Chapter 36

Kai

Shouting down the hall made my shoulders rise. It had been like this for most of the morning. Dad wasn't having a good day today and none of us were able to bring him out of it. He didn't know who I was and he was confused by Mom.

The nurse was with him and it was getting to the point where she might have to sedate him. All I could do was sit on the couch and stare at the Christmas tree. It only had lights on it right now because we were waiting for West to get here. We always put the ornaments on together. Hopefully, Dad would feel better when we did it. I dreaded the thought of him not being out here with us.

Sen had been responding to my texts for a while yesterday and he even talked to me on the phone last night. He said things were fine, which barely made me feel any better. It was eleven and I still hadn't heard from him today. Even with the time difference, I assumed he would be awake.

Were they getting him to change his mind? What if he was already at some Dumont facility?

Shaking my head, I tried to get rid of the thoughts. I had every right to be concerned, but I wouldn't go existential.

"Is he okay?" Willow asked in a small voice. Just like with West, it was unnerving to see her look despondent like that.

I opened my arms and she dropped onto the couch beside me. She leaned her head on my shoulder, taking a deep breath as she settled deeper.

"It gets worse. You know that."

"That doesn't make it easier."

"No," I agreed. "It doesn't."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine. When West gets here, I'll feel better. He should be getting on his plane soon."

"Tell the asshole to hurry up. He left me here all alone."

"You skipped almost half your classes last year. You didn't expect to graduate like that, did you?"

"I should've just gotten my GED."

"So, do it."

"I thought you'd tell me to stick it out and get my degree."

Rolling my eyes, I brought my feet up on the couch. "It doesn't matter. You can still go to college if you want and I'm pretty sure employers don't really give a shit as long as you at least have your GED. Just do what you think is best for you."

"I don't know where I'll go. Dad already acts like I'm a bother there."

"Fuck your dad."

She breathed a laugh before she turned her bright blue eyes on me. "Can I come to Seattle?"

"Of course. Me and West have already talked about it. We just need some time to figure it out."

"Cool."

Her demeanor was noticeably lighter when she relaxed into my side again. I perched my chin on her head and thought about what it would take. Me and West would have to get an apartment so that she could move in with us. Technically, I wasn't allowed to work more than a certain number of hours because of my scholarship, but I'd already been circumventing that. West would have to work too, which he'd hate, but for his sister, he'd do anything.

Would Sen want to be part of it? The idea made my stomach flutter nervously. I doubted his dad would be on board but screw him. He didn't need to know where Sen was living and for all intents and purposes, we'd be roommates, just like all those lovers that historians dug up. Just roommates.

It was probably too soon to ask, but I was still considering it. If you're gonna take risks, take them when you're young. I was willing to risk everything.

The front door slammed open, making me and Willow jump. She shrieked and raced toward West. He picked her up around the waist while she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hey, fuckface," he said. "Did you get uglier?"

"Your eyes are obviously faulty. Plus, have you seen your face right now?"

Ignoring their dumb antics, I came up beside them. "What's going on? You're supposed to be on a plane." I saw a purple bruise around his eye and cheekbone, making me frown. "What the hell happened?"

"I wanted to get here earlier."

"Did you get in a fight?"

"Don't worry about it right now."

"Did you Uber from the airport? You could've called me."

He winked and kicked off his sneakers. I had no idea what to make of that.

"Have you checked Instagram?" he asked.

"No. I've sort of had a morning from hell."

His eyes softened. "Bad day for him?"

I nodded. "He was doing good yesterday. He probably needs to rest today."

"He'll just have to wait to see my pretty face. Meanwhile, I'm gonna raid your fridge, then take a shower. It's been three days."

"Three days? What the hell, West?"

He shrugged. "Check your phone."

Huffing, I pulled up the app and checked my notifications. It looked normal at first, then I noticed that I was tagged in a post that was getting a lot of interactions. My stomach nearly fell out of my asshole when I saw it.

No, no, no. Did someone out Sen? There was a picture of us on my bed. He was smiling while I shark chomped his neck. But… he took that picture.

I looked at the caption and realized he'd posted it. For a second, it felt like I couldn't breathe.

My knees felt weak and I almost returned to the couch, but there were two more pictures on the post. I scrolled to the next, which was him and West in a car eating giant beef jerky sticks. Was that my car?

The last one was just Sen. His smile was huge and the sun made his honey brown eyes shine with gold. There was snow on the ground and…

I raced out the front door, then stopped abruptly on the porch. It only took me a second to collect myself. It didn't matter that my feet were bare and the snow felt like it was chewing on my toes. I met him in the middle of the yard and wrapped him in my arms so tightly that he probably couldn't breathe.

"What happened?" I asked, pulling back to touch his face. When I saw the bruising on the side, I gripped him tighter. "Did you and West fight?"

I was ready to go inside and kick West's ass, but Sen held onto the back of my neck and kissed me. When I brushed my tongue over his lip, I felt a spot that had scabbed over. Grabbing onto his waist, I pulled him toward the door without breaking the kiss. We stumbled a few times, but eventually reached warmer air. I kicked the door closed and shoved him against it.

"Tell me what happened," I insisted. "I'm going out of my mind right now."

"West showed up at my house."

"He… Damnit. He took my car."

"I'm starting to realize that he's capable of anything."

"What happened to your face?"

His gaze dropped to the floor. Pinching his chin, I tilted his face up.

"My dad," he muttered. "I went off on him and told him I'm in love with you, so he hit me. Twice. Then, he hit West."

"What you're saying is that I need to make a trip to Colorado."

He laughed, the smile clearing his previous gloom. "No. I'm not spending any more mental energy worrying about what he does. Looks like I'll be going into massive debt at twenty."

"Is that even what you want?"

Biting his cracked lip, he glazed over for a moment. "I don't know. Is it dumb if I don't want to go to school?"

"No. These days, it might actually be dumber to go to college, depending on what degree you get. You could go to trade school or something."

He hummed thoughtfully. I didn't care enough about the answer right now, though. He had time to think about it later.

Grabbing his wrist, I pulled him down the hallway. I shut the door to my room and pushed him onto the bed, immediately crawling over him.

"I was so worried about you," I murmured against his mouth.

His hands moved under my shirt, pressing against my abdomen. I shifted my knees so that they were on either side of his hips. He arched up, seeking my lips again, but I pulled back.

"You should've told me what was going on."

"It would've ruined the surprise."

I ran my thumb across his lower lip. "I loved the surprise, but you're more important."

His expression became serious as he stared up at me. "I'm sorry. Not for the surprise, but everything else. I shouldn't have asked that from you."

Shaking my head, I silenced him with a kiss. I couldn't get enough of him right now. I wanted to introduce him to my mom, but right now, I needed him to belong only to me.

"Teach me how to love you the way that you deserve," he murmured.

"What I deserve is recompense for emotional pain and suffering the past few days."

"I can do that."

He pushed on my chest, so I moved off of him. Instead of lying back, I stood at the edge of the bed and stripped out of my clothes. On all fours in front of me, he let me guide my dick to his mouth. I stifled a groan when his lips wrapped around me, encasing me in warmth.

My head dropped back when he took me down to the base, burying me in his throat. I tried to stay quiet, but it seemed like he was actively trying to shatter my self-control. When he slid off the bed to settle on his knees below me, I kept my gaze on him. He looked exquisite like this.

Lacing my fingers through his hair, I thrust into him. I pulled back slowly, savoring the way his lips dragged over my shaft. When he reached the tip, he put a hand on my thighs to keep me from taking over. As he teased the underside of my head, his gaze lifted to meet mine. He kept looking at me while he sunk lower, then hollowed his cheeks on the way out.

"God damn," I groaned. "Get on the bed. On your knees."

He stood and stripped out of his clothes, then did as I asked. After spreading lube on my length, I worked a couple of fingers into him. He impatiently pushed back against me. I leaned down to bite his ass cheek, drawing a little yelp from him.

"Quiet," I said. "We're not in the dorm."

"How do you expect me to do that?"

"I don't know, but you have a few weeks to figure it out. Unless you want it to be awkward when you meet my mom, you'd better bite down on something."

Removing my fingers, I replaced them with my dick. He swore, shoving his face into the mattress to muffle it. I pulled his hips back, getting him in the perfect position while I stood at the edge of the bed. My hands traveled to his lower back, then around to his sides. Three days away from him was nothing, but it felt like it'd been ages.

Leaning over his back, I wrapped my fingers around his throat and tilted his head toward me. He moaned when I captured his lips. I raised my foot and put it on the lip of the bedframe, using the angle to reach deeper. He tore his mouth away from mine, gasping for breath as I made strong strokes.

"You take me so good, Sen."

"Kai," he whimpered.

I reached underneath him to grasp his leaking dick. Quickly, I swiped a finger through his precum and brought it to my lips. When I wrapped my fingers around him again, he tried to thrust into my hand.

Positioning my lips at his ear, I kept my voice soft. "You need to cum, baby?"

"Yes," he whispered.

"On one condition."

He groaned, then clutched the sheets when I thrust into him harder.

"Just say yes."

"I… don't know… what I'm agreeing to."

"Don't you trust me?"

I stroked his dick once, then stopped. He let out a frustrated sound and tried to move his hips, but he didn't have the upper hand in this position.

"Fine," he growled.

After biting his shoulder, I eased my weight off of him and stroked him in time with my thrusts.

"God, Kai. I'm gonna…"

He dropped his face into the blanket, muffling the feral sound that tore from his throat. My thighs clenched and I had to release his dick to dig my nails into his hips as my balls tightened. Biting down on my lip, I released everything I had into him.

My hands fell to the bed on either side of him while I caught my breath. I trailed my lips up his spine, making him shiver. Pressing a kiss to the skin behind his ear, I carefully pulled out of him.

I climbed onto the bed and laid on my back. He draped himself across my chest, clinging to me.

There was a loud knock on the door. "Done yet?" West called.

Shaking my head, I tightened my arm around Sen so that he wouldn't move. "I might kill him."

"He took a couple punches for me. Let him off easy."

"Fine. This time."

"Are you gonna tell me what I agreed to?"

Suddenly, the nerves came back. "Well, I was thinking about getting an apartment."

"That's cool. I've looked in the area and they're stupidly expensive."

"That's why you split it with other people. A few, preferably. And if two of those people share a room, it's even better."

He lifted his head, staring down at me with something that I couldn't read. That just made it worse, especially after sex like that.

"If this backfires…" I took a deep breath and brushed my thumb along his cheekbone. "When me and West figure out the apartment thing, will you move in?"

"No."

Damnit.

"When you, me, and West figure out the apartment thing, I'll move in." He followed it up with a grin that made my heart beat faster.

Arching up, I bit down on the split part of his lip. He made a disgruntled sound and smacked at my face.

"Give me a real answer," I insisted.

"It's pretty early to do something like that."

I raised a single brow. "What you just said doesn't matter to me one bit."

"Alright. I'll move in, but what happens if we break up?"

"Then you get the couch, obviously."

"What if I wanted to bring someone home?"

My eyes narrowed. When I flipped him onto his back, he laughed. It was light and so different from when I'd first met him. Sen had changed. He was still changing. In a year from now, the man I was looking at would just be a piece of our past. I wanted to know every version of him that would exist.