Page 96 of Broken Obsession

“Wait,” he ordered, and then left to go do just that.

When he returned, Eden was seated at the desk, picking at the food. As soon as he offered the iced drink, he took it and sucked down half the contents of the glass.

“Should I go swap out this one as well?” Ares asked, hand hovering over the steaming mug.

“Leave it,” Eden said. “It’ll cool.”

“Have you?” He tipped his head and rested a hip against the edge of the desk at Eden’s side. “Have you cooled down?”

The Starling spent a long time stalling by chewing, but eventually he had to swallow and gave in. “I seem to act ridiculous around you. I don’t like it.” He put together another cracker sandwich. “When are you going to deliver Sedos to me on a silver platter?”

“Are you that eager?” Ares' tone was suggestive, and he knew Eden caught on by the way his shoulders stiffened.

“Impatient is more like,” he denied it.

Shocker.

It seemed there was still progress to be made. Pity. He’d hoped Eden’s struggles to find completion on his own would have been enough to convince him to use Ares, but it appeared they weren’t there yet.

“I heard something interesting earlier,” Eden stated.

“Oh?”

“Apparently, your friend Ellery has been messing with Sedos for at least a week now.” He popped a square of cheese into his mouth. “Kind of odd timing, considering you only called him and asked him for that favor two nights ago.”

“Whoops. Caught me.” Ares flashed what he hoped was a charming grin when Eden glared. “I may have asked Fisher to dare Ellery to steal Sedos’ girlfriend as soon as I got his name from Zonnie. You were taking such a long time getting to the boathouse. I was bored.”

“Bored.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Once Ell started messing with him, he took a liking to it.”

“Which you knew he would.”

“He’s kind of a known bully,” Ares didn’t deny it. “Calling him and asking him openly to ruin Sedos’ life was mostly to ensure he picked up his game. That’s all.”

“You’re diabolical.”

“I’m Lucifer, remember?”

“Right,” Eden drawled. “Temptation is your specialty.”

He couldn’t tell if he was angry, and allowed them to sit in silence for a bit, hoping it would give his Starling time to collect himself and see that setting Ellery on Sedos’ path early had been beneficial to his revenge.

“Inzer saw me with Sedos earlier,” Eden informed him suddenly.

“I know.” Ares shook his wrist to indicate his multi-slate. “I mirrored Zonnie’s device and have it running alongside mine.After dropping Sedos off at the hospital, Inzer tried calling him. When Zonnie didn’t answer, he sent a few texts voicing his doubts.”

“What did you do?”

“I responded, of course. The two of them haven’t been close for a while now, not since the incident. Not like Inzer and Sedos. Zonnie told him to stop overreacting, and he’d be on his own if he screwed up and tipped you off.”

Eden nodded. “I want him to second-guess himself.”

“I figured as much. Which is why I’m planning on taking you to the home game this weekend. Ellery has promised us a show.” There was no telling whether or not Inzer would be there, but word would get back to him. “Sedos is our next target anyway. The professor can wait.”

“Don’t call him professor with the same mouth that tried to seduce me with the title earlier,” Eden griped, shoving another cracker between his lips.

“Paradise.” Ares pinched Eden’s chin between his forefinger and thumb and forced his head back so their eyes met. “What do you want from me? Hmm? You can’t act this jealous and then claim you don’t want me.”