He didn’t scold them, didn’t even pause. He simply smiled and continued on his way to wherever he was going. The anticlimactic reaction was in complete contrast with Darren’s pounding heart, leaving him staring after the warden and wondering if that trace of disapproval in the lift of Aiden’s lips had really been there.
Had he imagined it?Or had it been a momentary slip up on Aiden’s part? Or even intended? Was there a reason why it would be? Or was Darren just being paranoid, letting the things from his past haunt him and throw a shadow over what could be an amazing opportunity for him?
He couldn’t tell yet, but he had every intention of finding out.
Ruffling Nyle’s golden curls, he said, “I’d love to have some fun, but I’m not in the mood.”
The blond man pouted, narrowing his eyes. “Gee, Darren, really? You turn me down after that look you gave me? You got me all hot and excited.”
He had been, too, until they’d run into Aiden. Now his mind had shifted gears, more interested in pondering the look on Aiden’s face than taking Nyle up on his offer for sex. Part of him was annoyed by that, but another one just couldn’t shake off the underlying worry that there could be more to the warden’s interest.
“Maybe some other time?” Darren suggested with a flirty smile.
“Uh-huh, you bet. Can I at least tag along?” Nyle waved the economics textbook he was holding, which Darren had failed to notice. “I’m yet to go through the lesson from last time, plus I wanted to discuss some new products with you.”
Oh right. Nyle was also in the business class. He’d had to leave last week’s lesson early for a visit to the doctor’s office. “You missed the warden’s big announcement when it happened in the mess hall, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, sadly. But Mika told me about the repairs and the entertainment unit. Honestly, I’m super excited. E-units are notoriously easy to mess with if you know the loopholes in their designs.” Nyle shrugged, his eyesnarrowing in a calculating look. “I also heard that after I went to see Doc, Mr. Kesley talked about the GN’s achievements post Space Rev. Honestly, I’m more bummed about missingthatthan the announcement.”
“Really? And why would you care about the GN’s history? It’s the same boring stuff we all learned in school.”
Nyle shot him an impish smile as they walked into the library and headed for the tables with the computers. They were disconnected from the internet, of course, but they did have resources and training software for various subjects.
“Nuh-uh. You see, I think what he told you, and, for that matter, what we are taught, is rather inaccurate. At least according tomy sourcesand, trust me, they know what they are talking about.”
This was an interesting thing to say. Nyle seemed to be serious about it too, which got Darren wondering exactly what the cute twink was playing at.
“And what might that be?” he asked, curious and a little concerned what had prompted Nyle to go there.
Nyle gave him a once-over, not bothering to tone down the smirk he was sporting. “Surely, you’ve heard those rumors about the accident with the last Royals… You know, the one right before the GN was officially formed and the government-council became competent overnight.”
The two of them passed an empty corner bookshelf. This part of the library had no people.
“Of course, among many others,” Darren offered, pulling one of the chairs out from under the table they picked. He studied Nyle’s face for a few moments, then sat down. “Do you believe in that kind of stuff? Conspiracy theories?”
Nyle sat down and cocked his head at him. “What if I did? Is that a problem for you? They are pretty fun to read about, and besides”—his smile stretched from ear to ear—“sometimes they end up being true, don’t they?”
There was something accusatory in Nyle’s tone, so Darren left it at that, not wanting to overstep and turn this into something he would regret. He didn’t really know Nyle, and he deemed it best to leave things that way as to not make their sex and smuggling arrangement more complicated than it needed to be. They were business and fuck partners after all, not friends.
“What you believe or don’t is none of my business,” Darren said with a sly smile, opening the textbook to the lesson he was supposed to revise. “Though, I have to say…” He glanced at Nyle as the blond opened his own book. “I didn’t take you for an example student.”
“I’m full ofall kindsof surprises.” Nyle circled a strand of hair around his finger as he booted up the desktop computer. “What I’ve shown you is only a fraction of them,” he teased, sounding proud.
Darren laughed and watched the other man open the command console and type something in. “Now that you mention it, you are right. I don’t even know why you got thrown in here.”
Nyle hummed, the sound more evaluating than contemplative. He fired a few more commands at the computer and opened a browser which was actually connected to the internet. None of the computers available to the inmates were supposed to even have network chips or the necessary ports, so Darren had no idea how Nyle was able to pull it off.
“I didn’t think it mattered at first, that’s why I haven’t told you, but… Let’s just say that a certain verywell-known corporation was not too fond of their financials being leaked to a competitor,” Nyle said, blinking innocently at Darren.
Darren’s mouth stretched into a grin. Surely, Nyle didn’t mean... “Really? And which corporation might that be?”
“That’s a secret,” the blond said, logging into some website. “But”—he looked up from the screen, blue eyes twinkling with mischief—“I betyouwould approve.”
Darren’s stomach squeezed involuntarily. A bolt of panic constricted his chest. Few knew why he was here or what exactly he’d done. Inmates didn’t tend to keep up with the outside world and what happened in it, so unless they chose to talk about why they were in prison, it was typically not something that you could easily find out. However, as Darren was thrown yet another flirty smile, his gut told him that Nyle had already figured it all out on his own.
“Enough about this for now, though. We’ve got more important things to do,” Nyle said when Darren just kept staring at him. He turned the monitor and pointed at it. “I can get us a batch of those fruit-flavored lollipop things that kids on the outside are raving about. You think you can find us buyers?”
Darren leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands behind his head. “Nope. But if you’ve got spare credits, an extra box of cigarettes is the way to go. I bet we’ll sell out within the first hour no matter how much shit we bring in.” After all, alcohol and cigarettes were always hot in prisons, bringing in a piece of the old lives people had enjoyed.
