Chapter 35

"Kesley."

Someone squeezed Aiden's shoulder gently, rocking him back and forth. The contact felt pleasant. Warm. Familiar in an unfamiliar way. It unleashed little bolts of tingling sparks down his spine that congregated in his stomach like a group of butterflies wanting to get out.

The hand shook him again, more insistently this time. Aiden frowned… Or thought about the act of frowning anyway. Had he fallen asleep? Surely not in the middle of a prison break.

The soothing contact vanished as the rocking stopped. He ached for its return immediately and grumbled a protest on the inside, but that was all he did, too tired to seek out the contact again and reclaim it. He just wanted to keep his eyes closed for a little longer, to enjoy the darkness his eyelids offered and not think about the mess his life had become.

"Kesley, wake up."

Darren's deep and husky voice made Aiden tremble. It was so close, so tangible, engulfing him whole. Caressing him. Then the contact was back too, the shaking this time a lot firmer, yet he still welcomed it, absorbed it, finding comfort in it that he hadn't expected. It lit him up and made him want to feel more of it.

"Aiden."

It was decimating, the potency of Darren's rumbly baritone speaking his name so softly. Fondly almost, as if there was no dissonance between them, no unforgivable crime, or history that couldn't be erased. And it did things to Aiden's insides that he had to fight to ignore. That he had to force down and deny because he didn't know any other way of handling such long-forgotten cravings.

Darren shook Aiden again and Aiden placed his hand atop Darren's to still the motions. "I'm awake, Howe. You can let go," he said, opening his eyes just as the shuttle came to a complete stop.

With a groan, he pushed off the cold glass and stretched as best as he could in the small space. His shoulder was still tender from the incision, but taking out the dislodged chip had eased most of the tension. His wounded arm felt mostly fine.

Aiden blinked a few times, bringing the world into focus, though kept his eyes anywhere but on Darren's face, unable to meet that haunting indigo gaze. As they waited for Nyle and Nan to get off first, Darren retreated as far back to his side as was physically possible, nesting both hands in his lap and fumbling with the gun they'd retrieved on the way out. Aiden could feel Darren watching him, but he didn't look up. He couldn't, as the pleasant hum that being touched had caused was still present within him.

"Alright, boys, your turn!" Nan said, waving at them to get out.

Aiden took her outstretched hand and stepped off the shuttle. "Where are we?" he asked, surveying the Victorian building and its armada of shuttles parked nearby.

"Nyle's place," Darren supplied from a pace behind him. "I need to make a call and you could use a shower and a change of clothes."

"And some food," Nyle added over his shoulder, causing Nan to giggle. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Aiden looked at his bloodstained and torn shirt. Darren was right. Nyle too, since food sounded the most appealing out of the three, especially with coffee being the only thing to grace Aiden's stomach since…

He frowned. He didn't know since when. But even that paled compared to how much he yearned for a warm bed and a good night's sleep, so he could forget, if even for a while, the life-changing truths he'd never expected to unearth.

The Valrais tragedy, Claudia's betrayal, Marcus' crime. It was all too much in too short a span of time, one thing after the other throwing his world into disarray without caring whether his exhausted body and mind could keep up. He didn't know what to think, how to feel except for lost, where to go from here. He just needed a break, a day where he could just sit down and process everything.

Yet, as soon as they entered the lounge and Nan turned on the TV, Aiden was reminded that his breakdown would have to wait. He just didn't have that luxury now, not when he was a fugitive on the run. A wanted criminal, according to the news, who'd murdered a pair of auditors for uncovering his theft of prison funds and then kidnapped an inmate.

"Wow." Nyle whistled, throwing himself on the leather sofa across from the screen. "They sure are quick to make you into some ruthless motherfucker, warden Kesley."

Aiden wasn't really a warden anymore, though. Hadn't really ever been or felt like one, if he was being honest. It had been simply a role, a costume he'd worn so he could get to Darren Howe and kill him. "Just Kesley is fine," he said to Nyle, looking around the room.

Like the outside, it followed classical conventions of style and colors, but even so, it was more opulent than tacky. There was an idea behind it, a theme, the golds and royal blues mixing just right with the whites, and the ornamented furniture complementing the carved wooden panels covering the walls.

"I wonder how long it's gonna take them to notice I'm missing," Nyle commented, propping his chin in his hand.

"They are probably going through the surveillance as we speak," Darren's voice boomed behind Aiden, reverberating through him. He turned around just as Darren bit into an apple. "Nan, can I get that phone?" he asked the short woman, who was piling snacks on the coffee table in front of Nyle.

"Of course, dear! Let me just show Mr. Kesley to the bathroom and find him some clothes. I'll be right with you," she said with a bright smile, meeting Aiden's eyes.

Aiden nodded and followed Nan to a spacious bathroom, slipping under the shower before the bathtub he knew he didn't have time to enjoy had managed to tempt him.