"Kai, come on! We have to get going," I call my son as I stand in the kitchen, slabbing peanut butter onto two pieces of bread for Kai's lunch. Once I was done with that, I put it in a plastic bag and when I see that my son wasn't standing next to me like he usually was every morning, I let out a small sigh. I set everything down before rushing out of the kitchen and into his room where he sat on the floor next to his bed with his arms crossed. When he sees me walk in, he turns his head away from me.

"I not going," he says in his angry voice, not turning to look at me anymore. I knew he was in a bad mood as soon as I woke him up because he was usually up before me, but that wasn't the case today. We hadn't done anything too crazy yesterday, so I knew he had enough sleep and he wasn't exhausted, so that couldn't be what was bothering him. I needed to figure out what was wrong soon because I don't think I could handle him having a tantrum this morning. I had so much work to do today because it was getting closer to the Christmas season, so I was already stressed.

"Why don't you want to go?" I ask in a calm, soft voice. Thankfully, I had gotten good at handling tantrums and meltdowns because I read so many baby books when I first got Kai that I was practically an expert on them, but he can be unpredictable at times.

Kai shakes his head, still not turning to look at me. I move over so I was kneeling in front of his face, but he just turns his head the other way so he doesn't have to look at me. I get in front of him again, but he just keeps turning his head away. I notice that after time, his lip starts to quiver and then tears start rolling down his face. I want to reach out and wipe them away, but I also know that this can get even worse if I try to touch him.

"Kai, tell me what's wrong and I can fix it," I whisper to him in the softest voice I could come up with right now.

"Please, Daddy! I want to be with you!" He yells, finally turning to stare at me with a pleading look. It was literally breaking my heart to see him so upset, but I have to work. I know my parents would help me if I needed money, but I couldn't lose this job. I would be fucked if I lost it and would just feel so pathetic if it was out of my life.

"I'm sorry, buddy, but you have to go to daycare. Daddy has to work," I remind him.

His face turns even angrier and he shoots off the ground with his arms still crossed. "I want to stay with you! You always... always working!"

I have to force myself to keep my face passive because if I show emotion, then it'll just give him even more reason to be upset. I nod my head at him before giving him a small smile. "I know, Kai, but I have to work."

He shakes his head, which ends up shaking his whole body. More tears were streaming down his cheeks and he was starting to stomp his feet lightly against the floor. "I want to stay with you! Please, Daddy! I'll do anything!"

"Malakai, I'm sorry, but you have to go to daycare. Daddy's busy today and needs to focus on work. We can hang out once you get home though, just like we do every day," I remind him, but that obviously didn't work. He shakes his head even harder and I let out a small sigh before doing what I needed to do. I wrap my arm around him before picking him up and moving towards the living room.

He starts shaking even harder the second I touch him and lightly kicks me, not enough to hurt me since he knows that being violent won't get him anywhere. He was more so trying to get me away, so when I set him on the couch, I move away from him and hold my hands up so he can see that I wasn't touching him anymore. He starts pounding on the couch and sobbing, squeezing his little eyes shut as hard as he could. "Daddy!"

I just walk away because I know that ignoring what he was doing can work sometimes. Especially with him because he's pretty smart, he's figured out that if he doesn't get his way after a while of screaming, he probably won't get it at all. I go into the kitchen to finish making his lunch and after a while, his sobs start to die down along with him lightly hitting the couch. Ignoring him worked, thankfully. I slowly walk back into the living room to see him leaning back in his spot with his hands by his sides as he sniffles lightly.

"Are you calmed down now?" I ask in a soft voice, peering down at him while he continues to sniffle and calm himself down from crying.

"Yes, Daddy," he whispers, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. I grab a tissue from the coffee table before kneeling in front of him and wiping the snot away for him. Once he was all cleaned up, I run a hand over his head and give him a supportive smile because it's not his fault he got so overwhelmed and stressed. He's a kid and sometimes they just need to have a tantrum to get out all that negative energy. I'm not going to hold this against him.

"I know that you don't want to go to daycare today, but you have to, buddy. I have to work, but I'll pick you up once daycare is over and we'll hang out, just like we do every night. How about, just for today, you pick out one of Daddy's things and you take it with you to remind you that I'll be with you later?" I ask, knowing that this meltdown was just because of his separation anxiety that he seems to have formed after going to daycare for a bit. It wasn't so bad that I was worried, but some days, it would show up without any warning.

Kai's eyes light up and he nods his head eagerly. "Please!"

"Okay, but first, what do we do after we yell?" I ask him. He looks confused for a second before his eyes dart down to look at his lap with a clear look of guilt. After a few moments, he looks up at me with more tears in his eyes. He scoots closer to me and I stand up before plopping down next to him on the couch and placing him in my lap. He wraps his arms around my neck as he looks up at me again.

"I sorry, Daddy," he tells me, exactly what I taught him to do after he gets mad and yells.

"It's okay," I say before pulling him into a tight hug. He holds me as hard as he can, burying his tiny face in my shoulder. After hugging him for a few minutes, I stand up with him in my arms and take him to my room before letting him back down onto the ground so he could pick something for him to bring to daycare with him today. He grabs one of my bracelets that Kadri gave me years ago and I help him put it on so it won't fall off and then we leave shortly after. I was grateful that the tantrum wasn't too bad, but I knew that I would end up just stressing all day about Kai, no matter what.

After dropping him off at daycare, I went home and did a bunch of work. I worked until my scheduled time, which was 5 PM, and after that, I realize that I couldn't pick up Kai yet since it was the daycare's movie night, which meant they wouldn't be ready to be picked up until eight. I had some time to kill, so I grab my jacket before heading out of the apartment. I find myself driving immediately to the Tilted Tap and was hopeful that Aria was working today so I could maybe talk with him for a bit or just sit in the bar for three hours while I waited.

I walk into the building, noticing that it wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. It was a Monday, so it made sense that there weren't that many people here. Thankfully, I see Aria standing behind the bar with one of the shakers in his hand as he shook it up while talking with some man sitting in front of him. I walk closer to the bar and that's when he notices me, his smile widening when he sees me. There was a bit of hesitation in his eyes, but he quickly forces that away.

"Hi," he tells me, motioning for me to sit in the chair next to the guy he was talking to. The guy nods his head to me with confusion in his eyes before he turns to look at Aria, who motions to me. "this is Levi. Levi, this is Roman, the guy I told you about."

Roman's head turns to look at me and instead of the confused look, he was smiling at me with bright white teeth. He holds his hand out to me, which I eagerly shake. "It's nice to meet you, Levi. I've heard plenty about you from Aria."

I smile, nodding my head. "Well, I heard great things about you. So he worked for you?"

I see something flash in Roman's eyes before he glances at Aria, who was still preoccupied with the guests. I give the man a confused look before he turns back to me with a smile plastered on his face, but that look remains in his eyes that I couldn't quite decipher. "Yeah, he worked for me until he was 22."

I decide to not ask what that was about and just nod my head in acknowledgment to what he just said. "You seem to be pretty persistent and a great friend to Aria."

Roman chuckles, recovering from whatever just happened, nodding his head. "You could say that. He's a pain in the ass most of the time, but you get used to it once you get to know him more. His confidence can get to his head sometimes, so don't be afraid to knock him down a peg or anything. It'll probably do him some good."

"Hey!" Aria says with a small pout before he's called away by one of the other patrons. He puts on that fake smile I saw the first time I came here as he starts talking to the elderly man and woman that were sitting a few seats away from us. I turn to Roman again to see him looking at me with curiosity in his eyes, but he still looked pleased with me, which was good. At least, he wasn't doing any of that liking me in front of Aria, but hating me when it was just us.

"Now, don't get me wrong, Aria talked highly of you and everything, but I'm curious. Why's a man like you a single dad? I mean, why hasn't anyone snatched you up or anything? You seem attractive, so why're you alone?" He asks and I instantly realize that this dude's blunt. It makes sense with how Aria was, all his confidence and everything. I also wasn't even surprised that he knew that I had a kid because it seems like Aria was the type of person to tell the people close to him everything. I didn't mind though, these are his friends, he can tell them whatever he wants.

I clear my throat before running my hands against my jeans, feeling intimidated by Roman's presence. He's a very built man and looks very intimidating, which are usually the types that I try to stay away from, but now, I was stuck. "Uh, well, for the first two years of my son's life, I mainly focused on him, but now, men don't really like the fact that I have a kid, so once they hear the news, they usually bolt."

"Are these younger men?" Roman asks, taking one of the fries that sat in front of him.

I shake my head. "Not really, maybe a few years older than me actually. I don't really go for younger men."

He nods his head before looking back at Aria to see him still talking to the elderly couple. When he sees that he's still occupied, he turns to me again. "Look, I'm the protective type and Aria can handle himself, but I still need you to know that I'm a high profile businessman, so if you fuck with Aria, I can get lots of things done. Just be nice to him, okay? He's confident, for sure, but he's still sensitive."

I nod my head, feeling even more intimidated. I clear my throat before letting my thoughts spill to this stranger in front of me. "I don't want to hurt him. I didn't even think he would go for someone like me, I thought it was just some one-night stand thing, but apparently, not."

He gives me another curious look. "Did you want it to be just a one-night stand?"

I start to blush, looking down at my lap before finding the courage to look back at him. "I didn't. I just... like I said, people run when they find out about Kai. I assumed he was like the rest of them, but he's not. I know that now and I'm happy that I didn't just give up."

He smiles again, nodding his head like he was pleased with my answer. "Alright, Levi, I like you. Aria and I are going to dinner with some of our friends at my office later tonight, you should come with. I know that Arabella has been dying to meet you."

My face pales when he mentions that name that I had definitely heard multiple times before. "Arabella? As in Aria's sister?"

Roman chuckles, nodding his head. "I'm assuming he didn't tell you that her and I are married."

My mouth literally drops open and Roman chuckles again, reaching over and forcing my mouth closed by pushing my chin up. I had no idea that Roman even knew Arabella because Aria obviously left that out. For what reason? I didn't know. I clear my throat before running a hand through my hair. "No, he actually did not mention that."

"Well, don't worry. She's a nice person and she won't be as overprotective as I am. He's my brother-in-law and also my best friend, so I kinda have to play that role in his life. But you seem like a good kid, so don't worry. I won't hurt you unless you fuck with him, same with Arabella, but you'll see tonight. Unless you have somewhere to be," he tells me, giving me an easy out to not go tonight. But Roman was nice, even if he was a bit protective, and I trusted that he wouldn't do anything bad to me unless I gave him a reason to.

"Uh, I just have to pick up my son at 8, so I have time," I tell him with a shrug of the shoulders.

Only 10 minutes later, Aria clocks out since his shift was over and we leave the bar. I follow Roman in my car with Aria sitting right next to me, staring straight ahead at his best friend that was definitely going way faster than necessary, probably seeing if I could keep up with his driving. Aria sighs, motioning to Roman's car. "Sorry about him, I know he can be a bit... father-like, you could say. Whatever he said to scare you, just don't listen to him. He can be a dick when he wants to be."

I chuckle, shaking my head. "Don't worry about it. I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Yeah, I guess you are," he says with a chuckle. "well, if you don't want to go to dinner with us, you really don't have to. I know that can be very intimidating, especially since it's with my sister as well and also we've only technically been on one date. So you can just drop me off and go, you really don't have to stay."

I smile, seeing that he was actually a bit nervous. His confidence was tearing back a bit to show me his other layers and it made me happy that he was letting me in a bit. "Don't worry about it. I think I can make it through it. Also, why didn't you mention that Roman was married to your sister?"

He chuckles, shrugging his shoulders. "Honestly, I forget it sometimes. Roman has been with Arabella since we were teenagers and as soon as my sister turned 22, they got married. My whole family knew it was going to happen, so it wasn't even a shock or anything. They just work so well together that you just forget that they're married sometimes."

"Yeah, that makes sense," I tell him. "so he just gave you a job because he's your brother-in-law?"

He shakes his head with a clearing of the throat. I notice that he turns his head completely away from me as soon as I mention the job, which was exactly what Roman had done. What the hell was going on? "Um, no. Roman is a great person and a great friend, but he's very professional when it comes to work. I started out as an intern at his company, which I worked my ass off to get. Then in under two years, I got to be his secretary and had to continue working my ass off to make him happy. He really separates his personal and professional life. Like, I really don't even think that I was his friend when we were working, it was that intense. Also, they weren't married when I worked with him, so we still weren't fully family."

I smile, completely forgetting how weird he was acting. I could see that Roman could be that type of person that didn't give out special favors for family and friends. It probably protects him from bringing in emotions into the workplace and makes everything run smoother, so it's understandable. I barely knew the guy, but he did seem like that type of person. "So what was he doing at your work?"

"Well, he knew we were going to dinner tonight and my sister has my car still, so he offered to come and get me. He showed up a bit early since he finished a meeting a bit quicker than he planned, so we just talked while I finished work. We mostly just talked about you, so that's probably why he was so inquisitive when he met you," he says with a chuckle.

I glance at him with a smile, liking that he was talking about me. It made me feel special in some way. "What were you saying about me?"

He chuckles. "Just some random things. He asked what you do and how we met and everything and then he had a ton of questions about Kai, which I didn't really have the answer to."

"Like what?" I ask, curious of what he was asking about my son.

"Well, he asked how old he is and what he's like and where he is while you work, you know, random things. I don't really know anything, for good reason obviously. It's not my place to be super close to your son," he says, reminding me that it was okay that he didn't know much about Kai. I knew that he was worried about overstepping, which I was grateful for. I didn't want him to meet Kai yet, if ever since there's definitely a huge chance this relationship might not even work out.

"Uh, well, Kai's three-years-old and will be four in about ten months. He's very persuasive and adorable. He's definitely an angel most times because he basically just wants to be with the people he loves, but other times, he can be a lot to handle. And, uh, he's at daycare while I work. From 9 AM to 6 PM, most days, that's where he is. Tonight, they had a movie night so I'm picking him up at eight," I explain.

I notice Aria smile a bit, trying to hide it by turning his head. "He sounds adorable."

I don't know where my courage comes from, but I decide to blurt out what I was thinking. "You like kids, don't you?"

He seems to have been shocked by my outburst since I'm usually so hesitant about saying things, but for some reason, I felt good tonight. It was like Aria brought out a whole new side of me that I didn't even know I had. He cleared his throat before nodding, looking a bit guilty. Maybe he still felt like he was overstepping? I don't know. "Yeah, I do. How'd you know?"

"I just guessed. You seem to like when I talk about Kai," I point out, trying to bury all this courage and confidence down because this was way out of character for me. I shouldn't be acting like this, even if this could be a good change for me.

Before he could say anything else, Roman turns into the parking lot of one of the hugest buildings in the city that I pass by whenever I come out here. Kai actually loves this building because you can see into the lobby of it and the walls were painted bright blue and he seemed to like that. He would definitely get a kick out of it if he knew that I had gone into the 'bright blue building', which is what he called it whenever we drove past it.

I park my car next to Roman's before we get out and follow him inside after he swipes a card on the outside of the building. My eyes are immediately drawn to the bright blue walls that were much brighter when they were right in front of your face. Roman glances back at me with a smug smile, motioning to the walls that I was staring at. "You like 'em?"

"Um, my son does. Whenever we come into the city, these are the first things he points out," I tell him and him and Aria both smile. Roman nods his head before motioning to the building.

"You should bring him around sometime. I could give him a tour of the place. We design a bunch of kid's products, so we could definitely find a bunch of toys for him to play with," Roman tells me with a smile.

Aria groans, running a hand through his hair. "Roman."

"Sorry, sorry, forgot you haven't even met the kid," Roman says with another smug smile. "but maybe at some point, he'll get a tour of the place. I've seen kid's faces light up when they see all the stuff we have to offer. I think your boy would like it just the same."

I smile, nudging Aria a bit to show him that it was okay. "Uh, maybe, but he actually doesn't like too many toys, so maybe not."

Roman glances at me as we walk into an elevator. "Alright, then maybe he wouldn't like it here."

I chuckle as we start to ascend to the top floor, the button he pressed had displayed the number 55 and it was the highest on the board, so I was just assuming it was the top of the building. I notice that Aria was standing a bit close to me, not that I minded. I liked that being around Roman was bringing out a side of him that I hadn't seen yet. I mean, yeah, I'd only seen him twice before, but this wasn't a side I was ever expecting to see, so I was happy. Once the doors slide open, it shows a huge open room with conference rooms scattered around with glass walls surrounding them. On the far side of the wall was a row of doors that probably led to offices, one of them displaying the name Roman Hartley.

In the middle of the floor was a huge table that was now filled with food and people that were all super attractive. I immediately recognize the woman that looked very similar to Aria and I assume that she was the Arabella that I had heard so much about today. When the elevators make a 'ding' noise, all the eyes travel up to look at us. Before anyone could say anything about the mysterious man that had joined them, Roman spoke up. "Hello all, this is Levi Whitehouse, the man that our dear Aria has been fucking... or fucked. How many times has it been?"

A blush immediately comes onto my face and I have to force my hands to stay by my side instead of covering up my cheeks since they must've been as red as a tomato at this point. Aria just lets out a loud groan before hitting his brother-in-law on the arm and pulling me over to the table that was covered in different types of pasta and a bunch of slices of garlic bread. Before I could look at the food more thoroughly, a hand comes into my view. I look up at the girl that looked very similar to Aria. "Hi, Levi. I'm Aria's sister, Arabella Hartley. I've heard so much about you."

My blush comes back a bit since I was incredibly nervous to just be meeting all these people so close with Aria. I mean, we weren't even dating, so this had to be weird to be meeting a bunch of his friends and some family. I shake Arabella's hand, noticing that her grip was just as firm as her husband's. "I've heard so much about you too."

She smiles at my shyness before moving out of the way so I could look at the other four people that sat at the table. Arabella motions to a boy that had to be younger than me by a few years because he had a baby face, but he looked very mature in a suit. He had beautiful dark skin that made his hazel eyes pop. He had a bright smile that gave him a charming sense when you looked at him. "This is Zeus, our friend. He's a real estate agent, so ignore the suit. He seems to think that he has to be in character 24/7."

Zeus rolls his eyes before giving me a sweet smile. "Nice to meet you, Levi."

"You too," I whisper with a smile, suddenly feeling much more nervous than I thought I would be to be here. It was like all these people in here were just staring at me and judging me to see if I was right for Aria. Well, that's what it felt like at least.

Arabella motions to another man that looked very friendly. "This is Bradlee, he works with an LGBTQ+ organization called Home Our Community, so if you see him wearing rainbow, that's probably why."

"Nice to meet you, Levi. This is Derek, my boyfriend," Bradlee tells me, motioning to the younger boy sitting next to him. Derek had a soft smile on his face and I notice how close he was sitting to his boyfriend and found it incredibly sweet. He seemed to be just as shy as me because instead of saying hi, he just waves to me. Bradlee smiles before motioning to him again. "since we're naming job titles, Derek is a teacher's assistant."

I nod my head with a sweet smile. Arabella motions to the last person I hadn't met, who was a beautiful woman that had short hair sitting on the top of her head in a curly mess, but it looked cute on her. She waves at me before anyone could introduce her and I wave back. "This is Juniper, she works at a cannabis shop, so she's probably high every time you talk to her, so just be wary of that."

Juniper narrows her eyes at Arabella. "Rude."

Aria pulls me down into the chair next to him while everyone else sits down. They start serving the food and I could feel my nerves going back down since they were no longer focusing on me, but that's just until all the food is served. Bradlee looks at me first, smiling when he sees Aria and I's arms brushing against one another's while we ate. "So, Levi, I, unfortunately, haven't heard that much about you, so what do you do?"

Everyone eyes turn to me and I notice that Aria gives me a sympathetic look while brushing his hand against my thigh for some silent support. I swallow down the mouthful that I had before speaking. "Uh, I'm a call center representative with a small company that's located in Pennsylvania. I just answer the phone all day and answer questions or complaints or put in orders for people. It's pretty boring."

Bradlee nods his head before continuing to eat. Roman's the one that speaks up again. "Well, you're also a father, so that probably takes up a bunch of your time, right?"

Zeus, Bradlee, Derek, and Juniper all look in shock as soon as Roman says that while Aria just drops his head onto the table with a loud groan. I reach over and pat his thigh to tell him that it was okay, which it honestly was. I rather talk about Kai than me anyways since it was just easier for me to do. I nod my head at Roman with a soft smile. "Yeah, that usually does take up a lot of my time."

"Whoa, holy shit, you have a kid?" Zeus asks in shock, glancing at Aria for a second before looking back at me. I nod my head with a small smile since I didn't know what else to do. It was obvious that only Roman and Arabella had heard of me, or heard the most about me, so I wasn't shocked that Aria's other four friends had no idea about my life or knew very little about who I was.

"Yeah, his name's Kai, right?" Arabella asks me with a sweet smile that was meant to seem inviting, which it was. She made me feel safe since she seemed to have no malicious feelings towards me, from what I saw. I was glad that Aria's sister at least liked me because I could handle his friends hating me, but his sister? I don't know about that.

"Yeah, Malakai's his name. He's three, almost four," I inform them since they still looked shocked at what they just learned. Aria finally picks his head up to see that he looked very guilty, so I squeeze his thigh gently, telling him that it was seriously okay. He glances over at me with a pout on his lips, but when he sees that I was okay, his beautiful smile graces his lips.

"Whoa, holy shit," Juniper whispers, lightly hitting Zeus' shoulder to get his attention. "you have a kid? But you look so young!"

I chuckle lightly, finally tearing my eyes away from the people in the room to look down at my lap. "Uh, I'm 24, but yeah, I was young when he was born."

"How's that possible though? I thought Aria said that you were gay," Bradlee says and my mood immediately drops down because I didn't want to have to explain to them of how Kai was conceived. It was already a lot to tell Aria, so telling six complete strangers would just make me very uncomfortable about it all. I open my mouth to say something, but I'm interrupted by Roman who kicks me lightly under the table.

"I don't think that's any of our business," is all he says and that seems to work because everyone immediately backs off of me to continue eating their food. I do the same, swirling some fettuccine around my fork before taking a bite. Aria lightly bumps his shoulder with mine and gives me a sweet smile.

"Sorry about them," he whispers to me, low enough that no one else was able to hear them since Bradlee had started a new conversation about something with his job. I bump shoulders with Aria, making him chuckle lightly.

"Don't worry about it," I whisper to him. He pats my thigh with a small wink before continuing to eat his food. Once we're all done consuming the delicious pasta, they all stand up with me following behind Aria and into a room that had a huge sectional facing a huge TV. I saw a huge desk in the corner that was filled with three monitors along with a bunch of posters that seemed to be filled with logos and other things, so I assumed this was Roman's office. Before I could look at the rest of the room, I'm pulled onto the couch by Aria as everyone else gets comfortable.

"Well, I'm full," Zeus says, patting his stomach before leaning against Juniper on the couch. He settles his head against her shoulder and she closes her eyes with a small sigh. Roman sits on the couch with his phone in his hand while Arabella settles herself with her head on his lap. Bradlee and Derek were whispering about something and the younger boy seemed genuinely happy while he talked to his boyfriend about whatever it was that they were conversing about. Then, my eyes settle on Aria, who was staring out at the huge window behind the TV that showed the city and the many lights that were shining.

"So, Levi, what's Kai like?" Arabella asks out of the blue, but I didn't mind. As I said, I love talking about my son and I could probably ramble on about things pertaining to him for hours. My brother gets very annoyed by that since he's been the victim of my many ramblings multiple times, but I knew that deep down, he loved it. He was just a stubborn asshole that liked talking about his kids way more than listening about mine.

"Um, he's very energetic and really, really loves going outside. That's where we are most of the summer and... uh, he's very smart and really understands what you're saying when you talk to him. He's just a great kid, honestly, and I know that most parents say that about their children, but he's really the best," I explain and when I look at Aria, he was now looking up at me with a soft smile. I start to blush at his gaze, but he never tears his eyes away, just continues to stare. "what?"

He chuckles lightly before reaching out to take my hand. "You're adorable."

I start to blush even more and before I even realize it, his lips are pressed against mine and we were kissing. I completely forget about the entire room as I just focus on his hand holding mine along with the way my body fits right against his. His lips were soft, but the way he moved them against mine was in a rough way, but it was meant to be passionate, which it was. I'm brought back to reality as the group's voices hit my ear. "Awe! Look at them!"

Aria tears away from my lips, opening his eyes while another smile graces his mouth. He pecks my lips once more before turning to look at the other people on the couch, who were now staring at us with amazement. From what I've seen in the past hour or so, it seems like Aria hasn't had many partners and if he did, I think the group hasn't liked them or something like that. Before I could say anything, my phone vibrates on the coffee table in front of us. I reach out to grab it, but Aria gets to it first, glancing down at it before handing it to me.

When I see that it says Little Steps Daycare, I instantly get nervous because they usually never call unless something bad happened with Kai. I stare down at my phone for a second before Aria's voice breaks me out of my trance. "Everything okay?"

I clear my throat before shaking my head. "I don't know."

He seems to get worried by that because he tightens his grip on my hand while I hit the answer call button. I notice that everyone in the room was now sitting up and staring at me with worried looks, but I try not to focus on them as I put the phone up to my ear. I greet the person and then I immediately realize that something bad had happened. "Hi, Levi, this is Margaret Chen from Little Steps Daycare and I'm calling about your son, Malakai."

"Is everything alright?" I question since I can hear the tenseness in her voice.

"I apologize, but it's not. A man came by a few minutes ago demanding to pick up Kai, but his name wasn't in the contacts permitted to take him home, so we told him that he wasn't allowed to take him unless we got authorization from you. As soon as your name was even mentioned, he seemed to not take that well and started screaming. I couldn't exactly understand him because he was being super belligerent, but he said something along the lines of that he would find you one way or another and other things like that. We're worried and we think it's best that you come pick up your son now because he's very scared since he was able to hear the yelling," Margaret tells me and before she could even finish explaining what happened, I had shot out of my seat with Aria following after me.

I walk out of the office, not even sparing a glance at the people staring at me because I needed to focus on Kai right now. "What was the man's name?"

"I believe he said Beckett Strickland," she informs me, sounding much tenser now that she was speaking with me. I didn't even know what to think right now because something like this has never happened to me before and I was worried about something happening to Kai.

"I'll be right there," I tell her before we say goodbye and hang up the phone. I run a hand through my hair before turning to Aria, who was staring at me with an extremely concerned expression. I don't even think, I just throw my arms around him and bury my face in his neck. He instantly holds me against his chest, rocking us back-and-forth lightly while he runs one hand through my hair.

"Everything will be alright," he whispers to me and I'm assuming he was able to hear the conversation the entire time, so he already knew what had happened.

"What if something happens?" I whisper, not being able to hold back the crack in my voice.

"Then something happens and you work through it. You can take precautions now that you know someone is trying to get close to Kai and you and hope that that'll work," he whispers to me, placing a soft kiss to my forehead before looking down at me with a sweet smile. "you'll get through this."

I nod my head before standing on my tiptoes and pressing my lips against his. He holds me for a few moments more before I pull away, pressing my forehead against his. "Thank you. I'll see you later?"

"Of course," he whispers before letting me go. I rush out of the room and back towards the elevator, glad that I didn't need anyone to walk me out because I needed some moments alone right now. I wave to Aria as the doors close and he waves back, giving me that same sympathetic smile that was able to make me feel better just by looking at it. But as soon as I was alone in the metal box, I change my thoughts to think of my son that was probably scared out of his mind. So I needed to figure out, who the hell is Beckett Strickland?