Page 97 of The Sweetheart
Kai’s throat worked, his eyes growing damp. He nodded frantically, wrapping his arms around Nolan’s neck and kissing him hard.
“I love you,” Nolan whispered when he finally pulled away. The smile that broke out on Kai’s face was beatific.
“I love you more.”
So they were going to bethatcouple. Nolan wasn’t mad about it at all.
They wentover to Kai’s house shortly after that, and this time they walked in together, hand in hand. There was none of the trepidation that Nolan had seen on Kai when he’d watched him walk in here on his own the day before. Even though he’d sent Myles with him, Nolan had worried about Kai’s panic attacks and he’d wanted to be nearby just in case. He’d been grateful for that decision when he’d walked in the house and seen Kai on his knees, weighed down by grief.
Today, Kai was quiet but eager to get started. He walked Nolan through the space, telling him what he wanted to get rid of while Nolan kept a running catalogue in his head. They’d sell the furniture and use the money to rip out the old carpet and put in new floors, but most everything else was in good condition. Nolan would have been happy to fund it all, but he knew Kai would want to minimize how much Nolan had to spend if he could. They grabbed a giant box of garbage bags from under the kitchen sink and began loading up bags for donation.
The master bedroom was easy. Downstairs, they found that half of the basement had been converted into a fully equipped gym area while the other was storage, rammed from floor to ceiling with boxes and bins and things stacked on top of each other. Kai looked immediately overwhelmed.
“Come on. Let’s deal with upstairs for right now. We don’t have to rush through it all.”
Kai nodded. “I think we need help.”
“Why don’t I call Chris and you call the guys and we’ll get alittle clean-up party going.” Kai nodded again, looking immediately relieved. They headed back upstairs, each of them pulling out their phones.
“Hey man,” Chris answered when he picked up.
“What are you guys doing today?” Nolan asked in case they had plans.
“Not much. What’s up?”
“I’ll supply the food if you and the guys can supply some heavy lifting for a bit.”
Chris chuckled. “You at Kai’s?”
Nolan felt a flare of vindictive pride hearing Chris refer to this place as Kai’s. “Yeah. Just trying to get it cleared out.”
“Shoot me the address and we’ll come through.”
“Great. Texting you now.” But his attention was caught on the frown on Kai’s face. He’d already hung up with Chris when he caught the tail end of Kai’s conversation.
“Alright. Just stay there until we get there.”
“What’s going on?”
“Dom’s on some shit, and the twins are freaking out. Every time he gets like this, something bad happens. Can we go?” Kai said, worry etched into every line of his face.
“Yeah, come on, let’s lock up and get going.”
They hurried out the house, leaving everything the way it was, and jumped in the car. Kai looked tense the whole time, and when Nolan reached over to take his hand, he gripped it tight.
“It’s alright, baby. We’ll deal with whatever’s going on together, okay?”
Kai nodded, but Nolan could feel his nerves fraying as they maneuvered through thirty minutes of bumper-to-bumper Toronto traffic. Nolan’s stomach sank as they neared the park, and bright red and blue lights raised the alarm. The scene was crowded with people from neighbouring trailers, but Nolanspotted Jason, Justin and the kids immediately. Kai cursed at the sight of two police cruisers and an ambulance parked out front of the trailers and was out of the car as soon as Nolan slid it into park.
“Kai!” One of the boys, who’d been hiding behind Jason, spotted Kai first, running over to him and throwing his arms around his waist. Kai hugged him back, and he was probably the only reason Kai didn’t launch himself at the man pinned on the ground beneath two officers. Nolan recognized the look of rage on his face.
The man on the ground was cussing up a storm, trying to throw the officers off as they struggled to get him into cuffs.
“What the fuck did you do, you piece of shit?” Kai hollered at him. Nolan tugged him over to where Jason and Justin stood, Justin with his arms around the other boy.
“What happened?” Nolan asked Jason, taking in the laceration across his cheek and his busted lip.
Jason gritted his teeth. “He was on her ass all day, and I was going over there to tell her to come stay with us when he lost his shit.” Jason looked down at the boys and then to Nolan, shaking his head again.
