My Lustful CEO

Chapter 8

Kris POV

There is nothing I can do about it. There is nothing I can do about it. I do my best to convince myself that this is the best outcome for everyone, but I know something is off, I just can't figure out what it is.

Running harder and harder against this treadmill, I can feel the sweat roll down my face, but I am so consumed in my own thoughts that I don't notice them. s**t. When I finally wake up from my trance, I see five men in front of the treadmill. How long have they been there? I press to stop and slow down to stand completely still.

"Can I help you?" I look at each of them curiously. Are they going to stalk me until I accept or something?

"You can help me." Kane's eyes look drained of life like he's exhausted. I blink hard at him before getting off of the treadmill and walk towards the exit. I can't exactly stay when they are all here, practically stalking me.

Out of nowhere, Kane yanks hard at my wrist once I exit the gym and shoves me inside a car. No one else is in the car and it doesn't look like the others are following. Once he shuts the door after coming into the back seat next to me, I smack him hard across the face.

"Are you out of your mind?" I grit at him. Is he for real? He turns to look up at me and I scoot back a little, not in fear but in wonderment at his demeanor. His hair is ruffled up more than usual and his eyes look hard and lost.

"Yes, I am." His raspy voice is so cold that I physically shudder. This is so unlike him that I am not sure how to even react to him. "I just want to see my kids." I squint at him.

"I told you that I can't take your case and you told me that you understood. What happened with the lawyer that I sent to you?" It's only been three days since the incident and I know his stocks are crashing right now, but that's no reason to be rash.

“I talked to him, but he said you’re the only person he knows that might be able to get me at least meeting times with my sons.” f**k. He’s not wrong. I blink at him before letting out a sigh.

“Kane..” I drop the formalities since we are clearly not doing this the professional route. Before I can finish, he grabs a hold of both my shoulders and urges me to believe the next words that come out of his mouth.

“I want to see my children.” I let out a breath. Removing his hands from my shoulder, I feel his blazing touch practically scorch my shoulders. Suddenly, I feel terrible for him, guilt ridden that I am not doing anything to help him. s**t.

“Hold on.” I put an index finger up at him to give me a minute while I make a call. This isn’t exactly a card I like to pull, but I do think he deserves to at least see his children before they start dealing in anything.

Kane lets a relieving breath out like he’s finally won a battle in this war. He leans against the side of the window for maybe five full seconds before he nods at me and gets out of the car, leaving me to myself.

“Hi Judge Parrington. It’s been a long time.” I greet my old mentor who is a juvenile judge and a respected one at that. When I was still in law school, I clerked for her and she was absolutely amazing. I never check in with her about my cases but this time it might be necessary.

“If you’re calling at this hour, I don’t believe this is a social call.” It brings a smile to my face that she can figure it out so quickly from just the first few words I have spoken.

“No, your honor. I have a possible client that wants to see his children. Having recently found out he has children, the mother is keeping them away from him.”

“You’re talking about the Bishops case.” She sighs before I hear a rustling of paper. “Judge Tennyson is presiding that case. You can petition the courts for visitation rights and it should be granted.”

“Thank you.” I smile at the thought of my old mentor coming through for me. Though usually she wouldn’t, she knows when I call about a case, it’s a weird one or I feel off about it. There is definitely something going on with those kids and I’m going to find out. Kane is lucky that my gut has already told me that something was off in this case, otherwise, I would have had to call Peter to get his ass arrested.

Stepping out of the car, I see that Keegan looks pretty sheepish considering what he participated in. Shaking my head in disappointment at all of them, I put my phone in my duffel and pull out my car keys.

“Come by my firm 12 PM on Friday." I eye Kane down. "And don't follow me again." This time I search all of their eyes, but they all seem sheepish. This is definitely out of character for all of them and they don't look too particularly proud of it. I let out a disappointed sigh and try to take my leave. I get maybe ten steps before Keegan's voice stops me.

"Kris!" He runs up from behind me as I turn around to face him, irritated. "We're sorry." He bites down on his bottom lip in nervousness.

"How did you guys find me here anyway?" He makes a squeamish face that makes me regret asking that. They probably tracked my phone to here. "Nevermind." The five of them are tech geniuses, I'm sure finding me was a piece of cake.

"We are sorry, though. If we had any other option, we would take it, but you don't know what Nora is like." He tries to urge at me, but if she is anything like she was when she was in my office, I have a decent idea.

"Actually, I kind of do." I let him know. Nora was never my client so I wouldn't be breaking any rules. "She met with me about taking her case and I said no." Keegan's eyes widen at me.

"Why?" I think about that for a moment. There's something about her that rubs me the wrong way.

"The same reason I told you guys why I wouldn't take your case." I shrug at him, but Keegan is smart and he's not going to let it go just like that.

"You sensed there was something off about her." He points out to me like he knows what I am thinking, which he kind of does. This is what happens when you work so closely with a client. They also get a read on you.

"Whatever is going on is between the two of them." I clarify for him. "I don't want to be involved if I am not representing either party."

"But would you be willing to reconsider?" I shake my head.

"This isn't negotiable, Keegan. I am already breaking my rules by helping you now. I can get the twins to my office for a form of mediation, but that's all I can do for now." He nods and then looks sincerely at me again.

"We aren't usually like this. We're just.."

"desperate." I finish for him. I nod as I understand how frustrating it can be. Keegan is a good guy for the most part despite his troubled past. "I get it, I do. Don't do this again." I warn him as I again walk off and get into my car. Now, I have to go to court and deal with this mess. Judge Tennyson is pretty fair so I don't believe he will have any issues with this.

Kane POV

Kris storms off after letting me know a meeting place and time. That is a relief. Holy crap. She must be pissed, but I was pretty desperate. I refuse to be like my father, ridiculing me for everything I ever did. I always promised myself that I would be a better father if I ever had kids, but that seemed out of the picture.

"How mad is she?" Hunter asks Keegan after he comes back to us, but Keegan just shakes his head like he doesn't want to talk about it.

"We didn't have a choice." Elijah tries to convince us all, but I know we all feel guilty about it. We are not exactly the type to chase someone down for something they don't want to do. I am surprised that she even agreed to help us.

"Nora contacted her weeks before coming to us. Kris refused her because she thought something was off." My heart skips a beat at this. Kris knew. Oh God. The world seriously feels like it's crushing down on us. If Kris took it, I would be totally screwed.

"She said no?" Liam tries to hear it again, not believing his ears. They say that the higher you are, the harder you fall. If any other lawyer had what Nora has, they would have jumped for the opportunity. Why didn't she?

"Kris told her the same thing she told us. She can't because the timing doesn't work for her." At least she is true to her word. Now I can only hope that this works out well.

Two days pass and I get ready for my meeting with my kids. My kids. Wow, it sounds strange even now, but I have to know them. The lawyer that Kris sent to us is nice and all, but I have a feeling that her ability to navigate through the courts is much better. I'm not sure how I am supposed to convince her to help me now.

"Hey, man. It's time to go." Hunter knocks on my door to remind me that we need to go. Beverly Hills isn't that far from our place. I definitely do not want to be late.

I hop into the car and the other four are with me. Thank God. I don't think I can do this alone. It's a wonder that Keegan was able to go through his divorce without us because if it were me, it would be nearly impossible to go through it without some type of support. I'm not too big to admit that I even need some help sometimes.

Parking right outside her office, we couldn't see inside, but we hurriedly go in. Her secretary stops us before we get very far.

"Kris is expecting us." Keegan smiles at Jenny and I'm not sure if my thoughts are f****d up, but they seem a little too friendly. Jenny nods at him but gestures for us to wait in the sitting area.

"She already informed us." Us? I look around to see that her team is pretty small, but they are all looking at us. Five seconds later though, they go back to whatever they were doing. Some of them are watching the news. Some are on the phone about cases, no doubt.

"Are they..." I can't even get the words out.

"Yes, they are in there." Jenny smiles lightly at me that it's almost hard to not return her smile. Maybe that's why it seems like Keegan is a little sweet on her. It's hard to be rude to a smile like that. She has this Southern charm that we haven't seen in a long time.

"Is everything okay?" I start to get worried. Why is Kris still in there with them if she knows we are here? Should I even be worried? Is Nora with them? I really should have asked more questions before I stepped in here because I was maybe ready to face my kids, but not with Nora. s**t.

Before Jenny gets a chance to reply to us, Kris opens the door to her office. She's smiling but I can tell that she is beyond pissed off. Apparently, I am not the only one. The rest of the office rushes her way, anticipating an answer from her. They don't utter a word, but Kris nods to confirm something with them, something unknown to the rest of us.

Her team shakes their head at her response and also looks notably upset and disappointed. What is going on? I look towards the rest of the boys, but they seem genuinely confused as well. Straightening herself out, she comes to square off with us.

"Do you have anger issues?" I want to reply no, but the others beat me to it by profusely nodding their heads, to which I join reluctantly. Alright, maybe I do.

"Why?" Liam asks her, but she purses her lips and thinks hard before answering that.

"We may need to take this outside."