Chapter 10
Eden didn’t know what Ares was thinking. After delivering a threat like that, he’d expected to find himself tossed over the nearest available surface the second the Black Hart got him inside, but instead…
He’d been ordered into the shower to warm up.
To warm up.
As if Eden was a child who’d been caught playing in the snow for too long.
As if sex wouldn’t do the same trick. Hell, he was already hot and bothered, damn it!
…Did Ares even intend to actually fuck him, or was that all a tease? Was he getting Eden flustered and worked up on purpose, with the intention to laugh and tell him he was just kidding?
In the tiny bathroom, Eden paused with his hand on the brass knob. A towel was slung low around his hips, and he’d only partially dried off, fully intending to walk out there basically naked and dripping wet.
Because he wanted to tempt the other man?
A Black Hart?
A guy who was missing more than a few marbles?
If he were smart, he’d lock the door and stay in the bathroom for the rest of the night.
Eden wasn’t exactly all there either, though. He could acknowledge that much. Understood that normal people didn’t deal with their grief by developing an odd obsession with home invasions and being hunted down and taken like an animal in heat.
His therapist—who he stopped going to after this little nugget of wisdom—had explained it as his twisted way of coping.
He’d developed a need to control the very situation that had gotten his family, and the only reason it’d developed sexual connotations was because it’d been easy for him to look up partners willing to interact with him in that context.
There was a large market for controlled non-consent play online. On a drunken whim one night, Eden had created a profile requesting someone willing to pretend to attack and take him. There’d been over a dozen offers within an hour.
Still, he’d been smart about it at first. In the beginning, he’d only met with men at hotels or motels.
Then once the thrill of that stopped working, he’d escalated it to being caught off guard in the parking lot, forced into his car and…
Well. The public sex angle had brought its own type of excitement. Until it hadn’t.
A part of why he did all of that was guilt.
It’d started as a way to punish himself, and things had taken a turn for the dark and kinky before he’d known it.
Now, he was left with even greater guilt and a hard-on whenever he thought about being jumped, which had so not been the result he’d been after.
“Idiot.” He ran a hand down his face.
Three years ago, watching someone be brutally murdered right in front of him would have been enough to have him screaming and running for the police. But now? He’d gotten sick from all the sounds, from the smell of piss and tangy copper and salty sweat.
From the splatter of crimson and the way it’d squelched under Ares’ boots.
Eden had not, however, been disgusted by the act itself.
He hadn’t been horrified watching the life beaten out of a living creature.
Hadn’t once wanted to jump in and stop it.
What kind of person did this make him? What sort of person was hoping to get fucked on the same night a psychopath made a killing for him?
Was Ares a psychopath? He seemed too emotional for that, now that Eden was thinking about it. Psychopaths lacked empathy but could feel other things, right? So he couldn’t entirely rule it out just yet.
The shower had done what it was meant to, and that cold-to-the-bone feeling was gone. It’d been a while since he shut the water off and stepped out, so there was little chance Ares hadn’t noticed. Did he think Eden was hiding? Stalling?
That earlier thought about him potentially not even being out there returned, and shooting into action, Eden yanked the door open and practically rushed into the hallway.
Only to be greeted by silence.
He paused, listening, trying to convince himself that it was not disappointment he was feeling when there wasn’t so much as a clink or a step.
Of course Ares had just been messing with him.
They weren’t too far apart in age, but they were still at very different stages of life.
Ares was a university student with a million options.
How many times had he already mentioned this was only a game?
Eden checked his bedroom and found it empty, then walked into the living room.
Still nothing. He should stop, but his feet dragged him across the way toward the kitchen.
He didn’t expect to find anything, so when his eyes locked on the figure hunched over his kitchen table, his breath caught in his throat.
Ares was asleep, his arms curled beneath his head. There were two steaming mugs of what was either hot chocolate or coffee set out, whisps of white still drifting off the surface.
“Damn fallen angel,” Eden murmured to himself, unable to help it as he slowly eased forward to get a better look at that devilish face.
A single dark curl fell over long, inky lashes, and his burgundy lips were parted slightly. Ares had changed clothes at the boathouse, but the style was the same as he’d been wearing when Eden had arrived, black pants and a tight black-shirt. He’d removed and left his boots at the front door.
The right thing to do would be to wake him and make him leave, but Eden carefully pulled out the chair at the side of the table instead and sat down, angling himself so he could continue to stare.
Ares was surprisingly a little boyish-looking when he was relaxed like this.
A real pretty boy, so to speak. Almost innocent when those piercing red eyes were closed.
Every time they were on him, Eden felt like those eyes were stripping him layer by layer, digging deep beneath his skin.
Burrowing into him in ways it shouldn’t be possible.
They hardly knew one another—the damn Black Hart still referred to him as Ransom even.
That was another thing Eden didn’t know how he felt about.
Did it bother him that the only reason Ares had barged into his life at all was because of some made-up character in a game? Sure, Ransom had been physically modeled after Eden, and there were a few personality traits they shared, a few likes and dislikes, but they weren’t the same.
Eden wasn’t some character, he was…just Eden. Once he realized that, would Ares even want to keep him for a lifetime? Would he grow bored with all of this and walk away? Toss Eden aside as soon as he stopped being shiny and new?
If he could get the Black Hart to complete his revenge for him, would it even matter if that ended up happening? It wasn’t like Eden loved the idea of signing himself over to another. Giving his body in exchange once in a while was one thing, but a lifetime of servitude?
He hadn’t spent the past three years a slave to vengeance just so he could swap out one owner for another.
But could he stop at getting even with those who had actually harmed his family?
Would he be able to leave Daven Dephik alone, knowing he’d been the reason the police had been unable to seek justice?
The man had covered up a horrible crime so his son could get away with it.
Certainly that deserved punishment…but was it worth Eden’s life in exchange? His future?
He’d said as much back at the boathouse, but that’d been before he’d actually seen Ares at work.
The Black Hart was right. There was a big difference between imagination and reality. Eden had tortured the people responsible a million times in his mind, but it hadn’t been anything like the real thing.
“Your tea is getting cold,” Ares said, fortunately missing the way Eden flinched since it took him a second before his eyes opened. He blinked and straightened, stretching his arms before shaking his head the way a dog would.
Tea?
Eden peered at the mug closest to him. “Where did you find tea in my house?”
“I didn’t. I brought it with me.”
He quirked a brow. “You carry tea around in your pockets?”
“I did tonight.” Ares shrugged like it was no big deal and picked up his own mug, sipping lightly before grimacing. “Needs more sugar.”
Eden watched as Ares got up and ambled to the counter, dragging the small sugar bowl he’d gotten at a thrift store two years ago closer before adding a large spoonful to his tea. “By all means, make yourself at home.”
He grunted half-heartedly. “Thanks.”
Eden had said it sarcastically, but whatever. “Did you put any in mine?”
“Ransom doesn’t like sweet things.”
He glared. “Yeah, well I do.”
Ares carried the sugar bowl to the table and set it down in front of him, then retook his seat. He blew on his tea and took a sip, practically melting into his chair afterward, eyes drifting shut as he cradled the heated mug against the center of his chest.
“What are you doing?” Eden was baffled by this display of…he didn’t even know what to call it. The guy was far too comfortable, relaxed and at ease…Meanwhile, Eden felt like he was about to explode from the anxiety alone. “Didn’t you come here to fuck me?”
Ares’ eyes popped open, but he didn’t sit up, merely peered at him from beneath those stupid, attractive long lashes.
A flash of embarrassment raced through him, and Eden grabbed the sugar and added three spoonfuls to his mug with more haste than was necessary. He barely bothered with stirring it before taking a deep drag, burning his tongue in the process. The second he started coughing, Ares was on his feet.
The Black Hart took the mug from his hand and set it aside, then rubbed circles on his back. As soon as Eden stopped, Ares captured him by the jaw and forced his head all the way back, pressing his fingers into his cheeks until his mouth opened.
“Stick out your tongue,” he ordered, giving Eden a warning look when he didn’t immediately do as he was told.
Timidly, Eden presented his tongue, but all Ares did was inspect it for damage.
Satisfied he was fine, Ares released him and went back to his seat a second time.
Eden blinked as he resettled as though nothing had happened. “That’s it?”
“What else would you like me to do?” he drawled. “Should I blow on it for you, so you don’t burn yourself like a baby again?”
He bristled. “I did not.”
“You were careless. Be more careful, Starling. I just found you.”
“So I should, what, give it more time before I hurt myself so you can get full use of your new toy?” Eden had no clue why he was goading him right now, but the frustration was overwhelming at this point. He needed something to happen. Anything.
Ares tilted his head. “Showering was meant to relax you, not…whatever this is. What’s wrong?”
“You can’t be serious?” He crossed his arms, realized how childish that made him appear, and dropped them back onto the table instead. “Whatever, can you just go already?”
“Why would I do that?”
“If you aren’t going to sleep with me—”
“Oh.” A knowing smirk twisted the Black Hart’s perfect mouth. “That’s what it is. If you’re horny, babe, just say so. I’m not a mind reader, and I can’t exactly see what’s going on between your thighs with the table in the way.”
Eden growled. “I asked if you were going to fuck me or not!”
“You asked if that was why I was here, actually,” he corrected.
“You said—”
“Tonight you’re mine,” Ares cut him off. “I didn’t forget. That just doesn’t mean what you’re thinking. I wasn’t only talking about sex, Eden. I wanted you to shower. You showered. Now I want you to drink your tea.”
Eden licked his lips. “And after?”
He chuckled. “Aren’t you an eager little companion.
Don’t worry, babe. You’ll get what you want soon enough.
Before the night is through, I’ll have you split on my cock, screaming my name loud enough to wake the neighbors.
” Ares set his elbows on the edge of the table and leaned in closer.
“By the time the sun rises, you’ll be begging me to stop pounding you and let you get some rest, and, Starling? I’m not going to.”
“What?” His heart leapt. Was that a threat or a promise?
“Our plane leaves tomorrow afternoon. My plan is for you to sleep most, if not all, of the flight. Bonus points if you’re already unconscious when we arrive and I have to carry you onboard.”