Cole's Mistake (Haven, Texas 8)

“Everyone messes up, little bit,” Cole interrupted him.

Would the fucker just let him handle this? Cole leaned forward and gave him a look this time. One that clearly said he’d fucked up and he needed to fix it.

Impatience bit at Julian and he stood, deciding he needed to get something for Keira to eat. He still didn’t like her color, although she seemed a lot steadier than she had outside. Christ, if anything happened to her . . .

“If you leave, it’s my fault, because I made you unhappy,” Keira said with that same small voice.

“I am not leaving. I’m right here. Everyone makes mistakes. I should know, I make more than most, but you’re giving me a chance, aren’t you? What you did makes me unhappy because I want you to see the real Keira. The Keira who is smart and kind and beautiful. Who deserves the world. And by saying bad things about yourself, you’re telling me you don’t see yourself like that. That you don’t see your worth. That makes me sad.”

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“Really? You’re not leaving?” she asked, with such a note of hope that his heart nearly broke.

Fuck. Fuck.

He ought to have killed her fucking fuck of a father.

“Fucking bastard, motherfucker, ass-fucking-wipe—”

“Julian,” Cole said so sharply that Julian froze in the middle of whisking eggs in a bowl. “Enough swearing.”

Keira smiled, actually smiled, and his stomach unknotted. “He always swears.”

“Is that so?” Cole drawled, sitting back in his chair. “That’s not very good behavior, especially around you, now is it?”

Julian flushed slightly at the chiding note in his voice. He sent the other man a glare. If he thought he got to reprimand him he had another thought coming.

Cole just raised an eyebrow and watched him with consideration. Julian was just as Dominant as he was.

Well, maybe not.

“Come here, little bit.”

He turned from cooking the scrambled eggs to find Cole had Keira on his lap. She looked a little stiff and unsure and turned her gaze to his, as though seeking his reassurance. He gave her a soft smile.

“Can you breathe okay in that corset?” Cole asked with concern. “Maybe we should get you something else to wear?”

“I’m all right,” Keira replied.

Cole shot Julian a look, and he quickly walked out and into their bedroom, grabbing one of his old T-shirts, which is what she usually slept in. He returned with it and she blushed a little in embarrassment but left the room to slip into it.

Silence filled the room as he returned to making her some dinner. He buttered the toast he’d put in the toaster then arranged the scrambled eggs on top with salt and pepper.

Keira returned to the room, and Cole drew her back onto his lap. Julian checked his reaction to that. It felt a little odd to see her on another man’s lap. Yet, at the same time this was Cole, so it felt right too.

Grabbing cutlery, he carried the plate of food over to the table and sat, putting the plate on the table. He went to hand the cutlery to Keira, but Cole shook his head.

“You should feed her,” Cole told him. “Make sure she eats every bite. She’s going to need her strength for later.”

Julian met Keira’s gaze, her eyes reflecting his own shock and hope.

Julian cleared his throat, but did as ordered. He didn’t know how he could take commands from Cole, yet he would have kicked anyone else out on their ass if they’d pulled Keira onto their lap and instructed him to feed her.

“For someone who thinks so badly of BDSM you sure do have a Dom vibe going on,” he told Cole as he placed a forkful of food in Keira’s mouth. Some dropped off and landed in her lap and he stood to get some napkins. He noticed Cole had his hands curled in hers, holding them on her lap. He waited for jealousy. There was a tinge there. He guessed that was understandable. But at the end of the day, she was his wife. And he knew his Keira.

She would never betray him.

So, he pushed that aside and concentrated on taking care of her, while studying Cole. “Do I? I like to be in charge, to take control. Both in the bedroom and out. It’s not play for me, like it is for Joel.”