“Wait!” Kai yelled, running after him, but the boy didn’t slow down. He banked right, where the side street met the main road. When Kai turned the corner, his new dress shoes skidded on the concrete and his feet slid out from underneath him. Kai cried out as the palms of his hands dragged along the sidewalk as he hit the ground, and by the time Kai dragged himself to his feet, the kid was gone.
Kai turned back to the side street, where kitchen staff had spilled out of the building to see what the commotion was. Kai didn’t care about them. He locked onto the security guard now on his walkie-talkie. Kai stalked back towards him, his blood still on fire. When he was close enough, Kai took a run at him, curling his hand into a fist. Before he could make contact, an arm curled around his waist, dragging him into the air and away from his target.
“That’s how you treat a fucking kid? Big fucking man? Why don’t you fucking come at me?” Kai screamed, fighting the hold and trying to get at him. “You piece of fucking shit! You couldn’t let him have garbage?”
“Kai! Kai! Stop! What are you doing?”
Kai barely registered Nolan’s voice.
“This piece of shit attacked a kid just looking for something to eat!”
“The kid was stealing. We have policies against dumpster divers.” The man had his hands up, as though that could hold off Kai’s wrath.
“Fuck your policies!” Kai spat.
“Kai, come on. Let’s go inside and we can?—”
“No!” Kai’s whole body rejected that idea. He didn’t want to go back in there with those people. He didn’t belong there, and that was the real problem. “I’m done. I want to go home.”
“Okay. Okay. Let’s go.” Nolan turned Kai towards the street, and Kai went willingly, his body still thrumming with violence. He saw the takeout box of desserts lying on the ground, and he swiped it as he went, but he didn’t look back.
20
How had tonight gone so fucking wrong?It was the question that Nolan kept coming back to. He glanced over at Kai, who had the window open, eyes combing the street for a kid that Nolan didn’t know. The death grip Kai had on the takeout container in his hands was worrying.
He’d gotten the story from one of the waitstaff since Kai had gone silent on him. Trying to make it right, Nolan had offered to drive around looking for the kid. That was over two hours ago. It was close to two in the morning now. The longer they drove around, the more Nolan stewed. His heart hurt for Kai and this unknown kid who’d been diving for food in a dumpster. How the hell did someone see that and not try to help? He’d raked the security guy across the coals and dragged the head of security out to answer for his staff laying hands on a child, but ultimately, it didn’t change anything for that kid or for Kai. One was still missing and probably hungry, and the other was still distressed.
“Come on, baby, he’s probably gone h—” The word caught in his throat as Kai’s sad eyes swung to him. That kid probablydidn’t have much of a home, if any at all. “Hopefully, he’s made it somewhere safe tonight. Let’s go home and try again tomorrow.”
Kai’s gaze swung back to the road. Nolan gave a mental sigh, taking his silence as assent.
When they got home, Kai let himself be led into the house, hugging the takeout box like he was cradling a baby. Nolan took it from him and placed it in the fridge, fully intending to keep his word to help Kai find the kid tomorrow. Did he really believe they would? He wasn’t sure, but he was going to do anything Kai needed if it meant him hurting less. He led him to the kitchen sink, letting the water run warm while he inspected the scrapes along Kai’s palms. They weren’t in terrible condition, so he just gently cleaned them with soap.
Kai leaned against him, and Nolan couldn’t help the relief that coursed through him. He hadn’t wanted to think about it, but for one second, he’d worried that he’d broken something that couldn’t be fixed. He shifted their positions so that he could wrap his arms around him, Kai’s damp hands pressed to his chest.
“I’m sorry,” Kai whispered, his head buried against Nolan’s neck.
“You don’t have to be sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have sprung Landon on you like that.”
Kai lifted his head but tucked his chin, tears tracking twin paths down his face. Nolan didn’t let him go.
“It’s just hard, you know? I’m going to talk to this guy and maybe he tells me he can’t do anything and it’s almost easier that way because then I didn’t lose anything and everything is how it’s supposed to be. But if he tells me he’s going to fix it, then all of this, for eight years, all of the shit I’ve been through, didn’t have to happen. I don’t know what to do with that. How do I just go home like nothing ever happened?”
Kai looked at him then, meeting his gaze as though Nolanhad the answers. Nolan’s heart broke all the way open. He grieved for Kai and for everything he’d been put through. He wished he knew how to make it right. Hell, right now, he just wanted the right words to comfort him. Instead, he cradled his face, bringing their foreheads together while he searched for them.
“Baby, what happened to you should never have happened at all, and I’m so, so sorry that it did. That doesn’t mean that it should never be put right. I’m not going to feed you some bullshit about how it made you the person you are today, because I’m hella pissed that you didn’t get to find out who you could have been if you’d have been loved and cared for like you should have been.”
Kai’s face crumpled as the tears came faster.
“I’m not going to congratulate you for being a survivor, baby. I want to go to war for you to make it right. I need you to know that your uncle is so deeply in the wrong, and he deserves to pay for everything you’ve been through. Do you understand that?”
Kai hesitated.
“You said you trust me, right?” Kai nodded. “Have I done anything to make you feel like I don’t have your best interests in my heart? Use your words.”
“No, Daddy,” Kai whispered.
“Alright. I’m going to make an appointment with Landon, and you’re going to sit down and talk to him.” Nolan made sure he looked Kai in the eye when he said the next part. “I am going to be there right beside you. We’re going to make this right together. Got it?”
