Page 100 of The Sweetheart
The lookof fierce pride on Nolan’s face when they broke the news to Justin and the boys was something that Kai would remember for the rest of his life.
“It’s all because of you,” Kai told him quietly, hugging him, after the boys had stopped jumping up and down ecstatically.
“You’ll never know how grateful I am that I could help,” Nolan said, kissing the top of his head.
After that, the move was the only thing that anyone could talk about for the rest of the day. Plans were quickly made, and Kai’s plans were adjusted so that they could take advantage of Dom’s absence.
“I guess with four bedrooms means that Casey and Callum get to have their own,” Jason said eventually.
“Wait, what?” Casey asked, eyes going wide.
“So you and I are sharing again?” Justin said exasperatedly.
“Technically, that basement is big enough that you can definitely get another pair of bedrooms down there,” Nolan said, catching Kai’s interest.
“You think so?”
“For sure, You can have a whole apartment down there if you want.” It was Jason and Justin’s turn to look dumbfounded. It felt like winning the lottery, and for the first time since Noah had dropped the keys in his hands, Kai was excited.
The only thing missing was Liam. Kai knew he’d have to find some way to make peace with him if he wanted Liam to come with them. He wasn’t sure what kind of relationship he wanted with Liam moving forward, but he still wanted him to be safe. There was no way Kai would leave him behind.
While the guys talked logistics of the basement apartment, Kai broke away. Nolan gave him a questioning look, but Kai just shook his head. He meandered down the hall, pulling out his phone and Liam’s contact information.
“Hey, is everything okay?” Liam answered at once. Jason had already texted him to let him know that Riley was in the hospital so Kai rushed to reassure him.
“Yeah. Everything’s good. I just wanted to let you know, I got my grandmother’s house back.” Liam was silent so long, Kai thought the call must have dropped. “Hey, are you there?”
“Yeah. Yeah. That’s great. Congrats, man.”
“The guys and Riley are going to move in. I want you to come too.”
Another long pause.
“Cool. Cool. I’m working on something in Kingston, so I’ll let you know.”
“I’ll text you the address. Just come whenever.”
“Yeah. Alright. Anyway, I gotta go. I’ll see you around.”
Kai hung up, his spirits dimmed just a little. He texted Liam the address anyway. Liam was such a stubborn little fucker, but Kai still hoped he would use it.
When he got back to the room, Nolan pulled him onto his lap, wrapping his arms around his. Kai sank into him, propping his head on Nolan’s shoulder.
“Everything okay?”
“I called Liam. I don’t think he’s going to come.”
Nolan pressed a kiss against his shoulder. “Give him some time. He’ll come around.”
Kai wasn’t sure. He looked around at his family, happy and excited for the future for the first time ever, and he couldn’t quite get over that it was still just shy of perfect without Liam there. Still, if this was as close as he was going to get, he would take it with both hands and hold on for the rest of his life.
40
The next week was the busiest week of Kai’s life, and he relished every single moment of it. In his imagination, he’d fixed up the house perfectly for them and done a grand reveal at the end, but working side by side, making decisions with them, was so much better.
On Sunday, they’d gone back to the trailer and packed everything they owned into Nolan’s SUV. It had only taken one trip to move all seven of them out. The best part had been Jason, Justin and Kai throwing up six middle fingers to their asshole landlord’s rage-filled face when they told him they were leaving. Then they’d grabbed the boys to take them to their new house. Kai had never seen his brothers that level of excited as they raced around, taking everything in. He watched Jason fall in love with the kitchen, running his hands over the thirty-year-old counters and oak cupboards. It didn’t matter that it was dated. It was more than they’d ever had. Casey and Callum raced straight to the bedrooms, running back and forth between the three, trying to decide which ones would be theirs.
Both Jason and Justin marvelled at the downstairs gym. Kai agreed to keep that stuff since the guys would absolutely makeuse of it, but they seemed on board with the idea of purging the old furniture and making the place their own. Justin had jumped right on that task, and it turned out he was a bit of a wizard at Facebook Marketplace and most of the bulkier stuff was gone within days.
