28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I t was the evening of the open house at Whipped, and everyone was on edge.
Kai’s nerves had been running on full steam all day, which meant he was exhausted. Truthfully, he dragged around his body, but he didn’t care if he needed to be hauled out of here at the end of the night. He wasn’t leaving Ezra and Sloan to face this by themselves.
He sat at one of the tables, right by the sign-up sheets for the upcoming classes for the next few months. He might have jotted his name down for a few. Once Pandora’s box had cracked open, he wanted to learn everything.
The first visitors wandered in through the doors, more traffic than the usual munch. While some familiar faces beyond the staff appeared in the mix, most people arriving were brand new. He’d been shown a picture of Rick so he knew who to look for, but that didn’t stop his shoulders from tensing every time someone walked into the café.
“How are you faring?” Noles plunked down beside him. Fin circled in the coffee bar behind Micah while Meg, Tristan, Rachel, James, and Sloan handled the downstairs traffic. A fair number of people trickled to the dungeon, so it’d be hopping in no time. Pixie and Eva took one of the other tables with sign-ups, engaged in chatter with others.
Ezra and Parker loitered by the entrance, the muscle if needed. Ezra’s gaze met his every few moments as if they gravitated toward each other in this tension.
Kai scrubbed his face, realizing he hadn’t answered Nolan. “I’m surviving. Ready for the night to be over.”
“Yeah, if he shows up, he’d better be ready for a pummeling,” Nolan said, his jaw tense. “After what Sloan told me…”
Kai’s stomach flipped. “I know. I can’t handle thinking about him coming to wreck their lives more.”
“We won’t let that happen,” Nolan said, fierceness flashing in his gaze. He wore a black and purple flannel today, his arms crossed. “And James is already on the job.”
“We both know that’s not the only thing you want James on.” Fin appeared beside them. They waggled their brows. “So, Kai, Sloan and Ezra, eh? I can say I didn’t anticipate that from you at all, farm boy.”
Kai offered a lopsided grin. “Consider it wisdom from being divorced. When it feels right, you don’t let go.”
Fin tugged on the brim of their backward cap. “That implies having a relationship in the first place. Hard pass. ”
“Crap, there’s someone at my table.” Nolan scooted back over to his abandoned spot.
“What are you guys talking about?” Ezra asked. Kai jumped. He sure as hell hadn’t noticed his approach.
“How much Kai wants me to spank his ass for being a filthy boy,” Fin teased, poking the bear on purpose.
“Only if we’re taking turns,” Ezra responded, and Fin’s eyes lit up.
“I’ve got to help Micah with the coffee line, but I’ll be hitting you up about that later.”
A tattooed genderqueer couple stopped in front of the table. The shorter one of the pair asked, “What are the classes like here?”
Kai’s gaze slipped to Ezra’s, and he smiled. Heat warmed his entire body. “Life-changing.”
“You’ll be in good hands here,” Ezra said, his voice coming out a little lower. “Meg runs a safe play space.”
“Cool.” The lavender-haired one jotted their names down for the newbies’ class. “We’re new to the scene but curious about learning.”
“So was I,” Kai said, his heart thumping hard. “Attending a class was the best choice I ever made.”
Moving here, coming to the class at Whipped, meeting Sloan and Ezra…the events had felt predestined, as if he’d always been meant to head in this direction.
The door banged open, and four big guys walked in.
The temperature in the room plummeted. Parker crossed his arms, his brows furrowed, but he was outnumbered. Kai’s skin prickled, his hackles up. All it took was one glance at Ezra’s whitened knuckles to understand who’d arrived.
They hadn’t even gotten an hour into the open house before Rick showed up. It took him a moment to parse out the man, but he recognized the same tan skin and dark hair as Ezra. Except Rick’s face was more weathered and pockmarked, and a cruelty existed in his eyes that never visited Ezra’s, even when he was in a sadistic mood.
Kai had never seen malevolence in human form, but every line of Rick was carved by it. A shudder rolled down his spine. This was the man who’d tortured both of his boyfriends. This was the monster who haunted them still. Rage warred with terror.
The room was positively frosty from the circulating fear. People wandered through for the open house, unaware of the mounting hostility, so trying to contain Rick and his cronies would be difficult. And they’d known that. Even the breath Kai drew in grew thicker, loaded with tension.
“He’s here,” Ezra murmured, not moving an inch.
The couple in front of them had signed up for the class and moved on to the other tables where Nolan, Pixie, and Eva waited, thank fuck. Not like they could keep up the pretense that everything was fine.
Ezra stood ramrod straight and crossed his arms as he faced his brother and the three guys he rolled with. Like Rick, they all had ugly mugs, weathered, scarred features, and an air of danger he didn’t like in this refuge. Kai pushed up from his seat, wanting to make a united front. They had the numbers on their side, and at the slightest hint of trouble, anyone working here would be calling the cops.
“Of course you’d be here.” Rick stopped in front of Ezra. “Couldn’t help but meddle in my business.”
“The only business here is the one you’re intruding on,” Kai said. What the fuck sort of boldness claimed his tongue? Hell of a time to get his old attitude back. Ezra’s shoulders tensed, and Rick’s gaze darkened as he stared him down. Lightning crackled in that gaze.
“This is an open house, isn’t it? We’re just coming here to check out the lay of the land,” Rick said, a dangerous edge to his voice. “We’ve got invested interest in one of your new employees. ”
“Rick, just go,” Ezra said, his voice sandpaper rough. A feral light flashed in his eyes, a desperation that terrified Kai. Not for Rick’s sake but because it was clear what his brother reduced him to.
Rick raised his hands, feigning an innocent look, even though he was anything but. “Checking out a café isn’t a crime.”
The tension dripped like molasses, thick, sludgy, and covering everything. His friends had swept past him, picking up some of the notepads at the tables, pretending like they perused the class lists. Nolan stared them down with a hard look, but they operated on a careful balance, as not to alert visitors.
Kai’s hands trembled, and the urge to bark at them to leave reared up in a big way. But this was Meg’s show, and he wasn’t about to make the calls in her workplace.
“Cut the bullshit,” Ezra hissed at his brother, keeping his voice low. “You know you’re only here to cause trouble.”
“You with your presumptions.” Rick tsked. “Gonna get you in trouble someday.”
The gaslighting made him want to scream. He didn’t know how Ezra had survived that growing up. He’d seen the scars along his arms, his back, his legs. He’d seen the few on Sloan too and knew who the culprit was.
“Sorry, are you signing up here?” a girl in her twenties stepped up next to Rick. Kai wanted to warn her away, but he remained silent.
“Ah, I’m checking out one of the other classes.” Rick moved along to where one of his guys loitered over by Nolan’s table. He flashed an intense look at Ezra.
Ezra’s body was locked, his shoulders tight, his jaw clenched in fight-or-flight mode, so Kai pulled his wits about him and handed over the sheet for class sign-ups. “I recommend the newbie class.”
How he kept his voice from shaking was a miracle in and unto itself .
“Sounds great!” The girl snagged the clipboard and wrote her information down.
His peripheral remained on Rick and the assholes he’d brought, who loitered through the coffee shop. Every single one of the staff operated on high alert. Thank fuck Sloan was downstairs, and Rick hadn’t gone there yet. Maybe there was a way they could force them out of Whipped before Sloan saw them. It was bad enough Ezra had to deal with his brother, but both of them having to face down Rick…his stomach flipped.
A bomb could’ve gone off, and the tension in the air wouldn’t be worse.
“How do we get rid of him?” Kai murmured to Ezra.
Ezra balled his hands into fists. “The second there’s any sign of trouble, we call the cops.”
“Thanks for the help.” The girl handed back the clipboard.
Kai forced a grin. “Hope to see you at the next class.”
His skin prickled, and when he looked up, Rick stared at him. Revulsion swept through him. He’d seen what being on Rick’s shit list did, and the idea of going through what Ezra or Sloan had? Bile rose in his throat.
Ezra rested a hand on his shoulder, fingers curling in a tight grip. “He won’t touch you. I won’t let him.”
“Should one of us go down and warn Sloan?” Kai asked.
“Only if Rick heads downstairs,” Ezra said. “Right now, he’s within eyesight, and I’ve got 911 dialed on my phone. If he tries anything, I’m calling.”
Parker had drifted toward the dungeon steps, trying to keep Rick and the others from descending. One of Rick’s friends wandered over to the coffee bar, a recipe for disaster. Out of everyone, Fin and Micah were the ones least prone to holding their tongues .
The big bruiser muscled his way into the line to the bar. Micah crossed his arms. Fin scowled.
Kai strained to hear their conversation, but with the murmurs from other visitors, it was impossible to tell what was being said. All he saw was a furrow of brows and the guy smacking his hands on the countertop.
Parker strode from the dungeon entrance to the coffee bar, his steps swift and thunderous. He got right in the guy’s space, using his bulk to his advantage.
“This is bad,” Ezra said. “The situation is going to detonate any moment.”
Kai agreed. A sizzle hummed in the air, an explosive current that was undeniable. And any second, all that pressure would boil over. Rick loitered by Eva and Pixie, who glared balefully at him.
A raised voice caught his attention.
Over by the coffee bar, the guy who’d been hulking over the counter had gotten right up in Parker’s face.
“Go fuck yourself,” Micah spat out.
“Get out of our store.” Fin hopped over the bar counter in a fluid motion. They landed on the floor and stood next to Parker. Didn’t matter that the guys towered over them. They were vicious as fuck when they wanted to be.
“I’m going to get Meg,” Noles said, rising from his seat. A few visitors glanced at the coffee bar, obviously having picked up on the noise and wondering what the hell was up.
Kai looked at Eva and Pixie’s table again.
Except one pivotal thing had shifted.
“Where’s Rick?”
“Fuck,” Ezra spat out.
Tristan came up the dungeon steps. “What’s the commotion? ”
“We’ve got it under control,” Parker said, his voice deep and firm.
Tristan scanned the area, and Kai’s stomach dropped. Something in his gaze answered the question before it descended.
“Where did Sloan go?”