Page 33 of Broken Obsession
Eden snorted. “Now we go to sleep. In the morning, you’ll tell me all about how you plan on exacting revenge on my behalf—and there better be loads of pain and suffering involved, or I’ll be angry.”
“I’m fairly certain most people find the hurting of others distasteful.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not most people. Besides, it’s their own fault I’m like this in the first place. They have it coming. But if you aren’t willing—”
This time it was Ares who clung to him when Eden made to pull away. “This is the game I’ve prepared for. Of course I’m willing.”
“Good.” Eden made a big show of closing his eyes. “Go to sleep, Lucifer. Something tells me tomorrow is going to be a stressful day.”
It was a surreal experience, but Ares found himself wide awake, long after Eden had drifted off to dreamland. He was mesmerized by the soft intakes of breath and the way Eden’s chest rose and fell. The ticklish feeling of his exhales ghosting against his throat.
The rest of the universe seemed to come to a screeching halt, and all there was left was Ares and Eden on this bed, lost in space and time.
How much of this was real, and how much was a trick?
If Eden really could be placated and made pliant with orgasms alone, things would be rather easy for Ares. But physical attraction like that could wear off. Eventually, it might not be enough to keep him.
And he would be keeping him. If there’d been any question of that fact before, it was solidified now.
In the warmth of a lover's arms, Ares had discovered a sliver of true paradise, and he wasn’t giving that up for anything. Which meant sticking to the plan. Conditioning Eden into needing him, beyond the physical.
Ares hadn’t come all this way just to fuck, as Eden had so crassly put it.
He’d come here to conquer.
* * *
“This is absurd! I would have never agreed to it!” Yarrow tossed his holopad onto the desk with enough force that the device cracked in the corner.
From his place by the window, Ares absently glanced at the busted device and then turned his attention back onto the street out front. He’d been standing there, watchingthe employee parking lot, since the start of this meaningless conversation, waiting.
Perhaps sneaking out this morning hadn’t been the wisest decision. Eden had looked so peaceful though, and Ares hadn’t had it in him to wake him. There’d also been this scheduled meeting he couldn’t miss, though now he really wished he hadn’t bothered to show for it.
It was far too early to listen to Yarrow squawk. His voice was nowhere near as pleasing as the Starlings.
“You did agree to it,” Ares reminded absently, wondering how much longer he was going to have to put up with this. He supposed he didn’t really have to. If it’d been Zar here in his stead, Yarrow would have already found his head separated from his body.
But Ares still hadn’t figured out what type of relationship the CEO had with Ransom—Eden—and until he could be certain that harming Yarrow wouldn’t set him back with the Starling, Ares would refrain.
“My lawyers combed over the contract,” Yarrow argued. “If there’d been anything about the relocation of one of my key employees, they would have flagged it and told me! I never would have signed then. We would have negotiated new terms. This,” he flung a finger at the device, “is an updated version I did not approve of.”
“Your signature is on the last page,” he said. “Yet you’re accusing me of adding in a secret clause? It’s not my fault your team is incompetent.” Greedy, was more like. It hadn’t even taken five figures to pay the two stuffy lawyers to turn the other cheek.
Under Ares’ instruction, they had in fact omitted that detail, resulting in Yarrow signing a contract he didn’t fully understand. But that wasn’t Ares’ fault, it was his for being too lazy and too trusting.
Personally? Ares would never sign his name to any document, legal or otherwise, that he hadn’t looked over thoroughly himself.
Not again.
Never again.
At the ripe old age of seven, he’d learned that lesson the hard way. Now it was Yarrow’s turn. Hopefully, this whole experience would teach him to be more cautious, especially in regard to the things most important to him.
“I don’t know what you’re so upset about,” Ares continued. “Your daily life isn’t being affected, and it’s not the headquarters that’s moving. This building will continue to run as usual, the only difference is—”
“How does opening an entirely new studio make sense from a business perspective?” Yarrow demanded. “It doesn’t, and you know that. No businessman in their right mind would waste that type of funding. You won’t even take control of how the facility is run, you’re outsourcing, which leads me to believe that this has nothing to do with you wanting to bring operations closer to home, and everything to do with—”
There was a brisk knock on the door to the office, and before Yarrow could tell whoever it was to either enter or get lost, it opened, revealing Eden.