Page 10 of Broken Obsession

Like most other things justwere.

Shooting Galen Stone the other night had been necessary. He hadn’t wanted to do it any more than he’d not wanted to. It simply hadn’t mattered one way or the other. For his influence to take root, it’d been important to make an impact. Controlling the strength of the investigator's bindings, loosening them at the right time so the man could get free, were carefully laid out pieces of a larger plan.

But it’s been up to Galen Stone to play along. Ares could predict what his moves may have been, sure, but it’d been up to the investigator to make that outcome a reality. He’d chosen to try for Eden.

Giving Ares the opening needed to swoop in like a hero and take care of the threat.

Though he supposed there was a chance Eden viewed him more as a villain…Most people didn’t like the idea of a killer, let alone dream of getting into bed with one.

Even if the world wasn’t real, there was only so much controlling and manipulation Ares could spend his energy on—

No. Wait.

The world was real.

This was real.

And, in a way, his favorite video game character was real, too, because Eden was real, even if Ares couldn’t currently reach out and touch him. On the other side of the screen, he was tangible.

Solid.

Proof of an existence other than his own in the grand cosmos made up of bullshit particles and forgotten dreams.

“Lucifer!” Eden’s voice cried out, and Ares’ gaze sharpened.

They both froze at the same time, an obvious tell that Eden was every bit as surprised by what he’d done as Ares was, though for different reasons.

Who the hell was Lucifer?

Ares had been thorough. The last bedpartner Eden had signed a contract with had been four months ago, and his name had been Frank.

The toy continued to thrust, speeding up with each passing second, until Eden was forced out of his confused daze and sent gasping and twitching all over again.

He didn’t call the name when he climaxed, his shoulders tense, hands fisting around the comforter hard enough his knuckles turned white, but Ares got the sense that was out of sheer stubbornness.

Even though he thought he was alone, Eden didn’t like the fact that he’d mindlessly called for whoever this Lucifer was.

Ares couldn’t blame him.

He didn’t like it either.

It looked like they were going to have to switch up the genre of their game.

He’d shown him he’d protect him against a threat, now it was time to prove Ares could provide the same type of pleasure Eden sought from the Enraptured.

Escape room had a nice ring to it.

Chapter 3:

“…until the end of days, the games we play together will always remain in my heart,”Eden’s softened tone echoed in his ear as he read off the lines of this month's script.

The cheesy as all hell lines.

As per usual.

In the recording booth across from his, he could see his coworker and friend, Noon, reading off his own lines, his expression no doubt a lot more chipper than the one Eden currently wore. They’d both been a part of the universal hit game, Vanity, since its conception, and yet only one of them was actually invested in the plotlines and the character arcs.

Spoiler alert: it wasn’t Eden.