7
Darren
The lingering sensation ofAiden’s fingers made Darren’s body sing. He’d never known simple touch could elicit that such a pleasant reaction, but he also didn’t have enough time to ponder it right now, so he moved on and got up. Once he’d showered, he tossed on a gray shirt and a pair of black cargo pants, then slid into his combat boots. He stashed a gun and a knife in the concealed holster under the shirt and the dedicated compartment of the trousers, swung a black jacket over one shoulder and headed out of his room.
Aiden was sitting by the TV screen in the lounge, chatting with Kristen and Nyle, both of whom looked freshly fucked. Darren couldn’t blame them of course, what with how quickly the two of them and Bea had clicked, though he also couldn’t prevent the tightness in his chest their displays of affection caused every time he let himself observe their interactions.
Was he jealous of them?
Without a doubt. He’d fucked his share of men and women, hookups and one-night stands that had kept his body satisfied, yet that had only served to ingrain in him just how alone hewas. He always left right afterwards, didn’t linger, didn’t care to, finding someone new the next time he felt the itch to fuck. Something long-term and more permanent had never been an option for him, not when it required the kind of trust he could only give Bea and Liu. He couldn’t be vulnerable that way with anyone else, he couldn’t risk sharing his secrets and putting the only thing that remained of the Valrais in danger.
Until the man who’d spent two years doing the impossible so that he could get to Darren and kill him.
The circumstances leading to this very moment weren’t ideal. Far from it. But even back then, when he and Aiden had been sitting across from each other while the prison had slept, Darren’s gut had told him to trust Aiden. To take a gamble on a man with a darkness so alike his own. So Darren had gambled on him, ready to accept the consequences if his decision backfired, all the while hoping with his entire being that he’d made the right choice.
Darren looked around the hideout, then lifted his hands and studied the lines running across his palms. This was the proof. He was alive and no longer chained, about to embark on a hunt for mysteries and allies with Aiden Kesley so he could stand up to the man who’d taken everything from him.
“Howe,” came Aiden’s low tenor from close by, pleasant and sexy in its commanding tone.
Ah, how he wished it would beDarrenand not Howe. He wanted to call Aiden by his first name too, to be familiar and close enough so he was allowed to use it. It felt so good on his tongue the few times he accidentally had, but he couldn’t just ask for something like that. It wasn’t how these things worked.
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Darren lifted his gaze to find Aiden standing nearby. He was wearing a simple beige shirt, gray cargo pants and square glasses with thick black frames that gave him an air of scholarly authority Darren’s cock immediatelyliked. They were similar to the ones Aiden The Warden had worn and brought memories from their seduction games in Horizons.
Before Darren could get lost remembering those times, Aiden held a second pair of glasses. They were rectangular and with thinner frames, but even so, Bea had done an amazing job concealing the mod that would allow whoever wore them to fool both scanners and surveillance.
Darren took the pair and put them on, not missing the attentiveness with which Aiden observed him. He met the man’s hazel depths head on, expecting them to look away. Instead, they lingered, dipping to his lips for a split moment that Darren wasn’t entirely sure he’d not imagined.
“Darren,” Nyle singsonged, chuckling when Darren’s attention took a while to shift to him. “You still look half-asleep.”
Darren arched an eyebrow in challenge, still feeling Aiden’s gaze on him even if he was no longer holding it. “I still feel half-asleep.”
“There’s coffee.”
Coffee sounded great, but he didn’t think he had time to sit down and enjoy it properly. “I’ll drink on the way.” He went to the table by the TV, picked up the duffle and turned to Aiden. “Kesley, let’s go.”
Aiden grabbed his backpack from the couch, bid goodbye to Kristen and Nyle and followed Darren out into the hangar. They boarded the Maine and Darren’s nerves flared for some reason, making him antsy.
There was no going back now—he was really doing this. In the two years he’d spent in Horizons, he’d lost hope more than once, yet here he was on his way back to Earth after so long. He didn’t know what they were going to find there, but he hoped they could retrieve it before Marcus figured out they were making their move.
Except, for all Darren knew, Marcus could be one step ahead already, lying in wait for them to walk into one of his many traps. And this time—
“Howe,” Aiden said, his clear, authoritative voice hijacking Darren’s attention. “We’ve got this.”
Darren stared at him and squeezed the duffle’s handles, able to breathe again.
The elevator reached the main floor and Aiden walked out only to pause when Darren didn’t follow. He turned around and cocked an eyebrow, a small smile tugging at his lips.
“Are you going to stand there or… how about joining me for coffee?”
He didn’t wait for a reply and simply walked off, leaving Darren with his heart wild in his chest and his legs rushing to catch up.
