Cole's Mistake (Haven, Texas 8)

Julian made a rumbling noise, and Cole moved his other hand to the man’s face. “From both of you.”

There was a tense silence.

Then Keira decided she couldn’t hold onto the question burning in her gut any longer. “Cole, why did you reject us?”

19

The quiet words sliced him open. Made him wish to crack open his chest and lay his heart at their feet in apology.

He stared down into Keira’s eyes. “I’m not sure now is the time—” he started to say, even though he’d been waiting impatiently for this opportunity to present itself.

“You said you’d give us whatever we asked for,” Keira told him.

He sighed. He had. He closed his eyes for a moment. The truth was something they deserved. He just hoped like hell that once they heard it all, they would

n’t show him the door.

“Do you want to go and sit on the couch? I’ll clean this up then come in and tell you the truth.”

“I’m going to check the house first,” Julian declared. Then he looked at Keira. He looked torn by something. Then he stood with her in his arms.

Obviously, he wasn’t ready to leave Keira alone with him just yet. Then again, they’d both just been through a highly emotional episode. Frankly, he was wondering how they hadn’t collapsed. They had to be running on adrenaline. At least he’d gotten Keira to eat something. If he could slowly work on building up her appetite and strength, on encouraging her to speak up rather than look to Julian for guidance he’d be happy. Then with Julian . . . shit. The other man was wound so tight, Julian was afraid he’d explode.

He had to let go of some of that control.

Only thing was, Cole wasn’t that good at being out of control, so how was he going to help him?

The first thing you can do is be honest with them. You owe them this. This is what you’ve been waiting for. Now that the moment was there, he was fucking scared.

He cleaned up the kitchen and moved into the living room. The old Cole would probably already be plotting how to move them into his house. How he was going to take over their lives, but he was trying to be better than that person.

Julian walked back in. He’d set Keira down at least. She was tucked in against his side. All right, that was progress. Julian sat in the corner of the sofa and Keira snuggled in next to him. Cole resisted the urge to pace and forced himself into an armchair across from them.

There was a long moment of silence.

“I don’t know where to start,” he admitted. He blew out a breath. Start at the beginning. “Do you remember when we were talking about our fathers?”

Keira nodded. “Yes.”

“I . . .” He looked around the guest house for a moment. “Are you still paying for your father’s care?”

Keira frowned at the change of topic. “No. He died about six months after . . .”

After he rejected them. Right. Got it.

“That’s good. I tried to give you severance pay when you left, but HR said you refused to take it.” He scowled at that. He’d hated that. Hated that he couldn’t even do that for them.

“Weren’t with you for your money,” Julian rumbled.

“I never thought you were.”

Julian and Keira shared a look. Cole leaned forward. “Wait. You didn’t think I thought that, did you?”

Keira shrugged. Her fingers twisted together in her lap. “We thought maybe you didn’t think we were good enough. That you decided we wouldn’t fit into your life. We were an embarrassment.”

“No, that’s not it. Not it at all.” He blew out a breath. “Look, I’m not making excuses for myself, I was an arrogant, controlling asshole. I know that. I had our lives all mapped out. I was going to move you into an apartment. I was going to provide you with everything you needed. No expense spared. I’d make certain you were healthy and safe. That was what I thought I could give to you. I was the interloper. I needed to know I was important. That’s what you overheard me doing, Julian. Setting up an apartment for you both, bank accounts and . . .” okay, this next part wouldn’t make him look great, but they deserved it all, “contracts for you to sign.”

“Contracts? Why?” Keira asked.