The heavy silk press of the blindfold remained a warm, black wall against Elias’s eyes, but the shifting layout of the room told him the dynamic had irrevocably altered. The bruising, desperate force of the last hour had slowed, replaced by a dense, suffocating stillness that made his lungs burn. He lay flat on his back where the stranger had left him, his legs still trembling from the dual assault of the man's fingers and mouth, his thighs slick with the cooling, wet remainder of their shared undoing. Beside him, the mattress groaned. The stranger hadn't stood up to dress yet. He remained hovering in the dark, his broad, hot chest rising and falling in heavy, ragged intervals against Elias’s shoulder. The scent of raw cedar, river rain, and rich, unlit tobacco was thick on his skin—a signature so distinct it felt like an explicit clue, a corporate cipher waiting to be decoded. Elias turned his head slightly, his swollen lips parting against the damp silk. "You said it was time." "I
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