Page 6 of As I Am
CHAPTER FOUR
Ky hugged Bryan tightly. "You have a great day at school. I'll see you this afternoon."
"Love you." Bryan pulled away and turned to run down the hallway and catch up with his friends.
It was hard to watch him go. Each day Ky saw the little things that showed how fast Bryan was growing. He wouldn't be able to hide what he did for much longer, and that meant that if he didn't get more hours working at the restaurant, he'd have to find a new job, because he refused to have Bryan know that he sold himself for money.
He'd already exposed Bryan to a world he never wanted him to know just by living on the streets. He hoped that he was still young enough that it would be nothing more than a vague memory in years to come. He had to find a way to make more money and stay off the streets long-term.
"Hey, Ky."
Turning around, Ky saw his friend, Seth, waving at him from near the front doors of the shelter. "Seth, I haven't seen you in a while. Everything okay?"
"Yeah. I headed out to the west side of town for a few weeks to see if the money was better, but the cops are thicker out there than they are here. I wasn't going to stay and risk it." He gripped Ky's shoulder. "I got a message for you yesterday."
Ky raised a brow.
"I can't believe you know Carson Childs. He's like the most amazing singer. My sister has pictures of him plastered all over her room. At least she did the last time I snuck over there." Seth was talking a hundred miles an hour.
"Wow, slow down. What the hell are you talking about?" Ky was confused.
"Carson…. He gave me a message for you the other day. At least I think it was for you. He said Ky, and you're the only Ky I know. But if you don't know a Carson—"
"No, I know a Carson, but I never knew his last name. He's just a guy I met the other day." Ky leaned against the wall.
"It has to be the same guy. Are you saying you've never heard of Carson Childs?" Seth looked stunned.
"Nope. Who is he?" Ky hadn't stopped thinking about Carson. Not that he hadn't tried, but the man left an impression.
"Like the greatest singer out there right now." Seth shook his head. "You really didn't know?"
Ky frowned. "It can't be the same guy. This was just some guy looking for company. What'd he say?"
"He said he'd be around on Thursday morning to see if you were there. He was really nice. Gave me his autograph and everything. Even gave me forty dollars to deliver the message and keep quiet about who he was to the other guys around. I offered to go with him, but he said he only wanted you." Seth pulled a notebook from his backpack. "See, he signed it for me to give to my sister."
Ky bit his lip. It couldn't be the same guy. There was no way someone famous like that would pick up some guy off the street for sex. "What'd he look like?"
"Carson Childs." Seth laughed. "Seriously, you don't know who he is? Sings the song,RhinestoneandSugar Cube?" He tugged on Ky's shirt. "Come on, I know how to tell if it was him." He pulled Ky down the hallway, past several offices before stopping outside of one and poking his head in the doorway to talk to the man inside. "Darren, can I borrow your cell phone for a sec to show Ky who Carson Childs is?"
"Carson Childs? You mean the singer? Sure." Darren handed him his cell phone. "I know Prince and Trevor went to see him in concert a while back. Prince is a huge fan." Darren, the director of youth services at the shelter, stood and came to stand beside them.
Ky fisted his hands at his sides, sure that when the video started it wouldn't be the guy he'd spent the best two hours of his life with. He waited through the stupid advertisement, wishing he had his own phone to look up stuff like this.
"My little sister is a huge fan." Seth told Darren.
The video started and the moment the singer's face showed on the screen, Ky felt as if the ground had shifted. He reached out and gripped Darren's arm to keep himself steady as he stared at the man on the screen singing. Sure enough, it was Carson. He didn't have any facial hair in the video, and that made him look a lot younger, but there was no mistaking it was him. He could see those same eyes he'd stared into for nearly two hours. The same eyes that pleaded with him not to leave, and the same lips that had kissed him senseless. There was no mistaking it. He'd slept with Carson Childs.
Darren wrapped an arm around Ky's waist. "Are you okay?"
Ky nodded and reached for the phone, needing to look at it again. "It's him." He stared at the man dancing on stage, unable to believe that this was really happening.
"I told you. I knew it had to be. You're the only Ky I know." Seth grinned as he slapped Ky on the back. "Way to go, you lucky ass."
"What am I missing here?" Darren looked concerned at them.
Seth shook his head. "Not my story to tell."
Ky watched until the video ended before he handed the phone back to Darren. "I met him the other day. I had no idea who he was." He eased back and sat down in one of the office chairs against the wall. "I can't believe it."
