Nan gave him another squeeze of his arm and walked off. He watched her until she disappeared down the stairs past the reading nook, then he slipped back into the lounge.
As he walked in through the double doors, his attention skimmed over Nyle sprawled on the sofa and veeredto the kitchenette, where Aiden was propped on elbows at the breakfast bar, wolfing down a sandwich. Gone were his ruined shirt and slate trousers, replaced by a cream ruffle-front blouse and a pair of ass-hugging black jeans that left very little to the imagination.And damn if Darren’s dick didn’t jump at the sight.He wanted to grope Aiden’s ass, to feel it, to squeeze it and leave marks. To take Aiden and fuck him until he was a mess for an entirely different reason than the one currently making him so.
“Darreeen,” Nyle drawled, hopping up from the sofa. He came over and ran his slim fingers up Darren’s shoulder, pressing gently as an impish smile settled on his face. He’d gotten a change of clothes, too, though his were cargo pants and a comfy-looking hooded jacket. “Nan said Marcus’ goons will be here within the hour, but we have time to stop by my room while she gets the shuttle ready.”
Darren gripped Nyle’s hand and moved it away. The twink pouted his lips, but didn’t fight him on it.
“You got a location?” he asked and followed Darren’s gaze.
“Yeah… Kepler outpost. Ran into Nan and already told her,” Darren said, doing his best to stomp down the indecent images of Aiden his brain was flooding him with.
Nyle hummed, and it sounded like something between agreement and amusement, meaning that he had probably not missed Darren’s ogling. “Apparently, all my other stuff was too small on him. Which, unfortunately, means that you are out of luck, too.”
“I’ve got some stuff where we’re going.” It wasn’t much and while it would fit Aiden, it was probably best that they swung by a shop at some point soon to pick out a few things for him.
Nyle licked his lips, his gaze turning scorching. “Perhaps you’d let me borrow some of it?”
Darren laughed at the image of Nyle wearing an oversized shirt and then had to withhold a groan when Aiden replaced the twink in the fantasy. Aiden in Darren’s shirt—maybe the black one with the dark purple lotuses—and nothing else, jerking himself off on Darren’s bed.
His dick strained against his pants.Well, shit.
Clearing his throat as he discreetly adjusted himself, he threw Nyle a pointed look. “Or you could pick some of your own stuff on the way out now?”
Nyle blinked innocently, the smile not dropping. “Didn’t cross my mind.”
Leaning in, Darren whispered, “You’re not fooling me, Nyle. Not after you figured out who both Aiden and I were before he even tried to off me.”
“Uh, excuse you? I figured out more than justthat.”
Darren shook his head. If not for Nyle refusing to back out, they probably wouldn’t have made it out of Horizons. And that was before Darren even attempted to figure out how Nyle had sourced that network chip. “And we’ll have a long discussion of how exactly you accomplished these things a bit later.”
“Aye, aye, captain.” Nyle mock-saluted and sashayed into the hallway.
“Howe, are we ready to go?” came Aiden’s voice from the kitchenette just as the doors closed.
Had Aiden been observing them? He’d finished eating by the looks of things, cradling a glass of water with both hands. Despite the food, he still looked a little off. Tired, yes, but also as if something was on his mind and he was doing his best not to think about it.
“Yeah, Nan’s waiting outside already.”
“Then what are we still doing here?”
Crossing his arms, Darren tipped his chin at the sandwich platter. “You looked hungry.”
“I could’ve eaten later,” Aiden scoffed, brushing past Darren. He marched out of the room and Darren had to jog to catch up.
“No, you couldn’t have, Kesley. You’d have probably passed out from hunger before we even arrived,” he argued, huffing air out of his nose. “When was the last time you ate?”Or slept,but he kept that to himself.
“Where are we going?” Aiden hedged, punching the elevator button.
The doors opened, and they entered. The glass walls offered a view of the maintained garden to the side of the house and the convoy of vehicles parked up front.
“Kepler outpost on the inner side of the asteroid belt,” Darren said, deciding not to annoy Aiden further by probing about his eating habits. He’d noticed though. He wasn’t sure how, but he’d caught onto the fact that Aiden was a little strange around food, more often than not frowning at his lunch rather than eating it.
“Then Sara’s hideout, I presume? Your contact will take us there?”
As much as Darren wanted to do exactly that, they couldn’t go there straight away. It was safer to wait for things to calm down some place where Marcus wouldn’t think to look. “No. It’s too dangerous to go there now. We’ll pick up some supplies, then hop back to this side of the belt and lie low for a while.”
Aiden pinned his gaze on the garden outside. Darren watched him as he seemed to analyze the reasons behind the decision. After a few moments, Aiden nodded. “Yeah, I agree.”
