Chapter 25
Despite Nolan’s reassurance, Kai still felt stressed as they rolled up to the trailer park the next morning.
He didn’t know why, only that he felt super exposed in a way that didn’t only have to do with Liam.
It felt like Nolan would finally know just how broke they were.
When he was with him at his mansion, his circumstances felt more “in theory” than reality.
As they pulled up in front of their trailer, Kai saw it as though he were looking through Nolan’s eyes.
The screen door had been slammed opened and closed so frequently that it didn’t sit right on the frame anymore.
The windows were busted, grime caked along the outside edges.
Jason tried his best to keep it clean on the inside, but there was really only so much that he could do.
The paint was peeling and metal had turned to rust in giant patches.
Overgrown weeds poked out from around the edges and underneath the stairs, adding to the general air of neglect.
It was hard to imagine that this busted trailer had ever been new at any point in time.
Next door, the twins’ trailer was even worse. Beer cans and bottles and cigarette butts littered the ground, and trash piled up by the door. One of Dom’s friends was smoking outside, despite the early hour, and stared as they crawled to a stop on the gravel road.
Kai felt a flush of embarrassment and glanced Nolan’s way to gauge his reaction, but the smile he got back was the same affectionate one he always had when he looked at him. The one Kai had put his name on because he’d never seen Nolan give it to anyone else.
“Come on, let’s go. You’re going to be late for work if we don’t hustle.
” Nolan popped the trunk, and together, they hefted all of the groceries out.
He was only going to be gone for a little more than two days, but Nolan, of course, had made sure that there was no possible way any of them would go hungry for the next couple of weeks.
“Hey Kai!” Callum called as Kai led the way into the trailer. The twins sat at the island eating cereal, both in worn-out, oversized t-shirts with their hair dishevelled, but they turned to greet him.
“Hey, little man.” Kai scrubbed his free hand affectionately through his hair, and did the same to Casey, but both of them had already locked onto Nolan behind him.
“Nolan!” they both yelled, their excitement tripling automatically.
“Are we going to come to your pool soon?” Casey demanded. Nolan set the grocery bags down and greeted each of them.
“Guys!” Jason reprimanded as he came out of his bedroom, followed by Justin.
He extended his hand towards Nolan. “I’m sorry about them.
This is my brother, Justin.” Justin popped his head from behind him, still looking sleep-rumpled himself.
Justin was a good six inches shorter than his brother and looked like he had mixed heritage.
A riot of caramel-coloured curls blended almost seamlessly into his skin, interrupted by a smattering of freckles beneath hazel eyes. Nolan shook his hand.
“That’s alright. Why don’t we let Kai and Jason choose a date?
I’m good with anything.” Nolan answered the twins, handing the bags he held over to Justin, who muttered a quiet thank-you.
The twins’ heads swung between Kai and Jason expectantly.
Jason shook his head to let Kai know it was his decision.
“Umm. Saturday?” Kai offered, looking to Nolan for confirmation, as he unpacked fruits and snacks onto the counter.
“Yeah, Saturday should work,” Nolan answered warmly. The boys cheered.
“How do you two have this much energy in the morning?” Justin groused.
“Finish eating, and let’s get ready to go,” Jason told the boys.
“Is that for us?” Casey said, eyeing the grocery bags they were unpacking.
“Yeah, you can take some stuff for lunch. Say thank you to Nolan.”
“Thank you!” they said loudly.
“Is there anything I can do?” Nolan asked.
“No, you’re good. Thank you for this though,” Jason answered.
Casey and Callum tipped back their cereal bowls, guzzling the milk before disappearing into their room to get changed.
Nolan took their spot at the island while Kai, Justin and Jason worked like a well-oiled machine to cram everything into their limited space.
“Where’s Liam?” Kai asked.
“Didn’t come home last night,” Jason answered. Kai glanced at Nolan and blushed when he caught him giving him a knowing look.
“I gotta get going. Nolan’s taking me to work. You guys good?”
“Yeah. I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah, I’ll be home tonight.”
Jason reached over to shake Nolan’s hand again as they left. Kai and Nolan got back in the car and Kai slumped low in his seat.
“Come on,” Nolan cajoled, “it wasn’t that bad.”
“All that stress for—” Kai broke off and side-eyed Nolan. He caught him smirking into the rear view as he pulled away from the curb so that he could follow the crescent back to the main road.
“Nothing?” Nolan filled in.
“And I got a punishment!” Kai said, exasperated.
Nolan chuckled. Nolan had declared his harshest punishment yet.
Six days with no orgasms. Six! His poor balls would probably explode before then.
If he’d known the price he’d have to pay, he would have never tried to brat in the first place, but when he said that out loud, Nolan had just welcomed him to the point.
“But you’ll never make that mistake again will you, sweetheart?
” Nolan took his hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it.
No, he never would, but he couldn’t lie and say that he hadn’t gained anything from the experience.
He’d learned he hated bratting. He thought it might be fun, but Nolan’s lack of a reaction had deprived him of any joy, plus there had been a hell of a lot less laughing, touching and playing.
As soon as Nolan’s arm had gone around him on the couch, the whole thing had seemed so not worth it.
He’d given up before he’d done anything super bad.
Thank God. He probably wouldn’t get laid for the rest of the year if he had.
Speaking of which, Kai thought, with a squirm of guilt, he should probably delete the video he’d airdropped to his phone last night.
He didn’t know why he’d done it other than he’d known he’d be in trouble if Nolan found out, and it seemed like what a brat would do.
He hadn’t deleted it yet, because he hadn’t had a chance, but he needed to remember to do it as soon as he could.
“You’re really quiet. Are you still worried about Liam?”
Kai jumped. “Huh?” It took a second to process Nolan’s words, and then he felt another squirm of guilt for the gratitude he’d felt when he’d realized Liam wasn’t there.
It made him feel disloyal because, at the end of the day, Liam was still his brother.
His brother, who believed that people either used or were used.
If Kai wasn’t using Nolan, it meant that Nolan was using him and Liam would hate him for it, without a lick of proof.
“That’s just self-preservation,” Kai snorted. “Do you think Katie will come this Saturday?” he asked, changing the topic. Nolan didn’t answer right away, and Kai wondered if he’d press the issue.
“You can ask, but I’m not sure what her plans are.
” Kai had been surprised that he hadn’t seen much of her, other than Canada Day at Nolan’s parents vineyard near Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Nolan hadn’t been joking. His family was huge, but they had welcomed Kai easily and it felt incredible.
He’d never had that much fun or eaten that much food in his life, and that was saying something because Nolan loved to feed him.
Kai hadn’t known that families could be that functional.
When he said as much to Nolan, he’d laughed, tone cynical, and told him not to poke that dragon.
Nolan had been pretty protective that day, so maybe he’d expected something else.
Kai didn’t know, but he’d ended the day with a brand-new social media account, courtesy of Katie, and a whole bunch of new friends on there.
Nolan had also started following him. The next day, the account had expanded by several hundreds, and his DMs had been hot enough to make him blush.
When he’d shown Nolan, he’d just laughed.
“What did you think was going to happen?” Katie asked, laughing, when he’d sent her the screenshots. “Half of Nolan’s cousins are models, and Perry plays for the Raptors. Never mind that you have serious main character energy on your own.”
Kai hadn’t known what to do with that, so he’d posted a picture of him lying with his head resting on Nolan’s bare chest and captioned it “Daddy.” When that hadn’t helped, he’d turned his notifications off.
Too soon, they were pulling up to his job site, and as they slowed, the heavy weight of being separated from Nolan for days descended onto his chest.
“What are you going to do without me until Friday?” he asked petulantly.
“Miss you mostly,” Nolan said, but Kai could tell he was just indulging him. They pulled to a stop, but Kai slunk lower in his seat, not ready to leave. “You can come home, you know. You don’t have to stay at the trailer.”
Kai gave a reluctant smile. It was so funny how in a month, home had come to mean with Nolan, but it did. It didn’t even matter where they were so long as they were together.
“I want to, but I should spend some time with the guys,” he sighed. “But you’ll come get me on Friday, right? Right after work?”
“Right after work.”
“I don’t want to do anything. Can we stay home?
” He already knew he was going to be clingy as fuck, and now he wasn’t even allowed to suck on Nolan.
Kai huffed out another impatient sigh. He’d never regretted anything so much in his life.
Well, he definitely had, but it certainly didn’t feel like it right at that moment. Nolan smiled indulgently.