have brought it up. It wasn’t fair that she knew something like that about him. Elain imagined that this is what it felt like to talk to your biggest idol while trying to pretend as if you have no idea who they are. She felt fake. She felt like a liar. 

And Elain didn’t lie. 

Her phone buzzed again. 

Azriel
Elain? Did I freak you out? You know that you can say no, right? It’s totally fine. 

Elain sat there, staring at her phone, when she came to a decision. She was going on this date, and she was going to tell him. She would tell him that she recognized his voice and hope that he didn’t find it weird. Because she didn’t. Why didn’t it bother her that he might have gotten thousands of girls off by just using his voice? Maybe she wasn’t as much of a prude as she thought she was?

Elain
Sorry. I’m with my friends and wasn’t looking at my phone. 

It was a pretty lie. 

Elain
I would love to have dinner with you! :)

The three dots indicating that he was writing appeared and disappeared a few times before a new message popped up. 

Azriel
Great! There is this new little French place that I want to try out.

The next message was a link to the menu and Elain had to bite her lip to keep herself from smiling too much. She always checked the menu before going somewhere new and the fact that he had just sent her the menu was so…

“Earth to Elain.”

Elain’s head snapped up. The twins were watching her with identical amused expressions. 

“So, are you going on a date with Mr. sexy mystery man?” Cerridwen asked and wiggled her eyebrows. 

“His name is Azriel.”

Nuala sat up straighter and poured herself the last of the tea. “If that isn’t the most perfect name for a sexy, mysterious man, I don’t know what is.”

Elain smiled at her friends and put her phone down on the table between them. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, I’m going on a date.” Elain couldn’t help but smile as the words tumbled from her mouth. 

“Praise Jesus,” Cerridwen all but shouted. “Let’s hope you get some real orgasmic bliss soon then.”

Elain rolled her eyes. “It’s a date, not a booty call.”

“Don’t pretend like you don’t want him to call your booty.”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” Elain laughed. 

“It sounded better in my head.”

Nuala patted her sister’s arm. “Most things do, Cerr.”

“Fuck you.”

A small grin tugged at Nualas lips. “I’m pretty sure that Elain will be doing most of the fucking in the near future.”

Elain felt herself blush. “You guys are the worst.”

She didn’t tell them that she, too, was hoping for an orgasmic bliss. She was quite certain that Azriel would be able to provide. However, it felt wrong to sexualize him like that. Just because he had recorded audio porn didn’t mean that he wanted to have sex with her. Maybe he was the kind of guy who wanted to go on a few dates before being intimate?

She wouldn’t mind. She could wait. 

________________________________________

Saturday

The previous night, Elain had gone to bed at a very reasonable hour. She was not going to be a tired mess when she was finally going to meet Azriel again. She had spent the past few days with nervous butterflies in her stomach. She didn’t know why she was so nervous, though. 

Well, that was a lie. She knew exactly why she was nervous. She was scared that Azriel wouldn’t like her when they met up in real life. What if he had been drunker than he seemed? What if he found her boring when they were both sober? 

Sure, he never seemed bored when they were texting, but that wasn’t the same as talking to a person face to face. When texting, you could take your time to come up with witty responses. What if she couldn’t find anything interesting to say? What if Graysen had been right - what if she was boring? 

Elain woke up before her alarm went off, which was a rare occurrence these days. She usually tossed and turned so much that when she woke up, she never felt fully rested. She didn’t feel rested today either. There was a dull ache in her throat and she was warm. Too warm. 

No. 

No, no, no. Not now. Not today. 

Her eyes shot up as she reached for her phone. It was 7.30 in the morning. It was 7.30 and Elain was supposed to sleep until ten o’clock. She had it all planned. She was going to sleep in just to make sure that she wouldn’t be tired later that evening. Then she would eat a healthy breakfast and go for a power walk and when she showered afterward she was going to use her new, jasmine-scented body wash. Then she was going to moisturize her body until she was smoother than a baby’s butt and then she was going to put on her new dress and her new underwear, just in case. 

She had planned for everything. 

Everything but this. 

Elain was sick. 

She wasn’t feeling terrible, but she was definitely not feeling great either. She tried swallowing a few times, praying to god that it was just a morning thing. Maybe she had been snoring? Snoring could probably make your throat dry. Yes. A dry throat. That was it. She just needed liquid. 

Elain slowly made her way out of bed and to the kitchen. She filled a glass with cold water while putting on the kettle. She drank all the water in one go, trying to ignore how swollen her throat felt when she swallowed. In a cup, she put some ginger and lemon before filling it with hot water and a dollop of honey. That should definitely do the trick. 

She made her way back to her bed and piled all of her pillows behind her back so she could sit comfortably. She reached for her phone again, trying to distract herself with some endless scrolling. She just needed to drink her little concoction and then she would be fine. Everything would be fine. Fine. 

Two hours later, everything was not fine. She wasn’t feeling worse, but she was definitely not feeling any better either. Her throat ached every time she swallowed and even though she didn’t own a thermometer, she was quite certain that she had a slight fever. 

So, as any woman in her situation would do, she googled how to get rid of a fever and a sore throat within hours. She wasn’t surprised when Google didn’t give her the answers she was looking for. 

“Shit,” she muttered to herself and pulled the covers up to her chin. Shit, shit, shit. 

She hadn’t been sick for years. Not even during the height of the pandemic had she been sick. Her friends and family had all gotten covid at one point, but not her. She was the picture of health. So why the fuck was she sick now? It wasn’t fair. And it wasn’t fair that it was just a silly sore throat. If this had been before the pandemic, she might have taken some medication and continued her day. But now, she couldn’t. She couldn’t be the asshole who got others sick just because she didn’t want to stay home. 

She wasn’t tired. Her muscles didn’t ache. She could talk without too much pain. 

A part of her wished that she had gotten really sick. If she was too sick to get out of bed, she wouldn’t be able to spend all day hating herself for not being able to go on a date. 

As soon as the thought entered her mind, Elain hated herself a little bit for it. She obviously didn’t want to be too sick to move. But god, this was unfair. 

Elain groaned and let herself sink back into her bed. Maybe if she just slept a little…

Elain awoke again around noon and for a brief moment, she still had hope that she was fine now. But that hope was gone as soon as she swallowed. With a sigh, she pushed herself back into a sitting position. With a hand to her forehead, she knew that she would just have to live with the fact that she wasn’t leaving her house today. 

She was not going to go on that date with Azriel.

She felt like crying. 

Elain
I’m sick!!! What have I done to deserve such injustice? Is this karma? 

Cerridwen
NO!!! I was looking forward to hearing all of your nasty little stories later :( 

Nuala
It’s definitely karma. Remember that time when you borrowed my favorite t-shirt and spilled raspberries all over it? Told you that karma was going to get you. 

Elain
Guys. Please, I’m really bummed about this. 

Nuala
Sorry babes. Just trying to lighten the mood. How are you feeling? 

Elain
Sore throat. Slight fever, I think. Not too bad. Like, I could go on the date but I don’t want someone else to get sick.

Cerridwen
That sucks. I’m sorry. I know that you were looking forward to this date. 

Nuala
What did he say when you told him?

Elain
I didn’t tell him yet. I was trying to wait and see if I was feeling better, but no luck!

Cerridwen
He’ll probably just postpone the date. 

Elain
Probably

But UGH. i really wanted to goooo

I even got a fucking brazilian

That shit hurt

Cerridwen
LOL
Do you think he got a brazilian too?

Nuala
A manzilian?

Elain snorted a laugh. God, she loved her friends. They were idiots sometimes, but they were her idiots. 

Elain
Thank you for making me laugh! <3 

Nuala
Anytime! I hope you feel better soon

Cerridwen 
<3 <3 <3 

She held out hope for a while longer, but when it neared three in the afternoon, she had to realize that she was not going to go on their date. With a heavy sigh, she reached for her phone once again. 

Elain
Azriel, I’m really sorry but I won’t be able to make it tonight. I’m not feeling well and I don’t want to risk getting you and other people sick. I’m so sorry. I was really looking forward to our date. Raincheck? 

She waited for a minute. Two minutes. No response. The message just sat there, unread. It wasn’t unusual for him to not answer right away, she knew that. Instead of sitting there and staring at her phone, willing an answer to appear, Elain decided to do something to make herself feel better. 

She went to the bathroom and got into the shower. The warm water felt like heaven on her skin. She let it run down her body, hoping that her disappointment would follow the water down into the drain. It didn’t, but she felt a bit better by the time she stepped out and put on a fresh pair of pyjamas. It wasn’t the sexy kind that she would have worn if she had company, but it didn’t matter. Nobody would see her in her too-short sleep shorts and the tank top with the faded Harry Potter print. 

There was still no answer from Azriel waiting for her on her phone. She put on her headphones and turned on the audiobook she had been listening to recently. It was a romantic fantasy story about faeries with wings. It was romantic, adventurous and smutty - exactly what she needed on a day like this. She made herself something to eat and listened to the narrator explain how these creatures celebrated their version of Christmas. By the time she crawled back into bed, her favorite male character had just taken a heavy dish of roasted potatoes from the female's hands. It was obvious that he was in love with her and Elain found it ridiculous that they didn’t seem to notice their attraction to each other. 

When her phone buzzed with an incoming call, her first reaction was to decline just so she could keep listening. It was probably just her sisters or one of the twins calling to check up on her. 

But it wasn’t. It was Azriel.

Azriel was calling her. 

Quickly, as if he could see her, she smoothed down her hair before accepting the call. 

“Hello?” The greeting came out as a question. 

“Elain, hi. This is Azriel.” 

She smiled. Who even introduced themselves on the phone anymore? 

“Hi, did you get my message?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m calling. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Or well, not fine. I have a sore throat and I think I might have a fever, but I’m okay.”

“Good.” He sounded relieved. “I just wanted to make sure that you're not dying or something.”

“No death here, unless you count dying from boredom,” she joked, but her heart wasn’t in it. She wasn’t feeling particularly funny right now. She let out a breath, and continued, “I’m sorry that I had to cancel our date.” 

“It’s fine, Elain. We can go on a date anytime. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Elain smiled to herself. “Yes, I’m okay. I just really wanted to go on our date.”

“Yeah?” She could hear the smile in his voice. 

“Mhm,” Elain twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. “I even bought a new dress.”

“Really? Can I see it?” 

She laughed at the request. “I’m not wearing it.”

“So? Send me a photo of the dress.”

“You’ll see it when we actually go on a date.”

“Well played,” he laughed. And god, that laugh. It did things to her. “I bet you look beautiful in any dress.”

“Azriel,” she gasped, pretending to be slightly horrified by his flirtatious tone. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think that you were flirting with me.”

“Oh yeah? Well, if that’s flirting, then how about this…” there was a short pause before he spoke again, his voice lower, almost seductive. “What are you wearing right now?”

Elain couldn’t keep in the giggle that escaped her lips. God, what was this man doing to her?

Elain opened her mouth and was just about to tell him that she was wearing sexy lingerie (because that’s the correct answer to that question, right?), but she stopped herself. He wouldn’t believe that since she was sick, and there was absolutely no use in lying. It’s not like anything sexy could come from this phone call anyway.

“Well, if you really have to know. I am wearing my sexiest outfit.” She tried to sound sultry and sexy but she feared that she just sounded like a woman with a sore throat. 

“Well, you have my attention now.”

“I’m wearing these purple, ill–fitting shorts and a t-shirt that says ‘I solemnly swear that I am up to no good’. It may have a few stains on it.”

Azriel’s laughed and Elain melted at the sound. “Not gonna lie, it sounds kinda hot.”

“Men,” Elain sighed and rolled her eyes as if he could see her. “So what are you wearing?”

“Who says I’m wearing anything?” he answered cheekily, and Elain was certain that her brain malfunctioned for a moment. She didn’t think that he was talking to her while naked, but just the thought of him naked was enough to make her hot all over, and this time she couldn’t blame the fever. 

A notification pinged on her phone. She clicked on it without really reading the message.

It was a photo. Of Azriel. 

“Just kidding,” he said but she barely heard him because he had just sent her a mirror selfie of himself. He was wearing black sweatpants and a black t-shirt. Nothing special, but he made it look like something that belonged on a catwalk. He held the phone in front of his face in the picture, which was a shame. His face was definitely one of Elain’s favorite parts of him. 

“Elain? Are you still there?”

“Oh, uhm. Yes. Still here. Nice…pants.” Nice pants? Was that really the best thing she could come up with? Sometimes, she really hated her brain. 

He chuckled. “Thanks.” There was a beat of silence. “Is it okay for you to talk? It’s not hurting you?”

Elain had to fight the urge to hug her phone. Why was he so sweet?

“No, it’s fine.” A sore throat was not going to keep her from talking to him. If she couldn’t go on a date, at least she could talk to him for a while. It would be worth it, even if she was in more pain tomorrow. 

“Good. I was really looking forward to the date too. Maybe this could be our first date?”

“You want our first date to be over the phone?”

“Why not? We live in the digital era. Some people have entire relationships online.”

“That sounds awful.”

“Yeah, I have to agree with you there. Luckily, you’ll probably get better soon.”

“Hopefully.”

For a few seconds, she just listened to him breathing. It was oddly calming. With him in her headphones, it sounded as if he was right there beside her.

“Azriel,” she started even though she didn’t really know what to say. She just wanted to hear his voice again. 

“Yes?”

“Tell me something about yourself.”

She could hear Azriel let out a breath. “What do you want to know?”

“Anything. Everything.” 

“Everything, huh? I hope your phone is fully charged,” he joked. 

She smiled even though he couldn’t see her. There was one thing she was dying to know. One thing she had been thinking about since that night at Rita’s and she hadn’t felt brave enough to ask him in a text message. 

“Will you tell me about your job?”

There was a beat of silence, and then, “Do you really want me to talk about my job right now?”

This was the only way to lead in the conversation on his real job . And she really needed to tell him that she knew about the Night Court app. It felt wrong to keep flirting like this when she knew just what he could do with his voice, so she asked, “How long have you been a software engineer?”

“A few years.”

“And what do you actually do?”

He chuckled. “Well, I create computer systems and apps for companies. There’s a lot of coding. And a lot of problem solving. It’s not particularly interesting to talk about, to be honest.”

Elain hummed, “And is that your only job?”

There was a beat of silence, and then, “Why do you ask, Elain?”

Elain let out a breath, suddenly not feeling so confident. Maybe this was a stupid idea? What if he would be horrified that she recognized his voice? What if he never wanted to talk to her again?

But Elain knew that it was the right thing to do. If he didn’t want to talk to her again, then that was that. She would deal. At least she had been honest. 

“I have to tell you something, Azriel?”

“Should I be scared?” Elain was glad to find that teasing tone back in his voice. 

“No, I just…” Elain took a deep breath. “Do you remember the first time we met?”

“How could I forget? You definitely made an impression.”

Elain smiled at that. “Yeah, because I’m a barista who can’t even give you the correct cup?”

“No, because you were blushing every time you looked at me.”

And as if on cue, he had her blushing again . “About that…”

“Yes?”

“There’s a reason why I blush so much around you.”

“Is it because you find me handsome?” he teased. 

“No, I mean, yes,” Elain stumbled over her own words. “I mean, I find you handsome, but that’s not what I wanted to tell you.”

“Okay?”

Elain closed her eyes and let out a breath. Here goes nothing. “I recognized your voice.” The words came out quickly, like one very long word. She hoped that he wouldn’t ask her to clarify. 

There was silence on his end, and if she hadn’t been able to hear him breathe, she would have wondered if he had hung up on her. 

“Did you now?” he asked and Elain hated that they weren’t having this conversation face to face. She wanted to see his expression because his voice gave nothing away. 

“Yes.”

Azriel hummed. “From where?” 

“Uhm,” Elain hesitated. What if she was wrong? What if he wasn’t Shadowsinger and she confessed to listening to audio porn. She would die from mortification. “From an app,” she said, hoping that it was vague enough to save her if he was, in fact, not who she thought he was. 

“What kind of app?” he asked, and Elain could almost hear the smile in his voice. Was he messing with her? 

She reached for the water glass on her bedside table and took a sip. Her throat was definitely sore, and she didn’t know if it was the fever or her embarrassment making her hot all over. “Night Court,” she whispered. 

When he didn’t say anything for a few seconds, Elain started to freak out. Had she been wrong? Was he currently googling the Night Court app? Shit, shit, shit. “I mean, I could have been wrong,” she started. “Maybe you have a similar–”

“No, you’re not wrong,” he interrupted, and thank god he didn’t sound upset. “I’m on that app.”

“So it is you? Shadowsinger?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper now. 

“Wow, you have my username memorized.” 

“You were the only one I listened to,” she confessed. This was mortifying as is, so what harm could a bit more of the truth make? 

“Were?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious. 

“Yeah, I had to delete the app after I met you. I couldn’t listen anymore when I knew what you looked like?”

This made him laugh. “Really? Were you disappointed?” 

Elain bit her lip, contemplating whether to tell him the truth or not. She didn’t want to tell him exactly how much she had liked listening to his voice during all those weeks, so she settled on, “On the contrary. I had imagined that you were an ugly dude living in your mother’s basement.”

Azriel laughed. “Hey, who says I don’t live in my mother’s basement?” he teased and Elain felt herself relax. He hadn’t hung up on her. He wasn’t angry. This was going…well. So far. 

“Do you?”

“No, I don’t.”

Thank god for that. 

Silence stretched between them for a moment and Elain really wanted to know what he was thinking. “Is this weird?” she asked. “I mean, that I know about the..uh–”

“The erotic audio?” 

“Yeah. That.” She had almost said porn, but erotic audio definitely sounded better.

“Well,” he started, “I have never been recognized for my voice before, but I can’t say I mind. Is it weird for you?”

Elain shook her head. “No, it’s not. I mean… I’m a bit embarrassed that you know that I have listened to, you know…”

“To my voice?” Azriel filled in.

“Yes. But it’s not weird. I thought it would be, but it’s not.”

She listened to him breathe for a few moments, counting four breaths before he spoke again. And the way he spoke had her toes curling. “So, did you like it?” His voice was low now, dark. Soft like velvet. Elain wanted to wrap herself in that voice. 

“I did,” she whispered, feeling herself blush at the confession. 

“Good. I aim to please.” 

Elain couldn’t help but laugh at the cockiness in his tone. “Yeah, well. You do.”

“Do I please you, Elain?” 

Oh god. Oh, god, the way he said her name. Elain lost her ability to speak for a moment. She wanted to say that he had pleased her quite a few times, but she wasn’t brave enough to say such things to a man she barely knew. So she changed the subject, steering them to safer topics. 

“Well, I just wanted you to know that I recognized your voice so you could stop pretending to be an engineer.”

“I didn’t pretend. I am a software engineer,” Azriel chuckled. “The erotic audio was just something I did for fun for a few months.” 

“Oh.” Elain was genuinely surprised to hear that. She had imagined that a man with a voice like his made a lot of money from being a content creator. 

“My friend actually owns the Night Court app. I helped him create it.”

“Really, and how did you go from being the creator to a content creator?” Elain asked. 

“I think that’s a story for another time.”

“Or, you could tell me now,” she tried. 

He chuckled. “I can’t tell you all my stories now. I need to keep you interested.” 

“Oh, I’m interested,” The words had left Elain’s mouth before they even registered in her brain. Was she being too forward?

“Is that so?” Elain closed her eyes and imagined him looking at her with those hazel eyes, a wicked smirk playing on his lips. In her mind, he looked delicious. 

“Yes,” Elain put her phone next to her and shifted to a more comfortable position. “By the way, you said that if you were a character in a fantasy novel, you would want to be a stealthy spy. Is this what you meant? That you’re living a double life?”

“Ah, so you remember me telling you that, huh?”

“I remember everything about that night.”

There was a beat of silence and the only thing Elain could hear was her own blood rushing in her ears. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked that. He might be uncomfortable talking about that part of his life, especially when he wasn’t drunk. 

“So do I. Every single thing.” His voice was lower now. “Especially the last few minutes.”

“They were very memorable minutes.” Elain was glad that he couldn’t see her when she felt heat creep up her cheeks. It was ridiculous how easily this man could make her blush. 

“They sure were. If I close my eyes, I can still hear that little sound you made when I–”

“Azriel,” Elain interrupted. She needed him to stop. He couldn’t talk to her like that when she was stuck inside her own home. She had already replayed that scene in her head every single day since it happened and hearing him talk about it didn’t make things better. It just made the urge to do it again even stronger and since she wasn’t able to do anything with him right now, he had to stop. She was glad that he couldn’t see the way she pressed her thighs together. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have–”

“No, no. It’s okay. It’s just… I haven’t done anything like that before.”

“Kissed someone? You could have fooled me.”

Elain shook her head before she remembered that he wasn’t actually there. “No, I mean… I haven’t kissed a stranger like that. Especially not in front of people.”

“Oh,” his voice wasn’t playful anymore. “Did I make you uncomfortable?”

She sat up straighter. “No, no. That’s not– I mean, no. I was definitely not uncomfortable. It’s just that I…Honestly, I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I guess that I was a bit scared that you only kissed me because you were drunk.” She blurted out that last part and she was happy that they couldn’t see each other. She didn’t want him to see the insecurity that must be written all over her face. 

“Elain,” her name was barely more than a whisper. “I wasn’t drunk. I had one drink and I didn’t even finish it.”

“Oh.” 

“How about you?”

“What about me?”

There was a beat of silence before he spoke again, his voice thick with something akin to worry. “You were probably a bit more intoxicated than me. Did I do something you couldn’t consent to?” 

“No,” Elain answered before he could even finish his sentence. “I was definitely able to give my consent. You didn’t… I mean, I– I wanted you to kiss me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. very,” Elain took a steadying breath. “If we hadn’t been interrupted, I might have consented to a lot more.” She felt herself blush again at the confession. 

“Is that so?” That teasing tone was back in his voice and it sent shivers down Elain’s entire body. 

“Yes,” she breathed.

“I’m glad that we didn’t go any further.” 

Elain furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Why?”

“Because I’m glad that I’ve been able to get to know you better before…” He didn’t finish the sentence, and he didn’t really have to. Elain understood him perfectly well. Yet, a small part of her really wanted to hear him say it. So she asked. “Before what?”

“I think you know, Elain.” 

Elain closed her eyes and imagined that he was there with her. In her home, in her bed. She hated that they were having their first date over the phone, and she hated that this conversation made her all worked up and that there was absolutely nothing to do about it. At least not now. She might be able to get some release after they hang up, but for now, she would just have to suffer in silence. 

It wasn’t fair. 

“I’m actually very glad that I have learned about your love for short-legged dogs and that you eat toast with strawberry marmalade for breakfast most mornings. I like that I know the names of your sisters and how much you hate the taste of artificial watermelon candy.”

Elain was lost for words. He had actually remembered the things she told him. Most men didn’t seem to care about her opinions – they all seemed to want something else from her. But Azriel was different. Azriel remembered. He cared. 

God, why did she have to be sick? 

“Also,” he continued, “It is only fair that I got to know all these things about you since you already knew one of my secrets before we even met.”

Elain finally found her words again. “I guess you’re right. I did have a slight advantage there,” she teased, and continued. “Or maybe you had the advantage since I wasn’t able to look at you without blushing.” She didn’t tell him that she was barely able to even think about him without blushing. 

“You are very cute when you blush.”

“Really? I hate that I blush so easily.”

“You shouldn’t. To be completely honest, if I had been able to see you today, I might have tried to make you blush a few times before the date was over. But maybe I wouldn’t have to try very hard?” He was teasing her, but two could play that game. 

“What would you have done to make me blush?” she asked. She would never have dared to ask him face to face, but the distance between them made her more confident. 

“To start with, I would give you compliments. I would tell you how pretty you are and how I was unable to stop looking at you that day in the coffee shop.”

Elain was definitely not blushing at that confession. Nope, definitely not. It definitely didn’t make her remember all the praise Shadowsinger had whispered in her ears. 

“That would probably have done the trick.” She sounded breathless, even to her own ears.

“Yeah?” he asked, his voice full of promise. “Well, if I really wanted to make you blush, Elain, I would have asked you if you ever touched yourself when you listened to my audios. Would that have done the trick?”

Elain almost dropped her phone. The question brought back memories of her, laying in bed, imagining a faceless stranger moving above her, inside her. She could still vividly remember how she had imagined him fucking her mouth as she touched herself, desperate for release. But now, the stranger had a face. Azriel’s face. And it was Azriel’s voice that had made her body sing. 

“Yes,” Elains voice was barely more than a whisper. 

“Yes, it would make you blush or yes, you touched yourself to my voice?” 

Elain wondered if she should answer. They were edging nearer to that dangerous territory that Elain knew they should avoid. Yes, she was sick, but most of her body clearly hadn’t gotten that memo because just imagining the things he could do to her made her entire body hum in anticipation. He really shouldn’t talk to her like this when there was nothing he could do to help her feel better. Still, there was a part of her that really wanted to know what he would say next. What he would do if she confessed that she had touched herself to his voice. And that part of her was growing stronger by the second. 

“Both,” she confessed. Though blushing was probably the least of her worries right now because that question had brought heat to other places on her body. 

Azriel chuckled at that, but there was no humor in the sound. It was dark and deep and rich and Elain could feel heat spread low in her belly. “And did you come, Elain? Was I able to make you come?”

A whimper escaped her lips and she had to press her thighs together again. God, what was this man doing to her? 

Should she play along? It wasn’t proper, she thought, to talk to a man like this before even going on a date. But then again, the things she had imagined him doing to her was anything but proper and Elain was aching to feel good. This day had been shit and if he could make her feel good for just a little while, then what was the harm in that? 

So Elain mustered all her courage and answered truthfully. “Yes, every time.” She barely recognized her own voice. The need. The hunger. She hoped he couldn’t hear how much he affected her. 

“Hmm,” Azriel’s deep voice sent shivers down her spine, making her toes tingle. “And what sounds do you make when you come, I wonder?”

“Azriel,” Elain gasped, not expecting him to be so blunt. She had no idea what sounds she made when she came. She was usually a bit too preoccupied to notice. 

“Should we find out?” That dark, sensual voice didn’t belong solely to Azriel. No, that voice belonged to Shadowsinger. It was the voice he had used to make her feel like her body was alive for the first time ever. It was the voice that could make her feel things she didn’t even think possible. 

“What are we doing, Azriel?” she asked, because she really had no idea. She had never talked to another person like this, especially not on the phone. 

“Whatever you want us to do.”

She let out a breath, trying to calm herself. “I wish you were here.” God, she sounded needy. 

“I wish I was there, too.”

There was a beat of silence and Elain knew that he was waiting for her to make the next move. She could change the topic, and steer this conversation to safer territory. But did she want that? It would be easy. She could ask him about his job or his hobbies. She could ask him to tell her an embarrassing story from his childhood. But to be honest, she didn’t really care about work or hobbies at the moment. Right now, she could only think about the way his voice made her entire body come alive. How that feeling of electricity underneath her skin was back and she needed him to help her find release. 

She wanted this. And she wanted him. 

She was making her move.

“What would you do, if you were here?”

“Well, that depends.” 

“On what?” Elain didn’t even dare to breathe. 

“On what you would let me do to you.”

Anything, she wanted to tell him. You could do anything to me, Azriel. “Would you kiss me?” 

“If I was there with you, in bed, I wouldn’t be able to stop kissing you.” 

“Oh,” she breathed. 

“It took all the strength I had to stop kissing you outside Rita’s. But if we were alone…” he didn’t finish his sentence, yet the silence was full of promise. 

“If we were alone?”

“If we were alone, I wouldn’t stop until you begged me to.” Elain knew that he could hear the way her breath caught in her throat. “Do you think I could make you beg, Elain?”

She nodded, remembering all the times she had begged him to do all kinds of things to her body. He had no idea, of course. She was just about to tell him that yes, he definitely could, but she stopped herself. He was a pro at this. He knew exactly what to say to make someone come undone. She needed to try to do the same. Try to play the game, even though she had no idea what she was doing. 

“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” she said. She was surprised that she was able to keep her voice steady. 

“I guess there is.” She heard movement on his end of the line before he continued again. “Put your phone on speaker.” It wasn’t a question. It was a demand. Elain had to bite her lip to hold back a whimper. 

“I have headphones on.” She put the phone on her bedside table.

“Good. You will need your hands.”

Elain didn’t dare speak. Didn’t dare to do anything but await further instructions. She had no idea what she was doing, she just knew that she wanted him to go on. Needed him to. 

“If I were there,” he began, “I would kiss you. I would start off slow, my hand on your neck, my fingertips gently caressing your jaw as I teased your lips with mine.”

Elain closed her eyes and imagined him doing just that. She imagined him above her, holding himself up with one arm as he kissed her softly. She imagined her own fingers running through his dark hair. 

“And then, when you’re fully relaxed beneath me, I would kiss you deeper. Harder. I would tease your lips with my tongue until you let me in.”

She could still remember the way his lips felt against hers - hot and soft and demanding. She needed to feel him on her like that again. 

“Then, I would pin your hands down above your head and tell you to keep them there.”

Elain didn’t know why, but she raised her hands above her head until her fingertips touched her headboard. “And what would happen if I moved them?”

“Ah,” he said, “But you wouldn’t, would you? You would do exactly as you were told.”

How could he read her so well already? “Yes. I would.”

“Good, so keep them there until I tell you to move them.”

Elain nodded again, unable to find her words. 

“Then, I would start kissing my way down your body. I would kiss your cheek, your jaw. I would let my tongue find that sensitive spot on your neck that makes you moan from the slightest touch.”

How did he know about that spot?

“You would want me to go faster, but I wouldn’t. I would take my time tasting you. Teasing you. One hand would travel beneath your shirt, my fingertips ghosting over the sensitive skin there. You would be arching into my touch, silently begging me for more.”

“Would you give me more?” 

“Not yet. I would draw circles around your belly button while whispering all the dirty things I would do to you. I would tell you about all the places I would kiss and touch and taste. 

“Azriel,” she whined, her body stiff with anticipation. If she really concentrated, she could almost feel his hands on her body, his breath on her neck. 

Chuckling, Azriel let out a low breath. “And then, when I have you right where I want you, I would pull that t-shirt off your body. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good, that’s what it said, right?”

“Yes.” 

“Good, because we are definitely up to no good right now,” he teased. “I would let my hand slowly travel up your stomach to cup one of your breasts while my lips found your other nipple. I would lick it softly, making it harden for me. Then, I would gently suck it into my mouth as I took the other nipple between my fingertips.”

Elain’s breathing was growing heavy. She was laying there, hands above her head, imagining his hands as shadows on her body. 

“Now, take your hands and touch yourself for me. Tell me how good it feels to have your pretty little nipples played with.”

Elain moved her hands slowly up her stomach until she was able to cup both of her breasts. Her nipples were already hard and aching, her breasts heavy. “It feels good, Azriel,” she moaned as she pinched one nipple between her thumb and finger. “So good.”

“I know,” he cooed. “You’re doing so well.” The praise brought a new rush of heat to her core. 

“I would kiss my way further down, tasting every inch of your soft skin until I reached those ill-fitting shorts.”

Elain let out a laugh that sounded way too much like a snort. Luckily, she was way too turned on to be embarrassed. She moved her hands over her stomach, pretending that they were his mouth. 

“My lips would leave your skin for just a moment as I pulled the shorts down your legs.”

Elain hooked her thumbs under her shorts and pulled them down, leaving her in only her panties and t-shirt. 

“And then?” She needed to know. Needed to imagine what he would do next. 

She was burning up. 

“I would lay down between your legs. I would kiss your soft thighs until you're aching for me to kiss you somewhere else.”

“I’m already aching, Azriel.”

“I know, sweetheart,” he chuckled. “But you have to be patient. You have to let me take my time. You know that I’ll make it worth the wait, don’t you?”

And yes, she knew. She knew that it would all be worth it. Somehow, he seemed to know her body better than she did. 

“Would you let me taste you, Elain?”

Elain could almost feel her eyes roll back in her head at the mere thought of it. “Yes. God, yes.”

“No need to call me a god,” he snickered. “I want you to take your panties off. Can you do that for me?

“Yes,” Elain answered quickly and did exactly what he asked. Her underwear was already damp. 

“Good girl. Now, I want you to show me exactly where you want my mouth.”

Elain sucked in a breath and let one finger tease her slit. “Here,” she whined as her finger grazed her clit. 

“Hmm,” he said, and his velvety voice made her shiver. Or maybe it was the fever? She didn’t know. Didn’t care. She just needed him to continue. “Are you wet for me?”

She moved her finger further down, to her entrance. “So wet.”

“Fuck, such a good girl,” he growled. “I want you to touch yourself just the way you like it while you imagine me between your legs.”

Elain whimpered as she increased the pressure and speed. She closed her eyes harder, imagining his mouth on her most sensitive part. How hot it would feel against her, how his tongue would find all the right spots. 

“Fuck, those little whimpers you make will be the death of me,” he groaned. 

“Are–are you touching yourself too?” Elain asked, needing to know if she affected him too. 

“Yes,” he said and his confession made her clench around nothing. God, she needed to be filled. And as if he could read her thoughts, he said, “Now, put one finger inside you. If I had you underneath me, I would fuck that little pussy with my fingers while sucking your clit into my mouth.”

Elain moaned when her finger entered her. She pressed the heel of her palm to her clit and tried to imagine how it would feel if it was Azriel’s big finger moving inside of her instead. 

“I’m close, Azriel.” She sounded desperate. She was desperate. It felt so fucking good, yet not good enough. Knowing that he could actually do all of these things to her body made her wonder exactly how good he could make her feel. 

“Already?” he chuckled. “Such a needy girl.”

She felt her eyes roll back as she continued to fuck her hand. She tried to speak but no words left her mouth. She was right there, on that edge. She just needed his permission. She needed him to tell her to…

“Stop.”

“What?” she breathed. Clearly, she hadn’t heard him correctly. 

“I said stop.”

Hesitantly, Elain slowed her movements. “Please,” she begged. “Please, I need–”

“I know what you need, angel” His voice was darker now. “You need more, isn’t that right? You want more.”

“I want to come,” she pouted. 

“And I want you coming on my tongue, too. But the first time you come for me, I need you to think of me fucking you.”

Oh. Well, that she could do. She had fantasized about that multiple times already. 

“How would you fuck me?” 

“The way you need to be fucked.”

The sound that left her lips sounded just as needy and desperate as she felt. “Please.”

“So pretty when you beg,” he murmured. “So fucking good for me, aren’t you?”

“Yes. So good, just–please.”

“You don’t need me to be gentle, do you? You don’t want soft and slow.”

Elain shook her head. “No, I don’t.” She really didn’t want soft and gentle. She wanted it hard and fast. She wanted him to fuck her like he meant it. She needed to feel him the next day. 

“Go ahead, touch yourself again.”

Without missing a beat, she did as she was told. She was drenched now, her entire body begging for release. 

“Good girl,” he growled. He actually growled at her. And fuck if that didn’t turn her on even more. “I can’t wait to hear what you sound like when I enter you. When I fill you up. Is that what you want, Elain? You want me to fill that little pussy?”

“Mhm.” 

“Use your words.”

“I–I want you inside me,” she moaned. 

“Fuck,” he said under his breath. “Your pussy probably feels like heaven.”

If Elain hadn’t been so lost in pleasure, she might have laughed at that comment, but now… It definitely did not make her laugh. 

Everything felt so good and she was so close and Azriel was even better than his freaking Alter Ego. But Elain wanted him to feel good too. She wanted to give him something. She had never been particularly good at dirty talk, but she needed to give him what he was giving her. 

“Azriel, I can’t wait to sleep with you. That night at–at Rita’s,” a moan escaped her lips. “I wanted you to fuck me. I have–have never felt like that. Oh, god…”

“Yeah?” Azriel sounded breathless too. Was he close?

“Mhm. The next day, I imagined you fucking me against that w-wall. I thought about– about how good you would feel in–inside…How you would stretch–”

Elain couldn’t continue. She was too close. It was too much. She was…falling.

Elain came with a cry, her orgasm making her see stars. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear Azriel say her name. It almost made her come again. 

She could feel her body relax beneath the covers. A blissful calm spread over her like a blanket. 

“Elain?” Azriel’s voice was her lighthouse in the fog. She followed it back to reality. 

“Yes?”

“That was–”

“I know.”

They both laughed. Elain couldn’t believe that they had done this. She couldn’t believe that they just had phone sex. It was just like audio porn - only better. Because this was real. 

“Are you okay?” he asked, a hint of concern in his voice. 

“Yeah,” she said. Her throat was sore and she probably still had a fever, but god, she felt great. Her body was still buzzing from the orgasm. “I’m good. You?”

Azriel laughed again. “More than good.”

They stayed on the phone for another 20 minutes, talking about anything and everything until Elain had to admit herself defeated by her illness. As she drifted off to sleep, she thought to herself that if their first date had been this good, she couldn’t wait to see how amazing their second date would be. If he could make her see stars by just speaking to her, then imagine what he could do when he could actually touch her. 

The possibilities seemed endless.

Chapter Text

One week later, Elain found herself in a french bistro just a few blocks from her apartment. The restaurant was small, but cozy. As soon as she stepped inside, she felt as if she had been transported to France, or at least her idea of France, since she had never been there. Azriel had been waiting for her outside and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, like a true gentleman. He put his hand on her lower back when they walked into the restaurant and Elain had to bite back a smile at the gesture. She was glad Azriel had sent her the menu beforehand because right now, she was too nervous and giddy to actually focus on the menu before her. 

It had been a week since they had phone sex, something she still couldn’t believe that they had done. When she awoke the day after, she had wondered if it all had been a strange fever dream. But no, it was real. And he was real. And she was really here, on a date, with Azriel - the man who was just as dreamy as his voice. A man who made her feel things she had never felt before. It wasn’t even about the attraction and the orgasms (not that she would ever complain about that). But he made her feel seen. Made her feel heard. They had only known each other for a few weeks, and most of that time had been spent talking via texts, but every time there was a new text from him, she felt a small flutter in her belly. She had always heard people describe love as ‘getting the butterflies’, but she had never understood what that meant. Until now. She felt like she had swallowed a million butterflies everytime he looked at her with those dark hazel eyes. And when he smiled, those butterflies turned into tiny fireworks. 

“You look beautiful tonight,” Azriel said as the waiter left after taking their orders. His eyes found hers and she wanted to melt into a puddle on the floor. God, how was this man so attractive?

Elain could feel her face grow hot. “Well, you don’t look too bad yourself.” 

“The dress was definitely worth the wait.”

Elain smoothed her hand over the green fabric of her dress. “I’m glad you like it.”

“And so are you. Worth the wait, I mean.” He gave her a crooked smile and my god, was that a dimple? She hadn’t noticed it before, maybe because the last time she had seen him they had been in a dark club. She had an urge to reach across the table and trace his cheek with her fingers. 

She had to curl her hands into fists under the table. 

“Don’t speak too soon. I might turn into awkward Elain again,” she laughed. 

“Oh, I would mind,” he said and leaned forward. “I like awkward Elain. I actually like all the version of you I’ve met.”

“Yeah, right.” Elain had to look away from his intense gaze. 

“Yes. I like awkward Elain who almost messed up my coffee order because she couldn’t look at me. And I like confident Elain, who let me do wicked things to her against a wall.” His voice was lower now and Elain looked around to make sure that nobody heard him. She felt herself blush at the memory of that night. “And I like the version of you I had the pleasure of talking to last week. The one who solemnly swore she was up to no good.” He winked at her and leaned back again and Elain could feel her heart race. She liked all the versions of him, too. The man with a sweet tooth who ordered two desserts instead of lunch, the gentleman who checked on her when she was sick, the man who sent her cute gifs of dogs, the man that seemed genuinely interested in learning more about her. And of course, the version of himself he called Shadowsinger. She really liked that part of him, too. 

“You’re making me blush, Azriel.”

“I told you I was going to make you blush.”

Elai was afraid that she was going to spend the entire date with a flush on her cheeks if he kept this up. “Well, mission accomplished.”

The food arrived and for a few moments, they just sat in silence, just enjoying the incredible food. Elain had settled on a fish dish that was absolutely divine, but she would have lied if she said that she didn’t feel a little bit of food envy when she saw the fries that came with Azriel’s steak. Luckily for her, Azriel picked up on the way she was eyeing his plate and offered her a few fries. He must have known that the way to a girl's heart was french fries and good conversation, because Elain could feel herself fall more and more for Azriel for each second she spent with him. And he really was an excellent conversationalist. He had once said that he could be a bit quiet and didn’t really enjoy social settings, but that definitely didn’t show tonight. He asked about her plans to open a bakery and seemed genuinely curious when she told him about how she had spent months agonizing over whether to start a bakery or a flower shop, but in the end, her love of baking had sealed her fate. Also, a flower shop was less likely to survive in this economy, but people always needed a sweet treat. 

“So, do you have a venue?” he asked

“Not yet, but I’m looking. It’s hard though, there aren't many venues I can afford right now.”

He reached for his wine. “My friend, Mor, is a real estate agent. If you like, I can give you her number and she might be able to help you find something.”

“Really? That would be great. She’s not too busy to help?”

He shook his head. “She owes me a favor.”

“And you would waste that favor on me?” 

“Gladly. It would benefit me, in the end, wouldn’t it?” he mused. 

Elain raised an eyebrow in question. “How so?”

“Well, I assume I would be given a discount on your cinnamon buns.”

“Of course,” Elain laughed. “I’ll give you a special VIP card.”

“I’ve always wanted to be a VIP at a bakery,” Azriel said and his smile lit up her entire world. 

Conversation flowed easily between them and Elain almost forgot that this was a first date. Every time she had gone on a first date before, the conversation had stalled somewhere in the middle of dinner, or she had been forced to carry the entire conversation because most men were incapable of asking questions. Not Azriel, though. Azriel was the first man to seem genuinely interested in her and her dreams. The other men she had dated only seemed interested in one thing, which she never gave them. 

She had thought that her ex, Graysen, had seen her and been interested in her thoughts and opinions, but he couldn’t even compare to Azriel. She felt as if she had known Azriel for a very long time. They seemed to have the same kind of humor and every time there was a beat of silence, it never felt awkward. It was almost too good to be true. At one point during the evening, Elain actually pinched herself just to see if she would wake up from this dream of a date, but no, she wasn’t dreaming. Thank god. 

When the waiter arrived with their dessert (a crème brûlée to share), Elain found herself wishing that this night would just go on forever. There were still so many things she wanted to know about Azriel. But there was one thing in particular she needed to know before they parted. 

“So, when are you going to tell me the origin story of Shadowsinger?” ” Elain asked between bites of caramelized sugar and custard. 

Azriel chuckled. “You make me sound like a superhero”

Honestly, he might as well be a superhero. His superpower? Giving women orgasms with nothing but his voice. 

“Well, believe it or not, but it all started with a snowball fight.”

Elain’s eyebrows rose in surprise, had she heard him correctly? “Really?”

“Well, it actually started with me helping my friend Rhysand with the app, and then there was a snowball fight.” Yes, he actually said snowball fight. Elain had no idea how a snowball fight could ever lead to audio porn, but she was very interested in finding out. 

“Well, I am intrigued,” she leaned forward slightly. “Tell me about this snowball fight?” 

Azriel let out a breath and scratched his neck. “So, Cassian, Rhys and I have this tradition where we go to a cabin every Christmas day for our annual snowball fight.” Azriel had already told her about his friends. How they had found each other when they were children, how Rhysand’s mother had taken him in when he hadn’t been able to live with his mother, how they regarded each other more as brothers than friends now. 

“And how many years have you kept up this tradition?”

Azriel seemed lost in thought for a moment. “Well, I was eleven the first year, so…almost 18 years.”

Elain just gaped at him. “18 years? Really?”

“Yeah, we’re all a bit too competitive. That first year, I won and then the next year, they wanted a rematch. And then we just continued.”

“And who has won the most times?” Elain asked, even though she already knew the answer from the way Azriel grinned. 

“I have.”

“Of course you have.” Elain smiled at him and gestured for him to continue his story. 

“But in 2019, Rhys wanted to raise the stakes. We had just launched his app and he wanted the loser to make an audio. And since none of us would ever back down from a challenge, we agreed.”

“And you lost?” Elain guessed. 

“Actually,” he said, a crooked grin playing on his lips. “I won. Cassian lost.”

“But…”

“That’s just the beginning of the story,” he laughed. “On New Years, Mor decided to find Cassian’s audio and make everyone listen to it.”

“Oh, no. Poor Cassian.” Elain cringed at just the thought of her friends hearing her like that. She would probably have died from mortification. 

“And poor me. I was scarred for life after hearing that.” He pretended to shiver from the horror of hearing his friend moan into a microphone. 

Elain laughed. “So what happened then?”

“Cass was pissed, of course. And then he told us that we wouldn’t be able to make anything as good as that anyway.”

“And let me guess? You don’t back down from a challenge?”

He shook his head, a boyish grin playing on his lips. “No, I do not. So Mor and I agreed to record our own audios and then we were going to see who of us got the most likes.” “Because everything has to be a competition?”

“Something like that. We also agreed to never listen to each other's audios again.”

“Probably a smart move. I wouldn’t want to hear my friends like that.”

“Like what?”

“You know…”

He leaned over the table, his voice low, “I think you would be good at it. You have a very seductive voice, Miss Archeron. And I would know. That phone call we had the other week definitely proved it.” 

Once again, she felt herself blush at his words and Azriel looked like he wanted to eat her instead of the dessert. 

“That’s the second time I managed to make you blush and the night isn’t even over,” he whispered, his voice full of promise and heat. His hazel eyes were focused on her and she had to look away again. 

“You’re keeping count?”

He just smiled and leaned back again. He lifted his glass to his lips and emptied the last of his wine, all while holding her gaze the entire time. 

Elain cleared her throat and decided to steer the conversation back to safer grounds. “So, why did you continue after that?”

“Honestly? Because I was bored. This was back in early 2020, so when the pandemic hit and we had to go into lockdown, I needed something to do. And I’m not gonna lie, the attention didn’t hurt when I was practically locked in my apartment for all those months.” He shrugged. “And the fact that my audios did better than Cassian’s certainly helped. But I stopped when things started to go back to normal. If you check the app, you’ll see that I haven’t uploaded anything since 2021.”

Elain nodded and took the last bite of the crème brûlée. “Did you get paid?” 

“I did. Still do, actually. Every time people listen to my audios, I get a little something. So thank you for that,” he winked at her, and Elain blushed for the third time that evening. From the way he looked at her, she guessed he was quite pleased with himself. 

“So, what did your friends think about you getting more listeners than them?”

“Oh, I didn’t. I only beat Cassian. Mor is one of the most popular creators on the Night Court app, which she tells us quite frequently,” he laughed. 

Elain felt her heart warm every time he talked about his friends. He seemed to genuinely love them, as if they were all a big family. Her own family situation wasn’t ideal, and she wasn’t as close to her sisters as she had liked. They had struggled when their dad got sick and after he died a few years ago, they slowly started to find their way back to each other, which she was very thankful for. And she had the twins, who also felt like family at times. From the way they teased her, they certainly felt like sisters. She wondered what they would say if they ever found out that she was dating a man who made erotic audios. 

“So…” Azriel said and gestured to the empty plate in front of her, “Should we ask for the check, or do you want to know anything else about my dark past?”

This time, it was Elain turn to give him a playful smile. “Oh, there are many things I want to know about you, Azriel.” She tried to sound seductive, and from the way his eyes darkened, she knew she had succeeded. “But you can’t tell me everything tonight. What will we talk about on our second date?” The question was bold, and something she would never have asked someone else. But she really wanted to see him again, so she decided to just lay all of her cards on the table and just hope that he was still interested. 

Azriel’s face split into a wide smile. “Glad to hear you’re not tired of me yet.”

Elain was quite certain she would never grow tired of this man. 

When they exited the restaurant after almost three hours of amazing food and conversation, Elain felt far from ready to say goodbye. She didn’t want to go home to her empty apartment. She knew that if she did, she would just sit there and replay the entire date in her head over and over until she found something stupid she had said to stress about. But how could she tell him that? She didn’t want to seem clingy and needy. 

“Do you want me to call you a taxi?” Azriel asked, his voice effectively bringing her back to reality. 

“No, I just live a few blocks over. I think I’ll walk.” She was just about to thank him for a lovely evening when he offered her an arm. 

“I’ll walk you home, then.”

Just when Elain thought that this man couldn’t get any better, he pulls that move. She eyed his arm, her eyes focusing on his hand. It was full of scars and Elain wondered what had happened to him. Whatever it was, it must have been painful. It was clear that there was a darkness inside Azriel that he was still fighting against. She knew very little of his childhood, but from what he had told her, she knew that his life hadn’t been easy - and he clearly had the scars to prove it. The scars were proof of his strength - his determination to make a better life for himself. They were beautiful in a way, just like him. They told a story - a story she wanted to hear more about. 

But then the anxiety came creeping back. What if he just offered to walk her home because he felt obligated to do so? Surely, it would be a detour for him. 

“You don’t have to. I can–”

“I insist. I am not letting you walk home alone after dark.”

Elain gave him a shy smile and took his arm. “It’s this way.”

For a few minutes, they walked in silence. It was getting a bit chilly, and Azriel’s warm body felt like heaven beside hers.

“So,” Azriel said and Elain turned her face to look at him. His face was illuminated by a nearby street light, and everytime he moved, it looked like shadows slithering over his face and body. The shadows combined with his all black outfit made him look like some sort of creature of the night. It made Elain think about those vampire books Nesta had been obsessed with as a teen.

“Do you have any plans this weekend?”

“Not much,” Elain admitted. “I did sign up for a yoga class tomorrow morning though, which I am regretting right now.”

“You do yoga?”

“Not very often. I started it because people said that it could help me with my stress, but sometimes I just feel like it makes me more stressed since it’s just another thing I have to do. My schedule is full as it is.”

Azriel hummed. “And you haven’t thought about slowing down a bit?”

“I have a plan,” Elain said defensively. She knew she should take more breaks. She knew that her schedule was crazy. She knew this, because many people had told her. But she couldn’t afford to slow down. Not now. So yeah, she got a bit defensive when people told her to stress less.

“And does this plan involve you taking a rest day?”

“Oh yes,” Elain pretended to look at an invisible watch on her wrist. “I have a rest day scheduled for….the fourth of May 2025.”

“Well, you clearly have it all figured out,” Azriel teased. 

“I sure do,” she laughed. “How about you? Anything fun planned?”

Azriel shook his head. “No.” He didn’t elaborate. Which was fitting, since they had reached Elain’s home. 

“Well,” she said, dragging the word out, willing this night to last just a little bit longer. “This is me.”

Azriel looked at the door and then back at Elain. God, she wanted to drown in those hazel eyes. Wanted to kiss the corner of his lips. Wanted to run her fingers through his hair. Wanted, wanted, wanted. 

Azriel’s hand came up to tuck a strand of hair behind Elain’s ear. She shivered at the touch. “I’ve had a lovely even–”

“Do you want to come in?” Elain interrupted, the words spilling out of her mouth before she could stop them. She hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that, but now that the words hung between them, there was no taking them back. 

The corner of Azriel’s mouth lifted into a small, crooked smile. And there was that dimple again. And Elain was gone for. “Do you want me to come in, Elain?”

She let out a breath, trying to collect her thoughts. She found that if there was one thing she was certain about, it was that she wanted to spend more time with Azriel. 

“Yes,” she answered, suddenly feeling self conscious. She didn’t want him to think that she only wanted him to come up for sex. She wouldn’t mind having sex with him, of course not, but that’s not why she asked him to stay. She just wanted to be near him. “I mean, we could…have tea.”

She wanted to bang her head against the wall. Have tea? What was she, 83 years old? Who asked someone over for tea at 10 PM? 

Azriel looked as if he was trying not to laugh. “Yeah? I would love some tea.”

Elain could only nod in answer. She found her keys in her purse and opened the front door to the apartment building. They took the elevator up to the fourth floor, neither of them saying a word. She wondered if he actually expected tea now? Or if he was going to push her up against the wall as soon as they entered her apartment. He was impossible to read, which was just as infuriating as it was exciting. 

But to Elain’s dismay, he did not push her up against the wall. He didn’t even try to kiss her. When he closed the apartment door behind him, he just shrugged out of his jacket and hung it on one of the hooks on the wall. Elain followed suit, and asked him to remove his shoes. She kept a strict no-shoes rule in her home, which he hopefully found charming. Her ex, Graysen, had made it seem like such an inconvenience. When they broke up, he even told her that she was neurotic for telling people to remove their shoes. Elain just told him that in most countries in the world, you don’t wear shoes indoors because it’s obviously very disrespectful to bring all kinds of dirt into someone's house. Luckily, Azriel didn’t seem to mind. 

“Good thing I wore my good socks today," he said jokingly as he toed off his boots. 

Elain barely heard him because she was too busy freaking out about the fact that Azriel was currently in her apartment. She offered him a tour of the apartment just to have something to do, though the tour was basically just her pointing to the doors for the bathroom and the bedroom and then leading him into the kitchen/living room area. Elain heard him say something about the open floor plan and she could do nothing but smile and nod because, oh. my. god . He was here, in her home. Somehow, he looked even bigger than he had just minutes ago and the way his tall, broad body moved around in her space made her feel… Well, she didn’t exactly know what she felt, to be honest. She just knew that she really liked having him here, even though she had no idea how to act. He made her feel safe and nervous at the same time. Elain must have left her confidence outside the building because now that he was here, she had no idea what to do or say. She needed him to take the lead, but what if he was waiting for her to do the same? She was the one who asked him to stay, after all. 

Azriel walked over to her color coordinated bookshelf and she hoped that he wouldn’t notice that most of the books were of the romantic (and smutty) kind. 

“Your sisters?” he asked and pointed to an old photo from high school. 

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Feyre and Nesta. Feyre is the one with a paint brush in her hair, Nesta is the one who looks pissed off.”  

“The one with the My Chemical Romance t-shirt?” 

“Yep, that’s the one.” 

Azriel chuckled. “I like your outfit,” Azriel leaned closer to the photo. “You look like a young Stevie Nicks.”

“Yeah, I went through this witchy, seventies phase junior year,” Elain laughed. She had looked at that photo a million times, and it still made her smile. 

Azriel continued browsing her bookshelves and Elain felt helpless. What on earth did you do when you had the hottest, nicest, sweetest, sexiest man in the world in your home? She couldn’t just start climbing him like a tree, even though she very much wanted to do just that. 

Elain shook her head and cleared her throat. “So,” she said, trying to come up with something interesting to say, but all that came out was, “tea?” 

He turned to look at her, his gaze sweeping down her body. When his eyes returned to hers, she almost wanted to whimper at the intensity she found there. God, she really hoped he didn’t want tea, but to her dismay, he only smiled at her and nodded. 

“Let me just,” she said and pointed to the kitchen area before hurrying over there to fill the kettle. She guessed they were having tea. Yeah, that wasn’t weird at all. This was a normal way to end a date. Elain wanted to drown herself in the sink. 

She opened the cabinet over the sink and stood up on her tippy toes to try to reach her fancier mugs that she only used when she had company. They were just out of reach, which was just her luck. She sighed and tried balancing on one foot, as if that would somehow help. She hadn’t even heard Azriel move until she felt his body behind her. Without saying a word, he took the cups from the shelf and put them on the counter. 

“Thanks,” Elain breathed, trying very hard to ignore that his body was currently pressed up against her back. She failed miserably. She expected him to take a step back, to walk back to the bookshelf, but he didn’t move. Elain could feel his strong chest against her back and she forgot how to breathe when she felt his fingers touch her wrist. She looked down and saw him trail his fingers up her arm in an agonizingly slow pace. 

“Do you really want us to have tea, Elain?” he murmured. Elain didn’t dare breathe until his fingers reached her shoulder. “Or did you have something else in mind when you asked me to come home with you?”

“I–I didn’t want to assume…” 

“Assume what?” Gently, he moved her hair from her shoulder, giving himself access to the side of her neck. 

“Well, I– I didn’t want you to think that I only wanted to sleep with you. I mean, I don’t want you to think that I’m only interested in you because of your…uhm, voice.” she blurted out, and as soon as the words were out, she couldn’t seem to stop. “I didn’t want to sexualize you, because I really like you so I didn’t want to assume…”

“You like me?” she could hear the smile in his voice, feel his breath on her neck. 

“Yes,” she breathed. 

Azriel hummed and moved one hand to her hip, his thumb gently stroking her waist. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Her brain short-circuited. She couldn’t even remember him asking a question. The only thing she could focus on right now was his hand on her body and his chest pressed against her back and the way she could feel his hot breath on her ear. He bent down until his lips grazed that sensitive spot just below her ear. She had to bite her lip to hold back a whimper. 

“Do you still want tea?” Azriel asked again, his voice low and full of heat. That voice… he was using his Shadowsinger voice. He knew exactly what he was doing to her as he tightened the grip on her hip and pulled her closer to him. Elain was tired of playing games, so with a shaky hand, she reached over to the kettle and turned it off before slowly turning to face Azriel. His hand was on her lower back now, and she had to crane her neck to meet his eyes. Holding his gaze, she shook her head no. She hoped that would be clear enough, because words seemed to fail her right now. 

Azriel’s eyes darkened, his gaze moving from her eyes to her lips. His hand came up to cup her cheek and Elain could do nothing but lean into his touch. “Good,” he said roughly. He was so close now, she could taste his breath. She put one hand over his heart and felt it beat in a similar rhythm to hers. “I really hate tea.” One second later, his lips were on hers and Elain gasped when his hand went from her cheek to the back of her head, pulling her closer. He tasted like melted sugar and wicked promises. Elain deepened the kiss, trying desperately to be as close to him as possible. Azriel seemed to understand exactly what she needed, because he bent down and lifted her off the ground without any effort. Elain wrapped her legs tightly around his hips as he walked them both to her bedroom. 

They never stopped kissing. 

Azriel kissed her as if he had been drowning, and she was his first taste of air. He kissed her like no man had ever kissed her. Her head was spinning, her breathing ragged. She was hot all over, and so was he. 

Azriel set her down just next to her bed. For a short moment, his lips left hers and he just stood there, breathing heavily, his eyes focused on her. “You okay?” he asked, his hands still resting on her hips. 

“Yeah,” she smiled at him, wondering if she would ever be able to breathe normally again. “You?”

He lowered his lips to hers again and whispered, “Never better,” before completely devouring her once more. His lips were soft yet firm against hers and when he started to kiss his way down her neck, Elain could do nothing but surrender. Her arms were around his neck, her fingers playing with his hair. “You feel so good,” he murmured against her sensitive skin. Feeling emboldened by his admission, she let her hands travel over his chest. He was firm under her touch and Elain needed to get him out of that shirt. She needed to see him, to really feel him. He continued kissing her neck as she began unbuttoning his shirt. When she was finished, he pulled the fabric off his body and let the shirt drop to the floor as he continued his ministrations on her neck, and even though she wanted his mouth exactly where it was, she also wanted to see all of him. Gently, she pushed on one of his shoulders until he stood up straighter again. His eyes were dark with lust, his hair messy from the way she had run her fingers through it. Now, it was Elain’s turn to let her eyes wander over Azriel’s body, and he was hotter than she could have ever imagined. His skin was golden and black swirls of tattoos covered his arms and chest. Elain wanted to trace her fingers over every swirl, wanted to kiss her way down his abs, wanted to taste his skin. Suddenly, her dress felt a bit too tight, and too hot. 

“Careful,” Azriel chuckled darkly. “You’re making it very hard for me to control myself when you look at me like that.”

“Maybe I don’t want you to control yourself.”

“Is that so?” One of his hands came up to rest on the side of Elains neck, his thumb pressing her chin upward until she met his gaze again. “What do you want me to do then, Elain?” His voice was oh, so inviting, dark and smooth, like whisky and velvet. Elain wanted him to talk to her like that for the rest of her life. Or at least for the rest of the night. 

“I thought it was quite obvious what we were doing,” 

He hummed. “Perhaps, but maybe I would like to hear you say it?”

Elain stammered, unable to form any words, much less a coherent sentence. Was he teasing her? Had he figured out that she was too much of a prude to actually ask for what she wanted? Had he noticed that she never used any words that could be deemed as inappropriate? She wondered what he would do if she couldn’t tell him what she wanted. Would he just let her suffer? Would he tease her until she died from sexual frustration? After listening to quite a few erotic audios where he had kept her on edge for ages, she didn’t put it past him. 

But Azriel seemed to notice her struggle, thank heavens. He gave her a wicked smile, as if telling her that he knew exactly what she was thinking, before leaning in to whisper in her ear. “Do you want me to fuck you, Elain?”

Elain couldn’t help the whimper that escaped her lips at those words. She pressed her legs together and nodded helplessly. “Yes, please.”

“So polite,” he purred. The hand that he had rested against her neck started to travel lower, his knuckles lightly gracing her breast. “This really is a beautiful dress.”

“Thank you.” Elain smoothed her hand over the soft, satin-y fabric. The dark green color looked good against her pale complexion, at least according to the twins.

“God, I just had the urge to tell you that it will look even better on the floor, but that sounds like a pick up line from a fourteen year old, so I am definitely not saying that,” Azriel laughed quietly, shaking his head. “Sorry.”

Elain couldn’t help but laugh at that awful line. “Oh yeah?” she asked playfully. “If you help me unzip it, we can see if you’re right.” Without waiting for him to answer, she turned around and pulled her hair over one shoulder to give him access to the back. When his fingers lightly grazed the nape of her neck, she felt tingles run all the way down her spine. Azriel then took his sweet time to unzip her dress and when he was done, he leaned forward to kiss her neck again. This man seemed to have a thing for her neck…
Azriel pulled the straps down her arms and kissed his way to her shoulder. When he let go of the fabric, the dress fell to the floor, forming a puddle around Elain’s feet. She stepped out of it and fought the urge to cover her body with her arms. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning to face him again. She felt awkward, and had no idea what to do with her hands. “So, what do you think, does it look better on the floor?” 

But Azriel wasn’t looking at the dress at her feet. No, his eyes were feasting on her . She could almost feel his gaze as it moved down her body. She was glad she had decided to wear a black, lace set tonight because from the way Azriel looked at her, it definitely had the desired effect. 

“You truly are the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen.” Elain had always been a bit self conscious about her curves. She knew that her thighs were soft and that her stomach had rolls when she sat down, which she usually tried to hide. But when he looked at her like that, she didn’t want to hide. When he looked at her like that, she wanted to get down on her knees and ask him to do all kinds of unspeakable things to her body. 

The heat in Azriel's eyes made her feel more confident than ever, so when she met his gaze again, she held it and reached behind herself to unclasp her bra. A small movement in his jaw muscle was the only sign of emotion on his face. She had never done this before. She usually wanted to get undressed under the covers, in a very dark room. But there was something about Azriel that made her brave. She wasn’t scared that he would ever judge her, because he already knew something embarrassing about her - that she touched herself while listening to erotic audios. If anyone else ever found out that she did that, she would be mortified, but with Azriel, she wasn’t, even though it had been his voice that brought her to the peak over and over again. 

She smiled at him sweetly when she dropped the lacy bra to the floor and she could have sworn that she heard a low growl from Azriel. “Get on the bed,” he ordered, and if she hadn’t been wet already, that certainly would have done the trick. Elain did as she was told and Azriel was on top of her before her back even touched the mattress. He kissed her again, but this time, it was slower, as if he was taking his time to thoroughly memorize the taste of her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. He moved his leg so that his thigh pressed against her center. Her hips started moving involuntarily, seeking the friction she so desperately needed. “That’s it,” Azriel murmured against her lips. “Good girl.”

Elain felt her eyes roll back from the praise. She had heard him call her a good girl at least a hundred times, but hearing it in reality was something completely different. The fantasy had been good, but nothing could compare to the real deal.

“Azriel,” she gasped when he bit her lower lip and pressed his thigh more firmly against her. 

“Fuck, I love it when you say my name like that,” he groaned and grabbed her thigh with one hand. “Is there something you don’t want me to do, Elain? Or something you really want me to do?” He seemed to be losing his own control from the way he was moving above her. He was still wearing his jeans, but Elain could feel just how much he wanted her through the denim. 

“No, I…” she paused, trying to collect her thoughts. Azriel’s hand was caressing her body, his fingertips teasing the underside of her breast. “I think I just want you to talk to me,” she admitted breathlessly. 

“Yeah?”

“Mhm,” Elain whimpered and tightened her grip on his hair. 

With his hands placed on either side of her head, he pushed himself up so he could look down and meet her gaze again. He had a purely male grin on his face that made him look a bit boyish. “Oh, that I can do.” He bent down and kissed her nose. “But if I do something you don’t like, you tell me, okay?”

Elain nodded. “Yeah, same goes for you.” 

Azriel’s mouth was back on hers before the last word had even left her lips. He started to kiss his way down her body. His tongue was hot against her skin when he licked the column of her throat before continuing his path south. Elain moved helplessly against him, trying to find something that could soothe the ache between her thighs. “Ah, ah, ah,” Azriel warned against her skin. “You only get pleasure when I give it to you, isn’t that right.”

“Yes,” she breathed, and Elain felt herself clench around nothing, and then Azriel’s attention was back on her breasts. One of his hands cupped her breast, his thumb gently stroking her pebbled nipple. “You have the most perfect tits, Elain.” She felt herself blush at the words and whispered a weak ‘thank you’.

Elain had lost all sense of time, but it felt as if Azriel spent hours on her breasts, licking and tasting and biting and teasing. When he finally, finally , started to kiss his way down her stomach, she was desperate for him. She didn’t care if he touched her, tasted her or fucked her, she just needed him to do something to soothe the ache. 

“I bet you have the prettiest little cunt too,” he purred as he slid her panties down her legs. 

She wasn’t surprised to find that Azriel ate pussy like a man starved. He groaned as soon as his tongue met her heat, and he told her that she was the sweetest thing he ever tasted. 

“So fucking good for me,” he growled and sucked her clit into his mouths. 

“Oh, god, Azriel,” she moaned when he teased her entrance with a finger. He pushed it in slowly, her wetness giving him no resistance. Her fingers were tangled in his hair and when a second finger joined the first, she knew that she was close. “Please, I need to…”

Azriel said nothing. Changed nothing. He just continued exactly what he was doing, and within seconds, she was coming harder than she ever had before. Azriel didn’t let up until she was thoroughly spent. 

She lay back down, trying to catch her breath. Azriel’s tongue was better than any toy she had ever owned, but she still wanted more. She still wanted to feel all of him inside her. 

Azriel kissed her thigh, and then her hip, before moving up her body again. She had no idea when he had managed to do so, but he had removed his clothes, which meant that Elain finally got to see Azriel in all his naked glory, and he was divine. 

“You are very good at that,” she told him, which made him look quite smug. Elain snaked a hand between their bodies but Azriel caught it and pinned it beside her head. “If you touch me right now, Elain, I don’t think I’ll last more than two seconds.”

“I don’t mind.”

“But I do.” He was nestled between her legs now and she could feel his length against her heat. He moved his hips just once and groaned at the sensation. “I need to be inside you,” he all but growled, the sound making its wait straight to Elain’s pussy. 

“Please,” she begged. She wanted that too. Needed it. She had never been this turned on in her life. 

Azriel sat back on his heels, and Elain saw a small packet in his hand. A condom. He tore open the foil packet with his teeth and held her gaze while he grabbed his cock with one hand, holding himself still as he rolled on the condom. Elain had to clench her hands into fists and bite her lip to keep herself from reaching for him. She wanted to taste him too. She wanted to know what it felt like to have him fuck her mouth. But that would have to wait.

Azriel lined himself up with her entrance, moving slightly so only the head of his cock was inside. Elain gasped at the sensation and Azriel bent over her again and caught the sound of her pleasure with his lips. Slowly, he fucked into her, giving her more of himself with every thrust. Elain wrapped her legs around him, willing him to go even deeper. With each thrust, Elain could feel him stretch her to a point no one else had ever managed. “Fuck,” he said as he sank into her to the hilt. “You’re a dream, Elain.”

“I’d rather be your reality than your dream.” 

“Right now, you are both,” he pulled out slightly just to thrust in once more. “And you’re being such a good fucking girl for me.” He pulled out to the tip this time before driving himself into her again. She gasped, her nails digging into his shoulders from the sensation. “God, that feels so good,” she whined. She felt Azriel drag his teeth down her throat again, and then he was fucking her. Really fucking her. He felt so good inside her, and Elain could already feel another orgasm coming. She usually didn’t come during sex, and if she did, it took her close to 30 minutes. This man must be some sort of wizard if he’s able to make her feel like this, she thought to herself. 

“Touch yourself,” he commanded, his voice rough. She could tell that he was holding back. “Let me see how much you love having my cock inside you.”

Elain had never touched herself in front of anyone, but she was too turned on to care about being embarrassed at the moment. She let her hand travel down her stomach until she reached her pussy. She traced one finger over her clit, and then lower. Azriel stilled when she touched where they were joined. “I like how you stretch me,” she whispered. She moved her hand back to her clit. “You feel so good inside me.” In all honesty, Azriel cock almost made her religious. He felt divine inside of her, and she knew that this was it for her. There was no one else that could ever fit her this well. Surely, they must have been made for each other?

Azriel groaned and let his head fall to her shoulder. “You will be the death of me.” He looked down at where Elain was currently touching herself. She felt his hand on her hip tighten as he started to fuck her harder. “Yes,” she moaned. “Just like that.”

“Are you going to come on my cock, Elain?” Elain nodded, too far gone to find her words. “Your little pussy is perfect for me,” he groaned, “So fucking tight. So soft.” With each word, Azriel brought her closer and closer, until she finally fell over that sweet edge. The orgasm took over her entire body, making her shake and call out for Azriel. He wasn’t far behind, pushing into her one last time before burying his head in the crook of her neck, her name on his lips as he found his release. 

When Elain returned from the bathroom, she found Azriel tucked into her bed. She didn’t know what she had expected, but it wasn’t this. Her sister had told her that most men would want to leave as soon as the sex was over, but Azriel didn’t look as if he were planning on leaving any time soon. 

“You’re staying?” she asked and crawled into bed beside him.

“Yes? Unless you don’t want me to.”
Elain moved closer and rested her head on his chest. They were still naked and Elain reveled in the feeling of his skin against hers. She pressed her nose against his skin and inhaled his heady scent. “Please stay.”

He kissed the top of her head and draped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. 

“I would love to.”

A few weeks ago, Elain had fallen asleep with Shadowsingers seductive voice in her ears. Tonight, she fell asleep listening to Azriel’s heartbeat. Funny how things worked out sometimes. 

(Elain didn’t make it to her yoga class the next morning. She had better things to do.)