I sat down across from him, casually watching as he took a bite. The pill Old Man Nelson gave me would dissolve easily, no taste, no trace. It was already working its way through him. I just had to be patient. For the next fifteen minutes, he worked like I wasn’t even there, quietly demolishing half the box while clicking through emails and muttering under his breath. After waiting for a bit, I decided to see if the pills worked by making conversation.
“So... how you feeling now that the new club’s open?”
Kase didn’t even look up. “Tired. But proud.”
I smiled. “It looked crazy packed that night. You pulled it off.”
“Yeah,” he muttered, reaching for another cookie. “Had to.”
“Which one do you like more?” I asked, keeping my tone light. “Voltage or Knights?”
That made him pause. He took a slow bite, chewing while his eyes drifted across the flyers on his desk.
“Voltage was built ‘cause my father felt guilty about being a shitty parent. He threw money at me like that would fix years of not showin’ up. So yeah, it’s flashy, but it ain’t really mine.”
I tilted my head, listening.
“ButKnights? That’s different. That’s mine for real. No help, no backing, no father-of-the-year credit. Just me and my grind.I built that shit from scratch.” He leaned back in his chair, voice steady but sharp. “That’s the one I respect. That’s the one that makes me feel like a man.”
I didn’t say anything right away. There was a weight to his words, like they’d been buried a while.
“So… all this effort to keep up the image,” I said, picking at my cuticle. “That’s just about the clubs?”
He raised an eyebrow. “What you mean, Wheels?”
“I mean... is that why you act different around certain people? Like me?”
He didn’t dodge it. The pill wouldn’t let him.
“You scare me,” he said plainly. “’Cause you see past all the bullshit. Most girls? They want the idea of me. The player. The boss. The name. But you? You see the cracks.”
My breath caught.
“And I don’t know what to do with that,” he admitted. “So I run my mouth. I clown you. I keep you at arm’s length, ‘cause if I didn’t? I’d fold.”
“Fold how?”
He looked me dead in the face. “Fold into you.”
The silence between us turned heavy. I felt it everywhere in my chest, in my throat, in the sudden stillness of the room.
Kase rubbed the back of his neck and muttered, “I wasn’t even supposed to say all that.”
But he did.
And now… I couldn’t unhear it.
Kase let out a slow breath and rubbed his temple like he hadn’t meant to say any of that out loud. But the pill had him wide open, and I wasn’t about to stop him.
“I used to think feelings were a weakness,” he muttered, eyes still on the desk. “My mom wore hers on her sleeve, and my pops used to clown her for it. So I learned real early, don’t let peopleknow what moves you. Don’t let ‘em see you care too much. That’s how they break you.”
I stayed quiet, heart twisting.
“But every time you look at me like I matter,” he continued, voice lower now, “it’s like I forget that rule.”
That hit me square in the chest.
“I’ve messed with a lotta women,” he added. “Some fine, some fake, some fun. But none of them ever made me feel... guilty.”
