“Almost nine in the evening.”
This meant he’d slept for more than seven hours, which didn’t really surprise him given how little shut eye he’d been able to catch in the past couple of weeks. From what he could see in the dim room, Aiden looked slightly better rested too, his hazel eyes shimmering under a streak of streetlight seeping in through the open balcony door.
Darren sat up, electricity skittering along his neck and down his back. The tension in the air was perceptible like the stuffiness before a summer storm and it wasn’t only because of their impending mission.
“Have you been up for long?” He stood up, letting go of Aiden’s hand. As small and casual as the contact had been, he still felt the loss of it.
Aiden shook his head, staring at his hand. “Maybe an hour at most.”
“Anything from Nyle?”
“No. Nothing new about the warehouse, but… he’s reached out to someone from a forum he’s been lurking in. They haven’t replied yet, but hopefully he’ll get a response by the time we are back.”
Darren hadn’t been counting on any new information about Marcus’ warehouse, so the lack of it was nonconsequential for their plan. Nyle’s progress on Liu’s people, however, was awelcome development. Things hadn’t worked out with Gripwich, but this time he hoped luck would be on their side.
“We’ll get to them first this time,” he said and stretched, his shirt riding up his stomach and causing Aiden’s gaze to dip lower. It grew a little darker, filling Darren with want, but they didn’t really have time to indulge in each other right now, so he stifled the need to push Aiden down on the couch. “And the earring’s data?”
Aiden smiled. “It seems like Kristen’s run into some issue, so he’s enlisted Sara’s help. I’m sure the two of them will figure it out.”
Fully awake now, Darren went to Sammy’s bedroom and started changing into the work uniform used at the warehouse. He was ready first and helped Aiden into the gray overalls that belonged to Danny. On his slender build, they were a little baggier, but that did nothing to decrease his appeal or prevent Darren from kissing him as they made their way to the kitchen for coffee. Pushing Aiden against one of the counters, he propped one leg between Aiden’s and caged him with both arms. Aiden didn’t resist, snaking his hands up to Darren’s flanks as he opened his mouth and let Darren plunder it.
“I can’t get enough of kissing you,” Darren muttered as they broke for air, letting Aiden tongue his lip piercing.
Aiden’s gold-flecked eyes snapped to his. The heat in them went straight to his cock and he grunted as he rubbed it against Aiden’s thigh. Aiden made a whiny noise as his own erection found some friction, but he too didn’t try to take things further, pulling away at the same time Darren did.
“Have you eaten anything?” Darren asked, grabbing a cup and filling it with coffee.
Aiden threw him a sidelong look. “I don’t think I could, even if I felt like it.”
The knot of nerves in his own stomach made Darren doubt he could either, so he decided not to insist on food for now. They could pick something up on the way back to the Maine after they’d retrieved Sara’s ring.
“I wouldn’t mind stopping by a barbecue place after…” Aiden put forth, clearly on the same page. “We could pick something for the rest as well.”
The way Aiden saidwehad that warm sense of belonging worm its way back into Darren’s chest. It overwhelmed him and he didn’t know what to do about it and so he reached out and covered Aiden’s hand with his. The contact grounded him, made all those feelings that wanted to flood out of him bearable.
“Barbecue sounds good,” he agreed and squeezed Aiden’s fingers before letting go so they could finish their coffees.
Thirty minutes later, they boarded the warehouse shuttle from the shuttle stop a few blocks away. It took them to the industrial ward of Atlan and dropped them off at the facility’s automated security checkpoint, which the rest of the night shift was slowly trickling through. Queuing up behind a woman that loomed a few inches above both of them, Darren scoped their surroundings, recognizing most of the staff from the files they’d obtained from Tim. When it was his turn at the scanner, he looked at the camera without removing his glasses, tensing only for the couple of seconds it took the device to check him and play the confirmation beep.
Aiden was next, and he too breezed through security with no one being the wiser. The two of them knew the layout of the site and inner building by heart, so it wasn’t hard to blend in with the rest as they ambled toward the offloading zone where Sammy and Danny usually worked. A woman in her sixties with an immaculately styled bob cut who Darren recognized as Mariam Green even stopped them to chat, praising them both for being on time for once, before proceeding to cheerfullyboast about her daughter’s academic achievements. The passion with which she spoke reminded Darren of Nan’s fondness for Nyle and he let her blabber on, smiling discreetly when Aiden encouraged her with probing questions.
“You two are really giving it your best today.” Mariam sniggered once they’d taken care of the first cargo load. “What have you done to the real Sammy and Danny?”
Aiden stiffened at the comment, and Darren wasn’t far behind either. If she worked with the two men on a regular basis, then chances were she knew them well enough to be able to tell that the people she’d been working alongside for the past two hours were neither of them.
“Nothing,” Darren chuckled, waving her off.
Straightening her back, Mariam cast her gaze across the expanse of conveyer belts carrying square crates and packages from the offloading point on the level below to a system of openings along the inner wall. The rest of the interior was made up of looming steel beams interspersed with racks of stacked crates and boxes that Darren assumed were used to store whatever cargo didn’t immediately leave the warehouse.
Mariam noted something down on her tablet and squinted at Darren. “No, no. There is something different about you today,” she insisted, scanning him from head to toe. When she’d done it twice, she clapped her hands. “Oh, I got it! It must be this new hairdo, I bet. It really opens up your face. And it’s an attractive one, let me tell you.”
Shaking his head, Darren played along, feeling Aiden’s amused gaze even if he had his back to the man. “What can I say? I thought I’d finally put myself out there a bit.”
“Then maybe I should have you meet my Ana,” she said, leading them to a control terminal.
“If she is as lovely as you are, I’d be more than happy to oblige.”
“Oh, you.” Mariam smacked Darren gently on the back and keyed in a few commands on the console’s screen, letting through the next batch of containers.
