12
Darren
Dragging the delirious Rajto the hotel wasn’t particularly difficult.
“God, I can’t wait to see you two fuck,” he drawled, eyes glassed over and words slurry. “You are…” He fanned himself. “I can feel it you know. How much you want each other.”
Darren shivered just from the memory of how Aiden’s body had felt against his on the night they’d shared. He glanced Aiden’s way, his pulse skyrocketing at the intensity in that hazel gaze as it watched him guide the drunk man to the bedroom.
He craved the intimacy with every fiber of his body, but he had no right to it. Maybe he could convince Aiden to have sex with him, but he didn’t care about mindless pleasure. He wanted more than that and such wants simply had no place here.
As if to support that, the moment Darren pushed Raj onto the bed, the man was out, making the switch of the earring even easier and eliminating any need to put on a sexy show. Still, Darren’s hand trembled as he took out the small ornament. It was sleek and smooth, its golden glint prominent here in the well-lit room. If they were right, it also held so much powerdespite its tiny form, and that power was now where it was meant to be—in the hands of a Valrais and safe from Marcus…all thanks to Aiden.
Nerves on the edge, Darren tried and failed not to think about the way Aiden had looked in the club. The way those gorgeous eyes had lit up with profound want. The way Aiden’s entire demeanor had oozed it was now etched into his mind. It had taken him everything not to shove Raj away and claim the lips he dreamed of so often.
Just remembering that open, unguarded expression now had his cock go semi-hard.Fuck. He had it bad. Worse than he’d suspected. Being stuck alone with Aiden was both a curse and a blessing and so was Aiden’s diminished animosity, even if he couldn’t be sure whether it was only outward or ran deeper. He hoped for the latter, but tried not to acknowledge it, not needing yet one more reason to crave Aiden’s company.
Darren glared at the star earring in the middle of his open palm and sighed. He placed a bottle of water on the nightstand, adjusted himself, and waited until his body had calmed down before shuffling into the other room. Sat at the marble breakfast counter, Aiden was fiddling with his tablet and Nyle’s hacking device, likely setting the connection up so that they could confirm or deny the existence of a data chip inside the earring.
Claiming the chair next to him, Darren handed him the small ornament. He watched Aiden’s slender fingers rub and prod it, though his mind kept replaying the heated, almost fully-black gaze from the club that had stayed transfixed on him as he’d plundered Raj’s mouth. It had been shivers-inducing, but it had also paled in comparison to the desperate, unhinged desire pouring off Aiden when Darren had said he’d fuck him.
Darren pulled on his lip piercing, and swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. They’d not said a word to each other in the car, Darren too busy charming Raj and Aiden playing with the strapsof his pants as he’d stared out of the window. Somehow, and despite their proximity, they’d both remained focused on the mission, though Darren hadn’t missed the way Aiden had been buzzing, tightly wound and affected by what had happened even if he’d done his best to appear otherwise.
And that was still true now, in this very moment, as they sat next to each other poking at an earring that could change the world.
“Howe,” Aiden all but hissed, evidently still on edge and not in full control of himself. He aimed an over-the-shoulder scowl at Darren.
Darren narrowed his eyes, goosebumps dotting his neck. What would Aiden do if Darren extended a hand and hooked a finger under his chin? Tipped it up so he could lick his way along those plump lips? Nipped the smooth curve of Aiden’s jaw, then dove in for a ravaging kiss, not letting off until Aiden was heaving and breathless?
A need to devour Aiden rose up in Darren, making his throat constrict and his pulse thrum even louder in his ears. But he couldn’t act out the fantasies, yet he couldn’tnotdo anything either, so he placed his hand on Aiden’s shoulder and squeezed gently like he had in the Palace Labs. The simple touch released an euphoric hum within him and his awareness narrowed down to Aiden, who now had a mix of clashing emotions on his face. It was captivating, the way Aiden looked like he wanted to push him away, yet also to pull him in closer.
Blinking slowly, Aiden let himself welcome the touch for a single heartbeat, then let out a shuddering exhale and pressed his lips in a line. Turning away from Darren, he tilted the tablet up and pressed on some button.
“Howe,” he said, this time with less hostility, which gave Darren confidence to knead Aiden’s stiff shoulder.
“Did you find a data point?” Darren asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
“Mm…” Aiden let out another heavy sigh and, a second later, Darren felt him relax a tiny bit. “I believe I have,” he replied, loading up a 3D wireframe of the star and zooming in on a spot under one of its vertices. He stretched his neck, not displacing Darren’s hand.
Lately, it had started to feel like Aiden was growing used to being touched by Darren, allowing more of what Darren suspected he knew wasn’t just casual contact. It had never been that, not before, and certainly not now. The way Aiden responded, melting at the caresses, gave Darren the impression that he enjoyed it, craved it even, to the point where he was becoming unable to pull away like he’d managed to do at the start. Perhaps it was nothing but a side effect of their current arrangements, an extension of their civil cohabitation, or maybe it was more, a slow, gradual descent into something that Darren chose not to label so he wouldn’t lose his mind.
Whatever it was though, he welcomed the shift in Aiden, because to him, it was already a compulsion, anaddiction, a fundamental need to be near Aiden and touch him.
“But I can’t connect and access whatever is inside,” Aiden said when Darren peeked up from the tablet.
Darren pressed his fingers a little harder, trying to work out a knot. “The same issue we ran into with the ring?” he asked as Aiden muffled a groan.
“Y-yes.”
A tinge of annoyance tainted the enjoyment Darren was getting out of being allowed to massage Aiden’s shoulders. If they couldn’t connect to the earring’s chip, they couldn’t find out what was inside, which in turn meant they wouldn’t be able to confirm it was the legacy until they got back to the hideout and had Nyle look at it. But if the method of securing it was so similarto the rings, chances were it was indeed what they were looking for.
And because of Aiden, it was now in their possession.
Darren’s stomach twisted into a knot of its own, fluttering as if overrun by hundreds of butterflies. “I think this might be it… Thank you, Kesley,” he said, meaning every word.
Aiden whipped his head to the side, surprise etched into his every feature. A small but genuine smile lifted the corners of his lips and gold-tinted excitement danced in his soul-stealing eyes.
“Yeah… Yeah. I think so, too,” he muttered, losing some of that spark. “This leaves… the ring in Marcus’s possession.”
