Darren stayed in his seat for a while longer, mulling over their interaction. Aiden Kesley was interested, he was certain of it. Testing the waters, getting a feel for him… instead of going for it. Surely, Aiden would’ve done justthat already if he’d been sent here to mess with Darren.Because Darren liked the aggressive type. Normally.
Aiden’s approach was unusual compared to what Darren was used to, slow but also thrilling, making him want to bend the man over even more. Or get to know him, which was a wild thought Darren wasn’t about to examine right now.
He gathered his textbooks and left the classroom. He stopped by the library on his way back, picking a book about writing a business plan, and ran into Nyle, who, going by the few extra texts in his hands, had a similar idea. Together, they walked back to the mess hall, though Darren decided to leave his intended interrogation for another time, deeming the issue of Nyle’s friendliness to Aiden not an urgent one. Besides, if Nyle caught wind ofhisinterest in Aiden, he’d never hear the end of it.
After lunch, where fruit made an appearance again just as promised, Darren played cards with Matt and Nyle’s cellmate, Mika, a tall broad-shouldered but otherwise narrow-framed man. He was as pale-skinned and light-haired as Nyle, making the two the target of rumors about the incestuous nature of their relationship just because they shared some characteristics. Except, they weren’t related, or even from the same planet. Nyle was Earth-born, as was Darren, while Mika’s birthplace was Mars.
The red planet had become sufficiently colonized only a few decades ago, the next logical step in humankind’s space expansion after the Moon. Asteroid harvesting and cargo and goods transport were the two most lucrative trades now, with corporations racing against each other for the biggest cut of the pie. It made sense, of course, since whoever had the resources and manpowerwas the one likeliest to first step beyond Jupiter and its network of moons and thousands of orbiting satellites.
Darren had been on the frontline once too, a shipping mercenary with a respectable reputation that ensured a steady supply of high-end clients who paid extremely well for the privacy he offered. But that one miscalculation on Mars had changed everything, set his world crumbling until everything had just simply gone to shit. He thought about it from time to time, but revisiting the sequence of events after Claudia DuLaurent’s death often just irritated him needlessly, so he avoided it as much as he could. The whole thing had been a mistake that had cost him whatever chance he had had of a normal life and one he was not going to dwell on just like he didn’t dwell on the reasons behind it.
With most of the afternoon and evening lost to games of poker and blackjack, Darren didn’t get a chance to study until midnight. The recessed lights that lined the ceiling in the halls of G Block were nowhere near enough to allow for comfortable reading though, so he sighed and left that task for the morning, opting to get some sleep instead as he warred with himself not to fixate on Aiden’s ambiguous words.
On the next day, Matt didn’t put much of a fuss at Darren’s rejection to hang out.
“Fine, whatever, Darren. You can be a nerd for all I care,” he said over a snort and left once he’d finished his workout, granting the peace and quiet Darren needed in order to study.
But his focus only lasted until about midafternoon, when his head was suddenly invaded by Aiden Kesley’s words from yesterday. Particularly the part about giving him helpwheneverDarren needed it.
The insinuation had sort of slipped Darren at the time, his mind too busy reveling in the flirtatious tone of the warden’s voice and the reaction it elicited in him. ‘Feel free to ask meanytime.’That was what Aiden had said, and now that Darren could analyze it, it became obvious that it had been an invitation.
Making an amused sound at himself, Darren unfolded his legs and hopped from the bed to the floor. He bunched up his notes and strode over to the guards posted at the gate, anticipation stirring in his stomach. The opportunity Aiden had presented to him… Yeah, he wasn’t about to waste it even if it turned out that he read the warden’s advances wrong. But he was confident he hadn’t.
“Louis, Mike, how’s it going?” Darren greeted the two guards, both of whom he knew and was on good terms with. He actually needed to pull them aside and tell them about the upcoming delivery Nyle had arranged, but there was still time for that, so he wasn’t going to do it now. It could wait until later.
“Well, if it isn’t Howe himself!” Mike, the wider of the two, said, his copper buzz cut appearing red under the artificial lighting.
“What’s up, Howe?” The other guard sniggered, his massive biceps bumping into Darren as he stepped in closer. “Need us to make sure the restroom is out of order for an hour?”
Darren joined in on the laughing. “No. Actually, I need to see the warden.” He flashed them one of his charming smiles even if both of them were immune to it.
“That’s a new one. Last time I checked, the warden was the onerequestingaudiences, not the other way around,” Mike jibed at him.
Darren waved the notes he held. “He said if I needed help with my studies, he’d be available.”
Mike scoffed. “Probably meant after class, don’t you think?”
“Just tell him I insist on seeing him today since he offered to help me anytime I needed it.”
The two giants looked at each other. “Fine. But don’t blame me if he gets pissed off,” Mike said and marched off. When he returned shortly after, his grin was ear-wide. Lifting his wrist, he scanned his bracelet and the gates slid open. “The warden said he’ll see you.”
Darren smirked triumphantly and swished past the two still dumbfounded men. He could understand their confusion; he himself had not been sure his cheeky move would be enough to get Aiden to agree to see him. But ithadworked and now he was standing in front of the warden’s office, knocking on the door.
“Come in.”
Darren entered the office and looked around, finding not even a trace of the heavily cluttered mess the previous warden had kept. Walls in white and beige, gray furniture in simple shapes, empty shelves, a few potted plants. Not much, but enough to make the place feel fresh and modern.
“So, Mr. Howe, how can I help you?” Aiden asked, indicating the cushioned couch to the side of the desk.
Darren sat there, draping an arm over the backrest. “It seems I’ve got some gaps in my notes. I’m worried I might fail the test on Friday.”
“Really?” Aiden leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms, quirking an eyebrow. It had more of his natural color than his hair, but the dimly illuminated room prevented Darren from narrowing it down to anything beyond a reddish hue. “Something tells me that’s not why you’re here.”
Darren shrugged. “You got me there, warden. It’s only part of the reason. I’m actually quite smart.”
The side of Aiden’s lips trembled as if he was fighting off a smile. “I’ve got an hour before I head home. I can help you fill in those gaps. And…” He paused there awkwardly and studied Darren’s face as a few barely-noticeable lines marred his own. “Perhaps I could entertain that other reason of yours, if we have time.”
Aiden dragged his chair over and, using Darren’s notes, the two went over some of the key concepts from last week’s lesson, taking an extra few minutes to expand on interdependence. Questions followed, and Darren used the opportunity to examine Aiden’s face from up close, trying to place his familiarity again. The way his muscles moved when he talked, the height of his cheekbones and that particular golden tint of his hazel eyes, the haunted quality of them that tugged at something in Darren’s chest… He would’ve remembered a face like that had they shared a night together, so that wasn’t it. The shipping gigs were out of the question too considering the extensive background checks wardens, even substitute ones, underwent before being appointed, so that left very few possibilities out of which military service seemed the likeliest.
