Page 18 of King Daddy

“He was Tabitha’s too.”

Kylo went back to gently swinging. “I’m unsurprised. He owns the habits of the rich. Of course, all I knew back then wassomeone showed me an ounce of attention.” Kylo looked away. He visibly swallowed, as if trying to get himself under control.

Beau decided to give him a minute by making him feel better about his life. “I begged Tabitha to go to rehab that day. The day everything started with Adan,” he explained. “That wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, but that day, I was at my breaking point. She threw things and screamed. Told me she hated me.” A sad smile tugged at Beau’s lips. “I think I already hated her too. Finally, she went completely calm and told me to find someone else. She said I obviously found her repulsive since I kept asking her to change. So go get my dick sucked elsewhere.” A bitter laugh fell from Beau’s lips. “I was so goddamn done. When I stormed through the house, on my way to do anything that got her out of my sight, I found Boone and Adan fighting every bit as hard. I couldn’t take it. The noise. The screaming. I was ready to kill someone to make everyone be quiet and take away the constant anger. So I yelled at Boone to get to work and out of my sight. He stormed out, leaving Adan behind.”

Beau snorted. “The funny thing was, Adan already practically lived here, and I barely noticed. But that day, I hated everyone, including him. I told him to get out of my house and he laughed. It wasn’t a condescending laugh. Just a genuine laugh—like he knew I wasn’t serious. He asked if he could stay if he let me spank him since he really didn’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t know why it struck me as funny. Maybe it was just the way he said it, but I laughed, and it felt so fucking good to feel anything except hurt and rage. I thought about Tabitha, telling me to get someone else to suck my dick, and the next thing I knew, I had Adan on his knees. Then Boone caught us. I had ruined two more lives.”

Beau swallowed. He should stop with the confessions, but he couldn’t. “It felt good. I’d made people hurt the way I did, and I couldn’t stop. My wife was an addict and so was my youngest son. Boone had everything because I gave it to him. I just resented the fuck out of every single person I loved. I felt like I had done everything—like no low was too low as long as they got what they wanted. Yet they all acted like...” Beau shrugged. He didn’t think he could go on. There was no part of the story where he came out to be the good guy. It just got worse.

“On my sixteenth birthday, I cornered Reggie, and I ended up on my knees.” A bitter smile touched Kylo’s lips. “He let me because, of course, he did.” Kylo stared at nothing. “Again, any amount of attention and I was hooked. I thought that meant I’d won. That had to mean he wanted me and not my junkie mom. I was so stupid.” He met Beau’s stare. Another acrid smile twisted his lips. “I definitely made a complete ass of myself every single day, trying to be the one he chose. Looking back, I see all the ways he tried to stay away from me.” His expression turned dark in a way Beau hadn’t thought possible for Kylo. “That is, until I got my first big part and moved into my own place six months later. Even though I was still underage, Mom was just glad to have me gone. One less person around trying to change her. I didn’t really see her anymore, but Reggie...”

Beau felt sick because he saw it all. He knew because he was the bad guy. He knew exactly what Reggie’s game had been. It was exactly that: a game. Reggie had been an adult, fucking with a kid’s head, making him think he was the aggressor. Then he had lost access to his fun once Kylo left. Still, Beau was slightly confused.

“That was a long time ago. Why is he still coming around?” Kylo was thirty-two. He said they had never been a couple. There was more to this.

Kylo shrugged. “You’d have to ask him. I moved from L.A. to New York and then on to San Francisco. He’s been around every corner, stalking me, forcing me to find higher and higher security.”

“Stalking you.” Fuck. He had to be brutally obsessed with Kylo for it to have lasted this long.

Kylo suddenly stopped swinging. He looked haunted. “I wish it had only been stalking.”

Beau came to his feet. He didn’t even realize it happened. “What else has it been?”

Kylo focused on him. He looked like the child no one protected. “He’s hired people to attack me, hoping to scare me into running to him. The week before we met at The PlayPen, I was held hostage for three days until he came to my rescue.” Kylo used air quotes on the word “rescue.” They were unnecessary. Reggie obviously didn’t care if Kylo saw his ploys for what they were. Kylo took a shaky breath. “I think he paid that guy to stab me.” Kylo stood. “Where’s the bathroom?”

Beau held his hand out for Kylo. The moment he held some part of him, his feet unglued from the floor. “This way.” He led Kylo to the opposite side of his bedroom. After opening the door and turning on the light, he stepped aside, leaving Kylo to hisprivacy. Except, once the door closed, he couldn’t move away. No one had watched over Kylo. No one had protected him. Beau had never protected anyone. In fact, he was the monster. But Kylo needed him in a way no one ever had, and Beau planned to deliver. He was a little terrified of himself at that moment. An image of Reggie’s expression as he had stood over Kylo’s bed floated through Beau’s mind. Kylo was right. Reggie had done that, and Beau didn’t know what horrible thing he was about to do about it, but he knew it would be irreparable.

After splashing water on his face, Kylo stared at himself in the mirror. He wasn’t a kid anymore. None of that shit mattered. He closed his eyes. The memory of Beau’s lips on his skin washed away the darkness. The honesty. Goddamn. Beau hadn’t held back or tried to lie about a single thing. He had flayed himself in two and let Kylo stamp through the remnants. That was the single most touching thing anyone ever did for him. Kylo didn’t have to guess around Beau. All he had to do was ask, and Beau ripped out his heart for Kylo. He wanted to hold him.

Kylo turned off the light and opened the door to find Beau waiting. Even with his eyes still adjusting to the change in lighting, he knew Beau was in a dark place. He didn’t have to study his expression. Beau swept him off his feet.

“Bedtime. Do you need a story?”

God. He could love this man. “No. I think I’ve had my fill of stories tonight. I think I just need to be cuddled.”

“You got it.” He crawled onto the bed and tucked Kylo beneath the covers before slipping beneath them too. Beau towed Kylo into his arms and held on.

Kylo closed his eyes and savored the sensation of being held. His eyes burned. His heart couldn’t get enough.

Beau kissed his forehead. “I hate to ask you to rip your heart out any more tonight, but did Reggie give you that crown?”

Sadness threatened to sink him again. “No. My mom gave it to me for my eighteenth birthday. It wasn’t a coincidence that it had been made for a son a king couldn’t love. I’m a son a queen can’t love, and she wanted me to know it. But hey, it’s worth millions, right?”

“What made you wear it the night we met?”

“I’ve worn it every birthday since. It’s my yearly reminder not to bother.”

Warm lips touched his forehead again. This time, they didn’t move away, even when Beau responded. “At least I got you a gift.” Kylo appreciated Beau not adding those roses and teddy bear hadn’t been meant for him.

An unexpected chuckle burst from Kylo. He fucking adored this man. Still, he had to stand his ground. He wouldn’t lose himself again. “I don’t want the brightly colored prison you built for Adan.”

“I’ll have someone clear out the playroom tomorrow.”

“If you think you’ll be touching anyone other than me, plan to lose your hands.”

He felt Beau smile against his skin. “You don’t have anything to worry about. I’m crazy. Not stupid.”

Kylo’s cheeks ached. Beau kept him smiling. “I’m crazy too. Fair warning.”

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