“Do you need help?” Amber called up, and Rheagan pouted as she glared down at them before her eyes landed on Nikos, and then her face flushed with embarrassment. She was just like a child, Honey thought. Honey shook her head as she glanced at her watch.
Maybe she shouldn’t have let Rheagan boast for fun because she didn’t have the patience for this.
Nikos sighed himself too as he slipped off his jacket, and instead of waiting at the bottom, he swiftly got up the pole himself. Honey had to admit that she was impressed. It took real strength to do something like that, and even a lot of men who thought they could do it realized that they didn’t have the upper arm strength that they thought they had. But Nikos clearly did as he maneuvered his way around Rheagan and helped her slide down.
Honey watched until she heard her phone ring, and she walked down the stage to grab her phone off the table and saw that her sister was calling her.
“Did you pick up Kai?” Honey asked, glancing at her watch. Olivia should have been at the school by now since her son’s school let students out at this time.
“Hope, he’s not here.”
“What?” Honey exclaimed as her heart dropped. “What do you mean he’s not there?”
“When I got to the school, the teacher said that a man who Kai said was his father came to pick him up. I think it’s Andre.”
Rage took over Honey as she nearly broke her phone in her hand from her tight grip alone.
“Do you want me to—”
“Nevermind,” Honey said, shaking her head. “I’ll get him myself. I’ll call you later.”
Honey hung up and stuffed her phone in her bag before slipping the bag on her shoulders.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go,” Honey told Amber. “Can you wrap this up for me?”
“Of course, hun,” Amber said. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry, but I really can’t explain because I have to go right now,” Honey said before she took off, rage hot on her heels. She couldn’t believe that fucker would pull some shit like this.
She was out of the door in an instant when she heard her name called. She whipped around, annoyed to see Nikos behind her. Honey sighed. She didn’t have time for this.
“Look, I have to go.”
“What’s the problem?” Nikos asked her. And Honey realized he wasn’t asking her out of pure curiosity or harassing her about skipping work hours, but he was asking her because he was genuinely worried. She could see the seriousness on his face. No flirtation, no playfulness. Just genuine concern.
“I need to go find Kai. His father picked him up without my permission. I’ll try to make it back on time.”
“Let’s go. I’ll go with you,” Nikos said as he ushered her over to his car.
“But my—”
He grabbed her car key and tossed them over to James, whom she hadn’t even realized was in the parking lot, taking a smoke break.
“Give them to Christos and tell him to drive her car back to her apartment,” Nikos instructed, and James nodded as he pocketed the keys.
“Get in,” Nikos said as he unlocked the door. Slightly dazed by the information overload at the speed of events, Honey got in the car, and Nikos quickly sped off.
“Do you know where he’s at?” Nikos asked as he turned on his GPS system.
Honey tried calling his number, but it kept going to voicemail. She then tried calling her son’s number, but it went to voicemail too. With each second that passed by, Honey felt more panicked.
“Calm down, Honey. Think where they might be,” Nikos told her calmly. Honey took in a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves down when it came to her. She scrolled through her phone apps until she found Andre’s username and looked at his IG. She bit down on her cheek when she looked at his Instagram live, where it looked like he was at a cookout. She immediately recognized the area.
“Here,” Honey said as she typed in the park address. Nikos nodded.
After the directions came up, Nikos quickly sped there, but even with them taking some back roads and other shortcuts, it had taken longer than she would have wanted to get to the park in Queensbridge. When they arrived, Honey quickly got out of the car, ready to raise hell, when she noticed that she hadn’t changed and was still in her practice clothes. Even for this hot weather, the clothes were quite skimpy.
“Here,” Nikos said as he gave her his jacket, and Honey slipped it on. The woody scent of Nikos’s cologne filled her nostrils.
