Chapter 38 Aiden #2
“Maybe Nyle can figure out a way to let her into the network once we set it up?” Aiden offered after a moment of consideration.
There would be no danger to her here, no malicious agendas, so he saw no reason why she had to stay inside the chip if she could have access to everything instead.
Turning back to Sara, he smiled. “Darren and I will make sure it’s prioritized, but it might take us a while.
We have to build ourselves someplace to live first.”
“Nyle…” Sara echoed, bunching her eyebrows together. “Ooh, yes! I met him once! He’s almost as smart as me, so the two of us will figure it out!”
“I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear you hold him in such high regard,” Darren teased. He attempted to snatch Sara’s red hat, but she leaned to the side and avoided him.
“I’d love to get the chance to talk to him again,” she said, giggling and swatting Darren’s hand away.
The two of them moved onto the rest of the Maine’s crew as well as George and the people who’d followed them here.
Aiden mostly listened, fascinated by Sara’s genuine eagerness to learn more about them.
She found something to like about everyone, and when they got bored of sitting in the gazebo, she took them for a stroll in the gardens and the woods around the mansion.
They ended up at the stone chapel with the obsidian statue and its white raven and Aiden couldn’t help but be awed by it this time, too.
It was a beautiful piece of exquisite craftsmanship and it was a shame that only those who visited Sara could see it.
Unless… Could he build a replica in the real world? He studied the intricate design and smiled. Maybe not now, but he would be up to the challenge once they’d settled in.
Aiden and Darren kept Sara company a while longer.
By the time the fake sun was starting to set, they circled back to the mansion’s gardens and deemed it time to bid their goodbyes for today.
They would return though, and often, Aiden knew, the realization washing over him as he watched Darren finally manage to pluck Sara’s hat from her head.
They both laughed and then Darren gave it back to her, tucking her raven curls behind her ears.
“Don’t be a stranger, Ren!” she scolded, her hands on her hips.
Darren bent down and kissed her cheek. “I won’t, I promise. And I’ll talk to Nyle so we can have you join us outside as soon as possible.”
Sara bobbed her head, then hugged Darren and jogged over to Aiden. “Sir Kesley!” She narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger at him. “Or should I say Aiden! Thank you for taking care of Ren and making him happy!”
“I…” Aiden’s heart leaped, suddenly wild and full of joy.
He didn’t know what to say or if he could say anything, the flood of emotions making his chest feel too tight and bubbly.
He looked over at Darren, who had his hands in his pockets and was watching them without intruding, and he saw it then, how true Sara’s words were.
Darren looked happy, like some of that darkness no longer resided within him.
It was still there, Aiden knew, and it would always be, but Darren didn’t have to face it alone anymore, just like Aiden didn’t have to fight off his demons on his own.
Sara grinned, spinning in place and pushing her hands in the pockets of her frilly dress. “I like you! But Ren likes you more, so I won’t steal you from him.”
Aiden didn’t know why, but he felt like crying and laughing at the same time. “I…” He cleared his throat, taking a moment to let the truth of his next words settle over him. “I doubt you could… even if you tried.”
His rejection made her affectionate grin stretch even wider. “Good!” She hugged him. “And Aiden.” She glanced over her shoulder at Darren and lowered her voice, “Why are you still calling him Darren?”
Aiden expected her to elaborate but she left it at that and just hugged him again. They said their goodbyes, and she sent them off with yet another radiant smile.
The VR environment dissipated around them as they returned to the real world.
Disorientation made Aiden a little dizzy, so he didn’t rush to stand.
He removed the VR set and just sat there between Darren’s legs, feeling good and then even better when Darren’s arms came around him and held him close.
“I’d forgotten, and, quite honestly, missed how energetic Sara was,” Aiden ventured, her last question whirling in his mind.
“A force of nature, I know. The real Sara was just like that too,” Darren agreed, burying his head in the crook of Aiden’s shoulder.
He kissed the spot he liked to bite and then moved up Aiden’s neck, ghosting his lips along Aiden’s skin and sending shivers down his spine.
“Aiden,” Darren said when he reached Aiden’s tattooed ear, tilting Aiden’s head to the side so they could look at each other.
In Darren’s eyes, Aiden found that vulnerability, that raw and unabashed want, that need to claim and have and never let go.
“Sometimes, I wish you could just forget her. Claudia.” There was pain in his voice, sadness, though not because of his words, but because of that deep, primal desire of his soul.
“I… It is not fair of me to ask that, I realize it. What you two had will be a part of you forever. A fond memory that brings you no pain, in time. But still, I can’t help it, that wish in me.
It’s… I don’t want to erase her or replace her, that’s not it. I just… I want you to be mine.”
Darren’s words. No, Ren’s words, they were selfish and raw and desperate. A request, a plea, for Aiden to choose him and keep choosing him. To say it, so Ren would know it, so their new life could truly begin here in this new world.
Aiden had loved Claudia, but he was ready to move on, and maybe he had been for a while, before he’d even met Ren.
He’d just needed that final push, that reason, that proof that he could allow himself to let her go.
She’d betrayed him—whatever the reason—and he needn’t cling onto her memory and the anger anymore.
He’d found in Ren what he’d lost and more, because Ren was like him.
Broken and alone. He was the only person who could put Aiden back together.
If Aiden was chaos, then Ren was order within that chaos, a grounding force, a blazing fire in the middle of a raging ocean of ice.
An unequivocal rightness in Aiden’s world full of endless wrongness.
“You are right. I loved her and despite her lies, that will never change,” Aiden said, holding Ren’s heart-wrenching eyes.
“But… Ren. She is my past and you are my future. My heart”—he angled his body and splayed his hand across Ren’s chest, finding an erratic heartbeat within it—“I gave it to you on that day at the mansion ruins on Earth and I’ve never looked back. ”
The guilt and the feeling of betrayal had been the hardest to overcome. But they no longer tethered Aiden; he’d laid them to rest because he didn’t need them anymore. He was ready for a new beginning, and he was excited to have Ren by his side.
Ren kissed him, a gentle brushing of their lips that left them both smiling.
He stood up and took Aiden with him, then kissed him again, tracing his left earlobe.
“Can I have this side?” Aiden raised an eyebrow at Ren’s request, but Ren just shrugged.
“It’s silly, I know, but…” He rubbed the area behind Aiden’s ear with his thumb and his gaze turned wishful.
“But I still want it. A physical part of you, just like she had one.”
Aiden hummed, stroking Ren’s jaw. “It is a little silly, maybe. But… I’d like that too, I think. To claim a part of you that way.”
Ren chuckled and his entire face lit up. “I think I know which part I want to give you,” he mused, stepping away from the desk and giving Aiden a slow once-over.
“Oh, you got me curious now.”
Ren bit on his lip to stifle a laugh and offered his hand. “Follow me and you’ll find out.”
Shaking his head, Aiden placed his palm in Ren’s. “Lead the way.”
Ren took him to the medbay on the bridge level. He produced an inking kit from a cupboard and guided Aiden to the cot.
“I didn’t know you were a tattoo artist,” Aiden tossed, observing with interest as Ren prepared an old-style inking needle.
“I had a phase,” Ren said, amusement lacing his voice.
There was definitely a story there and Aiden’s curiosity demanded he found out about it. “A phase?” he prompted, giving Ren an expectant sideways glance.
Chuckling, Ren grabbed the needle and tilted Aiden’s head. “Yes, when I was serving. There was this fad at the time about old-school tattoos and I thought I could make a few extra credits,” he said, prickling Aiden’s skin. “Turned out I had a knack for it.”
“Anything else you have a knack for that I am unaware of?”
Ren hummed in thought as he finished the tattoo, then wiped the area with the aftercare gel.
“I’m quite decent at cooking, actually. Or was.
Bea can vouch for it. I also had a passing interest in mixology.
” He stepped back and took out his phone, snapping a photo for Aiden. “Here, I hope you like it.”
Aiden looked at the picture. He’d known from the strokes that it wasn’t a letter, so he wasn’t surprised to find a symbol there.
It looked a bit like a Chinese lantern, but he didn’t know how to read it, so he had no idea what it actually meant.
It was pretty though, and it made Ren look even more attractive when his eyes locked on it, so he decided he liked it already.
“What does it mean?”
“It’s my name. Ren. A lotus flower,” Ren explained, placing the inking needle back into its box and picking up the piercing gun from the second compartment. Along with it, he produced a thick platinum hoop.
“Don’t tell me you also did piercings?” Aiden shook his head, trying and failing to stop a smile. “And anyway, having all this stuff here… were you planning on this from the start, Ren? Despite my threat that I was going to kill you once we’d dealt with Marcus?”
“Maybe and… maybe. I, uh, was confident you’d come around. Eventually.”
Aiden laughed then, the bubbly warmth spreading from his chest to the rest of him. This side of Ren was new and oh-so-enticing, kind of charming and a little impish too, and it made him want to get to know it even more.
Eyes swimming with mirth and fondness, Ren gave Aiden the hoop and straightened up. “It has your name on it,” he said just as Aiden found it. Then he wrapped his hand around Aiden’s and guided them both to his crotch. “And that’s where it’s going.”
A surge of desire racked through Aiden. His curiosity, as well as some other places, were definitely on board with that. He watched Ren do the piercing and then he couldn’t resist touching it, but before things could get too heated, a call from the base camp interrupted them.
“Hey, Bea,” Ren answered, fastening his belt. “Do you finally need us?”
The Maine’s pilot laughed. “Aiden yes. You… not so much, I’m afraid. But you are free to tag along.”
Aiden slid his hand into Ren’s and led them toward the elevator. “Did you get the results from the area scans?”
“Yes. We’ve got a spot, so we need you to go with the terraforming team.
If everything looks good, the Head of Urban Development needs to give us the green light and a bunch of designs, and we can start building.
” Bea chuckled, and Aiden could hear the pride in her voice.
Did everyone suddenly know he was an architect?
“Last I heard, that post was reserved. You still up for it?”
Aiden pressed the elevator’s button and looked at Ren. The ear-wide grin on Ren’s face made his heart beat faster and a pleasant buzz of excitement spread through him, filling him with anticipation.
“Yeah. I think I am. We’ll be at the camp in five.”
“Great! See you in a few!” Bea cheered and clicked off.
As Aiden left the Maine alongside Ren, a swarm of nerves coiled his stomach. Could he really do this when it had been over two years…? He remembered a lot of things, now that he thought about it, but he was definitely rusty. What if he wasn’t up to the task of building their new home?
Ren squeezed his hand and took it up to his lips, kissing it. “You got this, Aiden. I know it’s been a while, and that maybe it’s a little intimidating to be thrown into this so suddenly, but you can do it. There is no real rush. And if you need help, then there’s plenty of that to go around.”
Aiden felt the nerves subside. Ren was right.
Aiden wasn’t alone in this. None of them was.
They were in this together—it was a new beginning for them all.
And while it was scary and filled him with some doubt, he also looked forward to what awaited them once they’d made a home on this unknown planet in an unknown universe.