Chapter 26 #2
Ares furrowed his brow. In one swift motion, he shoved up and rolled forward, pinning Eden beneath him on the other side of the bed.
Grabbing onto the footboard, he used it to help propel himself forward as he fucked in deep, grinding between Eden’s thighs with enough force to shake the furniture and send the other man howling.
He took him rough and punishingly, just the way Eden liked it, hoping to pound some of this pent-up aggression out of him, at least enough so they could have a clear discussion about whatever was actually bothering him.
“You’re being childish,” Ares stated after a few minutes. “Use your words and tell me plainly what I did to upset you.”
Eden dug his nails into Ares' sides, hips lifting as best he could to chase after the strokes of Ares’ cock as he pounded him into the mattress. “You and Zar aren’t related, but you treat him differently.”
“I treat you differently, too,” he pointed out. “Better.”
“I don’t like it.” Eden licked his lips, seemingly warring with himself before he confessed, “You’re mine.”
“I am,” he agreed.
“I don’t want you listening to anyone else’s commands.
Even his. I don’t want to stand there and watch you shoot someone just because Zar told you to.
I don’t want you playing games with other students in empty classrooms. I especially don’t want you alone with Fisher in empty classrooms. I don’t even want you in full classrooms because I can’t stand the way everyone is always leering and lusting after you. ”
“Should I blind everyone on campus?” Ares suggested. “Would that soothe you?”
“Yes,” Eden hissed, then quickly corrected, “but no. I know this is senseless and irrational and I’ve probably gone crazy.
I certainly feel like I’ve lost my mind.
I’ve never had anything good that was solely my own.
I grew up with a sibling and am used to sharing everything.
But you…I don’t want to share you, Lucifer. ”
“You won’t have to,” he promised. “Not ever.”
“Do you really mean that? What if you slip through the cracks and find someone better than me and—”
“Stop.” Eden must have heard something to make him suddenly believe in the multiverse, but Ares could find out what that was later. “Paradise, I love you, and I’ve never loved anyone.”
“We’ve only known each other for two months.”
“Long enough, at least for me.”
“Everyone is always drooling over you and giggling when you walk by and it pisses me off.”
“I never notice.” He really didn’t. Ares didn’t care about the opinions of side characters. “They’re just NPCs.” It was interesting, though, how large Eden’s jealousy had grown in such a short time.
Their time at the cabin hadn’t been for naught, it seemed.
Eden wanted a connection that didn’t require him pretending he wasn’t bloodthirsty over his family’s deaths.
He wanted to be taken care of, wanted to be pampered and looked after and kept warm from the harsh winters of a cruel world.
Ares could provide all of that and more; all Eden had to do was accept it.
“Quit being stubborn,” Ares urged. “I’m not messing with you. This is real. I intend to keep you. If I have to feed you my cock and pump you full of come every single night for the rest of our lives to convince you, so be it.”
He emitted a strangled sound at that. “Good Light, do you have to be so vulgar about it?”
Ares grinned. “You love when I talk dirty to you.”
Eden’s fingers delved through Ares’ hair and gripped him hard. “Promise you’ll stop listening to him. You’re allowed to do what you want to do, but you can’t blindly follow someone else’s commands anymore. You have a boyfriend now, and I won’t stand for it.”
“Want to be the only one pulling my reins?” Ares asked, grunting when that earned him a painful tug on his hair. “All right, all right. I promise. You’re the only one allowed to boss me around from now on.”
“That’s not—” Eden stopped himself and blew out a breath. “Just hurry up and make me come so we can plan how to fast-track my revenge, and I can ask you about the other elephant in the room.”
“You want to get rid of Inzer already?”
“I want my revenge settled so you can prove you meant everything you said about keeping me.” Eden glanced away and then forced himself to meet Ares' gaze head-on. “If we don’t settle this sooner rather than later, my anxiety will get the best of me. The last time I was this reliant on a relationship, it was with my family, and we both know how that ended.”
“You aren’t going to lose me, Paradise.”
“Prove it. We kill Inzer, and we off Daven Dephik. That was the original deal, right? My body in exchange for Zonnie, Sedos, and Inzer, but my life as payment for you to take on someone as high-standing in society as Daven Dephik. That’s what I’m offering now.
I accept the deal. So prove you aren’t just playing with me and stick around once the revenge plot portion of the game is completed. ”
“Deal.” Ares kissed him but then pulled back with a frown. “Elephant?”
“Yeah.” Eden swung an arm out to indicate their surroundings. “Why is the wallpaper made up of drawings of Ransom?”
It did look a little like an art portfolio had thrown up in there…
Not a single surface on the walls had been left uncovered, papers of every size and of an assortment of materials collaged over, on top of, and around each other.
There were rough sketches of Ransom and fully painted or colored masterpieces, all mixed together, taped up whenever he completed one.
Anyone else probably would call Ares obsessive and unhinged, and he wouldn’t blame them, considering it sort of looked like the lair of a psychotic stalker.
But he knew his Starling well enough by now to know what he was getting at.
Ares nuzzled the side of his jaw lovingly. “I’ll replace them with drawings of you.”
Eden hummed. “Damn right you will.”