Chapter 39

Darren had just propped himself against the headboard and was about to put on a random horror movie when Aiden barged into his room without even knocking.

"Ai—Kesley?" he put the tablet away and perched on the edge of the bed.

He was just in his boxers and considered putting on a shirt, but he didn't get the chance, just like he didn't get to ask what Aiden was doing here. In a blur of movement, he was yanked up from the bed and shoved into the wall.

Aiden didn't say anything and just glared at him, breathing frantically. He wore a tight expression and his eyes were a little unfocused. He looked lost and angry, as if he had no idea what he was doing here… or what he was doing in general, but needed it to make sense. The frilly shirt Nan had given him had its two top buttons undone and his hair was damp from a shower. Copper streaks popped out here and there, hinting that he'd need to bleach it again if he wanted to keep the dirty blond color. For some reason, Darren hoped he wouldn't.

"I will kill you," Aiden growled, violence dancing in his eyes as they roamed Darren from head to toe.

Darren's hackles rose. He swallowed hard, his body picking up on the lust lurking in those blazing pools of hazel. It was there, intertwined with the need to inflict pain and hurt him, and it electrified him, kick-starting that want he fought every time Aiden was near him.

"You will, but not before we've dealt with Marcus," Darren whispered, breathing in Aiden's scent.

This time, it was mixed in with citrus, because the frigate was stocked with fruity-scented shampoo since Darren liked it. Normally, he didn't notice it on others, but now that he had on Aiden, the familiar pleasantness of it stirred desire in him, tricking his brain to think that if Aiden smelled like Darren, then Darren could have him. Could push him down on the bed and fuck him and make him forget whatever was causing him to look like he wanted to kill someone.

"I should strangle you now and get it over with," Aiden spat out, his chest rising and falling too fast. His nostrils flared. "I have nothing. Again. Because of you."

Darren felt his body react. Not just his dick, but his stomach, too. It squeezed and filled with nerves and anticipation and then that spread to his chest too, making his heart race and his skin feel too tight. Fuck, he really wanted Aiden Kesley. To fuck him, yes definitely, but there was more to his craving than lust. There was a primal need to simply have. To claim in a manner he'd not experienced before, to tangle himself with Aiden in more than just body and soak up that bottomless darkness so he could make it his own.

Darren held Aiden's entrancing gaze. The gold flecks in it shimmered in a thin rim around his dark pupils and Darren just wanted to drown in those depths, to forget for a moment who he was and just be normal. To give into the desire in him and use it to satiate all those emotions Aiden seemed to be warring with on the inside.

To let himself be devoured by this rampaging beast disguised as a human.

Aiden's breathing hitched. He was ready to strike. About to hurt and punish. The air between them charged with something heavy and enticing and wild as his eyes abruptly dipped to Darren's mouth and before Darren could even blink, Aiden melted the distance between them.

The moment he was within reach, his hand came around Darren's neck. Darren shivered, the contact rough but also thrilling. He felt alive in a way he hadn't before. Without realizing it, he moved. He brushed his fingers against the soft skin of Aiden's cheek, then traced Aiden's full lips. Aiden let him, going rigid and then leaning into the touch as his breathing became even more agitated. Darren's entire body lit on fire, and he surrendered to the delightful sensation, riding the wave of arousal that swept all of him in it. He couldn't resist, didn't try to, giving himself over fully to it.

And then Aiden annihilated his ability to think when he grabbed him and smashed their mouths together.

Darren gasped and opened for Aiden, who plunged his tongue inside on a moan, pulling Darren chest to chest at the same time. He broke the kiss all too quickly a heartbeat later though, biting Darren's bottom lip and piercing. Before Darren could protest, Aiden attacked his neck, licking and nipping. Darren threw his head back and let Aiden do as he pleased while his trembling hands focused on undoing the buttons of Aiden's frilly shirt.

He could feel how torn Aiden was. He had come here to hurt Darren. He was in pain, he was lost and Darren was the reason for it. But this… was stronger, bigger than both of them. They were powerless against it now that they were alone with no more masks left to hide behind. Aiden had fought so hard to deny it, to resist, and all that accumulated need was overflowing now, consuming him in the most beautiful way possible.

Once Aiden's shirt was off, Darren's hands roamed his chest, the skin there warm and stretched over toned muscle. He was gorgeous, not a fantasy in Darren's head anymore, but a breathing, living man whose desperation seeped into Darren and mixed with his own. Aiden wanted him and couldn't hide it, couldn't force it down or stop it, couldn't control it even if he wanted to.

Turning them around, Darren unzipped Aiden's jeans and shoved them down to his knees. His cock jutted out, eager and flushed. Begging to be touched. Darren wrapped his hand around it and squeezed, ignoring his own for the time being. Aiden flinched, his body resisting despite his obscene moan. It gave Darren pause, made him push Aiden away and seek his eyes.

Darren's stomach flipped when he found them. They betrayed the reason for Aiden's reaction. Confusion, lust, hatred, they all mixed in together to make Aiden's face even more irresistible, his darkness too tempting to stay away from when Darren realized Aiden had not been with anyone since Claudia. He didn't like to be touched, not casually and not in this way either. Darren had noticed the hints, but hadn't put it all together until now, and yet, despite this new revelation, Aiden had come to him anyway.

To hurt him, to end him maybe. But now he also wanted to have Darren. Because they were the same, deep down, both of them broken and lonely.

Aiden inhaled sharply, knocking Darren back to the present as they stumbled onto the bed. A hand grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled his hair, making him groan. Aiden's mouth was onto his then, forcing him into a kiss he couldn't resist. It was deep and dirty, sloppy, an intoxicatingly desperate chase of tongues neither of them backed off from even if it carried no meaning. Saliva dripped from the corners of Darren's mouth, and he swept it with his fingers when they paused for air, then reached straight for Aiden's dick.

Aiden flinched again, but Darren barely registered it when Aiden shoved his hand down his underwear and found his straining cock. He moaned in Aiden's mouth as they renewed the kiss, unable to hold it in. Aiden let out a gasp of his own in response and the sound reverberated down Darren's throat. It hit him in the stomach and made him even harder, heightening his need for this man who wanted him dead.

"Off," Aiden hissed, breaking the kiss for air, and tugged on Darren's underwear.

Aiden lifted his ass off the bed and let Darren rid him of his pants. Darren's breath caught. Goosebumps rose all over him as he drank in Aiden completely naked. His pale skin was flushed in so many delicious places, and Darren wanted to taste them all, to claim them and mark them. He had no right to act on these urges though, because this was nothing but a one-time exchange. It was transactional, something that both of them needed in this moment so they could deal with their demons.

Darren worked himself out of his boxers and leaned over Aiden, grabbing both their dicks. His eyes rolled back at the contact, and he trembled, absorbing the gruff cry of pleasure Aiden let out. He mouthed along Aiden's collarbone as he started pumping with his hand, little shocks racing down his spine with every noise Aiden made. That need which had no place here assaulted Darren from the inside again, intensifying when Aiden's arms came around him. Fingers clawed at his back, slender and rough, the urgency in the touch driving him mad.

Unable to take it anymore, Darren slid down Aiden's body and swallowed his cock to the base.

"Fuuck," Aiden moaned, his hips flexing as his hands grabbed Darren's head.

Darren let Aiden fuck his mouth, entranced by the tense expression on Aiden's face. A hint of bliss contorted the anger, faint but there all the same, and it forced Darren to remind himself yet again that tonight was about two men giving into lust and nothing more. It was a distraction, a momentary solace, before they were back to the messy world that wanted them both dead.

Darren grabbed Aiden's thighs and pressed down. He dragged his mouth up Aiden's shaft and after giving the tip one last lick, focused his attention on Aiden's balls and hole. Aiden's entire body grew rigid as if realizing just now what they were doing. Darren pulled away, his heart jumping and his pulse skyrocketing when their gazes clashed.

Had Aiden been with a man before, or was Darren his first?

Before he got to ask, Aiden sat up and grabbed his hair, dragging him up until he was straddling Aiden's hips. The press of Aiden's cock against his ass made him shudder, the fire in him blazing.

"Top drawer," he grunted, grinding against Aiden's dick.

Aiden retrieved the lube, popping the cap open. The spark of disdain was back in his gaze and so was the need to hurt, to dominate, to make Darren submit. And Darren, he could stop it. He could overpower Aiden and fuck him instead, make him forget everything that way. But he wasn't going to do that, because it wasn't what either of them needed. Perhaps his was a selfish reason, born from the fact that his heart just couldn't disassociate itself and pretend it could get a taste of Aiden Kesley and be okay after it. Such a thing was uncalled for, it made no sense, but it was the ugly truth all the same.

Darren grabbed the lube from Aiden's hand, his stomach squeezing in anticipation. He slicked two of his fingers and Aiden's dick, then leaned forward and inserted the fingers in his ass. He didn't get to stretch himself for too long before Aiden smashed their mouths together and pushed inside him.

They both groaned, deepening the kiss. At first, Aiden's movements were stiff, Darren doing most of the work, but soon that changed as he took command of the pace, fucking Darren with abandon.

"Fuck, Kesley," Darren whimpered, breaking the kiss.

Aiden's mouth latched onto his jaw immediately, nipping and licking and bruising. Looping his arms around Aiden's neck, Darren tensed his ass. It heightened the pleasure and ripped yet more moans out of them both, though Darren couldn't even discern which ones were his and which ones were Aiden's anymore.

Aiden's hands clasped Darren's waist, his thrusts turning hard and deep. It was like something in him snapped—whether because of Darren's teasing or because of how good it had to feel for Aiden too—and Darren could do little to fight it, finding himself now truly at the mercy of the man who still wanted to kill him. Every other glide had Aiden's dick somehow hitting Darren's prostate, and he was losing his mind from the onslaught of rough pleasure.

"Kesle—"

"Shut up," Aiden growled. He dug his fingers into Darren's sides and then one of his hands wrapped around Darren's neck.

Suddenly, Darren found himself under Aiden, flipped over to his stomach as Aiden rammed into him from behind. Whatever button he'd pressed seemed to have touched the darkest part of Aiden, the one that was pure violence out of control. It wanted not just to punish Darren, but to destroy him. And that was… fine. Darren welcomed it, embraced it, because he knew it too, its rage familiar and heartbreaking and so very befitting the animal-like lust that had possessed them both.

It reduced Darren to nothing but mindless need, but he found solace in that too, because Aiden was the same, here with him as he felt something other than utterly alone for the first time since the night his life as Ren Valrais had ended.