Chapter 40 #2
Nolan took his hand, leading him into the house.
Kai scanned every room they passed, but there was no sign of anyone.
They passed through the living room, and Kai immediately saw the Lego he’d been playing with this morning was missing from the table.
He felt a squirm of guilt that Cherry had probably had the cleaning staff pack it away for him.
He really needed to learn to do a better job with that.
“Where are they?” Kai asked, confused by the quiet.
“Be patient. We’re getting there.” Nolan led him up the wide staircase to the second floor. “Close your eyes.”
Kai obeyed immediately, and Nolan took both his hands, guiding him forward. “No peeking.”
A frisson of excitement skittered through him.
Kai couldn’t lie and say he didn’t love Nolan spoiling him, but mostly he just liked how happy it made Nolan when he could Daddy to his max.
Sometimes he couldn’t tell if Nolan was indulging him or if Kai was indulging Nolan, but Kai was leaning into it.
He loved being Nolan's boy. It made him think of that first day Katie and he had played together, when he’d asked Katie what she liked about being little.
There was something incredibly liberating knowing that Nolan would take care of everything.
That Kai could trust him to always have his back and Kai would always be safe with him.
Nolan turned him towards the door. Kai was pretty sure he was in the room he’d stayed in that first night, but he didn’t want to peek and ruin the surprise. Nolan let go of one of his hands to open the door and then pulled him in.
“Can I open them now?”
“Yeah, open them.” Kai could hear the barely restrained excitement in his voice, but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw when he opened his eyes.
He was right; they were standing inside what had once been a spare bedroom but now was an elaborate Lego room.
The bed had been removed and replaced with a light grey couch, a recliner, a small coffee table and a huge TV mounted on the wall.
A giant table dominated the centre of the room, surrounded by shelves of uniform storage containers.
The far wall was lined with shelves of even more clear bins.
Rows and rows of bright coloured bricks looked back at him while the other walls had built-in, floor-to-ceiling shelves for his finished.
In the centre was Katie, positively vibrating with excitement, and Chris, Marcus and Lucas all grinning at him, bright sunshine from the open windows spilling in from behind.
Kai’s eyes landed on Nolan again. He had no words for the overwhelming gratitude rushing through him, so he just launched himself at him, wrapping his arms around his neck and burying his face there.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” he whispered, squeezing Nolan tight, knowing that those two words could never convey just how deeply he felt them.
“I wanted you to have a place that’s just your own. Do you like it?” Nolan asked, hugging him back.
Kai pulled away to look around incredulously. “Are you kidding me? I freaking love it. When did you do this?”
“You’ve been really busy this week.” Nolan grinned. “Katie helped a lot.”
“Hey, so did we! Who do you think sorted through all of this Lego?” Marcus demanded.
“Thank you!” Kai laughed.
“I thought for sure the paint smell would be a dead giveaway,” Katie told him. Now that she mentioned it, Kai had noticed a faint paint smell over the last couple of days, but he’d been so tired when they got home that he didn’t question it.
Katie took him by the hand to lead him around the room to show him all of the details.
Nolan must’ve bought most of the Lego store to fill all of the bins, not to mention the stacks of Lego kits that filled one shelf.
The various projects that he and Katie had worked on, including the sex room diorama, had been carefully installed on the display shelves, as well as the phoenix he’d been working on downstairs.
“Why don’t you two play for now while we order dinner?” Nolan asked.
Katie looked at him expectantly, and Kai nodded.
“We’re playing too. Kai, did you see the PS5?
Fire it up, Marky,” Lucas said, jumping on the couch and reaching for the controllers that perched on the coffee table.
Marcus joined him, but Katie and Kai migrated to the Lego, deciding to put some time on the city they were still constructing.
Kai quickly went to that place in his head that he always went to when he had Lego in his hand, when his brain went blissfully quiet.
He stayed like that for the next hour until they were called to dinner, which was loud and enjoyable.
Kai thought it would be awkward to be around Chris again, but whatever reservation the other man had before were no longer there.
Kai didn’t know what had changed, but he wasn’t going to ask a question that he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to.
They left quickly after dinner, and as soon as the door closed behind them, Kai wrapped himself around Nolan again. Nolan’s hands moved to cup his ass, lifting him up until Kai could wrap his legs around his waist.
“Are you happy, baby?”
“Yeah,” he said, drawing out the word, a smile playing on his lips, “you make me the happiest.”
“What do you want to do? We’re almost done our book. Why don’t we make it an early night and finish it off?”
“A thousand times yes.” That sounded like bliss. Nolan chuckled and set him on his feet. “Hustle up while I lock up.” Ten minutes later, they were both naked in bed, Kai burrowed against Nolan’s side while Nolan read.
They’d already read through the third-act break-up, which Nolan said most romance books had.
Kai thought that was kind of dumb, but now they were in the “happily ever after” part, and this was the best part as far as Kai was concerned, where he didn’t have to feel stressed about what happened next.
He especially loved the epilogue. There was something comforting in knowing that their happily ever stuck, even five years later.
Zane had gone on to play for the NFL, and Bennet had gone into sports medicine.
The book ended with whispered “I love you’s” over their infant son’s crib, and even though it felt kind of corny, Kai really loved that for them.
“So what do you think? Should we start book two?” Nolan asked, closing the book and looking down at him.
“There’s a book two?” Kai asked, hopefully.
“Yeah, Zane’s step-brother gets his own love story.”
“That guy was kinda trash,” Kai looked at him skeptically. The step-brother hadn’t been quite as bad as Zane’s mom, but he’d still been a piece of shit for most of the book.
“Yeah, but it’s called a redemption arc. He’s going to show everyone he can change his ways.”
Kai wasn’t sure if he believed it was possible, but he was distracted by a sudden thought. “Do you think we’re going to end up like Zane and Bennet?”
Nolan’s face softened, his “Kai” smile tilting his lips. He leaned down to press a gentle kiss to his mouth.
“There is not a single doubt in my mind.”