Chapter 25 #2
“Just me, you and the couch.” Nolan didn’t rush him, but he could see the other guys already unpacking their gear and talking to Matteo. When Matteo noticed them, he meandered over and Nolan rolled down his passenger-side window.
“You joining us?” Matteo asked Kai as he reached in to lock hands with Nolan.
“Yeah, I’m coming.” Kai leaned over the console and kissed Nolan goodbye.
“Behave yourself, and call me tonight.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Kai whispered so that Matteo couldn’t hear. He gathered up his backpack, his lunch and his coffee, and Matteo held the door for him.
“See you, man!” Nolan called to Matteo, who waved him off as Nolan pulled away from the curb.
“What happened? You guys get into a fight?” Matteo asked.
“Nah. I’m just not going to see him for a couple of days.”
“Awww,” Peter crooned mockingly, wrapping an arm around his neck aggressively. Kai shoved him off of him and looked back to watch Nolan disappear up the street with a pang of longing.
Kai stood in the tiny trailer shower later that night, exhausted and weary and wishing he could go back to twenty-four hours earlier, when he’d been pinned against the wall of Nolan’s monstrous shower with his legs wrapped around Nolan’s waist. Showering by himself sucked.
Never mind that the discoloured and cracked fibreglass floor beneath his feet always made him feel like he was going to fall out the bottom one day, and half the showerhead barely worked from caked-on calcium.
What did work shot water in all directions and he’d caught a stray spray in the eye more than once.
He’d been spoiled. Not just by steam showers but by hot hands washing him, strong arms enveloping him and the deep rumble of Nolan’s laugh vibrating right through his body. The way his eyes crinkled at the corner when he smiled his affectionate “Kai” smile.
Fuuuuuck. Kai missed him so much, he was sure it wasn’t normal. There was no way that other couples were like this. Constantly needing to be together? Kai didn’t really know, but what he did know was that any time they were apart felt like a total waste.
“Yo!” Kai jerked out of his reverie by Liam bursting into the room, his voice full of the boisterous energy of someone who hadn’t been lugging wheelbarrows of garden soil all day.
“What?”
“Let’s go out!”
Kai groaned and rested his head on the wall. All he wanted to do was collapse on the couch and not move until he absolutely had to.
“Nah, man. I have to work in the morning.” Kai scrubbed at his scalp, trying to get the last of the sweat and dirt and shampoo.
“Aw, come on. We never hang out anymore. You’re never even here. Let’s go to Mackay’s. Just to fuck around. We won’t even get into trouble.”
Kai snorted. Trouble followed Liam around like his shadow. He could hear the rhythmic thump of Liam’s heels on the cupboard door, which meant he was sitting on the counter, kicking his feet like he’d done a thousand times before.
He’d been keeping Liam at bay for the last month, and every time Liam called him out on it, he brushed it off like it was nothing. “You always have an excuse,” Liam added. Kai could hear the edge of frustration in his voice. A twinge of guilt hit him and he broke.
“Alright, fine.”
Liam gave a cackle of glee and his feet hit the floor. “Sweet! I’m changing!”
“But I’m not staying out late! Liam!”
Liam was already gone. Kai sighed and turned off the water. Well, there was no getting out of it now. He hopped out, grabbed his jeans and his phone from off the counter, getting dressed quickly.
Half an hour later, Kai had fewer regrets. They’d hopped on the subway heading south, and Liam regaled him with all sorts of shit he’d missed while he’d been away. Liam’s face was bright and happy in a way Kai hadn’t seen for a while.
“You know who I’m talking about! He had that lime green Civic and he drove it up on the sidewalk that time I tried to give him head while he was driving.” Liam’s words triggered the memory.
“Oh, you didn’t try, bro, you were choking on his shit while I was in the backseat.”
“Fuck you! I do not choke on dick. Ever. I swallow that thing whole.” Several people turned to give them half-dirty, half-amused looks.
Liam framed his cock with his hands and thrust up into it as a middle-aged lady glanced his way.
She quickly averted her gaze, and Kai chuckled in amusement, shaking his head.
“Oh fuck, we gotta go.” Liam jumped to his feet, and Kai quickly followed, noticing at the last second that they were about to miss their stop. They rushed the doors just as they started to close and only just got out in time, cackling like hyenas.
A fifteen minute walk later and they were in front of Mackay’s, a little dive bar that he and Liam used to chill at with a few of the other guys they’d come up with.
It was always a good hook-up spot, but also a place to chill when there was nowhere really else to be.
The drinks were cheap and the back sported a couple of pool tables that you didn’t have to pay to use.
The whole place was dimly lit with all sorts of hidey-holes and an owner that didn’t particularly care what misdeeds you got up to so long as you didn’t make a mess.
It didn’t surprise Kai in the least when a couple of their other friends were already there.
“Look who it is,” their friend David drawled in amusement while Mads launched themself at Kai, squealing with glee, slender arms squeezing him tight around his neck.
David and Mads were polar opposites; David was well over six feet, blond with pale grey eyes and classically handsome in a way that none of them pulled off, while Mads was tiny, barely five-two and genderfluid.
Dark waves tumbled around their shoulders, and they wore a baby t-shirt with a picture of Aaliyah emblazoned on it, paired with a tiny, pleated, denim skirt that might have qualified as a belt.
“Where have you been?” Mads demanded.
“Oh, you didn’t know? Kai’s in his lover era,” Liam teased. Mads squealed again.
“What? You off these streets, Kai?” David asked, amused.
“Off these streets? Your boy deleted his whole roster.”
Kai let them talk their shit. Eventually, they gave up trying to get any information out of him, and they hit the bar, lingering in the back until a pool table came free.
Three guys eventually made their way to the back where they were.
At first, it seemed like they were waiting for them to vacate the table, but pretty soon it became apparent that they were there to pick up.
They were a little older than Kai, maybe late twenties, and pretty hot.
A month ago, Kai would have tried to engage with them, flirt a little, get a few free drinks and, maybe, somewhere more comfortable to sleep for the night.
Now he just watched as his friends enjoyed the chase.
He could tell by the cant of their hips when they leaned over the pool table, that Mads was very much aware of their audience.
Liam, who liked a more direct approach, had tongue-fucked his straw, making aggressive eye contact until one of the guys in the group approached him.
When one of the others caved and approached Mads, Kai was left standing with the last guy.
“Did they even introduce themselves?” he said to Kai, looking over at Liam and his friend where they were already kissing heavily against the corner of the pool table.
“Doubt it,” Kai answered.
“I’m Henry. What’s your name?”
“Kai.”
“Can I buy you another beer?”
“No, I’m good, man. Thanks, though.”
“No worries. I guess we can just hang back here and watch our friends fuck on a pool table,” he said, resigned.
No one was fucking quite yet, but the other guy had Mads backed against the table and the petting was heavy enough to see even at a distance.
David had retreated against the wall. He rarely hooked up but always had an eagle eye on Mads, just in case anyone started getting too bold.
“Sorry, man.” Kai grinned his way. The guy was cute, maybe a little nerdier than the others, but in a way that was a little Clark Kent. His shoulders and arms definitely filled out the red and blue plaid shirt he wore in a way that would have appealed to Kai at a different time.
Henry sighed. “I knew it was gonna be like this and I came anyway, so I have no one to blame but myself. I think I’m gonna go do a lap.”
“Yeah, I think I’m going to head out.” They’d already been there for a couple of hours and Liam was officially distracted, so he probably wouldn’t even notice. They stepped away together, but as they passed, Liam reached out and grabbed Kai’s arm.
“Hey, are you two taking off?”
“Nah, I’m going to go,” Kai told him.
“Why? He’s hot. You should totally hook up with him. This guy said they don’t live too far. We can all take off if you want.” Irritation flared in Kai at the casual way Liam invited him to cheat on Nolan.
“No. I’m going home. I told you, I have to work tomorrow.”
“Hey, come on. Just stay.” He leaned closer so that no one could overhear. “If you’re worried I’m going to say something to Nolan, I won’t.” There was a gleam in his eye that Kai hated. Like they had an inside joke that Nolan was the butt of. Kai’s heart sank, staring back at him in disappointment.
“I’m not worried, because I’m going home. I’m not doing that to Nolan.”
“So what? We can’t even hang out?” Liam asked defensively.
“Is that what you want or do you just want to prove this thing with Nolan’s a joke?
I like him, alright? Maybe even more than that.
” Kai jerked his arm out of Liam’s hold, turning away quickly, because if Liam said anything else, Kai was going to say something he’d end up feeling bad about and he didn’t feel like fighting with Liam tonight.
“Kai!” he heard him call, but Kai didn’t stop.
When he was a block away, he pulled up his phone and video-called Nolan, who answered on the first ring.
“Hey baby,” Nolan was already lounging in bed, shirtless. Yearning tugged at Kai’s heart. “Where are you?”
“Downtown. Came out to meet some friends with Liam.”
“That sounds fun. Where are they?”
“Probably fucking in a dark corner by now.” Nolan let out a bark of laughter. “I left.”
“Do you want me to come and get you?”
Yes! Kai thought automatically, but it just didn’t make sense. By the time he got downtown, Kai would already be close to home. Besides, Nolan looked comfortable.
“Nah, I’m good. I’m taking the subway. I’ll be home soon.”
Nolan stayed on the phone with him until he had to go underground but didn’t let him go until he promised to text him when he got home. An hour later, Kai sent him a selfie as he lay on the couch. A tiny heart appeared in the corner.
Daddy:
Goodnight sweetheart.
Kai stared at that sweetheart.
He knew he should try to get some sleep, but he knew it would be virtually impossible so, instead, he hit the video-call button again.
“What’s wrong?” Nolan asked when he answered.
“Can you read to me?”
Nolan smiled fondly at him and reached for their book. “Alright, get settled then.”
Kai rolled over so that he could prop the phone on his pillow against the back of the couch. He watched Nolan as he read for a while, letting the deep timbre of Nolan’s voice soothe his frayed edges. Before he knew it, his eyes were drifting closed and he knocked out.