Aiden swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly dry as his heart jumped in his throat. “Why? Because we fuck?”Was it so obvious? Did he care?
George hummed, the corners of his mouth crinkling up further. “Because you look out for each other. Despite the circumstances that… brought you together.”
Aiden gave the man a hard look. “What are you trying to say, Mr. Matsumoto?”
“Nothing at all.”
It wasn’t nothing, but Aiden didn’t want to press. What he and Darren had was still so very new and unstable and he didn’t know if he was ready to make it anyone else’s business. “Then, if you’ll excuse me. We have preparations to make.”
“By all means.”
Aiden marched off, taking the bridge elevator to the level below. He wanted some peace and quiet to study the layout of the facility they would be infiltrating, so he settled into the conference room. Sometime later, he popped out as his brain needed a break, noticing the only other door in the hall was open.
Entering after a soft knock, he found Darren sitting on the edge of the bed. The two Valrais crowns peeked from the open wooden box lying there, but he was oblivious to them as he flipped the chip containing Sara’s AI between his fingers.
“I wasn’t supposed to be the one making the decisions,” Darren said without taking his eyes off the small object.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you are,” Aiden said softly, walking over and sitting next to Darren. He grasped Darren’s hand and brought it to his lips, placing a kiss on the knuckles.
“It doesn’t. But it also doesn’t make it any easier.”
Darren had a responsibility that should’ve been Sara’s and he didn’t really know what to do with it. In all his years after the massacre on that night, he’d been living a different life, pretending to be someone else. He’d been preparing for this day too, but that didn’t mean he was truly ready.
“And it won’t in the future either,” Aiden said, tipping Darren’s chin up. “I know my opinion probably doesn’t matter, but I would’ve made the same choice. Fighting Marcus… I’m not sure if we can anymore. But if we built those drives and left this universe… then we wouldn’t have to. Marcus won’t pay for what he’s done and this world might never find out the truth, but we’ll save so many people. If we let him have what he wants here, we can build a life for ourselves somewhere else.”
A new start that they both needed.
Darren’s eyes entrapped Aiden with their raw fear. With their mesmerizing flicker of hope and the bottomless want. Some of it was for Aiden yes, but also for this to end, for Darren to be free of an enemy about to encroach on him and this time catch him. “What if he never stops looking…”
“Maybe he won’t. But he also won’t find us no matter where he looks, because we’ll no longer be here,” Aiden countered, kissing Darren’s lips because he simply couldn’t resist them.
There were things they would have to give up, things they would never know. Like the ES-1, why Claudia lied and what happened to Rick. But leaving this growingly hopeless world would give them that fresh start, a second chance to live freely and peacefully. To prepare, and maybe one day, if they still couldn’t fully move on, return when they were ready. Aiden hoped it wouldn’t come to it, that Darren would eventually let go, so his tragic past stopped haunting him. So they, and all their friends and allies, could build a happy future together.
Darren opened his mouth, letting Aiden in. He was hungry but pliant, following Aiden’s lead as his free hand came up Aiden’s side and then slid back down, settling on Aiden’s thigh. They kissed like that for a while, tongues chasing as they swallowed each other’s gasps, and when they came apart for air, Darren’s soul-stealing eyes left Aiden breathless. The lust in them mixed with affection, the combination potent anddevastating and making Aiden surrender even more of himself to them with every second that passed.
He tried to look away, but failed, their truth simply too mesmerizing. He took a shaky breath. “I should go—”
“Stay,” Darren said, stroking Aiden’s jaw. Pleading him not just with his words, but with his entire body and soul.
“Stay,” he echoed back and kissed Darren again.
