“Yes, before I had the pleasure of murdering my taste buds with this sad excuse for coffee,” the blond man argued, frowning at Bea.
Aiden watched the two bicker back-and-forth, the comfort with which they nipped at each other making them seem like long-standing friends rather than two people who’d been strangers until yesterday. Perhaps it was because of Nyle’s effortless easygoingness, or maybe it was the fact that they both knew they stood on the same side, something Aiden couldn’t say had been the case for him when he’d met the fiery-haired woman.
Shifting his attention to Darren, Aiden met the man’s intensive indigo eyes, the purple hues of them more prominent here in the well-lit room than in the dimness of Darren’s quarters. Last night, they’d reminded Aiden of the depthless midnight expanse that the universe was, but now, they were more like clouds of colorful stardust. Unwavering in their tantalizing intrusion that seemed to reach Aiden’s soul, they remained locked on him, contradicting Darren’s earlier disinterest and making Aiden look away so he wouldn’t drown in them. Fortunately, the viewport to his left provided a convenient place for his gaze to land on, presenting him with the ashen planes of the Moon.
Just like on Mars, gleaming domes housed the Moon’s cities. These ones were smaller, poorer too, reflecting the state of the economy, but just as fascinating in their architecture and engineering.
“When do we disembark?” Aiden asked Bea before his mind had attempted to analyze the GN’s preferential treatment of Mars.
“In about twenty minutes. We’ll stay docked for a day, which should give you plenty of time to take care of the shopping list and pick up Kristen while Nyle and I make sure we are all set for the journey back.”
“I’ll be the one picking him up?” Aiden sought to confirm, looking between Bea and Nyle.
She shrugged with one shoulder. “You and Darren. Unless you rather handle ship maintenance?”
Aiden didn’t really know much about ships. “I’m not sure I’ll be of much use with that,” he told her and put his now-empty cup in the dishwasher. He contemplated for a second, before adding in what he hoped came outas a half-joking tone, “I thought you weren’t letting Nyle anywhere near the ship’s systems.”
“That was before I told her how to program the rotating credentials,” Nyle piped up, beaming with pride.
“Yep. We are best buddies now,” she laughed, giving Aiden a conspiratorial wink. “We spent the whole trip here bonding over algorithms in his room.”
And he’d spent the whole night drowning in the man across from him.The fresh memories of their dirty kisses and Darren’s roaming hands, the heat of his body and the squeeze of his ass unleashed a liquid-hot wave through Aiden. It concentrated at the base of his spine, but he pushed it down, cut it off and his thoughts before they’d had the chance to spiral out of control and make him do something stupid like push Darren down and have him again.
Aiden smiled Bea’s way and focused on how strange her sudden friendliness made him feel. It wasn’t in a bad way, but he also didn’t really know what to do with it or how to interpret it, so he didn’t dwell on it.
Chapter 41
Aiden and Darren disembarkedthe frigate at Calisto’s spaceport and boarded one of the small shuttles parked up front. Darren flew it right into the heart of one of Calisto’s less popular neighborhoods, located in the part of the city where those with less means resided and where the tall modern buildings gave way to shabby apartment complexes and dirt-infested squares. But, on the flip side, it was also the place where surveillance was more of a myth than reality.
“Howe, do you know who we are looking for?” Aiden asked when they got off the shuttle. They were in front of a covered market on a busy street, hordes of people billowing around them.
“I do. But we aren’t meeting Kristen until later.” He held up the tablet with the shopping list Nyle had provided and cocked his head toward a congregation of food stalls. “Hungry?”
“Yeah, sure,” Aiden replied, realizing he’d forgotten to eat. Or well, he’d not really felt like it until Darren brought it up just now.
Maintaining a lazy pace, they scanned the various food options and settled on noodle soup. A friendly man in his sixties served them their orders, patting them both on the backs and thanking them for the tip Darren left. While they ate, neither said anything, which invited back thoughts of Claudia and the lie Aiden had been living for most of, if not all, his life.
It was the same questions again and again, whirling endlessly and demanding answers he didn’t have. Sometimes, like now, he managed to shoo them away, which made his mind move onto other issues. Like Darren. But unlike before, along with the monster Aiden had believed Darren to be for so long, now there was the other Darren too, the man who’d helped Aiden run away from Marcus and who’d opened his eyes to the truth.
Even if that truth had broken his heart all over again.
“Kesley, what do you think?”
Aiden blinked at Darren. “Huh?”
Darren placed his chopsticks over the rim of his empty bowl, giving Aiden’s still half-full one a questioning glance. “Should we get food supplies first or swing by the electronics place to pick up Nyle’s tools?”
Was Darren seriously asking that? Obviously, the food was to go last,afterthey’d picked up the tools and Kristen.
“Howe—” Aiden cut himself off as the reason for the pointless question hit him. It was a distraction meant to give him something to shake his head at so his thoughts wouldn’t consume him. It was a lifeline thrown to him by Darren, who had no obligation to do so. “Ineed clothes,” he finished on, his snappy scolding abandoned. “Then electronics, the engineer, and finally food.”
Smiling around the rim of his glass of water, Darren nodded. A lock of raven-black hair fell over his eyes. “I know a place.”
Once Aiden finished his food, they meandered further into the market. Glittering knickknacks and shiny jewelry alternated with cured meats and long-shelf food, then turned into second-hand electronics and even companionship services as they passed by colorful stalls and bargaining patrons. The crowd stayed thick here too, and the smell of sweat and fried foods permeated the air. It was the first time Aiden was seeing something like this, a place of commerce so different from the glass-front boutiques and high-end stores he and Claudia had frequented in Atlan and New York, or the online platforms he was used to on Europa. The chaos of it all was head-spinning, but not bad, and he stopped every now and then just to take in the fascinating buzz of activity.
“Is this your first time at a market?” Darren asked after Aiden stopped to gawk at a man trading a chicken for a used engine.
“It is, actually,” he replied honestly, studying Darren’s soft, nostalgic expression as he tucked his hands in his pockets and studied him in turn.
