Page 38 of Broken Obsession

…He thought.

“Hey, babe.” Ares stood on the other side of a medium-sized room, wearing that familiar mask with lines of neon red lights flashing. A black baseball cap shielded the rest of his face, though his eyes peered out, locking onto Eden warmly.

Like he was happy to see him.

Like he’d been waiting.

“What’s with the ears?” Eden took his time removing the earbud and slipping it back into his multi-slate. Ares had on a gaming headset with cat ears at the top, and Eden gave him a lengthy once-over, taking in the black jeans and the black hoodie. “Good Light, if you wanted to remind me you’re still in college, you couldn’t have chosen a better wardrobe to do it.”

“I can’t tell if you’re insulting me or not.” He tipped his head. “I also can’t tell if you’re ignoring the elephant in the room because it makes you uncomfortable, or if you’re really this cavalier about everything.”

“Him?” Eden motioned to the man hog-tied between them. “Who is he?”

The man appeared to be around their age, with brown hair matted in blood. There was duct tape over his mouth, and though he was trying to plead with Eden, his words were too muffled to make out. His left eye was already swollen shut, and he’d been stripped of his clothing and laid out over a bed of plastic.

The whole room had been decorated in the stuff, actually, every nook and cranny covered by a layer of clear plastic. It was as if he’d stepped straight into a scene from a crime procedural movie.

“How long did this take?” Even he recognized what a ridiculous thing that was to ask, given the circumstances, but he couldn’t help it. He also couldn’t answer Ares’ question, because he didn’t know either.

Did he feel numb right now because he was trying to separate himself from the horror of it all, or did he really just not give a shit?

Ares slipped the headset off, letting it settle around his neck, and shrugged. “Not long.”

“Have a lot of practice?”

“Not really. I don’t usually prep for this sort of thing.”

“And what sort of thing is this, exactly?” Eden stared at the man again, trying, and failing, to place him. “Seriously, who is he, and what did he do to piss you off?”

“Wondering if you should try and save him?”

“Maybe.”

“He didn’t do anything to piss me off.” Ares stepped up to the man and rested a boot on the side of his head, pressing his face into the plastic. “But I don’t really get angry about things. It’s sort of a waste of energy. Not that I’m judging.” The mask covered it, but Eden was certain Ares flashed him a smile. “You’re allowed to spend your energy however you like, Ransom.”

“Not my name.” Not even a good cover, if the goal was to try and prevent their captive from identifying him. He looked enough like the character he portrayed to easily be linked to him by looks alone. Which meant Ares didn’t intend to let this man leave here alive.

Or he didn’t care whether or not Eden was pinned for the crime.

Only time would tell.

“Meet Zonnie,” Ares began the introductions. “Six-one, age twenty-one, grew up in Prim.”

That was a neighboring town. Eden had hung out there a lot in high school, and he took a closer look at the man, but still couldn’t place him. “You shouldn’t have messed up his face so much.”

“Sorry, babe.”

Eden sent Ares a warning glare but then turned his attention back to Zonnie. “You’re the same age.”

“And the two of you are the same height. Isn’t that cute?”

“This the part where you tell me this is all practice for when you finally tie me up and—”

“No.” All of the playfulness drained from Ares in a blink, and he straightened, removing his boot from Zonnie as though he needed to break contact with him in order to fully focus on Eden. “No one’s putting you in plastic. You don’t get to escape me through death, Eden Baldur. Do I make myself clear?”

He frowned, but that seemed to upset Ares even more.

“Answer me.”