Chapter 2 Aiden #2
The three’s combined laughter rang behind him as he left them to their own devices.
The quietness of the empty hall engulfed him, persisting as he made it to his room and inviting too many thoughts in his head.
Some were of Claudia, some of Marcus, some of the lies he’d been fed by both of them.
Sara, the advanced AI based on Darren’s sister, was often on his mind too, and so was Darren.
He didn’t like to think about them together, to revisit that painful childhood memory Sara had shown him in the hideout, because the way Marcus had destroyed the siblings’ family always made him struggle to breathe.
A part of him wanted to forget all of this, to leave, but he couldn’t.
He’d promised Sara he would help—and Darren too, so he could kill him once this was over—and that gave him a direction.
A goal, something to keep his mind occupied now so the anger and pain he still carried in him wouldn’t take over.
He couldn’t let them go, he wouldn’t, just like Claudia’s betrayal and Darren’s crime.
They were two absolutes that Aiden clung to, because they’d remained when everything else in his world of lies had shattered.
Because if he gave them up, what would be left of him then?
Aiden reached for his pocket in search of the amber stone.
A bolt of sadness shook him. The habit still lingered, even if he didn’t have the stone anymore.
It was lost just like everything else from his past. Just like his name.
Aiden Gray didn’t exist anymore. There was only Aiden Kesley.
It was how the crew knew him, and he was okay with it, because holding onto the other Aiden hurt too much.
Besides, if nothing else, it felt like his own version of attempting a fresh start, even if sometimes it felt like he was just pretending.
He rubbed the area behind his ear, where the ‘C’ dedicated to Claudia was tattooed. It was the only thing he’d kept, a remainder of the love they’d shared, the only piece he couldn’t and wouldn’t erase. She’d had an ‘A’ done, a dedication to him that had matched his.
Letting his hand drop, Aiden tried not to go down that rabbit hole, not to think too deeply of those times where he had been both in love and clueless.
Where everything had been so falsely simple.
He focused on getting his room in order instead, needing that distraction in order to keep the anger at her lies at bay.
With the few possessions he had, it didn’t take him long to unpack, and soon he found himself in front of the massive media unit in the lounge just off the kitchen.
None of the games interested him, so he put on a random show and stared blankly at the screen for a while, speculating whether Darren was currently talking to Sara, unpacking or taking a nap.
“I didn’t take you for a fan of talent competitions,” Darren said from behind him, making the hair on his neck stand up.
Whipping his head back, Aiden found the other man perched on the kitchen island with an apple in one hand. It was a casual stance at first glance, despite his black dress shirt and formal slacks, though his shoulders were tense and his expression was guarded.
“Clearly you’ve never watched one then, Howe,” Aiden challenged, even if he’d never seen one either.
His words and the conversation they invited came against his better judgement, out before he’d managed to veto them.
They weren’t fully intended and were caused by an instinctual urge to alleviate the weight off Darren, even if that was something he shouldn’t care about.
After all, the level of courteous friendliness and the occasional conversation were a compromise enough and plenty to allow tolerable cohabitation, so, really, there was no need for Aiden to poke his nose in Darren’s business.
Except you can’t stop doing just that, even if you should, that voice he didn’t like to acknowledge whispered in his head.
“We can always do a talent show night and amend that,” Darren said wishfully, his face relaxing into a sad but fond smile that stole Aiden’s breath away and made him hate himself for it.
Mercifully, Bea chose that moment to appear, coming from the direction of the war room and saving Aiden from the explosive conflict he was about to face internally because of his warring emotions.
From going mad, from losing himself when he needed to remember not to despite this alluring side Darren sometimes unintentionally showed him.
When had she made it to the war room? He must have been more out of it than he’d thought if he hadn’t noticed her and likely the rest too come out of the bedroom and walk past him.
The meds were helping a lot more now than they had been while he’d still been chasing Darren, but he supposed they weren’t a magical cure.
“Bea.” Darren shifted his attention to the woman, who’d changed into khaki shorts and a loose white shirt. On that note, why was Darren so dressed up? “Is everything set up?”
“Yep, was just on my way to get you two.”
Hopping off the kitchen island, Darren tipped his head for Aiden to follow.
When they reached the space in the middle of the hideout, the two massive holoboard screens were on and filled with real-time visuals and data tracking the activity of space vessels in a radius around the asteroid.
The desktop screens on the table were on too, some running programs and others scanning through the heaps of pages on the web to produce output highlighted in yellow.
Nyle, draped sideways on his chair in front of the two huge screens, was typing something on a holographic keyboard while Kristen observed with genuine interest.
“Nyle, what have you got?” Darren directed at the blond as Bea claimed the free chair on Nyle’s left. Aiden sat next to her, though Darren remained standing by the edge of the section wall.
“I’ve got the perimeter monitoring system up and running, but I think Kristen might need to haul his ass outside and fix some of the cameras. A portion of the feed is a bit grainy and I can’t do shit from here.”
“I’ll make that a priority,” Kristen said, directing a nod Darren’s way.
Bea stretched her arms forward, then cracked her knuckles. “Have you talked to Sara yet?” she asked Darren directly, voicing the question that had been lurking in Aiden’s mind since earlier.
Darren’s face closed up a bit as he shifted his weight. “Not yet, but I plan to do it tonight. Kesley.” His eyes snapped to Aiden, a hint of hesitation flicking in their indigo depths. “Nan called me. Your friend has agreed to meet with her. She’s on her way, so we should have news in a few hours.”
Aiden squeezed his hands into fists in his lap.
Hopefully, it would be good news, though he decided it was best not to think about it too much.
Or the potential danger he was putting Rick in if he agreed to meet.
Perhaps it was selfish of Aiden to drag Rick into this, but he owed his friend the explanation he’d promised.
Rick had stayed by his side when he’d lost Claudia.
He hadn’t given up on Aiden, had always been there for him since they’d become friends back in middle school.
So, even if it had to be done over a call or via a third party, Aiden was coming clean.
It would give them both closure, if nothing else.
Besides, what if Rick was in trouble because of Aiden? What if something happened to him like it did to PI Deverson? Aiden wouldn’t be able to live with it.
“Bea, can you source a shuttle to Mars at some point?” Darren inquired, moving onto the next topic. “I don’t want to risk the Maine being recognized if I can help it.”
She tapped her fingers on the space in front of her, a holoscreen loading up. “You want to look for Liu’s people?”
“Yes. I’d like to reach out.”
She pressed her lips in a line. “I can get you that shuttle, but there’s no point looking for them. After Kesley showed up at Luna’s, I tracked our contacts down. Half I couldn’t find, and the other half were dead.”
Darren’s expression clouded, his jaw clenching. “Marcus…”
“Yep. That asshole has been hunting down anyone connected to the Valrais. It got worse after he caught you. I tried to warn everyone but…”
“Those you couldn’t find… They might still be alive,” Darren said after a heavy pause.
“I… don’t know exactly how many people Liu had, he never told me, but Marcus couldn’t have gotten to all of them.
” Pacing from the edge of the section wall to the holoborads, he shoved his hands into his pockets.
“We need to find them. If anyone can and is willing to help us, it would be them.”
Aiden considered that. Even if there was a chance that some of them were alive, there couldn’t be many. But Darren needed to start somewhere if he was to take Marcus down so the Valrais could reclaim their place in history. Even if it didn’t include an actual throne.
“Nyle, I’ll give you the list. Run a check,” Bea tossed at the blond, glancing up from her screen. “Maybe you’ll have more luck.”
Nyle bobbed his head like an excited puppy. “Of course. But in the meantime, if Darren is going somewhere, I don’t think he should go alone.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands behind him. “I’d volunteer, but someone needs to stay behind and run all this.”
“I was thinking…” Darren looked at Aiden again, his Adam’s apple bobbing almost inconceivably as he swallowed. “Kesley?”
A shock ran through Aiden for no apparent reason.
It made sense for him to go with Darren, because among the rest, he was likely the one with the most combat experience…
even if that only included his recent run in with Marcus’ henchmen.
Still, Darren’s words made his heartbeat just a little quicker and the self-deprecating protests of his brain just a little louder.
He ignored them both and nodded stiffly, causing a slight upturn of Darren’s full lips.