Chapter 8 #2
“Yeah. We’ll talk about it some more later.”
“What about you? What’s your family like?”
Nolan wasn’t sure if Kai was trying to change the subject, but he’d let it go for now.
“Huge. Chris and I have five other siblings, and three of them are married with kids of their own. My mom has seven other siblings all scattered around the city, two sets of grandparents, six million cousins.”
“That’s huge!” Kai’s eyes were round as he stared.
“Parties are pretty wild.”
The corner of Kai’s mouth quirked, but he still looked kind of awed. Nolan took advantage of his momentary distraction to dump some fruit on his plate. “Eat up.”
“Do you like it?” Kai asked, shovelling berries into his face. “What’s this green thing?”
“Kiwi. Try it.” Kai picked it up, inspecting it, looking at Nolan askance, like he might be tricking him. “You’re willing to try pepper sauce, but kiwi is where you draw the line?”
Kai popped it in his mouth, chewed once carefully and then nodded, chewing quickly and scooping up more.
“Yeah, yeah, I like that.”
“See? You should trust me.”
“I do trust you, or I wouldn’t be here.”
Nolan hummed with approval.
“Good to know. And to answer your other question, yes, I like being part of a big family. They can make me crazy, but the good outweighs the bad, you know? It’s nice to be part of something bigger.”
Kai nodded thoughtfully. “I can see that. Being on my own was shit, but then I had Liam. Even though he’s a menace, he’s loyal as fuck. Now there’s six of us. It’s nice to know you have people who have your back.”
Nolan was glad to know that he had that. It also made him feel marginally better about Liam.
They kept talking even after they finished breakfast and tidied up after themselves.
Nolan learned that Kai had never played Tetris from the truly alarming way he loaded a dishwasher, but, just like with cooking, Kai proved that he not only wanted to learn, he was eager to.
The mildly embarrassed flush in his cheeks and sheepish grin were so endearing that Nolan couldn’t help pushing him up against the counter and kissing the life out of him.
“Damn, Daddy, what was that for?” Kai was breathless when they broke apart, eyes shining.
“You’re just too cute for me to keep my hands off of.” Nolan brushed his mouth against Kai’s one last time. “Come on, let’s get going.”
Nolan felt a flicker of excitement. His garage was his pride and joy, where he spent most of his free time, and he couldn’t wait to share it with Kai.
Kai did not disappoint, his eyes wide as saucers as he took in the massive space and Nolan’s collection of both modern and vintage cars.
In all, there were twelve. Kai had zero chill, racing around so he could look at all of them.
“This is amazing! You own all of these? Can I sit in it?” He was standing next to the Ferrari looking at Nolan expectantly.
“Be my guest.”
Kai cackled gleefully as the butterfly doors swung upwards, but he slid in carefully like he didn’t want to scratch the leather. “If the guys could see this, it would blow their fucking minds.”
Nolan squatted beside him. “You wanna take her for a drive?”
Kai shook his head, fingers lightly grazing over the steering wheel, his expression going soft and shy. That was a new look on him, and it immediately made it into Nolan’s top five favourites.
“I don’t know how.”
Nolan guessed that tracked. Who would have taught him?
“Maybe we add it to the list of things I teach you.” Kai’s face lit up, eyes slamming into Nolan’s.
His face was so expressive. He was sure Kai wouldn’t be able to keep a secret even if he tried.
Nolan loved that about him. His memory flickered back to last night.
There was something though. Something Kai didn’t want to talk about.
Maybe, in time, Kai would share what it was that weighed on him.
Nolan put it out of his mind, instead helping Kai out of the car and giving him a tour.
In the end, they took the Audi. Nolan handed Kai his phone again and told him to choose something to listen to.
He wondered if he would regret that decision, but Kai contented himself with sifting through Nolan’s playlists, eventually settling on an old-school dancehall one.
Music that played at every single family jam from Nolan’s youth to now.
He was sure Kai didn’t know most of these tunes, but there was a reason that they’d stuck around so long.
There was something in the rhythm of them that caught your soul and pulled you in.
Kai, when he was relaxed, was a straight-up chatterbox and curious as hell.
He grilled Nolan with a thousand questions, throwing in occasional tidbits about his own history.
Nolan now knew that Kai lived with three other boys—two brothers and Liam—and he was close to his neighbours’ kids, twin twelve-year-old boys who spent most of their time at Kai’s since their mother struggled with addiction and an abusive asshole for a boyfriend.
The four of them looked out for the boys as best they could.
“But they’re good, you know? Like they still haven’t found out the world’s a fucked-up place.”
“Maybe it’s because they’ve got you guys looking out for them. It’s easy to become cynical when you have to face hard lessons on your own.”
“Maybe.” Kai stared thoughtfully out of the window.
Nolan didn’t mind the lull. It was a comfortable silence.
Kai reached over and took his hand where it rested on the gearshift.
Nolan raised their clasped hands to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of Kai’s, successfully pulling his attention back to him.
And then it was time for another round of twenty questions.