Chapter 21 #2
The Jackal was gone, but he hardly noticed, too distracted by the new audio date and Ransom’s voice describing the animals at the zoo they were supposedly visiting.
Back in his private kitchen, he made a cup of coffee the way he knew Eden liked, set it on the corner of the board, and brought it down the hall. He didn’t bother knocking, entering the Starling’s bedroom, and moving to place the snack down on his desk.
“What are you doing?” Eden was standing in the bathroom doorway, a towel slung low over his hips, watching him with curiosity. His eyes were puffy, a clear sign he’d been crying, and his skin was still pink from lingering beneath the hot spray for too long.
Ares should have made iced coffee instead.
“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.”
“I never said I didn’t want you.” He swatted his hand away and leaned back in his chair.
“You wouldn’t let me fuck you,” Ares reminded.
“You hadn’t earned it.”
Touché.
Still, he made a big show of sighing forlornly. “Why should we both suffer for that?”
“Who’s suffering?”
Ares almost laughed, catching himself at the last second. Something told him it was too early to tell Eden about the hidden cameras in this room. Though he’d reacted rather calmly when he’d learned about the ones in his house on the other side of the planet.
“We’ll play with them for as long as you like,” Ares said. “When you’re ready to end things, just say the word.”
Eden’s head whipped in his direction, hand freezing over a slice of cheese.
It took Ares a second to figure out why, but once he did, he leaned forward and stroked a hand through Eden’s hair soothingly. He must have thought of their fight earlier and misinterpreted Ares’ words.
“No, babe. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant, when you’re ready for them to die and for us to move on to the next target, to let me know. This is your revenge. No lives will be taken until you wish it so.”
“And us?” he forced the words out, almost as if it pained him to do so.
Pride was a bane.
Ares was grateful his had been beaten out of him.
“We’ll still be here. This is our reality, remember?”
“This is your reality,” Eden corrected. “You’re just letting me stay a while.”
“I want you to stay forever.” His hand cupped the back of Eden’s head, and he pushed him closer, holding firm when the Starling attempted to resist before giving in. “What I’m creating is a world for the two of us, one in which we stay together. For all of eternity.”
“Careful, I thought time wasn’t real.”
“It isn’t linear.” Everything that’d been given a name had once been or would be. “I’m real. The body I’m contained in is real. So long as this heart beats, I’ll want you in it. I suppose time can be measured in that way. Through heartbeats.”
“How poetic.”
“It’s said every art form stemmed from the existence of Creation.” Ares lowered his mouth until it was just a breath away from Eden’s. “Including the art of seduction.”
The Starling let him kiss him.
Their lips merged, soft at first, tentative, until Ares was certain he wouldn’t pull away.
Then he deepened it, giving in to the coil of need in his chest. He was careful with his tongue, using it to tease Eden, but not plow through him.
Whenever Eden’s entered his mouth, he gave a light suck, then chased it back, never overstaying his welcome.
It was a dance of sorts, a back and forth, all while he altered the angle of the kiss and nibbled on Eden’s bottom lip. Ares kissed him in a way he hoped conveyed how precious he was to him. How much he’d treasure him when Eden ultimately submitted and voluntarily offered himself.
All of himself.
Every piece.
Every scrap.
Every snippet of time and reality.
Every pulse and beat of his heart.
It was to that end that Ares broke the kiss and pulled away, fingers tugging at the strands of Eden’s hair to pull him back when he tried to chase after him.
“Leave the board when you finish eating,” he said as he stood and headed out of the room. “I’ll collect it in the morning. Sweet dreams, Paradise.”
The sound of Eden cursing was like music to his ears as he closed the door behind him.