Chapter 11 #2
Claiming two empty stools and a glass of whiskey and coke each, they watched Raj enjoy himself in the company of two slender guys in leatherwear.
There was a lot of physical contact involved, brushes and touches and lingering glances, which told Aiden they had to act before Raj’s two new and eager friends had snatched him away to who knew where.
“Howe, look,” Aiden said when Raj went to the smoking area and left his two companions to grind against each other.
“Yeah. I see him.”
Darren chugged down the rest of his whiskey and led the way.
Unlike the bar and main area of the venue, here the music was a muffled buzz, making conversation possible.
A couple of tables and chairs were scattered around, and extraction fans littered the ceiling, while grotesque photos with ritualistic depictions decorated the black walls.
In front of them, people in groups or alone smoked while chatting, with only half of those discussions centered around the pictures.
Raj Leven was at the back of the room, leaning forward onto the edge of the bar counter spanning the left wall. He was smoking a lean cigarette while playing with the rim of an empty beer bottle. There wasn’t anyone else in his vicinity.
With a subtle nod at each other, Aiden and Darren approached him.
“Hey.” Darren slid next to Dr. Batbayar’s son, flashing one of his flirty smiles. “Having fun?”
“Hi, yourself,” Raj greeted back, his eyes doing a slow roam of Darren from head to toe. He moved onto Aiden next, repeating the same just as deliberately. “I am. And you two?”
Darren threw a glance Aiden’s way and his grin widened. “We are. Although…” He lifted his hand and tucked a stray strand of the man’s chin-length hair behind his ear. “We were hoping you’d join us for a drink or two.”
Raj regarded them for a few moments, probably contemplating whether to abandon the dates he’d already scored for the night. He seemed hesitant, so Aiden placed his hand on Darren’s shoulder, brushing Darren’s neck with his knuckles and offering what he hoped was a seductive curve of his lips.
“Perhaps we could have some fun in private afterwards,” he proposed in a voice hoarser than he’d intended. But the contact with Darren, the heat of his skin and the solidity of his body so close was bliss and torture, making him crawl with tingling goosebumps all over.
Raj’s eyes lit up at the invitation and he smiled impishly. He finished his cigarette and the three of them plunged back into the deafening club, veering straight for the bar where Raj ended up sandwiched between them.
Immediately, Darren got a round of shots, dunking one as Raj did the same.
Aiden followed suit, the strong alcohol burning its way down his throat and bringing with it memories of the night he’d gotten drunk when Marcus’ men had broken into his apartment and chipped him.
A phantom pain in his shoulder had him reach for it and rub it, and then he slid his hand down his arm until it rested above his elbow.
He was fine. The chip was out. The patrol at the Valrais Palace hadn’t noticed them either, so Marcus didn’t know they were here.
A few deep breaths later, Aiden reached for another glass, but Darren leaned forward and wrapped his fingers around his hand, stopping him before he’d had a chance to lift it up.
With a steady motion and without breaking eye contact, Darren guided the glass they were both holding to Raj instead, making the college student drink it in one go.
From there, Aiden took a backseat, watching the two men drink and flirt while he nursed a glass of water.
It didn’t take long before Dr. Batbayar’s son started slurring and swaying on his stool, his hands darting out to touch Darren’s face or neck.
In contrast, Darren didn’t look drunk at all, and in fact probably wasn’t, still slowly sipping his whiskey while Raj downed yet another shot.
Feeling it was time to get Raj alone and do the earring switch, Aiden draped his hand atop Raj’s. The man abruptly whipped his head Aiden’s way, his brown eyes sparkling with interest.
“I was thinking”—Aiden squeezed Raj’s fingers, leaning into his personal space—“maybe we should change venues.”
“Already?” Raj protested half-heartedly, one eyebrow shooting up. “But we were just getting started.”
“We can carry on at the hotel my partner and I have booked for the night. Or your place, if you prefer,” Aiden said with a bit of that authority he knew Darren liked. If he was lucky, it would have the same effect on Raj.
He caressed Raj’s cheek and dragged his fingers to the man’s ear, rubbing the small golden ornament. It was smooth, but bigger than it had looked on the pictures, and its gleam was dulled in the dim club.
“Mm, that we could definitely do.” Raj turned back to Darren with a wide grin, leaning in to lick Darren’s lips. “What do you say, babe? Shall we go over to your place and have some fun?”
Aiden’s heart did a flip in his chest and his stomach knotted when Raj dove again, this time for a proper kiss. He opened his mouth, attacking Darren, who snaked a hand to the back of Raj’s head and let him, all the while not taking his indigo eyes off Aiden.
It was like Darren was oblivious to the kiss and more interested in observing Aiden’s reaction, going through the mechanics of it but not really experiencing it.
Aiden shivered, his body suddenly too hot.
He averted his eyes, tried to calm down and reel in the budding desire, but it was futile, his gaze snapping back to Darren only a heartbeat later.
Those breathtaking eyes zeroed in on his face, seeking something.
What it was, Aiden didn’t know, but he saw when they found it, because their intensity doubled to a decimating midnight indigo that hijacked all of his senses.
Arousal engulfed him as Darren finally took control of the kiss but still didn’t look away, leaving Raj a gasping mess by the end of it and Aiden with his heart rate through the roof.
Because even if Darren was kissing Raj, it felt like the kiss was meant for Aiden.
“God,” Raj moaned, fanning his face. “That was hot. Do you always kiss like that?”
Darren’s eyes didn’t leave Aiden until Raj made a whiny noise and tugged on his shirt. “You’ll find out in a bit. Let’s head out.”
“Wait.” Raj halted Darren as he pushed off the bar. Then, licking his swollen lips, he tilted his chin at Aiden. “I want to watch you two.”
Aiden sucked in a sharp breath, failing to manage his reaction.
His stomach rebelled, part refusal and part anticipation, sending out conflicting signals to his brain and body.
Guilt, disgust, hate, want… need, scorching and shameless and merciless as it threw his entire being into sudden disarray.
He and Darren were enemies forced to be on the same side because the alternative was even worse.
Aiden wasn’t attracted to him, couldn’t be, not when Darren was the one who’d killed Claudia and broken his heart.
And yet… Aiden was drawn to him, craved him in some primal way he couldn’t stop no matter how much he tried.
Aiden clenched the edge of the bar and looked at Darren even if he was afraid of the things his face was currently betraying. But Darren’s attention wasn’t on him. Darren ignored him entirely and pinned his gaze on Raj in a tense concentration that seemed a little forced.
Bending down, he brushed his lips along the curve of Raj’s ear, making the man visibly shudder.
“How about I show you how I fuck him instead?” he said, placing a hand on Raj’s shoulder and squeezing gently.
“Hard, against the wall, so you can hear the filth that comes out of his mouth. And then”—he smiled and nipped the tip of Raj’s ear—“I’ll watch you fuck him, too. ”
Darren’s eyes cut to Aiden then, wild and burning, and Aiden stopped breathing altogether as he lost himself to them.
He couldn’t look away and so he didn’t, staring mesmerized at the man he would never have.
His body continued to betray him, assaulting him with pleasant shivers and hot waves of want until Darren showed mercy.
He wrapped an arm around Raj’s waist and walked away, letting Aiden swim back to the surface before he’d drowned completely.