lol. You’re so funny. You’re not going to fall. Just hold onto Uncle Nolan. You’re gonna be great! I can’t wait to see you!!
Kai groaned. She’d been no help at all.
“You okay?” Nolan asked, immediately concerned.
“Just nervous,” Kai admitted, rubbing his suddenly damp palms on his knees. Nolan took his hand again, bringing it to his lips.
“It can be a lot, but we’ll get inside quickly if you want.”
“Let them take one picture. That look deserves to be photographed.” Myles narrowed his eyes dangerously.
“You okay with that?” Nolan asked. Something about the way he checked in with Kai gave him a little bit of courage.
“Yeah. Yeah. Let’s take pictures. Just don’t let me fall.”
Myles exited the car first and took a step back to let them out. Nolan never let go of his hand as Kai stepped out of the car last. It felt like stepping into a whole new world. All around them, cameras flashed, some taking pictures of the newcomers, others focused on the people further up the carpet who werestanding and posing for pictures. For a wild moment, Kai debated the merits of throwing himself back in the car, but Nolan wrapped an arm around his back and the car pulled away, stranding them there. Kai pressed a little closer to Nolan as a few of the photographers called his name.
“Noah’s on your left,” Kai heard Myles mutter to Nolan. Kai glanced over to see one of the photographers flagging him. He was probably a couple of years older than Kai, tall and lean and looked like he should have been a nerd but rocked a badass tattoo that crawled out of the white button down he wore all the way up to his jawline on the right side.
“Come on,” Nolan whispered, leading them over. Noah immediately put his camera to his eye, snapping away. Kai felt awkward as hell. He didn’t know how to stand or what he should do with his hands, so he just kind of leaned into Nolan’s side. He saw Myles give him a tiny shake of his head. He’d moved to face them, a little out of the way, and was staring at Kai intently, like he was trying to convey a message without words. He pushed his jacket to the side, putting one hand in his pocket, while the other held the other side of his open jacket, leaning slightly towards Nolan and kicking out his leg. Kai immediately clued in, mimicking him. Myles nodded, then shifted position, standing up straight, shaking out his arms lightly to bring down the sleeves of his jacket and then folding his hands together in front of him. Kai mimicked him again, feeling a little more confident and staring straight at the camera. Nolan’s arm never left Kai’s waist, and when he turned to face the cameras on Noah’s left, Kai followed.
“Thanks, man,” Noah said, and Kai was a little surprised to see Nolan go in for a bro hug.
“No worries. I should have known you were going to be here. What’s happening, man?”
“You know how it is. Gotta pay these bills,” Noah said with a grin. “Who’s this?”
“This is my boyfriend, Kai.”
Kai shook his hand trying not to let anyone see what the wordboyfriendwas doing to his insides. Would an outsider say that it was too soon for a boyfriend label? Probably, but outsiders could suck it, because Nolan was his boyfriend and he needed all these rich people to know.
“Is this your coming-out party? How long have you guys been dating?”
Nolan laughed, wagging a finger at Noah. “You need to know when to turn it off, man.”
“Come on!”
But Nolan was already leading Kai away.
“You did good,” Myles said quietly as he rejoined them.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He gave Kai a reassuring smile. “Those pictures are going to be all over social media by tomorrow.”
A lead weight fell into Kai’s stomach. He was definitely going to get shit on by Liam for this. He gave a mental sigh. Well, that was tomorrow Kai’s problem. Tonight was full of its own challenges.
By the time that Katie,Chris, Lucas and Marcus arrived, Kai, Nolan and Myles had already taken their seats, and Kai was already bored. He’d briefly been in awe of the splendour of the venue with its towering glass windows and fancy stone design. There were more people than he had anticipated in the massive ballroom, and they were all dripping in glitter and gold. This was Liam’s candy store, and Kai had a moment of regret that he wasn’t here to enjoy it with him, even if that would have been disastrous.
With every fake laugh and effusive hello from the people who came to talk to them, the crowd lost its shine a little. Not for the first time, Kai wondered what kind of hustles Nolan had going on on the side, because it seemed like everyone wanted to talk to him.
“You don’t just run the shop, do you? All these guys look like they want to eat you alive,” Kai whispered, as soon as yet another middle-aged couple had departed again.
“I’ve got my fingers in a few different pies. All of them want something. Either money or access to Chris,” he answered.
“That’s very cynical,” Myles said into his drink, clearly amused.
“The real joke being that Myles is the one they should be sucking up to. He handles almost everything so I can focus on my first love.”
