Page 23 of Your Last First Kiss

“We added her boys’ fingerprints to the system the last time they were here,” Lochlan mutters under his breath and steps forward, so I move with him. “The littlest one has a habit of running off.”

I stare at him from the corner of my eye but turn back to Kaiser when Lochlan speaks again.

“Kai? What are you doing here?” Lochlan approaches the kid like you would a wounded animal. Clearly, it’s not only me with weirdness looming in my chest.

“Mr. Blaine, I—I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I just thought… I mean, I didn’t know you’d be in a meeting.” His eyes are wide, scanning every inch of the space we’re in.

Stepping forward, I hold up a hand. “Hi, Kaiser, do you remember me? I’m Dillon. Your mom has told me a lot about you. Enough that I know you’re a long way from home on a school day. Are you okay?”

Lochlan elbows me in the side. An overprotective stranger is not what Kaiser needs right now. But my neck prickles with the awareness that he’s probably here with news that would upset his mother.

“You’re friends with my mom? You’re Mr. Wednesday?” His brows pinch together, and my lips twitch.

“Well, I have coffee with your mom every Wednesday while I wait for this guy to show up.” I hook my thumb toward Lochlan. “So, yeah, I guess I’m Mr. Wednesday.”

“She likes you,” he blurts. Then he starts wringing his hands and shifting his weight from one foot to another.

How old is he? Fifteen? Sixteen? Definitely not old enough that Penny would be okay with him coming into Manhattan all by himself.

“I like your mom too. But you must know she isn’t here. Is everything okay? What can I do? What can we do?” I amend, looking over at Lochlan.

Kaiser turns to Lochlan then and juts out his jaw. He’s trying to keep it from trembling, and my heart aches for this kid.

He’s tall, growing into a man, but lanky and timid in a way that makes him still a boy.

“Mr. Blaine?” Kaiser looks nervously at me, then back to Lochlan. “Please don’t fire my mom. She needs this job and—and…”

“Hey, Kai.” Lochlan’s voice is a gentle tone I’ve never heard from him. It’s authoritative but fatherly. “Why would you think I’m going to fire your mom? She’s very good at her job, and I’d be lost without her.”

The elevator doors open again, and Michael, the security team leader, enters with a grave expression.

“Mr. Blaine?” Glancing around, he takes in each of us but lingers on Kai. With a grim expression, he shakes his head. “There’s an Edward Damon downstairs demanding to speak to you. He’s—” He pauses, like he knows what he’s about to say should be handled sensitively. “He’s belligerent. Normally we’d call the police, but he says he’s Miss Damon’s husband.”

“Ex-husband,” Kaiser and I growl at the same time. Our eyes meet, and the general dread I felt earlier becomes very distinct.

Kaiser is living my childhood.

Fuck me.

“I understand her ID says Damon, but we call her Miss Mulligan, so I assumed this was a—sticky situation,” Michael says gently.

“Yes, she uses her maiden name at work,” Lochlan says while pinching the bridge of his nose.

“We’ll handle it,” I tell Michael. “Put him in a conference room.” He nods and walks back to the waiting elevator.

“Him. He’s the reason,” Kaiser says. His voice spikes with panic, even as his shoulders slump forward in defeat. “He’s always the reason.” He blinks rapidly, and I look away.

He deserves to keep his pride intact. I have a feeling it’s stripped from him regularly.

CHAPTER7

DILLON

Lochlan and I share a look with a million words we don’t speak out loud when Kaiser steps away from us with his head in his hands.

“Please, Mr. Blaine. He—he…” The panic in his crackling voice pulls at every string connected to my heart. Ones I thought had been severed years ago.

“Kai,” Lochlan says carefully. “I know your dad is sick.”