“You’d better, or I’ll kick your ass.”
I laugh. “I’d like to see you try. You spend too much time behind a desk to kick my ass.”
Logan rolls his eyes and then meets my gaze, his more serious than just a moment ago. “Hey, when this is all over, if you’re not interested in asking her out for real…I might be.”
I give my brother a surprised look, because like me, he’s focused on his work and doesn’t date much.
“Have at it, man,” I say.
“Not until later. We need to stay focused on the case for now.”
We reach the elevator doors, and he holds his hand out to shake mine. “Seriously Jonah, I really appreciate this. This is one of those cases that’s hit me hard, and I want to get this guy bad.”
“You got it,” I tell him. “But you really are gonna owe me for the next thirty years or so.”
Chapter Five
Reyna
Kai’s apartment is in the basement level of a sprawling, red brick complex on the North Side. I knock on the door, and when he answers, he welcomes me like we already know each other.
“Hey, Renee, come on in,” he says, standing aside. “What’s up, girl?”
He’s a couple inches shorter than I am, maybe 5’6” and built lean. His black hair is shaved short on the sides and back. The top is several inches long and combed back in a sleek look. But my gaze only lingers on his hair for a moment, because his face draws me in.
His skin is a beautiful olive shade, his makeup contoured perfectly. His big hazel eyes are enhanced with shades of green and gold eyeshadow with long, dramatic fake lashes. A pretty nude shade on his lips finishes the look.
“Wow,” I say, forgetting all my training about playing it cool. “You’re…stunning.”
Kai laughs lightly. “Aw, thank you. I just finished recording about thirty minutes ago. I got this new liquid shadow from Dior and it’s divine. I just had to play with it.”
“I’d love to see it,” I say, remembering that I’m supposed to be a beauty blogger.
“Perks of being roommates, we can share products,” he says, giving me a dazzling smile.
His clothes are the opposite of his makeup—nondescript black skinny pants and a gray V-neck T-shirt.
“Sounds perfect,” I say, looking around the apartment.
Like him, it’s not at all what I was expecting. Even though it’s at the basement level, the apartment is brightly lit, with warm wood floors. Bold, colorful art is displayed on the living room walls and the large room has a big leather sofa and several bright overstuffed chairs.
“Wow,” I murmur. “This place is amazing. So much bigger than I was expecting in the city.”
“Thank you. I bought both basement apartments and some storage space and had it all renovated into,” he gestures a hand around the room, “this.”
“How old are you?” I ask him, shaking my head with wonder.
“Twenty-six. But my business took off when I was twenty, so I feel like I’ve been around a while.” He shrugs. “Want to see the rest of the place?”
“Yes, please.”
Kai takes me into the kitchen, which is done in white and gray, with marble counters and commercial-grade stainless-steel appliances. It looks like a spread in a home decor magazine, every inch designed to perfection.
“This is where I microwave my ramen and store my Pellegrino,” Kai quips. “I’m a huge fan of carryout, but I wanted a great kitchen in case I ever decide to take up cooking.”
“It’s gorgeous,” I say, grinning.
I already know Kai and I are going to get along great. When I heard I’d be rooming with the son of a deputy police chief, I wasn’t expecting this. I assumed it would be a guy who either had women in and out of the apartment all the time or was a slob, or both.
But Kai already reminds me of myself. I can tell he’s a centered, independent person.
“This is my bedroom,” he says as he leads me down a hallway and opens a door.
The walls are painted a soft, buttery shade of yellow and portraits of people with both masculine and feminine characteristics hang on the walls. I stand in front of one showing the profile of a person with a neatly trimmed mustache, hoop earrings and long red curls.
Standing next to me, Kai blows out a breath. “This is harder than I thought it would be.”
“What?” I ask, turning to him.
“Having someone here. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m extremely private and I’ve only had like two other people in my apartment before.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and showing you my kitchen is one thing, but my bedroom…”
My heart clenches as I instinctively put my hand on Kai’s arm. “Hey, you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to let me anywhere you’re not comfortable with.”
He takes a deep breath and smiles. “No, I want to. I trust you because of…well, I’ll tell you later. But I just…”
“I understand,” I say softly.
“These portraits I commissioned are of people who are very special to me,” he says, clearing his throat. “Even though I’ve never met some of them.”
“Why are they special to you?”
His eyes glisten as he says, “They’re the first people who made me feel like it’s okay to be me. I’m non-binary, as you probably already guessed.”
I want to hug him, even though I know it’s not the right move. I don’t know him well enough for that. A lump wells in my throat as I try to come up with the right words.
“Let me show you my new recording booth,” he says, walking across the room.
He opens a door and I follow him there, walking into an enormous closet lined with shelves and drawers from floor to ceiling. There’s an island in the middle of the closet with a round vase set on top filled with fresh white roses.
Only about a third of the closet is being used, and in one corner a small booth has been installed. It has to be the soundproof safe communication area Logan had put in so Kai and I can talk without worrying about being overheard.
Kai walks in and I follow, making sure the door is latched before I say, “Hey.”
“Hey,” he says, smiling. “We meet at last.”
“You know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“No, I do.” He sits down on one of the two rudimentary plywood seats in the booth. “My dad wants me to do this because I’ve been getting death threats, and he said he’ll sleep better at night knowing there’s an FBI agent here with me.”
“Oh god, I’m so sorry.”
Kai shrugs. “It goes with the territory. I don’t know if you looked me up, but I have fifteen million IG followers. I make my living as a public figure, but like I said, I’m actually very private.”
“So you’ve filed a police report about these death threats, right?”
“Yes, and that was hard for me because I had to do it under my legal name. I disguised myself as just a regular guy for it and…” He takes a shaky breath. “It was just hard. All of it is hard. People want to kill me because of who I am.”