Page 17 of Broken Obsession

“He has your face.”

The character would have the same hair color as well, only Eden dyed his. He’d gotten tired of being stopped in the streets the year after the game had taken off. Unlike Yarrow, he wasn’t in this for attention or fame. Even when his dream had been to become a singer, that yearning had stemmed purely from a love of music and a desire to share that love with the world.

He would have been happy either as a performer or a professor. So long as he got to share his passion with others? That’s been the ideal world in his mind growing up.

Eden had a degree in Arts in Vocal Performance, as well as one in Music Education, but had done nothing with either since graduation. At the time, he’d been the lead singer in a band that’d been well on their way to signing a contract with a label, but after the deaths of his family, he’d dropped out and pulled away.

If Vanity hadn’t taken off, there was little doubt in his mind that Eden would have dropped Noon and the others as well. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to his friends, but his focus had shifted, and the loss had been too raw and traumatic for him to humor anyone back then. Now, with the terms of his contract firmly in place, Eden couldn’t legally try for his own music career.

“You’re both still blond,” Noon stated. “Even if you’ve dyed yours a couple of shades darker. You both hate leafy greens, and—”

“I suppose that means you and Six are the same person?” Eden didn’t bother tying the belt at his waist, letting himself air dry the rest of the way as he picked his device up a second time and carried it with him out into the small living room, straight to the kitchen.

The house had two bedrooms, one that he’d converted into an office where he could keep all the information he’d gathered about that harrowing night. Aside from that, there was an attached bathroom in his room, a three-quarters bathroom in the hallway between the entrance and the living area, and then the kitchen. It wasn’t much space, but he didn’t need very much anyway.

“I love when people call me Six,” Noon said. “Makes me feel like I’m a part of something. And the attention?” his toneturned suggestive. “That’s what you need. Get yourself laid. For all your comments about the new shareholder, you should look in a mirror. You’re not too shabby yourself. Go out there and get some. Maybe it’ll finally help take that stick out of your ass.”

“I don’t have a stick up my ass,” he grumbled as he flicked the tea kettle on.

“Seriously though, when was the last time you got some?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“If not mine, then whose?”

“No one’s.”

“Look, I’m your best friend, E, and I hate to break it to you, but enough is enough.”

He bristled.

Let it go.

“Careful, Noon. I’m not in the mood.” The last thing he needed was for his oldest friend to repeat those infuriating words. He didn’t know what he’d do if that happened, and he was barely holding onto his rage as it were.

A rage that had no one to direct toward. Nowhere to go.

It just seethed and boiled over within him, building and building until—

“You’re never in the mood, E, that’s what I’m saying. I’m not going to lie and claim I understand what you went through—what you’re still going through, but…” Noon inhaled, preparing himself for the next part, and then said in a rush, “Mr. and Mrs. Baldur wouldn’t want you to be like this. They wouldn’t want to see you walking through life, acting like you died with them.”

It stung.

It pissed him off.

And the worst part was knowing his friend wasn’twrong. Noon and he had grown up as neighbors when his family was still living in an apartment building downtown. The neighborhood had been rough, and they’d had more than theirfair share of scuffles with the other kids before junior high school, when Eden’s mom inherited the store, and they were able to relocate.

Coming from anyone else, those comments would feel more like a platitude than anything, but from Noon? Noon had known Eden’s family well. Had eaten dinner at their table, helped Ella with her homework, worked part-time at the store whenever an employee called out last minute, leaving them shorthanded.

“I know you’re worried, but you don’t have to be,” Eden sighed. “If youmustknow, it’s tonight. I’ll be getting laid tonight, happy, perv?”

“No shit?” Noon let out a whistle. “Who is it?”

“Just some guy I met online.” Some guy he’d matched with on Enraptured. It’d been a few months since they’d last met up, but the sexual frustration left from both Lucifer and Ares had gotten the best of him, and Eden had found himself contacting the booty call before he realized what he was doing.

Fortunately, Pan was available, and even more fun, the guy had remembered Eden’s interest in a CNC scene possibly being played out at his house. A quick glimpse at the clock showed Eden still had a couple of hours before their agreed-upon window opened.

He couldn’t know the exact time Pan would arrive, because that would ruin the illusion, but they’d set it for any time after nine and before midnight.