Page 18 of Broken Obsession

“Hey, as long as you’re putting yourself out there, I don’t care whose dick you end up riding,” Noon said.

Eden scowled. “I have to go get ready.”

“Good luck!”

“Shut up, you pervert.” Eden hung up and flicked the kettle off just as it started to whistle, but didn’t have the energy to make the instant coffee he’d been planning. Instead, he restedhis palms against the cool counter and shut his eyes, focusing on his breathing.

He didn’t want to disappoint anyone. Like Noon, he also wanted this to be over. But…

He couldn’t let it go.

He couldn’t—

There was a buzz and then the sound of something shattering. His eyes popped open, and his head turned to the left, where the glass sliding door leading to the backyard was.

The bulb he kept on outside had gone out, casting the porch and the yard in darkness.

Cautiously, Eden circled the stove and the counter, moving into the living room and to the door. It was locked, just like he’d left it, and when he pressed his forehead to it to try and see, he caught sight of shards of glass on the porch, glittering in the pale moonlight.

What the hell?

Eden jolted when a loud bang came at his front door, hard enough that it shook the wood. The pounding continued five times before stopping, and he was already halfway across the room toward it.

Forgetting the fact that he was practically naked, Eden flicked the lock undone with one hand, the other grabbing the hefty baseball bat he kept nearby for this very reason, and tugged the door open quickly.

There was no one there.

A car drove leisurely down the quiet street, headlights illuminating the road and his front yard.

Empty.

It’d been too loud for him to mishear…Someone had definitely been out there…

He laughed at himself when it occurred to him what was actually going on.

Pan must have come early to surprise him. It didn’t get more realistic than that, and it’d certainly done the trick, because Eden could feel his heart racing. He’d lean into it, maybe send Pan a message asking if it was him, so he could play along and say no.

Eden turned, recalling he’d left his multi-slate in the kitchen in his haste, but he’d only made it a single step before he came up short.

The sliding back door was open now. The foot-wide gap let in a gust of cool air, fluttering the thin gray curtain pulled off to the side. Silence stretched, the only noise the thumping of his heart as his mind scrambled to make sense of it all.

He was certain that door had been locked. He’d planned on unlocking it once their blocked-off time had started, but since it was too early…The last place Pan and he had done this had been in the woods off Smith Park. There was no way the guy had a key to his place.

A trickle of unease ghosted down his spine. What if…this wasn’t Pan?

But who else could it be?

Eden didn’t have anything worth stealing.

He adjusted his grip on the bat and took a step forward, pausing and tipping his head to listen. Still nothing. He wasn’t hallucinating, the door was definitely open, and it had definitely been closed a moment ago.

How could someone pick the lock that quickly? All without him hearing?

He took another step forward, standing on the outskirts of the living room now. The bathroom was to his right, and he glanced inside. The shower curtain was pulled shut. Was there a chance whoever had broken in was hiding there?

Before he could change his mind, he stormed in, grabbed the plastic material, and whipped it to the side.

Empty.