Painful Temptations

Aiden didn't have any time to react before he was already entering the tent. As soon as they were inside, Derek roughly spun Aiden to face him with a concerned look on his face. From the second he saw Kain with Aiden, his mind was filled with nothing but worries. He had no idea what Kain wanted or what his limits were. Normally, he'd assess the situation logically but that wasn't possible with Aiden involved.

"What did he do to you?"

"Huh? Who?" Aiden was beyond confused at Derek's reaction.

"That man! Kain Grant! What did he do?"

"Is that his name? He didn't do anything. Why? What's up with you?" Derek's grip on Aiden's shoulders tightened painfully but Aiden didn't move or say anything about it.

"Then why was he so close to you and why was he holding your hand?" If anyone else had heard their conversation they would have assumed that Derek was being jealous. While Aiden did feel that that was part of it, and it kind of made him happy for a bit, he also noticed that Derek seemed a little panicked too. Because of this, Aiden tried to calm him down by speaking calmly and concisely.

"He offered me his hand when I was climbing out of the dunk tank. I only accepted to be polite. If you saw that, then you know I also pulled my hand away. I'm fine. I don't know why he stood so close. I can only assume it was some annoying aggressive flirting tactic. It didn't work in case you were wondering." Derek listened carefully to everything Aiden said. Then, he inspected Aiden's hand and, when he was satisfied that nothing was wrong, he sighed and let go.

"I don't know why he showed up here or what he thought he'd accomplish by approaching you but stay away from him. He's dangerous." Aiden raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Care to explain?"

"That's…" Derek hesitated to answer but gave up in the end. "I assume you still remember us…ahem, that night at the hotel, yes?" Aiden blushed a little.

"...I do, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, did you happen to notice…," he took a deep breath and looked extremely reluctant to keep explaining. "Did I seem kind of out of it to you?"

"Yeah you did but I was out of it too from drinking too much so I didn't think much about it at the time. I figured you were just drunk too."

"That's reasonable but I wasn't drunk. I was drugged." Derek went on to explain what he knew about that night's events and how it involved Lisa and Kain. He also said that he still couldn't track down the person disguised as hotel staff who left him in the room. When he finished recounting everything, Aiden was outraged.

"What?! You knew that Knox lady or whatever was part of all that and you still let her into your office? Why would you do something so stupid?! What were you thinking?!" Aiden then had a sudden realization. "Hang on a minute. If you were drugged enough to completely lose yourself like that, then do you even remember anything at all about that night other than what you found out afterward?"

"...No, I don't," Derek lied. All of his memories from then had slowly returned through random flashbacks and dreams but it wasn't necessary to tell Aiden that. Aiden felt a little irritated at that. How convenient for Derek to be able to just deny it. The more he thought about it, the angrier and more annoyed he got.

"I see." Aiden thought about it for a split second before deciding he wasn't going to let Derek get away with it. Throwing all his doubts, worries, and 'what if's out the window, he tossed the towel away, reached out to grab Derek's shirt collar, and pulled, forcing Derek to lean down. Then, he drew close to Derek's ear and whispered, "Then how about I remind you?"

"W-what do you think you're doing?!" Derek raised his voice slightly but Aiden didn't let go.

"Shh. You wouldn't want to attract someone's attention." Aiden took a step forward, not leaving a single inch between their bodies. With every word he spoke, Derek felt his breath against his skin. "Everything started when you walked out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel."

"Aiden, stop this." Derek gripped one of Aiden's arms and tried to push him away but he hardly used any force at all so Aiden didn't budge.

"Stop? I haven't even started yet. Isn't it annoying having a gap in your memory like that?" He pressed his fingertips to Derek's chest and forced him to take a step back, which caused him to have to lean against the table there. "After that, your towel fell off. I immediately stripped off all my clothes, bent over the bed, and with lust filled eyes, I begged you to f*ck me senseless with your huge, thick…" Before he could say more, Derek pushed him away with more force.

"That's not the way it…!!" Derek stopped talking when he realized his slip up and mentally cursed himself. Aiden gave an almost evil smile.

"Caught. You." His facial expression quickly changed to one that showed his displeasure at being lied to. "Well, any excuses?" Derek ran a hand through his hair and growled in frustration.

"...Fine! I lied, okay? What does it matter whether or not I remember? Nothing changes either way."

"Heh!" Aiden narrowed his eyes and frowned. "If it didn't matter one way or the other, why bother lying to me at all?!"

"I don't know. It just seemed like things would be simpler if I didn't remember anything. Neither of us need to remember since it's never going to happen again!"

"Well, part of you seems to disagree!" Aiden pointed down at Derek's pants which had tightened from his body's excitement.

"Shit!" Derek turned his back to Aiden and silence filled the tent. It continued until Derek sighed and mumbled under his breath, "...I wish it'd been anyone but you." Aiden's breath hitched and a stinging pain bombarded his heart. A lump formed in his throat.

"...What?" The word came out breathlessly. Derek's eyes went wide when he realized he had said that out loud. He whipped around and, when he saw the look on Aiden's face, his heart sank. The inner corners of Aiden's eyebrows were angled up and pulled close together. His eyes glistened with unshed tears and his lips were drawn into a tight frown.

"I didn't mean…"

"Wow." Aiden showed a sad but sarcastic little smile as he spoke. "To think I was that bad, huh? You'll have to forgive me, first-timers are usually like that." A single tear escaped his eye so he turned his face and quickly brushed it away. "You're right. Neither of us need to remember so feel free to pretend nothing ever happened." Aiden tried to leave the tent again only to be stopped one more time by Derek.

"Aiden wait, please! I didn't mean to say that. I didn't mean it the way it sounded. Wait…did you just say 'first time'?"

"Does it matter? What difference does it make? Besides, you can't talk about something that never happened so no, I didn't say anything. Now let go."

"Please, just let me explain."

"Explain what?!" Aiden furiously turned around and used both of his hands to shove Derek away. "Explain how you wish you'd slept with anyone else in the world but me? Explain how being with me was so horrible that you would rather wipe the night from your memory entirely?" More tears started to stream down Aiden's face and his voice cracked. "You've already made that clear...I don't want to hear again. I get it already so please just stop." Derek reached out, while Aiden was wiping away his tears, and wrapped his arms tightly around him.

"No. I won't stop because you don't get it." Aiden tried to free himself but Derek wasn't budging. Eventually, he gave up and that's when Derek spoke again. "It's true that I wish it hadn't been you that night but not for the reason you think. It's partly because it complicated things and created a lot of awkward moments but…there's another reason."

"Such as?" At this point, Aiden was desperate for answers. Derek hesitated but it was too late to turn back.

"The reason I wish it was someone else and the reason I pretended not to remember is because I was trying to forget and make things feel more, I don't know, platonic I guess. I just…I don't want to keep being tempted by someone I can't have." It took a moment for the words and their meaning to sink in. When they had, the sheer shock of it was enough to stop all of Aiden's tears. He looked up at Derek's face with complete disbelief.

"Huh?!" He had heard that right, right?