6
Aiden
The scene in thelounge that Aiden walked in on after he’d caught some restless sleep was Bea with a glass of something—whiskey maybe?—watching Kristen slip his slender hand under the waistband of Nyle’s trousers. The blond was straddling him, grinding his bulge against that of Kristen, and dominating his mouth in a dirty kiss that had Aiden remembering the night in Darren’s quarters in vivid detail.
Aiden felt his ears and neck flush, but he didn’t look away, couldn’t, gawking mesmerized as the two men rutted against each other and made out. It was aggressive.Hot. And when Kristen’s hand moved inside Nyle’s pants across his ass and between it, a rush of heat slithered through Aiden. His heart started pumping faster and his abs tensed. He hadn’t really thought about the fact that he’d slept with a man, but then again, he didn’t really care about it much either, when the bigger shock was him being physically attracted to another person for the first time since Claudia.
Familiar anger bubbled up in him as thoughts of her flooded his mind.Why did it have to be Darren Howe of allpeople?He’d been the one to take Claudia from Aiden and yet Aiden was not only stuck with him, but also responded to him in ways he shouldn’t be.
“Morning, Kesley.” Bea’s greeting startled Aiden, pulling him out of his head. “I was just about to go get you.”
“Good morning,” he replied awkwardly, his eyes locked on her as she placed her glass on the breakfast counter and grinned.
Nyle whipped his head back and smirked, not bothering to stop the rhythmical motions of his hips. “Hi, Kesley. You sleep well?”
Aiden tried to school his expression into the usual neutrality he liked to exude, but wasn’t sure if he managed it. “Yes…” he said and realized he did feel somewhat okay. “Yes, actually.”
He returned Nyle’s smile and trudged into the kitchen space to pour himself some coffee so his still groggy brain could wake up. Once he’d taken a few invigorating sips, he crossed over to a free armchair and lowered himself to it, trying his best not to let his gaze stray off the two men’s faces. Or maybe Bea was the better option, because while she was grinning at him as wickedly as Nyle, she was at least safer to look at and didn’t conjure certain images inside his head.
“You said you were about to come get me?” he prompted somewhat belatedly, just now catching up to what she’d said. “Did you need something?”
“Didn’t see you when Darren briefed us earlier, so I’m assuming he didn’t tell you. I’m taking you two to Atlan International Spaceport, where I’ve booked you on a shuttle to Earth. Fake names and IDs, obviously, and I have a few props prepared for you,” she explained, cocking her head at a duffle bag on the coffee table. “Everything you need is in there.”
This was… certainly fast. Not that Aiden was complaining. The quicker they solved the mysterious discovery Dr. Batbayarhad made, the quicker they could ensure it wouldn’t end up in Marcus’ hands.
“Disguises?” He inclined his head at the bag.
“Sorta. It’s just glasses, but they’ll trick any surveillance or scanners, so make sure you wear them at all times.”
A stifled groan snapped Aiden’s attention back to the two men. With the smuggest grin on his face, Nyle took his hand out from between them, licked his fingers and wiggled his way off Kristen’s lap, draping his slim body across the couch’s armrest. His satisfied expression and Kristen’s blissed-out one told Aiden exactly what he’d missed, though he tried not to think about it too much.
“What do you think this discovery is?” Nyle asked as he crossed his hands behind his head and held Aiden’s gaze. The movement caused his shirt to ride up, exposing his waist where a flowery tattoo peeked out from the side.
If Aiden was being honest, he had no idea. It could be anything, including stuff he was sure he probably wouldn’t even imagine. But the sheer excitement he’d seen on the woman’s face as she relayed her news told him it was something as groundbreaking as the evolution sequence the Valrais’ head scientist had developed.
“I don’t know,” Aiden settled on. “But it seemed important…”
“I’d say more than justimportantif it’s part of a legacy that supposedly can help humankind evolve,” Nyle countered, clearly reaching the same conclusion.
“On that note, Nyle, Kristen and I will figure out where Marcus is storing the ring while you and Darren play detectives on Earth,” Bea chipped in. “We should have a location by the time you return.”
Aiden squeezed his mug with both hands. He hoped they would find something on Earth; if not what the second part ofthe legacy was, then at least a clue as to where they needed to look. And even if Bea had fake IDs and a way for them to remain invisible, they needed to be careful each step of the way so they wouldn’t tip Marcus off.
“Any progress with those contacts you mentioned? Liu’s people?” he put forth, wondering if Nan had already met with Rick.
“Nothing so far, but Nyle’s still searching.” Bea walked over to the two men, bending down to peck Nyle on the lips. She whispered something to him that made him flash her a scorching smile, and went in again, this time for a proper kiss.
Aiden sipped his coffee and couldn’t tear his eyes away from their interaction. There was affection behind the act, not just lust, and the same was true for her equally indulgent kiss with Kristen when she moved on to him from Nyle. This easy intimacy the three of them shared squeezed at Aiden’s insides, made him yearn for things he couldn’t have, and yet he couldn’t look away all the same.
Smoothing out her shirt as she straightened up, Bea narrowed her eyes at him. “I’ll get the ship ready, Kesley. You go and fetch our prince. He’s in his room, probably still sleeping.”
Our prince.
It was true, Aiden supposed, because he’d chosen Darren’s side just like the rest of them. Arguably, he hadn’t had much of a choice at all when he’d broken Nyle and Darren out from Horizons, but at the same time, Darren hadn’t made him lie to Marcus. It had been his own choice when he could’ve used the opportunity to come clean.
Still, he didn’t really see Darren like that. As royalty. Darren was Darren to him, a man with many sides who, despite trying to hide it, was just as broken as him.
Aiden watched Bea saunter her way through the training area and out the hangar doors, then he finished his coffee in onego and put the mug into the dishwasher. He left Kristen and Nyle to talk surveillance and systems takeover, and circled the Greek columns, coming face to face with Darren’s bedroom door.
