Praxis

"Maman," she said, her vision blurring amid the tears she tried to blink back.

"Mon petit chou," Evelyne replied, her voice stronger than Gaelle expected. "And you, young man," the older woman beckoned Kai over to her bedside. "I need to know something very important from you."

She's going to ask me if I slept with her daughter, Kai thought, one foot already out the door.

"The doctors tell me you two were last here a week ago," she started.

"Oh..." Kai said as he experienced a new level of mortification. "We would have visited more often but--"

"Never mind that," Evelyne waved her hand. "Did that poor sap get bail or not?" Kai laughed, and then laughed some more, mostly out of relief. As soon as he was able to stop, he made his way closer to Evelyne's bedside where Gaelle was perched.

"I just checked yesterday, and he's all the way up to $80," he said. "That's with the brother matching the family's contributions."

"I'm not a betting woman but I may be out of this place sooner than he'll get out of jail," Evelyne smiled." Then, her face turned sombre. "Gaelle, I know they must have told you not to say anything that will upset me, but I need to know the status of the house and all the families."

"Maman--" Gaelle began to protest, but Evelyne silenced her with a raised hand.

"Not knowing is more stressful than knowing. I wouldn't ask if I thought you had mucked everything up."

Reluctantly, Gaelle explained where she believed each of the families they'd housed had ended up, and that she wasn't particularly worried about them despite feeling awful they had to be displaced. Evelyne mischievously raised her eyebrows when she heard the part about Gaelle staying at Kai's house, but spared them any teasing.

"What's our house like?" she finally asked. She seemed to have taken the rest of the update well, so Kai felt it was fine to tell her.

"It's no longer a crime scene," he told her, "but it's in rough shape. Depending on when you'd join us again, I was thinking of working on cleaning it up."

"So we'll be able to call our families back?" Gaelle asked. "Or take new families in need?" Kai's face softened.

"I'm afraid not, sweetheart," he said, only realising he'd uttered that last word after it had escaped his mouth. He quickly motored on in an effort to divert attention, while he avoided Evelyne's gaze. "Your cover is blown, unfortunately. Your names are all over the criminal file, which is in the public record.

"So even if you move, men searching for the partners they abused might be able to look you up in one way or another." Gaelle appeared as though she was inwardly fuming, but she knew there was no outlet for her ire here. It was pointless to get mad at Kai for stating the obvious. She knew this outcome was a likely possibility but she'd been hoping there was a way around it.

"I need a coffee," she mumbled, getting up.

"Get me one too," Evelyne said. "Black with five sugars." Gaelle scowled but Evelyne kept a straight face. "I'm serious, I want it to show up on a drug test." Her actual goal of getting an unwitting smile out of her daughter worked, and Gaelle shot a glare back at the smirking older woman as she left the room. Then, Evelyne turned to Kai.

"I really appreciate you taking her in, sweetheart," she drawled. Kai felt his face heat up but was confident he didn't have the skin tone to turn red.

"For what it's worth, you're invited as well," he tried to deflect. "I'm serious, I don't know if it's going to be safe for you two to ever go back to that house. I have a friend in real estate if and when you're read to relocate, though."

"How, Kai?" It was the first time that day Evelyne sounded tired. "We bought that house 13 years ago when real estate in Brampton wasn't this exorbitant. Today, we'll get much, much less space for the amount we'll have to spend."

Kai winced, knowing she wasn't exaggerating. He could only afford his townhouse after years of practicing criminal defense law, which was located seriously out of the way in the boonies of Caledon.

He thought about this on and off over the next two weeks, while he and Gaelle went back to her mother's house to clean up a little bit each day after work. He'd pick her up, they would spend a couple of hours tidying and repairing, and then they'd go home to his place. And every night, they would spoon together in his bed.

By this point, Kai was relieved he wasn't as frustrated as he'd been when Gaelle had first joined him under his covers. It was enough to feel her arm around him when he opened his eyes every morning.

It was now October and he was also relieved she wore a t-shirt to bed and had retired her flimsy tank top. One time, he'd woken up with his hand all but cupping her breast and his cock was aching in the worst way as it led him limping toward the bathroom.

Evelyne had been transferred out of the ICU but was not yet cleared for release, and they were thinking it would take another two weeks. They largely worked in silence while they fixed up her house, since it was clear to Kai every time he looked at Gaelle's face that she was lost in thought.

He decided against making conversation although the constant silence made him wonder if she was alright. He didn't have to wonder for long.

"I'm moving back in," Gaelle blurted out one day while she was in her old room and he came in to see if she was ready to go. "Here, I mean. My mother is doing really well in physio and I think she'll be discharged in another--" She paused and put her hands on her hips. "Don't shake your head at me, Kai!"

"How do you know Pilsen's friend hasn't been watching this place all this time?" Kai reminded her. "You and your mother are material witnesses to several charges that will put his buddy away for literally years! Why are you in such a rush?" Then he spotted her phone on the dresser. "People have been contacting you for a place to stay, haven't they?" Gaelle nodded.

"There's never going to be a lack of women and children who need help," she said.

"Exactly, which is why they need to go through the proper channels that aren't just a bandaid solution," Kai countered, stepping closer to Gaelle and putting his hands on her upper arms. "You can't set yourself on fire to keep other people warm, sweetheart."

"Stop calling me that," she stepped out of his grasp. She knew he was trying to help but she'd been through this before.

She'd watched her mother's face change forever after her father and much of their community had been killed. It had never changed back. And the greatest lesson Gaelle had learned from the weeks of finding and burying their dead was that anyone could be lost at any moment.

"I can't rely on you, Kai," she plainly stated. "It's not because of you; you've been nothing but wonderful to me, and I still don't know why you think I deserved it."

"You deserve it because you and Evelyne have been taking care of strangers for years and expected nothing in return. It's time someone did the same for you."

Stop it, she mentally told him, grimacing while she closed her eyes.

"My mother and I can't both stay with you," she said instead.

"Why the hell not?"

"It's not sustainable."

"At least put your house on the market and--"

"Kai, don't you understand?" Gaelle finally snapped. "I can't rely on anyone except myself, at least not long-term. It won't last." The ensuing moments of silence dragged on, as he simply stared at her and realised this didn't have anything to do with him and it had less to do with the house.

"Why won't it?" he asked, feeling like an idiot for not understanding the full impact that watching her mother nearly die had had on her. Tentatively, he took another step toward her. She inched backward until there was barely any space between her and the wall beside her bed.

"Have you ever thought that I don't have any family here?" he tried. "And my abhorrent personality is a pretty good barrier to me having friends." Gaelle did that thing he loved where she let a smile slip out while making every effort to control it.

"What if you and Evelyne would be helping me by staying with me so I'm not alone in that goddamn cornfield?" he pressed.

"You are the worst kind of person," Gaelle huffed. "I'm trying not to be a burden on you." He was even closer now so she instinctively put her hands up against his chest.

"I've never slept sounder than I have with you beside me, Gaelle," Kai said softly. "You're a gift, not a burden." He leaned down and gently kissed her, then drew in his breath as she hungrily kissed him back. They broke apart and she touched her nose to his, then dragged him back down by his collar to meet her lips again.

Gaelle reached for his tie and loosened it with one hand without allowing his mouth to veer far from hers. She relished how his hands gripped her by the waist, then swirled up her back before he started to fumble with the button on her jean skirt. Her neck strained as she reached up toward Kai's jawline with her mouth, unbuttoning his dress shirt and yanking it out from his pants.

She'd seen his Maori tattoos every night as they went to bed together, but it was different this time. This time, she ran her fingers across them while Kai pulled her shirt over her head and they tumbled onto her bed together.

"I've wanted this for so long, Kai," she breathed, her brain flooded in the emotions she hadn't allowed herself to feel until now. Maybe it was his lips on her collarbone, or maybe it was his hands gripping her wrists against the mattress, but Gaelle didn't even realise she was sighing in relief.

Her eyelids fluttered right up until the moment Kai's mouth locked around her left nipple. She whimpered in desperation and dragged her heels against the back of his legs until he let go of her hands.

"I've wanted this since the first morning your tank top betrayed you," he murmured, now focusing his attention on her right nipple. There was too much time he had to make up for, and he was intent on not rushing this. He tugged on her hardening nubs with his lips, gently at first and then rougher as it was getting harder to ignore her squirming and moaning beneath him.

That wasn't the only thing getting harder. Gaelle finally pushed him off her and onto his back, his head now near the posts at the foot of her bed.

"My turn," she mumbled, clamouring to undo his belt. Yanking his trousers and underwear down to his knees, Gaelle let out a slow, deliberate breath against Kai's erection and smiled as he flinched in pleasure.

"Darling, please don't do this to me," he muttered, his head tossed back as he contemplated simply lifting her off him and eating her out. When he looked over at her again, she held his stare while his cock disappeared inch by inch past her lips. "Unggh, Gaelle," Kai managed to rasp, his mind squarely focused on how tight she gripped his shaft while swirling her tongue around the tip.

It was when her head began to rhythmically bob up and down that he knew he had to stop her or this would be over far sooner than either of them would want. He gently pressed his fingers against her shoulders, then scooted over to lay her back down on her pillow. Dragging her panties off, Kai dove in to taste her.

Her little gasp as his tongue grazed her clit was all he needed to go in for the kill. Gaelle knew where he was taking her as soon as she felt the warmth build up in her knees, then spread to her thighs. But what she didn't expect was how loudly she'd cry out when he slipped two fingers inside her, then resumed firmly swirling his tongue against her clit.

"Kaaiii," she screamed when the sparks ignited her brain. "Oh god, Kai, please!" But he wouldn't stop, and Gaelle soon found herself crashing through a second orgasm. The next thing that registered was his five o'clock shadow brushing against her cheekbone while he dropped light kisses on her face.

It was a different kind of peace, Gaelle thought, simply holding him against her chest while she waited for her pounding heart to slow. We're not done yet, she mused when Kai raised himself up and dug into his wallet to find a condom, then lowered his body back down to fit perfectly with hers.

He braced his hands on either side of her head, and moved into a kneeling position while lifting her legs up. He already felt exquisite inside her, but Gaelle wasn't ready for when he crisscrossed her legs and rested them on his shoulders.

"Dieu," she breathed. She turned her head, tossing her scores of long, tiny braids across her shoulder, vaguely noticing the fire in Kai's eyes as he pumped inside her. As if this man hadn't nearly blinded me twice already, she hazily thought when he began to pick up speed and she felt the tremors in her core again.

The final straw for Kai was watching Gaelle's eyes slam shut and her mouth gape open as she took everything he needed to give her. He groaned against her buttery, sable neck and then just lay suspended with her as they rested, still attached to one another.

"The formula," Gaelle finally said, her fingers absentmindedly dancing through Kai's hair.

"Mmmm?"

"All the baby formula I had stashed away. The authorities didn't find it when they cordoned off the house. We should donate it before it expires." Kai slipped out of her and sat back on his haunches.

"That is the first thing you say to me after we finally make love? After waiting an excruciatingly long time, might I add?" Gaelle's smile lit up the dusky room and Kai couldn't help but beam back at her when she pulled him down to the mattress again.

"I'd said the first part in my head," she apologetically told him. "There's no food here and I need to feed you after everything we just did." She dropped a kiss on his shoulder. "And maybe whatever else we might do later. I don't want to leave this bed but why don't we drop off all the formula we have at a grocery store donation bin while picking up dinner?"

"You want to stay here tonight?" Kai asked. Gaelle nodded and sat up, her breasts too heavy for the comforter around her ribs. Kai willed himself to not touch them again until after they'd had dinner.

"Caledon is a little far, and I just want to get back in bed with you as soon as possible," Gaelle added as she swung her legs out of bed and walked to the bathroom naked, causing a twinge of pain to run through Kai's cock.

He was practically floating after they parked at the grocery store and Gaelle slung her arm around his waist while he pushed the cart full of her previously-stolen baby formula.

"It's funny to think we're just returning this to where it originally should have been," he smiled as he loaded the tins into the store's food drive bin.

"Where it originally should have been was in the bellies of babies, no matter how it got-- oh!" Gaelle exclaimed as a man coming in through the sliding doors by the bin bumped into her. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been right by--"

"No, no," the man slowly said as he took an extra second to peer at her face. "It was my fault; I didn't see you." He was a big guy but not bigger than Kai, and he glanced back at Gaelle as he made his way into the store.

"Think he did that on purpose?" Kai murmured to her, turning their cart around toward the caddy. He didn't even realise he was putting his arm around her in a protective manner until she almost tripped on his foot.

"Maybe that works in cheesy romance stories, but that's not how real relationships begin," Gaelle smirked. "What do you even mean?"

"I feel like I saw that guy somewhere before." Kai settled for holding her hand as they headed toward the hot foods section. "And he seems to think the same thing about you."

"Look at you," Gaelle said, perusing the selections of pasta salad. "We spent one evening in bed together and you're all jealous."

It wasn't jealousy but it did make Kai uneasy in a way he couldn't place. They decided it would be worth finishing their regular shopping for the week at the same time, so he went to retrieve their cart. Upon returning to where his girlfriend stood, he noticed the same man around the corner of the nearest aisle.

"You know what," Kai said after making it back to her in all of five steps, "let's just pay for dinner and do the shopping tomorrow."

"What's going on with you?" Gaelle questioned when he grabbed their takeaway containers with one hand and her arm with the other, bum-rushing her toward the cash.

"Sweetie, I'm going to tell you and you're going to keep a totally straight face, understand?" Kai dropped his voice to barely above a whisper. "It's a hunch, but I think he's Pilsen's friend."

"You're paranoid, Kai," Gaelle said. "Do you even know what Pilsen's getaway driver looked like?" Kai had to admit he didn't.

"There was no photo of him in the court file, no. I don't even have any evidence it was a man." Kai looked back at the guy only for him to break his stare and duck behind a Halloween display. "If I'm wrong, you get to make fun of me forever and we do our shopping tomorrow. But what if my instinct is right?" Gaelle's face turned solemn and she gave him a little nod.

"Don't look, and don't even turn around," he instructed her. "We're going to check out and get to the car as fast as we can, okay?"

Gaelle stiffened but the stony expression on her face was the only indication of her discomfort. Luckily, the man was behind them. Until of course, he started to move toward them.

"Is he following us? Dammit, he's following us," Gaelle breathed while they scurried across the parking lot and leapt into the car. Kai tore out onto on the main road, hoping it was dark enough that his plates weren't fully visible.

His mind raced faster than his car as he went south on Kennedy and sped eastward on Steeles Avenue, almost hoping he'd get pulled over by a cop. The skin on Gaelle's knuckles tightened as she gripped her seat with every turn.

"The same white sedan has been on us since the store," she reported while partly swiveled at a stop light. "Kai, where are you even going?"

"Into the industrial area along Steeles," he muttered. "Not a lot of places around here have surveillance cameras."

"What... what does that mean?"

Kai heaved a deep, belaboured breath, his brain pivoting to the worst-case scenario.

"It means I have a crowbar and a few bricks in my trunk, and I'm praying right now he doesn't have a gun."

"You can't be serious," Gaelle exclaimed, her body swaying as her boyfriend took a sharp right, and then a left turn between a row of uniform factories. The sun had fully set while they'd sped down the main roads and there wasn't a vehicle in any of the parking lots. "I can't believe I'm saying this of all people, but shouldn't we call the police?"

"And then what?" Kai bit off, a little more forcefully than he'd meant to. He parked and then took Gaelle's hand to assure her he wasn't frustrated with her. "This man technically hasn't done anything wrong yet. Stalking would be a reach since we don't have a restraining order on him and--oh, fucking hell."

The headlights that flashed across their path could only be from one other car in the area. Kai shifted into drive and peeled rubber out of the lot, pissed at himself that this was one of the rare times he was caught without a plan. They were on a straight service road when Gaelle lightly touched his lap while looking toward the back windshield.

"Kai, keep driving and don't be alarmed, but I think I spotted a gun," she said softly. "Just try to get back on a main road."

Their car lurched forward as Kai accelerated on the open, empty street before them, but the lack of obstacles and turns allowed the man to reach for his firearm. Gaelle decided to just let Kai drive instead of tanking his concentration as he switched from lane to lane. She finally turned toward her boyfriend right after she saw their stalker point the gun out his driver's side window.