Epilogue
Nolan’s heart gave an affectionate squeeze as he met Kai’s concerned eyes through the windshield from where he stood outside the DriveTest building.
“You got this,” he said quietly, smiling reassuringly even though Kai couldn’t hear him. Kai turned back to the test administrator while she spoke. He put the car in reverse, sliding out of the parking spot carefully and disappearing down the road.
Nolan watched him go, but he had every confidence in his boy.
Kai was a good driver, competent and safe, but Toronto traffic was no joke and Kai was still working on his self-trust. He’d deliberately booked Kai an appointment with his therapist yesterday to make sure those strategies were fresh in his mind for today.
Kai had worked hard over the last year. He’d kept his job at the cafe because he loved his work friends, and he’d started volunteering with Matteo at the resource centre. That had brought him full circle back to Dion, who’d introduced him to the wonderful world of fundraising.
Watching the pair of them collaborate was simultaneously hilarious and exasperating.
Kai had no patience for anything that Dion loved: galas, brunches or anything that he classified as “rich people shit,” but his belief that all of the people in their acquaintance needed a reality check and Dion’s love of a good event had yielded some interesting results.
Dion was still revelling in the afterglow from their Sips and Seeds event, which had combined gardening and tea, that would fund the resource centre’s community garden for the next three years, at least. But the highlight of everyone’s summer had been the charity pick-up basketball game that Perry and some of his Raptors teammates had come through for.
The kids at the centre had been ecstatic, and the money they’d raised had exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations.
Yeah, Kai had meant it when he said he wanted to put good on his scale, and he’d done it every day until it was his new normal.
Before long, Nolan spotted his black SUV pulling back into the parking lot and sliding right into the spot that he’d vacated not half an hour ago.
He watched the tension melt out of his boy’s shoulders as the examiner spoke briefly to him, and he saw the triumphant smile that spread across Kai’s face when she shook his hand.
Yes! His own smile spread so wide his cheeks hurt as Kai jumped out of the car and beelined for him.
“Passed!” he hollered, throwing himself into Nolan’s arms.
Nolan laughed. “Never doubted you for a second.”
Kai beamed at him.
“I gotta go take my picture.” Kai pressed a hard kiss on his mouth and darted away.
Ten minutes later, Kai stared down at his temporary paper licence, his grin splitting his face with pride as he folded it carefully into his wallet.
Nolan wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and Kai’s automatically went around his middle.
“So, you driving?” Nolan asked, dangling the car keys in front of him.
“Pfft. No!” Kai scoffed as they made for the door. “I told you, I only got it to help Matteo. I’m your passenger princess for life.”
Nolan chuckled, holding the car door open for him. This was the life he’d signed up for and he had absolutely no complaints.
In the beginning, he’d been prepared for some growing pains as they meshed their lives together, but they never really happened.
Kai was always happiest when he was Nolan’s good boy and so he migrated to him naturally.
Punishments were mostly funishments these days, because Kai’s ass looked sexy as hell when it was bright pink, and Kai loved it when he got all domineering with him.
“So we still grabbing the boys and going to Costco to celebrate?” Nolan asked, sliding behind the wheel.
“Hell yeah! I want ice cream. I’ve been thinking about it all week. Wait. Where’s my hat?”
“It’s here,” Nolan said, pushing the console open. Kai cackled gleefully, grabbing his black Kirkland Signature baseball hat, pushing his hair back under it and checking his reflection in the visor mirror.
Nolan shook his head. This was the guy that Chris had once worried would take advantage of him. A guy unironically rocking Costco couture.
“I don’t know why you’re shaking your head. You know Costco soft serve slaps, Daddy. I’m manifesting some top-tier samples today. I deserve it.”
“You do.” Nolan took his hand, pressing a kiss to the back and shooting him a grin.
It wasn’t too long ago that Kai’d had a hard time believing that he deserved anything good, even if it was just top-tier free samples.
Costco had quickly become Kai’s favourite store, and at least once a month, they would grab the crew and spend a solid two hours cruising the aisles, indulging in samples before gorging their faces in the food court.
They’d grab supplies for both houses and extras for the resource centre, making a whole afternoon out of it.
When they pulled up to the driveway of Kai’s house, Riley was curled up on the porch swing that Jason had built for her, a half-knitted something draped across her lap.
She’d taken up the hobby as part of her therapy program, and she’d gotten pretty damned good.
It would be easy to call Riley’s transformation over the last year miraculous, but Nolan had seen the blood, sweat and tears she’d put into getting better.
Her arm and her face had taken awhile to heal, and she still bore scars from her stitches, even though they’d faded to barely discernible lines on her pale skin.
Her face and her figure had filled out from Jason’s constant feeding, and her auburn hair cascaded over her shoulders now.
She’d never strayed from her commitment to her sobriety, and the way that Jason, Justin, Kai and Liam had stepped up for her to help make it possible had forever altered Nolan’s understanding of what it meant to be family.
She set her needles down beside her, her face breaking into a wide smile as Kai leapt from the car.
“So?” she asked.
“Passed!” he said, bounding over to scoop her into a hug.
“Good job!” She laughed, hugging him back. The two of them had bonded over therapy, and even though there was nothing Kai didn’t share with Nolan, it seemed to help him, having someone to compare experiences with.
“You coming with us?” Kai asked.
“Hell yeah! Do you think I’m missing out?” she said as she leaned over to hug Nolan as well.
“Where are the guys?” Kai reached for the door, holding it open for them while Riley grabbed her project from the swing.
“Playing video games in their room, per usual. Boys! Kai and Nolan are here!” she called as soon as they walked in.
The immediate sound of thundering footsteps made them smile.
It didn’t matter that they saw them, easily, once a week; the twins hugged them like they were returning from a long deployment overseas.
“Are we going to Costco?”
“We have to get peanut M&Ms.”
“Jason said he found a recipe for peanut M&M cookies.”
“We’re going to make ice cream sandwiches with them.”
“Are you going to come over when he makes them?” The pair of them spoke so fast over each other, Nolan could barely keep up.
“Hey, chill! Can you guys congratulate Kai on his licence, please?” Riley interjected, diverting their attention.
“Bro, you got your licence?”
“That’s so awesome! Can you drive us to the mall?”
Riley sighed. “Okay, just go get Jason and Justin.” She herded them back down the hall.
It took another fifteen minutes for all of them to pile into two cars, and it was another five hours before Nolan and Kai were pulling back into their own driveway.
Nolan was exhausted, and Kai looked a lot like Nolan felt.
“Nap?” he asked when they had pulled to a stop.
“Maybe. I’m not really ready to be done celebrating though,” Kai said, reluctantly.
“Oh yeah? What do you want to do?”
“Well, I was kinda thinking about…” He trailed off coyly.
“What?” Nolan asked suspiciously.
“Covering your dick in this cake frosting and then licking it off,” Kai finished, lifting the cake that Nolan had surprised him with from his lap. Most of the congratulations had already been consumed.
All of the blood in Nolan’s body rushed to his dick, the rest of him finding reserves of energy that he hadn’t known existed.
“I saved the part with my name on it.” Kai cajoled unnecessarily.
Nolan nodded. “Yeah, I think we can do that.”
They unloaded the trunk in record time, before Kai made a break for the stairs, pulling off his clothes as he went but careful not to drop a single thing on the ground.
Nolan really had trained his boy well. By the time Nolan made it upstairs, carefully carrying the leftover cake to its destination, Kai was on his knees, naked, on the bed, that perfect dick slapping against his belly as he bounced.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry,” he demanded, scooting to the edge of the bed while Nolan slid the cake onto it. Kai was already reaching for his shirt, tugging it roughly up.
“So impatient.” Nolan tutted, whipping the shirt over his head.
“I’m hungry, Daddy,” he complained, attacking Nolan’s chest with his hands and mouth. “I don’t think your dick is going to be enough. I think I need to rub cake all over you.”
Nolan chuckled, combing his fingers through Kai’s hair, as Kai fumbled with the zipper of his jeans.
Nolan’s cock was already throbbing painfully, eager to be let loose and devoured, but he wasn’t ready to let Kai have all of the fun.
He dragged Kai’s mouth to his, pushing him back onto the bed, crawling over him so that Kai was spread beneath him, naked and vulnerable.
“I’ll never get over how fucking sexy you are,” he muttered, his hand drifting over Kai’s throat, thumb on his collarbone. Kai arched up.
“Kiss me some more, Daddy,” he whispered, and Nolan did, devouring his mouth, hands roaming over his, his hips, his ass. As soon as Kai started rutting against him, Nolan pulled away.