Page 115 of Just Between Us

There’s no point in lying. He can choose to be angry with me if he likes but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep him safe.

“I knew you were hiding something after Monaco, and you weren’t going to tell either of us, so I asked Daniel to look into you,” I say. “I know it was wrong, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay. This is not an excuse because I’d do it again, but I am sorry if it crosses a boundary.”

Kai looks at me, eyes wide. “Oh,” he says, swallowing. “I guess that’s fair. You also have a lot to protect so it’s okay. I get it.”

I shake my head, hating that he thinks that I care about any of that. “I couldn’t care less about what I have, Kai. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

He looks at me for a long moment, like he’s finally processing the fact that I care about him.

“How much do you know?”

“I saw the messages he’s been sending you,” I say levelly. “I know he hurt you.”

Kai nods slowly then smiles wistfully. “He liked to kick me in the stomach a lot. Never the face in case people got suspicious,” he says, voice low. “I ended up in A&E a few times. My mother thought I liked getting into fights at school. He’d make me tell her and the nurses that.”

“Kai…”

His eyes meet mine, his irises flaring with both anger and regret. “But that’s not all of it. He’s only doing this because I did something awful to him.”

“Tell me,” I say.

He shakes his head, a sad smile on his lips. “I don’t want you to think any less of me.”

“He abused you, Kai. I don’t know what you did and frankly, I don’t care because whatever you did, he deserved a million times worse.”

I watch his shoulders drop, and I realise no one has ever told him that before. No one has ever told him that what Kenny did was wrong and he deserved way worse than a ten-year prison stint.

“You know the beatings weren’t even the worst part of it?” Kai says after a moment. “He liked to tell me that I would be sent away, always said my mother didn’t love me or need me. I started to believe it after a while, but even if she didn’t love me anymore, I had to stay for my sisters. His friends were—” he huffs out a bitter laugh.

“One day, I was home alone, and he barged into my room, and found me watching a video of two guys.He was laughing so loudly, only stopping to demand I strip naked. I thought he was going to—” he swallows.

Something inside me snaps. I feel it, like a twig being snapped under someone’s foot. Kenny Walsh deserves to be in the ground with maggots feeding on his rotting flesh and if I have it my way, he will be.

“Did he…?” I ask.

He finally looks up at me. Tears dance in his eyes. “No, he didn’t. He just wanted me to know that he could. Some days, I wished he would so I would stop guessing when he’d finally do it. I think it was another way for him to torture me. I just wanted it to stop, and I didn’t want him to send me away so,” he takes a deep breath, “I asked a friend of mine to plant some drugs and he got arrested on that plus a few other charges.”

“I didn’t want either of you to know about any of it. I didn’t want to ever think about him again but then he got released and things spiralled… I know I fucked up. I should have said something from the start. Maybe I could have stopped him from keying Levi’s car. Maybe I could have stopped all of this. I’m so sorry.”

“He hurt you, Kai. He hurt a kid, and he was hurting you again. There is nothing for you to feel bad about.”

“I should’ve…”

“You were doing what you’ve always done, which is keeping the people you care about safe. I know you’ve had to worry about your mother and your sisters, and you had to protect them from Kenny and God knows what else, but I promise you don’t have to think about any of that anymore. You have us to take care of you now.”

He shakes his head. “But I can’t offer you anything. I feel like I should do something, like I can’t just take all of this from you and give nothing in return.”

Something inside me breaks because what did Kenny do to make him believe he must give something in return for love?

“Kai, you are already doing everything you need to do. All you need to give us is you. That’s it. We don’t want anything else. I don’t want anything else.”

He laughs quietly, wiping away a lone tear. “Funny, Levi said the exact same thing last night.”

I smile. “Which means I’m right since Levi is the smartest.”

“This is…”

“You don’t have to worry about Kenny anymore,” I tell him. “Promise me you won’t speak to him again?”

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