Page 83 of Broken Obsession
“Childish.”
It really was, and Eden might have been concerned Ares’ friend wasn’t up to the task, if not for the whole bloody nose incident.
“Someone said Ellery slept with Sedos’ girlfriend at that party last Friday. While Sedos was asleep in the bed next to them!”
“Is that why they broke up?”
“He’s escalating. A couple of days ago, he framed him in Professor Rain’s class. I saw him take the Professor’s pen when he wasn’t looking and slip it into Sedos’ bag,” the first player said, glancing over his shoulder at the two down on the field. “Should we like…tell someone?”
“Like who? Coach is literally right there. He just watched Ellery toss the ball directly at Sedos’ face for no reason. No one is going to do shit. Unless you want us to be next, keep your head down and wait it out. That’s what Sedos is doing. Ellery will get bored eventually.”
Ellery might, but Eden wouldn’t.
He was getting a real look at the type of power the Black Harts wielded on campus though. Ellery wasn’t even trying to be subtle with his antics, and no one was lifting a finger to even attempt to stop him.
Ellery and Sedos separated, with the latter heading toward a dugout nearby. Before he could think about what he was doing, Eden pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and went down to meet him. He stopped at the railing and bent over, holding the small white square out until Sedos glanced up and finally noticed him.
“Uh, thanks.” His nose was crooked, definitely broken in at least one place, but he took the offered cloth anyway.
“No problem.” Eden watched him quickly gather his things and turned to step up to his side when the player bounded up the steps. “Are you going to the nurse's office?”
Sedos grunted, then winced when that caused him pain. “I don’t need a mirror to know this is bad enough to go to the hospital. Forgive me, Professor, but are you new here?”
“Yes, I’m the new classical music teacher.” He didn’t give his name. The bastard clearly hadn’t bothered looking into Eden after destroying his family, but he’d most likely recognize Baldur if he heard it. “Do you need a ride?”
“A friend of mine is picking me up.”
Eden didn’t have a car, so it was good his offer had been rejected. “Shouldn’t your coach be escorting you, since this was an injury during practice?”
“He’s too busy blowing bubbles up Ellery’s ass—” Too late, he realized who he was talking to. They reached the top and stepped onto the main path, and he turned to Eden with a worried look. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any of that. I’m just—”
“That’s got to really hurt,” Eden interrupted, nodding sympathetically. “Kudos to you for being brave enough to play such a dangerous sport. I don’t even like holding a hypoball.”
“I don’t usually get hurt like this,” he tried to laugh it off.
“Were you distracted by something today?”
“No, I just…” He glanced down the steps, finding Ellery tossing the ball with several teammates. “I pissed off the wrong guy. It’s fine. You know how it is. We’re all hormonal nightmares. It’ll blow over.”
“You think?”
“Yeah. I can’t even figure out what I did to upset him, which has to mean it wasn’t anything big. Ellery is like this. He’ll pick on someone for a while and then move on to a new target as soon as he’s bored. But thanks for the concern, Professor.”
“Just doing my job.”
“You’ll discover pretty quickly it’s not worth it when the Black Harts are involved.” Sedos caught sight of something over Eden’s shoulder. “My ride is here. It was nice talking with you.”
Eden waved and turned, grinning when he spotted Inzer seated behind the wheel of the white hovercar Sedos washeading toward. His wave intensified when Inzer’s eyes met his and his ex-friend noticeably paled.
He wondered if Inzer or Sedos had heard about Zonnie’s sudden vacation yet.
To buy them time and keep Daven Dephik from realizing anything was amiss, Ares had arranged it so Zonnie’s devices had sent out a mass email alerting everyone to a sudden need for the tropics. His bank statements had been rigged to show he’d purchased a one-way ticket off planet, and charges were being made daily from Aestas, where he’d supposedly ended up.
All of his friends and family should think he was lounging on a beach right now, instead of buried six feet under, rotting away.
The sight of Eden talking with Sedos had obviously made Inzer suspicious, but he didn’t mind. Let the bastard stew and fret, especially since he already knew that Eden had Ares in his corner.
“Did you see Creation’s drawing?” The conversation between two female art students caught Eden’s attention just as Inzer’s car pulled out of the lot and sped away. “It gave me the creeps.”