Chapter 19

The cell door creaked, pulling Darren out of sleep. He rubbed his eyes and craned his head over the rails of the top bunk, peeking at the wall clock. It showed ten minutes past three in the morning. Darren's heart jumped in his chest as he recognized the warden before Aiden even stepped forward and the emergency sign's green light illuminated his narrow face.

What the fuck was Aiden Kesley doing in his cell in the middle of the night?

Sitting up in bed, Darren inclined his head in a way he hoped relayed his question.His answer came in the form of a nod toward the door and an access card in Aiden's green-tinted fingers. Moving as quietly as he could to avoid waking Matt up, Darren climbed down the bunk and slipped out of the cell. Once he'd closed the door, he turned around and found the warden leaning on the railing, his gaze studying the silent mess hall below.

Darren stood by the door with his hands in his pockets. For a few moments, he tried to make sense of what was happening, but ultimately found himself at a loss.

"What game are we playing today, warden?" he asked so quietly, he wasn't sure Aiden even heard him.

Aiden spun around, shadows engulfing his face as the light from the windows wrapped around his figure, creating a full-body halo. "One that I'm certain you will enjoy," he said, then started walking toward the gate.

Darren followed. There were no guards at the usual stations tonight, and he guessed they were busy attending the health and safety training. The corridors were as dark as the cellblock, with only the emergency signs offering eerie smudges of red and green light every few steps. His and Aiden's footsteps echoed softly, but the quietness felt tangible, like a living thing around them. It set off shivers creeping up Darren's back. His stomach dipped, a bad feeling spreading out from it. His skin felt as if ants were crawling all over it, and it got worse as they passed the warden's office.

He'd assumed they were going there, perhaps for some fun while no one was around. But… he wasn't so sure anymore about the fun part. Or was he overthinking? After today… there was no doubt in his mind Aiden wanted him. But why hadn't he said anything about their midnight tryst then?

They turned right after the library, following the narrower hall that circled the entire cellblock. Eventually, they reached the set of reinforced glass doors that led to the newly refurbished game and field area. Darren couldn't hold his mouth shut anymore.

"I thought you said you weren't letting anyone out here until the checks were done?" he tossed as they stopped at the door.

"It seems I have a soft spot for you, Mr. Howe," Aiden said. He held up one of those blue maintenance access cards and the reader beeped. After a click, he pushed the doors open and a chilly breeze of freshly filtered air hit Darren.

Nostrils flaring, he inhaled deeply and stepped outside. Even though, technically, the air was the same here as it was inside the prison, it lacked the staleness and sweat and warmth of the interior. The expanse of artificial grass in front of him also felt impossibly vast with no inmates and furniture to trip over, and so did the blackness of space beyond the thick glass dome separating him from suffocation. Millions of tiny stars twinkled in the distance, past the prison station's gray exterior and past the renovated field and the angular stabilizing beams, all the way where Darren couldn't ever reach them. They belonged to his past, and he'd come to terms with that, though being here with Aiden Kesley in the middle of the night seemed to shake his resolve.

It made him wonder things. It made him question if giving up and forgetting was really what he wanted, if maybe he was done simply surviving now that he'd tasted what it felt to be alive again.

Thanks to this mysterious man who carried as much secrets and darkness as him.

During Darren's existential moment, Aiden had gone down the ramp and was ambling toward the Entertainment Unit, where a deliciously soft-looking couch and a massive media set were waiting under the green of yet another emergency light. The floor was carpeted there, though it reverted back to tiles beyond the game room and then changed to fake grass where the fields started.

Jogging lightly, Darren caught up. "This is impressive."

Aiden muffled a snort. "Of course. I helped with the layouts myself."

Darren's eyebrows shot up. "You did?"

There was an awkward pause as Aiden's jaw tightened slightly. His shoulders tensed, too. "It's… a hobby of mine."

Really? The foreboding feeling tugged at Darren's insides. He had no idea in what capacity Aiden had ‘helped' with the renovation—and why, for that matter, when wardens didn't typically have expertise in designing structures—but he had a hunch it went beyond a simple hobby.

"Is that why you brought me here? So we can talk about your hobbies?" he said instead of probing, opting for a flirty tone since he'd been given such an opening.

"What exactly are you insinuating, Mr. Howe?"

They reached the media zone and Aiden circled the couch, stopping in front of the table by one of the thick columns supporting the ceiling. He placed his hand on the backrest of a chair and seemed to space out as he stared out the glass enclosure protecting the station from the dangers of space.

Using the opportunity, Darren planted himself behind Aiden and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "That perhaps I don't mind partaking in them…"

Aiden's reaction was immediate. Goosebumps rose all over his exposed neck, and Darren, against his better judgment perhaps, ghosted his lips over the stretch of skin, inhaling Aiden's minty scent. Aiden's breath hitched in that startled way it did every time Darren made a move. His own nerves danced with excitement like they always did whenever he was in Aiden's company, sending a thrill through him. It ran deep, stemmed from something beyond simple arousal, but as usual, he didn't want to go there. He wanted to have fun and leave it at that, to forget all those things that plagued him.

Aiden's shoulders tensed. "Sit." It was the same stern tone from earlier, and it was enough to send Darren's senses scrambling as blood raced to his dick.

Flashing Aiden a flirty smile, he sat down on the chair by the column with the metal brace. He watched the warden's pretty profile as he contemplated something, lost again in his thoughts as if the fate of the world depended on whatever decision he was about to make. When he seemed to reach it, he turned around and held Darren's gaze.

"Lean forward."

Darren hitched an eyebrow but did as instructed anyway, placing his upper body on the table as Aiden brushed past him and moved out of sight. Long fingers ran across Darren's back, tracing his spine in the most tantalizing way, then slid around his waist toward his hips, making his insides flutter with excitement. Finally, Aiden's fingers reached Darren's hands and paused there, prying them open from the fists they had made. Darren shivered as he remembered what Aiden's hand had felt against his cock and then the next thing he knew, his arms were yanked back and cuffed behind the chair. His body jerked instinctively, not liking the restrictive position, but it only made the restraints tighten.

Heart rate elevating, he took a deep breath and tried to slip free of the cuffs again. He failed. Adrenaline flooded his blood, bringing with it the first tendrils of panic.

"What is this, warden?" he demanded, trying and failing not to sound like he was about to freak out. He really didn't like being tied up without a warning, even during sex.

Aiden didn't respond and when he came back into view, it was to drag a free chair and sit across from Darren. The playful mischievousness from just moments ago was gone from his pretty eyes, replaced by something dark and sinister.

Darren's stomach sank, the foreboding feeling surging through him like a tidal wave. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Aiden wasn't here for fun and games. He hadn't brought Darren here to show off the renovations.

It was something else. It was something that caught him off-guard, that made him replay all their interactions so far, every word spoken so far, every look, every smile.

"Darren Howe," Aiden spat out before Darren could make sense of what was happening. "Convicted for the murder of Claudia DuLaurent and Liu Zhihao, two years ago. Sentenced to fifty years of imprisonment instead of the death penalty."

Darren glared at Aiden. His expression contorted into something hard and hateful as he seemed to drop all pretense. What was going on? Darren's mind was struggling to catch up. He'd expected a night of fun where Aiden finally gave in, yet this seemed… anything but that.

Swallowing hard, Darren shoved aside the fear and the worry. Was this… some kind of a new game they were playing? Was Aiden a dominant? He considered that option. Yes, the warden's attitude implied the possibility of it, but his reactions when Darren touched him, the way he let Darren be in charge suggested otherwise. And those eyes… They seemed different. Even in the gloominess, he could see a spark of something cruel and detached, something icy like the tone with which Aiden had just spoken.

Something violent.

It enveloped Darren's lungs and squeezed them and invited something he'd not felt in years.

Fear.

"I see you've familiarized yourself with my file," Darren said, agitation making his own voice snappy.

"You are a monster."

Darren's mind whirled. He gritted his teeth, muffling his scoff. What was this? Had Aiden taken him here to lecture him about the crime he'd committed? After all this time? Why wait so long? Why pretend? What for?

"I've been called worse." Darren slumped his shoulders to mitigate the pulling of the restraints even if just by a little. "Why are we really here, warden?"

"I'm here to get answers and then kill you," Aiden said calmly, matter-of-factly. It was a statement said without emotion. It was detached. Practiced.

Darren hung his head back, closed his eyes, then reopened them and faced the other man again. Stared at him and studied every angle of his face, every plane, every feature, and in doing so finally cracked the reason for his familiarity.

Ah. It made sense, suddenly clicked into place. Aiden's face, his strange, contradicting-at-times but still so alluring behavior. And that haunted look in his eyes, the one that Darren found himself drowning in even now as the man whose world he'd ended was here to end his own.

He should've pieced it together. He shouldn't have ignored that little voice warning him to stay away. He'd never met the man across from him and he didn't know his real name or if this was how he really looked, but he knew now who Aiden Kelsey was.

Because there could only be one person who would come here to kill him.

Claudia DuLaurent's ex-fiancé.

"Is that why you seduced me? To lure me here alone?" Darren spat out. Aiden said nothing to that, his lips pressed in a firm line as the rest of his features let the anger show. "Not because you are just as attracted to me as I am to you?"

"Attracted to you?" Aiden raised his voice, his eyes blazing in outrage.

"Your body can't lie as well as you think it can, Aiden Kesley."

The golden flecks stirred in those hazel depths, burning with more hatred. "You are the man who murdered Claudia DuLaurent, my fiancée," he said with conviction. And pain and anger too, though half-suppressed like he didn't know how to fully let them out.

Darren's stomach knotted as the words confirmed his suspicion. It brought back the haunting memories of that night on Mars and everything that had led to it. He had tried so hard to forget, to pretend he was over it, that he'd given up. That he'd accepted his fate and made peace with rotting in prison until his end came.

"I could never be attracted to you," Aiden snarled, banging his fist on the table.

Yet part of you inevitably is. A part you don't want to acknowledge. And it's killing you on the inside, isn't it?"I see. So this is about revenge."

"No, not just revenge, Darren Howe. It's justice. My justice."

It was impressive. The lengths to which Aiden Kesley had gone so he could have the knife to Darren's throat tonight. So he could fix the mistake of the justice system and make Darren pay for the crime he had committed. But… Darren squinted at Aiden, saw the man behind that expertly maintained mask for the first time ever, and realized that Aiden wasn't here simply to kill him.

"That's not all. You aren't here just so you can kill me, warden, or you would've done it already."

"I want answers," Aiden stated, the intent to get them clear in his tone. No matter what it took.

Seeking answers from a murderer—what a silly thing to do. Then again, desperate men did silly things all the time.

Darren let his attention leave the other man and studied the many twinkling white specks beyond the glass. "What makes you think I will give them to you?"

"What reason do you have not to?"

Darren chuckled without humor as he shifted his gaze back to Aiden. "I suppose you are right. One way or another, that thing up there"—he tilted his chin up, realizing now what the loosened steel beam he'd noticed was for—"is dropping on my head. So, yes, I guess I don't really have a reason not to answer your question if I'm going to die tonight."

Darren's heart rammed against his chest. Electricity crackled along his skin and air barely made it to his lungs. It sucked, truly. That things had to end this way. That the one person who'd reminded him what it was to feel alive, to want to do more than simply pass time until the end came in one form or another, was the one man in the universe he had no right to want.

Aiden Kesley was his Grim Reaper, here to send him to the afterlife.

He didn't want to die. Shit, he didn't want it anymore. Any of this. He wanted to fight. He wanted to face those demons from his past and annihilate them. The spark of fire that Aiden had ignited just by showing up here had transformed into an inferno tonight. A blazing supernova that was burning him alive and fueling his need to keep going. To stay alive.

Aiden didn't know the truth. That was why he was here. The past held him hostage, just like it held Darren. It trapped him and chained him to that unescapable darkness. He wanted Darren dead for that reason, because he believed he could free himself and move on by avenging his fiancée's death.

Darren's breaths were coming quick and shallow, his heart and lungs straining to keep him from passing out. His vision blurred at the edges and his throat felt like a desert. Aiden didn't know the truth. He was here because he didn't buy the crap the authorities had fed the public. Because he knew there was more to Claudia's death. He was desperate, he was barely keeping it together, Darren could see it so clearly now in those crushingly beautiful eyes, in the way Aiden's body was always on alert, in the control he exerted just so he could function.

Darren inhaled, shuddering as his lungs finally got enough oxygen. His eyes darted from Aiden's face to the great darkness beyond the glass dome, then to the ramp and the flicker of green where the exit sign was. He was what stood between Aiden and the lies. He was the only person in the world who could give Aiden those truthful answers.

And he was going to do it. He was going to take this gamble and risk more than he'd ever risked in his life. He was going to give Aiden Kesley the truth that those who ruled the world had denied him.

He was going to trust that one man's obsession with revenge and answers would be enough to change the course of his fate.