Page 7 of Broken Obsession

“You caught a plane to the other side of the planet with no notice at all. Can’t I just be curious about what you’re doing?”

They’d been friends since childhood, but that didn’t make them the type to call just to check in. Especially not when onlya couple of days had passed since the last time they’d seen one another.

“If that’s really all it is, I’m hanging up.” Ares wasn’t about to explain he’d come here to stalk a voice actor who happened to look like his favorite character in his favorite game. That would sound crazy, and even though Ryker was already well aware that Ares was, in fact, mental, that didn’t mean he needed the reminder.

“Fine,” Ryker growled. “I need xi-gyu links.”

“Ask Zar.”

“No way.”

Ares straightened, a flicker of worry igniting in his chest. “Why?”

There was a stretch of silence and then, “He’s not as present as you are at the moment.”

Oh.

“I’ll be back soon,” Ares repeated, but his friend merely snorted.

“It’s not like you can control him any better than the rest of us. Anyway, he’s been locked up in his rooms, brooding or whatever, for days now. Nyoka made the mistake of knocking yesterday to see if he wanted breakfast and almost lost his nose for it. Pass.”

“You do quite enjoy your face as is.”

“Ditto, douchebag.”

Ares picked up his device and tapped the screen, remotely accessing his security system at their shared lodging. “There. I’ve unlocked the door. You can find what you’re looking for in the second bedroom, third shelf on the left of the metal desk. The metal one, not the wooden one.”

“Got it, thanks.” Ryker’s footsteps echoed, indicating he was taking the spiral staircase at Castle Black, where they all resided.

The Black Harts each had their own floor, and though there were only eight of them this year, there was a total of fifteen stories to the building. Because of this, most of them used the elevator. Ryker was the major exception, but he tended to only do it to blow off steam.

“Who pissed you off this time?” Ares asked, though he had a good idea.

Ryker’s dad had recently remarried, and he’d gained a stepbrother through the merger.

A stepbrother he loathed.

Supposedly.

“It’s not important,” Ryker said.

“Sure, that’s why you’re asking for xi-qyu links.” Nyoka must not have had any. Typically, when one of the others wanted tech, they came to either him or Ares.

It was a well-known fact that this bunch of Black Harts were…different. Damaged goods, in a sense, though no one would dare say as much aloud. The older generations weren’t necessarily better, but Ares felt they cared more about hiding, whereas he and his friends couldn’t be bothered.

Ryker had anger management issues that stemmed from a spoiled upbringing and a constant feeling of inadequacy.

Nyoka was a sociopath—though, admittedly, that was less obvious to those outside their immediate social circle.

Zar was a psychopath—

“What are you doing?” Ryker’s voice pulled Ares from his thoughts. “Where’d you go? Focus up, buttercup, I’m talking to you here.”

“You went quiet first,” he reminded, but otherwise didn’t argue. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Professor Rain, if you must know.”

“What’d he do this time?”