Chapter 40
The next week was the busiest week of Kai’s life, and he relished every single moment of it. In his imagination, he’d fixed up the house perfectly for them and done a grand reveal at the end, but working side by side, making decisions with them, was so much better.
On Sunday, they’d gone back to the trailer and packed everything they owned into Nolan’s SUV.
It had only taken one trip to move all seven of them out.
The best part had been Jason, Justin and Kai throwing up six middle fingers to their asshole landlord’s rage-filled face when they told him they were leaving.
Then they’d grabbed the boys to take them to their new house.
Kai had never seen his brothers that level of excited as they raced around, taking everything in.
He watched Jason fall in love with the kitchen, running his hands over the thirty-year-old counters and oak cupboards.
It didn’t matter that it was dated. It was more than they’d ever had.
Casey and Callum raced straight to the bedrooms, running back and forth between the three, trying to decide which ones would be theirs.
Both Jason and Justin marvelled at the downstairs gym.
Kai agreed to keep that stuff since the guys would absolutely make use of it, but they seemed on board with the idea of purging the old furniture and making the place their own.
Justin had jumped right on that task, and it turned out he was a bit of a wizard at Facebook Marketplace and most of the bulkier stuff was gone within days.
Kai didn’t want to tell them that he and Nolan had finally had a conversation about finances now that they were officially living together, which hadn’t really been a conversation so much as Nolan torturing his cock while fucking him from behind until Kai agreed to be his little prince.
The spoiling had begun, accompanied by a ridiculous monthly allowance that meant that they were able to rip out all of the carpets and, with the help of YouTube and some helpful advice from the guy at the hardware store, put in all-new floors.
The boys also had a chance to pick out new paint for their rooms and all-new furniture that was just theirs.
The reveal when they had come home to their new rooms was everything Kai had hoped for.
Riley hadn’t come home yet. Kai had never seen her take anything so seriously as this new start; and her stay in the hospital had parlayed into a thirty-day stay in a drug treatment facility.
They weren’t allowed to visit yet, but the boys talked to her every day and their stories about the house and their new school seemed to keep her motivated.
Kai worked tirelessly, taken over by a manic energy that seemed to drive him all day.
He woke up in the morning to the sound of Nolan’s alarm but didn’t move until Nolan roused him with kisses, his hands massaging life back into Kai’s body.
Sometimes they would fuck; sometimes Kai would ask to suck him off.
Nolan drove him to work every day, after which he would race to the house where they would work until Nolan came to take Kai home.
Still, in rare moments of quiet, Kai would marvel that this was his life.
Nolan would catch him just staring at him and smile his “Kai” smile, and the overwhelming rush of love would launch him into Nolan’s arms. Nolan caught him every time, answering Kai’s whispered “Daddy” against his lips.
Nothing had the power to bring him peace the way that one word did, and Kai wondered if it would always be like this.
Through it all was an underlying sense of feeling settled, like everything had aligned and was as it should be.
“Whatchu got there, baby?” Nolan’s head settled on Kai’s shoulders, his arms coming around his waist.
“I don’t know,” Kai answered as he rustled through the box in front of him.
It was Saturday again, and they’d started purging the basement, where it seemed like the bulk of his grandmother’s personal effects had been stored.
It had slowed their progress, since Kai wanted to keep some of her things but wasn’t sure what he wanted until it was right in front of him.
So far, he’d found her quilt and a box of her favourite Christmas ornaments, but a lot of it he’d passed off to Justin to either sell or donate.
The box he was going through held a few familiar things and a random assortment of junk that made him think it was from the kitchen drawer that had once been a catch-all for things that had no place.
He shuffled through miscellaneous pens, paperclips, elastics, random papers and receipts.
His uncle was apparently a hoarder, because he had thrown nothing away.
Halfway through the box, Kai struck gold, his hands landing on a thick notebook, its hard, red cover damaged with age and random stains.
His heart gave a painful squeeze as he lifted the book, reverently flipping through the heavy, yellowed pages, sadness and joy coursing through him in equal measure.
His grandmother’s tidy handwriting filled the pages with lists of ingredients and instructions, some of the pages stained with oil and flour and who knew what else.
“It’s her recipe book,” Kai croaked. Nolan’s arms tightened around him.
At the back of the book, Kai’s thumb caught on an old picture of him and his grandmother when Kai had been much younger, before he’d come to live with her.
They were at the peninsula in the kitchen right upstairs.
His grandmother looked so young, with only a little bit of grey in her dark hair and only a few wrinkles bracketing her eyes and mouth, her whole face alight with happiness as she grinned at the camera.
Kai kneeled on a stool in front of the peninsula, half-turned to look over his shoulder, a tooth missing from his smile while he rolled out cookie dough.
“I remember this day,” he told Nolan. “My parents moved around a lot and between places, we’d always end up here for a bit. This was just around Thanksgiving. I think this was the last time we were all here for it.”
“You’re so fucking cute. Look at that smile.”
Kai huffed a laugh, and Nolan pressed a kiss to his neck. Kai hugged the book to him, looking up, suddenly overwhelmed by the task in front of him. He’d barely made a dent in the pile and there was still so much to go.
“I’m never going to get through all of this.”
Nolan turned him in his arms. “You don’t have to rush. You can take your time.”
“But I want Justin and Jason to have their space too, you know?” He fretted. Right now, they were sleeping on his grandmother’s old mattress on the ground because they’d sold all of the furniture.
“Look at me,” Nolan said, lifting his hands to cradle Kai’s head, forcing his gaze upwards.
“Everyone is happy, healthy and safe. Riley has three more weeks before she comes home, and even then she might need time easing back into things. You have time. In fact, you’ve been going hard all week.
I think we’re going to cut out a little early today and you’re going to go home and get some rest.”
Kai made a sound of protest, and Nolan narrowed his eyes. “You going to give me a reason to put you over my knee?”
Kai hesitated, kind of tempted but in a half-hearted way. He was distracted almost immediately by the sound of the doorbell overhead.
“Were we expecting anyone today?” Nolan asked.
Kai shook his head. There was a cry of excitement followed by a muffled commotion.
Kai started up the stairs, Nolan following.
Just as he cleared the landing onto the first floor, he spotted a familiar blond head between the others.
Kai froze where he stood. Instinctively, he turned towards Nolan, who had stepped onto the landing right behind him.
His eyes were soft and the corner of his mouth quirked up affectionately.
Kai leaned into him, looking for reassurance, and Nolan squeezed his side.
“Go make it right,” he whispered in his ear before dropping a kiss at his temple.
Liam looked up right then, catching Kai’s eye warily. Kai knew him well enough to know that there wouldn’t be apologies. They’d hug it out and it would be done.
Kai strode over and pulled Liam in, squeezing him just a little tighter and a little longer than normal.
When they let go, they looked away awkwardly, not making eye contact but smiling just the same.
Their relationship would never be what it was, but the lightness in Kai’s chest made him hopeful that, maybe, they’d still find their way.
True to his word, Nolan dragged Kai home early.
His attempts to negotiate just a few more boxes had gone unheard, but Kai didn’t complain for too long.
As soon as Nolan pulled out of the driveway and Kai curled around his arm, his body released the frenetic energy that had been driving him all week.
Maybe Nolan was right. They hadn’t had a lot of time to themselves this week, and Kai didn’t love that.
Maybe Kai would convince Nolan to watch a movie in bed tonight, and they’d sleep in tomorrow.
Now that Liam was at the house, things would go a bit faster.
Liam had a way of yielding results that was kind of scary.
“Is Chris here?” Kai asked when he saw his familiar car in the driveway. Nolan gave him a mysterious smile that perked Kai’s interest immediately. “Is Katie with him?”
He hadn’t seen her for the whole week, because he’d been so busy at the house. “What? What’s going on?” Kai demanded when Nolan didn’t answer.
“It’s a surprise,” Nolan said, leaning over the console to press a hard kiss on Kai’s mouth. Kai’s eyes widened as his excitement fired up. “Let’s go.”