Chapter 11
“Are you, like, verbally edging me right now?” Eden didn’t seem fond of the concept, and Ares couldn’t help but laugh.
His Starling really must have lived a sheltered life. Ares felt he’d been pretty clear about his intentions, but perhaps not, since all Eden seemed capable of thinking about was getting laid.
“You keep saying really sexually aggressive shit and following it up with…nothing. I can’t tell if you’re messing with me,” Eden admitted, and it was obvious it was a struggle for him to do so, that he was setting aside his pride.
“What do you really want, Lucifer? Investing in the company I can understand. You’re a bored rich kid with too much time on your hands and happen to be a fan of the game.
Okay. Fine. I can even sort of see why you flirted with me, considering your attraction to Ransom. But the rest?”
“Just say what you need to say, babe,” he told him. “No need to hold back.” He’d never punish him for having a mind of his own or for wanting to voice his thoughts. In fact, Ares welcomed it.
He wanted to be let into Eden’s private world.
He wanted all of it. Every scrap. Wanted the Starling fully consumed by him, so Ares took up every waking thought and passionate dream in his head.
The key to getting close to someone wasn’t by threats or throwing your weight around; it was in those quiet moments. The easy ones. The contemplative ones.
If he wanted Eden, first he had to make the other man feel safe. Had to make him feel like Ares was a person he could lean on, confide in, and trust.
Trust was worth more than coin or gold. Trust bred loyalty, and wars had been waged on that alone for thousands, if not millions, of years.
Trust could also be manipulated, and Ares wasn’t above working every angle to get what he pleased.
“Why are you willing to help me?” Eden asked.
“I’m not helping you. I’m helping myself. This is a transaction. You recognize that.”
“I thought I did,” he agreed. “Murder means nothing to you, and with the type of connections you have, you can easily find out the information I need and get away with enacting revenge on my behalf. I thought what you wanted in return for that was my body.”
“You thought I wanted to fulfill some sick fantasy of fucking Ransom.”
“…Is that not it?”
Ares grunted. “Aren’t you the one who spent a week trying to convince me you aren’t him?”
“If I was,” he hesitated, swallowed, “would you want to fuck me?”
“I do want to. I will. I already told you I would. It’s not my fault you’re impatient.”
Eden scowled and dropped his gaze, chugging half his tea. If it burned again, he didn’t show it, so Ares didn’t bother worrying or giving him a reaction. “This isn’t how this usually goes, that’s all.”
“This?”
“When I sign a contract or have a verbal agreement,” he explained.
“We’ll set a date and have at it. There’s none of this,” he motioned at the table, “sitting around playing house, or whatever the hell this is. It’s an exchange.
Business. You don’t need to care for me, you just need to uphold your end of the deal and let me uphold mine.
I haven’t agreed to sign over my life to you yet.
This was for one night. So, fuck me and leave, so I can finish packing and be ready to go tomorrow. ”
“You’re a walking contradiction, you know that?
” Ares clicked his tongue, then got up, taking both of their mugs to the sink even though neither was empty.
Afterward, he turned, resting back against the counter, and crossed his arms, liking the flicker of annoyance and uncertainty in Eden’s eyes.
“You’re also terrible at comprehension, so let me spell it out for you one last time, okay?
“This is not just about sex. I’ll kill for you, you’ll spread for me, sure.
But do you really think your ass alone is worth all this hassle?
I had to research, identify the culprits, and lure Zonnie to a secluded location so I could drug and kidnap him.
It was exhausting work.” It really hadn’t been.
He’d spent maybe an hour on it, tops. “Not to mention all the time and effort I put into making him suffer tonight. Do you really think letting me fuck you is enough for all that?”
It looked like Ares was going to have to take the longer route to building trust. On the one hand, he was glad Eden wasn’t as na?ve and easy as he’d feared, but on the other…This would delay things.
“I could step outside and find a willing hole in under a half hour, Eden,” Ares stated. “Hell, I could have taken you at any given moment leading up to now, willing or not. Do you think anyone would do anything about it if I had? I’m an Imperial. I don’t have to work for anything.”
“Then why are you doing all of this?” He pursed his lips, and the wheels in his head could practically be seen turning.
“You didn’t actually mean all that bullshit about not wanting a shell, did you?
Is that how you usually play with people?
You invade their lives and rearrange things to your liking, and then once you feel like you’ve won, you move on to the next target? ”
“Careful, you’re starting to sound a little jealous, babe.”
“Like hell I am,” he snapped. “I have nothing to be jealous of. You’re a virtual stranger.
You’re hot, Ares, I’ll give you that, but you’re not the only one here who’s never struggled to find a willing bedpartner.
There are over a dozen guys on my phone I could call and have out on my front porch within thirty minutes. ”
Was this tit for tat?
Adorable.
“Get on the table, Starling.”
“What?”
“Now.”
Eden hesitated and then stood, turning so he was facing Ares before lifting himself onto the dark wood.
Ares pushed off the counter and slowly stalked forward.
“If having your hole stuffed was all you wanted, I wouldn’t be here.
If all I wanted was a hole to fill,” he set his hands on either side of Eden’s hips, careful not to physically touch him anywhere as he bent so they would be eye level, “I wouldn’t be here.
This isn’t about having someone willing to put out.
I want someone willing to go to war for me.
Someone I’d be willing to go to war for. ”
“That sounds,” Eden inhaled, “like a lot.”
“It sounds like connection,” he said, then ordered, “Lie back.”
Eden did as he was told, his thighs automatically widening to accommodate Ares when he stepped in closer. He held completely still when Ares reached to undo the tie at his waist, brushing the towel open to expose Eden to his gaze.
He was semi-hard already.
“I meant every word in the car. I don’t want a shell. I want your body, but I want your attention as well. Your adoration. Your longing.” Ares placed his palm against the center of Eden’s chest and slowly glided downward. “I want you to yearn for me the way I’ve yearned for you.”
“It wasn’t me.” Despite his protest, Eden’s voice had dropped an octave, coming out little more than a whisper. “It was Ransom. Ransom is who you’ve wanted all this time. I’m just the consolation prize.”
Ares’ hand stilled just beneath his navel. “Are you getting jealous of yourself now, Paradise?”
“Stop.” Eden grabbed onto Ares’ wrist, but he didn’t push him away or try to make him continue his descent down his body.
“Why? You don’t like it when I call you Ransom or Starling.”
“They aren’t me.”
“All right,” he hummed in agreement, then trailed his fingers lower, tugging lightly at the snatch of dirty blond curls above Eden’s straining dick. “I’ll give you a new nickname, one that’s all yours. All Eden’s.”
“You’re making fun of my name.”
“I’m making better use of it, actually.”
“Why do you have to call me anything at all?”
“There’s power in a name. Anyone can call you Eden, but only I have the right to call you Paradise.
” He captured Eden’s dick suddenly, giving him a powerful pump that had his hips lifting off the table and his eyes rolling back in his skull.
“Eager. Always so eager. Have you been thinking of me doing this to you?”
“You know I have,” he growled. “Creepy stalker.” It seemed to occur to him that Ares had alluded to having bugged his house, and Eden tipped his head back and searched around.
Ares laughed. “There aren’t any cameras in here.”
“Just my bedroom then?”
“Would you like me to show you later?”
“You’re trying to distract me.”
“From what?” Ares stroked him again, smearing precome up and down his impressive length. He groaned when Eden’s crown flushed red and another beady pearlescent drop spilled from his slit. “Eager and receptive.”
“I’m just horny. I’d act this way with any man.”
“We’ll deal with that false statement another time,” Ares promised darkly, then gave him a few more quick pumps that had Eden shaking and mewling for him. When he pulled away and that earned him a whimper, Ares chuckled.
“You’re trying to distract me from the insane explanation you’ve been giving about wanting the real me,” Eden growled. It was followed by a hiss when Ares flipped him onto his stomach and repositioned his hips so that he was angled for him and forced onto his toes.
“It’s all right if you don’t believe me yet.” Ares undid his pants, keeping one hand on Eden’s waist to keep him in place. “We have time for me to prove it to you.”
Eden’s body was incredible. A complete and total work of art. Once they were back at Sacrum Cor, Ares was going to have to convince him to come to the studio and let him draw him nude. Maybe sculpt him as well.
Grabbing a palmful of his firm ass, Ares opened him up to his view, groaning when he caught the first sight of his pretty pink hole. His thumb had just brushed against it when the sound of the door beeping signaled they were about to be interrupted.
Ares had the towel flung over Eden’s backside and a blaster aimed at the entryway just as a familiar face stepped through the door.
Eden cursed. “Noon! What the hell, man!”