Chapter 13
MALCOLM
We’ve hit the thirty-six-hour mark since Lucy and three other children were taken from the grounds of their elementary school. There’s been a lot of news coverage, pleading, a candlelight vigil last night, and searching.
Kairo ‘questioned’ two separate men who have been seen with the van in the past several months.
Both of which ended up beaten to death. The first by Kairo.
The second, Kairo didn’t deliver the killing blow, but I imagine that’s because his fist hurt.
His hand was all bruised and swollen when we left the room, and it took me a bit to convince him to put some ice on it.
In the end, both the men they tracked down were nothing more than someone who fills the fuel in the van.
One of the women on Kairo’s crew determined that those filling the fuel tanks are designated for that purpose alone, and it’s for this very reason—the people actually using the van now don’t have their faces on gas station cameras.
This is obviously personal for Kairo. He’s afraid and desperate, yet he refuses to talk to his family.
I asked two more times after the first suggestion, and he outright refused.
In fact, those are the only times he’s gotten snippy with me since I arrived.
I’ve managed to break down his walls enough that I don’t see that side of him.
Although since Maria pleaded for help, I’ve seen another side of Kairo. This one is focused, confident, and angry, but not in the same loud, prickly way. He very clearly cares about Lucy and wants to find her. He’s pulling out all the stops.
Except for asking his family for help.
I close my eyes and turn my face up into the spray of the hot water as I consider how to convince him to at least call Voss. He doesn’t have to call Jalon. It’s Voss’ expertise he needs anyway.
We’re at Kairo’s apartment. Honestly, I’m not sure how I managed to convince him to come back here. There’s a chance it wasn’t me who did it. Probably Carlotta.
With a heavy sigh, I step out of the shower and dry off. The apartment is quiet. Kairo’s bedroom is deep enough in the apartment, not facing a busy street, that none of the city noise bleeds through the windows.
Stepping into the bedroom, I find Kairo splayed out on the bed, fast asleep. I watch him for several minutes. His eyebrows are puckered, creating creases in his forehead. His short hair is messy. His facial hair is somehow messy. His jaw works in his sleep, like he’s grinding his teeth.
There’s no peaceful sleep for this man. Not right now.
I grab my phone from the dresser and walk out of the room, uncaring that I’m naked. On my way to the farthest corner of the apartment, I dial Voss. It’s almost midnight. Which means I’m not in the least bit surprised when he answers groggily.
“Malcolm?”
I snort. It sounds like he took the letters of my name and tossed them in a salad bowl. Whatever came out all jumbled up is how he managed to say some weird version of my name.
“Voss,” I greet. “I’m sorry for calling so late. I need some help.”
“Uncle Kairo?” he asks, a little more lucidly.
Glancing in the direction of the bedroom, I shake my head.
“No. Listen.” I give him a rundown of what we’ve been going through over the last day and a half.
The two men we had in our hold. The information Maria managed to learn from other parents, teachers, and spectators, including a few additional clips.
The license plate that isn’t registered to anyone.
“Too much time has gone by,” I say. “We need help.”
“Send me what you have. I’ll head to the office now.”
“Thanks. Voss, if you find anything, don’t call Kairo. Call me.”
Voss sighs. “Will do, Malcolm.”
“Thanks.”
Ending the call, I forward everything that I have on my phone to Voss and then head back to the bedroom. Kairo may be angry if Voss finds something, but I’m hoping whatever Voss finds will lead us to Lucy. While she’s still alive and able to be found.
Kairo hasn’t moved in the short time I was out of the room. Chuckling under my breath, I climb onto the bed and unbutton his shirt. His eyes crack open, though he otherwise remains motionless.
“Time to get comfortable. Do you sleep in your underwear, naked, or in specific clothes?” I ask, keeping my voice quiet.
He grunts. “Don’t care.”
Kairo doesn’t try to work with me. He stays boneless as I undress him down to his underwear, pull him to the pillows, and get him under the blankets. Once he’s tucked in, I climb off the bed.
“Malcolm?”
I turn to look at him, but he disappears almost entirely under the stack of blankets. It makes me smile. “I’m grabbing some water. I’ll be right back.”
His quiet sigh reaches me, and I leave the room with a smile.
Like every other building I’ve been in owned by a Van Doren, the cabinets are filled with various Van Doren drinkware, including no less than a dozen different options of refillable water bottles.
I grab two and fill them by the filtered waterspout in the fridge.
Setting the drinks on the nightstand, I climb into bed with Kairo. His eyes open a slit as he looks at me and sighs heavily. I brush my fingers across his lips before pulling him into my chest.
“Jus’ ten minutes,” he mumbles.
I don’t argue with him. However, I’m not going to let him leave even if he wakes up in ten minutes. He’s exhausted and needs to sleep. He’s doing no one any good being this tired.
I love the way he melts into my arms, but he doesn’t fall asleep. I feel him fidget and twitch often.
“What’s wrong?” I ask after a while.
“I need to get back to looking for her,” he says quietly.
“You think you’re doing anyone any good with a sleep-deprived brain, Kairo?”
He doesn’t answer for several minutes. “I’m scared we’re not going to find her.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to remind him that he has untapped resources—Voss. But I don’t. Not this time. I called Voss myself.
“Your crew hasn’t clocked off, have they?” I ask. “They’re on rotation as they look for her right now, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s exactly what needs to happen.”
“What if we don’t find her?” he asks quietly.
“That was a big promise to make.”
“I know. I’m not sure if I made it to Maria or myself,” Kairo admits. “She isn’t my little girl, but I’ve spent so damn long taking care of them both that this feels personal. Because of her, I’ve started some big side quests in Chicago. Those two have changed my life. Now someone stole her and—”
His voice cracks, so his words cut off.
I roll so I’m lying more fully on top of him.
My weight makes him exhale forcefully, but he also clings to me a little tighter.
“We’re going to do everything we can to find Lucy and the other children, Kairo.
You need to be rested and alert when we do find her.
Otherwise, you’re going to be more of a hindrance than a help. You understand that, don’t you?”
Kairo’s frustrated huff makes me smile. His body relaxes under me. Reluctantly. He doesn’t want to give in, but he’s fucking exhausted. There’s no one harder on Kairo than Kairo himself.
“Sleep, baby girl,” I murmur, pressing a kiss just below his ear. “We’ll hear our phones if someone calls.”
He doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t argue either. I don’t fall asleep as quickly as he does. Probably because I’m attuned to him and listening to his breathing. Feeling his muscles slowly release the tension he’s holding. When I’m convinced that he’s asleep again, I allow myself to sleep too.
At some point while we slept, my hand gripped his.
Our fingers laced together. When I wake up, it’s to see Kairo staring at our linked hands.
He’s still trapped under me, and somehow he hasn’t reclaimed the tension he’d been feeling over the last nearly two days.
The sun is coming up now, painting the room in a gray light.
I press a kiss to his jaw, and Kairo turns his head. We’re lying in such a way that we’re too close to lie face to face now. He can’t turn his head completely to meet my eyes. His hand flexes in mine.
“We should get up,” Kairo says quietly.
I nod but don’t move. “That what you want to do right now?”
Kairo exhales slowly. “I want you to fuck me right now,” he says, almost too quietly to hear.
Grinning, I suck lightly on his neck, earning myself a shiver. I’m rewarded by his quiet, “I want you to fuck away my fear and frustration.”
“Such a good boy,” I murmur. Keeping our linked hands together, I adjust my position on him so I can use my other hand instead. Running down his nearly naked body until I reach his underwear. I didn’t bother to put any on when I got out of the shower, so his is the only barrier between us.
With a quick kiss to his lips, I push myself up to get him out of his underwear.
I’m nearly vibrating with excitement when his hand wraps around my cock.
It’s the first time he’s touched me. Without complaint, I always tend to his needs.
Not once asking for anything in exchange.
I never want to push or make him feel obligated for anything.
So when he touches me all on his own, eyes glued to my dick, I don’t move. I let him touch and explore.
His hand isn’t tight around me. I feel his hesitance. His insecurity. His eyes remain glued to my cock and where his hand grips me. At first, he doesn’t move his hand. He simply holds my cock like a joystick and stares.
Slowly, his hand moves up the length of my shaft until he reaches the crown peeking out of my foreskin.
Kairo’s thumb slips up to touch my slit with its bead of precum growing at the tip.
His lips part as he explores. Touches. Examines.
Gives me an experimental stroke. His touch makes my balls jump, and his hand freezes, eyes dropping to my sac.
I barely manage to keep my groan under control when he licks his lips. Holding as still as I can, I’m entirely mesmerized as Kairo shimmies down a little to get a better vantage point. Now his hand can cup my balls. His fingers flex with a light squeeze, and I grunt before I can swallow it.
Kairo’s eyes snap up to mine, hand freezing, eyes widening. Our gazes lock for several seconds before he quickly glances to where his hand is and back to my eyes. A flash of panic rises in him, and I grip his wrist before he can take it away.
“There’s never any pressure to touch me, Kairo,” I tell him calmly, quite impressed when my voice doesn’t reflect the thick arousal I feel flooding my body. “You can touch me and explore as much as you want with no obligation to get me off. Understand?”
“Yes,” he says, voice sounding more like a question than an answer.
“Yes, what?”
This time, when something flashes in his eyes, it’s a bit of rebellion. “Yes, Daddy,” he answers, voice more confident but tinged with defiance and irritation.
Releasing his wrist, I lean down to kiss him. He jerks at the command in my kiss. His hand still on my balls tenses around me reflexively. I bite his lip on my way back, and Kairo gasps. “I’m going to show you what Daddy means if you call me Daddy too many times, Kairo. Am I clear?”
His chest rises and falls, and I can see it bright in his eyes—he might want that. A wave of heat overtakes my body until I’m practically sweating.