“You threw a good one, Kinzer. Must’ve been all that pent-up rage you’ve had to carry the past few months.”
Kinzer’s amused look shifted to something darker. He shook it off. “So what’s with those glasses anyway? I can’t imagine an immortal actually needs any.”
“One of the Almighty’s great imperfections. That’s what I am, who I am. One little optical issue, and it made me an outcast from even the most mediocre of immortals.”
“You don’t seem like you’ve had to endure any great amount of physical labor.”
“No. My gift was with my mind, and I possessed a skill with developing technology, so I was in engineering, part of the Magnificent Designs. Not one of those brilliant minds who made Heaven all that it was, but I was in the company they kept. My mind earned me a place outside of the workforce.”
“Must’ve been nice,” Kinzer said. “I was just a slave to the Almighty’s elite.”
“We all were slaves to the Almighty’s elite,” Quintz noted. “You can judge that I wasn’t in the workforce, if you want, but my position in the heavens once upon a time doesn’t have anything to do with the immortal I’ve become any more than yours does. I’m not judging anyone based on archaic hierarchies. I’m here for the same reason you are.”
“And why is that?”
“To do what’s right.”
“And what is right to you?”
“Protecting humanity from the Almighty’s wrath.”
“Why is that right to you?”
Quintz could tell by the way Kinzer probed that he was trying to get to something deeper—that Kinzer was performing his own test of Quintz’s allegiance. Quintz knew honesty would have helped him, but that wasn’t something he was willing to divulge. Not yet. “I have my own reasons.”
Kinzer seemed to be assessing Quintz’s expression.
“If you’re looking for some sort of tell, you won’t find one. I am the best when it comes to deception. One of the reasons I was able to fool you into believing we weren’t on the same side.”
“I’m still not all that sure we are.”
Quintz glanced over Kinzer’s body…so worn and battered. He was a real soldier, unlike the immortals he was surrounded by. He bore the scars of the struggles he found. He had the proof to demonstrate his true power, a power that could only be found within.
“Fair enough,” Quintz said. “I won’t demand your trust, but I can offer you something to at least help you through the night.”
“Which is?”
Quintz rested his hand on Kinzer’s leg. “If you want, I could make up for any of the pain I’ve put you through. Maybe to endure some of that pain myself.”
Quintz’s dick hardened at the thought, but Kinzer jerked away from him. “Really? You fucking make me think you cut my dick off, and now you want to mess around?”
“Maybe it’ll remind you how intact everything is.”
“I think I’ve already made enough mistakes because of my cock.”
“Then you don’t have to use your cock,” Quintz suggested. “Let me use it for you. Kinzer, I see all the frustration you’re carrying around. It’s buried within you—anger, contempt, rage. Bottled up because you don’t know what to do with it all. I’m asking that you take it out on me, in whatever way you want.”
He could tell by the way Kinzer looked at him he was tempted but wary. “I don’t think it’d be a good idea for me to let that out. You might not like what you see.”
Quintz’s lips curled upward at the suggestion. He knew he’d like it. He was sure of that much. He removed his glasses and set them on the desk. “Show me, then. Let me decide for myself.”
Kinzer appeared confused, as though he was wondering if it was some sort of test. He couldn’t know how badly Quintz wanted Kinzer’s pain, not because he enjoyed it, but because he felt, after what he’d done, he deserved it. That it would cleanse him of the horrible atrocities he had to commit against a being he held in such high regard.
“This is stupid. I’m not going to do anything to you,” Kinzer said.
Quintz reached out and slapped his palm against the side of Kinzer’s head.
“What the fuck?” Kinzer asked before Quintz lunged from his chair.
