Page 66 of The Sweetheart
“Yes, Daddy,” Kai whispered so that Matteo couldn’t hear. He gathered up his backpack, his lunch and his coffee, and Matteo held the door for him.
“See you, man!” Nolan called to Matteo, who waved him off as Nolan pulled away from the curb.
“What happened? You guys get into a fight?” Matteo asked.
“Nah. I’m just not going to see him for a couple of days.”
“Awww,” Peter crooned mockingly, wrapping an arm around his neck aggressively. Kai shoved him off of him and looked back to watch Nolan disappear up the street with a pang of longing.
Kai stoodin the tiny trailer shower later that night, exhausted and weary and wishing he could go back to twenty-four hours earlier, when he’d been pinned against the wall of Nolan’s monstrous shower with his legs wrapped around Nolan’s waist. Showering by himself sucked. Never mind that the discoloured and cracked fibreglass floor beneath his feet always made him feel like he was going to fall out the bottom one day, and half the showerhead barely worked from caked-on calcium. What did work shot water in all directions and he’d caught a stray spray in the eye more than once.
He’d been spoiled. Not just by steam showers but by hot hands washing him, strong arms enveloping him and the deep rumble of Nolan’s laugh vibrating right through his body. The way his eyes crinkled at the corner when he smiled his affectionate “Kai” smile.
Fuuuuuck.Kai missed him so much, he was sure it wasn’t normal. There was no way that other couples were like this. Constantly needing to be together? Kai didn’t really know, butwhat he did know was that any time they were apart felt like a total waste.
“Yo!” Kai jerked out of his reverie by Liam bursting into the room, his voice full of the boisterous energy of someone who hadn’t been lugging wheelbarrows of garden soil all day.
“What?”
“Let’s go out!”
Kai groaned and rested his head on the wall. All he wanted to do was collapse on the couch and not move until he absolutely had to.
“Nah, man. I have to work in the morning.” Kai scrubbed at his scalp, trying to get the last of the sweat and dirt and shampoo.
“Aw, come on. We never hang out anymore. You’re never even here. Let’s go to Mackay’s. Just to fuck around. We won’t even get into trouble.”
Kai snorted. Trouble followed Liam around like his shadow. He could hear the rhythmic thump of Liam’s heels on the cupboard door, which meant he was sitting on the counter, kicking his feet like he’d done a thousand times before.
He’d been keeping Liam at bay for the last month, and every time Liam called him out on it, he brushed it off like it was nothing. “You always have an excuse,” Liam added. Kai could hear the edge of frustration in his voice. A twinge of guilt hit him and he broke.
“Alright, fine.”
Liam gave a cackle of glee and his feet hit the floor. “Sweet! I’m changing!”
“But I’m not staying out late! Liam!”
Liam was already gone. Kai sighed and turned off the water. Well, there was no getting out of it now. He hopped out, grabbed his jeans and his phone from off the counter, getting dressed quickly.
Half an hour later, Kai had fewer regrets. They’d hopped on the subway heading south, and Liam regaled him with all sorts of shit he’d missed while he’d been away. Liam’s face was bright and happy in a way Kai hadn’t seen for a while.
“Youknowwho I’m talking about! He had that lime green Civic and he drove it up on the sidewalk that time I tried to give him head while he was driving.” Liam’s words triggered the memory.
“Oh, you didn’t try, bro, you were choking on his shit while I was in the backseat.”
“Fuck you! I do not choke on dick. Ever. I swallow that thing whole.” Several people turned to give them half-dirty, half-amused looks. Liam framed his cock with his hands and thrust up into it as a middle-aged lady glanced his way. She quickly averted her gaze, and Kai chuckled in amusement, shaking his head.
“Oh fuck, we gotta go.” Liam jumped to his feet, and Kai quickly followed, noticing at the last second that they were about to miss their stop. They rushed the doors just as they started to close and only just got out in time, cackling like hyenas.
A fifteen minute walk later and they were in front of Mackay’s, a little dive bar that he and Liam used to chill at with a few of the other guys they’d come up with. It was always a good hook-up spot, but also a place to chill when there was nowhere really else to be. The drinks were cheap and the back sported a couple of pool tables that you didn’t have to pay to use. The whole place was dimly lit with all sorts of hidey-holes and an owner that didn’t particularly care what misdeeds you got up to so long as you didn’t make a mess.
It didn’t surprise Kai in the least when a couple of their other friends were already there.
“Look who it is,” their friend David drawled in amusementwhile Mads launched themself at Kai, squealing with glee, slender arms squeezing him tight around his neck. David and Mads were polar opposites; David was well over six feet, blond with pale grey eyes and classically handsome in a way that none of them pulled off, while Mads was tiny, barely five-two and genderfluid. Dark waves tumbled around their shoulders, and they wore a baby t-shirt with a picture of Aaliyah emblazoned on it, paired with a tiny, pleated, denim skirt that might have qualified as a belt.
“Where have youbeen?”Mads demanded.
“Oh, you didn’t know? Kai’s in his lover era,” Liam teased. Mads squealed again.
