Kari’s thoughts were never far away from Bowie’s reasons for the talk with Frey as he watched Bowie with the other PAs with Emmy. He noticed the slight withdrawal from the others, but he was sure the others didn’t. The radiant boy from before was gone. He’d learned every nuance, and Bowie was lost. Hurting. To Kari, it felt like someone had tied Bowie’s hands behind hisback and sat him down to eat a meal that required cutlery, and then told him he couldn’t help.
“Kari, a word.” Dad kept his voice down, and Kari followed as he walked to the far end of the room where the drinks and cookie platters sat.
“When you dropped off your things at the apartment earlier, did anything strike you as odd? See anyone hanging around?”
It took a concerted effort to act naturally as he glanced sideways, witnessing the angry scowl. “No. I’ve upgraded Bowie’s security system and although he never gave Rex a key, we changed the locks as a precaution. Why? Has something happened I’m not aware of?”
“I mentioned Rex’s boyfriend kicked him out?”
Kari nodded, recalling the message from a week earlier. He’d expected it would happen.
“I take it he’s back living in the apartment above Bowie.” Kari hadn’t seen him, but where else would he go?
Dad glanced at Bowie, his eyes revealing his unease. “He is. I’ve kept the investigator monitoring him. I still have some contacts in the press office in town who rang to clarify if Rex had any grounds for what he is spreading around town. The idiot is spouting off that Starling Enterprises has a vendetta against him. He’s not wrong, but there is no evidence to support such a claim. I know this, but the man is smarter than I gave him credit for. He’s volatile, we know this after what he did to Bowie.”
Kari twisted to face away, to prevent Bowie seeing his reaction at why Dad was worried.
“Fuck. Maybe I need to move home with him,” he joked, but was half serious. Bowie would never agree to it, and Kari would never push. Where did that leave him?
Dad placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “That man is a loose cannon. You need to watch your back.”
It didn’t need saying, and Kari wasn’t letting that scumbag anywhere near Bowie. “Thanks for the heads up. Is your investigator going to continue watching Rex?”
“Yes. Unfortunately it’s not twenty-four-seven, so as I said, keep vigilant. I don’t want you getting hurt either.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Kodi asked, sauntering over.
“About what I mentioned before,” Kari replied, holding his brother's gaze, witnessing the second he understood. “The text you sent from the burner phone did its job.”
Kari hadn’t told Dad who sent the text after he’d said he’d deal with it. He didn’t look surprised and slung an arm around Kodi, giving him a half hug.
“I’ll keep youbothupdated. Now, we should go and see what Popi is up to before you get allocated baby duties.”
Kodi was off marching to where Popi was, muttering, “I’m not changing nappies!”
Dad and Kari looked at each other and burst out laughing. No one could outmaneuver Popi.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bowie
Bowie was distracted despite having Emmy in his arms, fast asleep after her feed. She’d fallen asleep over Bowie’s shoulder when he’d been winding her. It made him feel funny inside when she did that. It reminded him a little of how he liked to fall asleep on Kari’s shoulder and often did after they’d had ‘playtime’.
Since the visit to the club in New York, something between them had changed. Bowie was trying to make sense of how it was so different. He was a little fuzzy on the details of the evening with Sweeny. He’d really lost touch with reality, that’s how it seemed in his excitement at being so free in play. Knowing Sweeny would not judge him with how he’d actively encouraged Bowie made all the difference to letting go. It was just the same with Kari.
Emotions he struggled to name kept him from voicing what was going on in his head to Kari. Bowie didn’t doubt that Kari wouldn’t be supportive if he talked about them. It was just thatit was connected to Kari and Bowie felt he needed someone who wasn’t Kari to talk to. Only he wanted that someone to be Kari.
He sighed quietly and nuzzled into Emmy's downy hair, inhaling the baby powder smell. It helped to settle the jumpy belly that came with his conflicted thoughts at finding someone else to talk to.
Frey was the person he normally talked to, but Frey had a lot on his plate with Booker and Emmy. Booker and Frey were mates, and to Bowie, that meant family. And it felt wrong to talk about Booker’s brother with a family member.
All of this stemmed from Kari becoming his everything, and he was—everything that made Bowie’s days brighter. Life before Kari was bland and colorless. There were no glitter parties or sing-a-longs, or movie nights that came with pretty outfits and loads of cuddles. All that was wonderful, it was just there was something missing. More and more these last few weeks, Bowie felt the desire for things to progress. They kissed, sometimes it was a smoochy kiss and sometimes a sexy kiss, but Kari was always careful—watchful of pushing.
The sexy kisses made Bowie all hot and bothered, leaving him painfully aroused. He wanted more. Kari was all about talking and that Bowie needed to verbalize his wants. Until this, he managed—most of the time—to be able to do that. But more worryingly was his looming heat, one he hadn’t mentioned to Kari.
They were always a bad time for Bowie. First, his were every six months, not every month like other heifers. Not that Bowie was worried about that because it was hard enough to go the sixteen to eighteen hours they lasted, alone, crying. He suffered through them, his body doing things Bowie had no real clue how to cope with. They had started the first year he was alone. Terrified and with no one to talk to about it, he locked himself in the bathroom and stayed curled in a ball until the horriblefeelings stopped. It was a pattern he’d developed, and it had stuck. Except before, no one had been in the apartment at the same time it happened. He had no wish for Kari to see him in such a state, and with the desire he felt for Kari, he wasn’t sure how he would react. That scared him witless. He did not want to scare Kari away.
“There you are. Isn’t it my turn now?” Ziggy made a beeline for him, rolling up his shirt sleeves to reveal just a few of the many tattoos his body sported. Bowie would never be brave enough to have one, but he loved looking at Ziggy’s.
