My Lustful CEO

Chapter 10

Kane POV

Kris leads me outside and we sit on a bench outside her firm. She is clearly upset about something, but she won't look at me. At least, not yet. After maybe twenty seconds, her eyes pierce through mine.

"How close were you and Nora?" That's not what I expected to come out of her mouth.

"It was serious." My raspy voice comes out stronger than I anticipated it to be. "What is it?" My cold voice makes her shudder on this hot summer day.

"Why did you guys break it off?" She begins to appear uncomfortable asking such a personal question.

"I went back to Virginia during spring break and I caught her sleeping with my father." Kris blinks wide at me, clearly not the answer she was expecting. "I wasn't that surprised. She slept with my two younger brothers too. My father was the last straw."

"Yeah, I bet." She scoffs but then immediately regrets it. "I'm sorry. That was rude. I don't know why I-"

"No, no. That's actually the normal reaction I get." I lean back, feeling more at ease with her by my side.

"Just because that's the normal reaction you get, it doesn't mean it wasn't rude." She smiles lightly at me before nodding. "I need to tell you something and I don't think you're going to take it very well." I perk up my ears.

"What is it?" She breathes out before slowly telling me everything that happened prior to my arrival. Anger settles in and my blood boils. My knuckles have turned dangerously white. When she is finished telling her part, I get up from my seat and she follows suit. Without a second thought, I punch through the window of my car.

"Take me to see them." I command her angrily as I shake the broken glass off of me.

"No." Her answer is firm and I come up to her and place my hands on her shoulders, pushing her against the brick wall. "Not like this. You need to calm down before you see them because if they see any ounce of any of this, it will scare them. They don't need any more of that." Her soft hands grab my hands.

"You're right." I gulp down and release her. "My apologies. I-" She puts a hand out to stop me.

"I'll show you what I mean, but I can't bring you in there if you're going to be visually upset with what you see." Her voice is gentle, coddling me to ease my stressed breathing. I nod at her and she leads me back inside. "Stay here." She says to me and I stay right outside her door. Holy s**t, I am going to meet them. Don't get mad, I remind myself. You will scare them.

"Everything okay, man?" Hunter comes up beside me and I nod at him.

"Just complicated." I will tell them the truth later on, but not right now. Kris comes back out and she's smiling, encouraging me to smile too. Jenny grabs me some gauze and a wrap so that I can wrap up my bruised and bloody hand. Punching through that window definitely was not the best idea.

"Kane first." Kris nods at me to come in and that's when I lay my eyes on them. Their eyes look gentle but terrified. Are they scared of me? Or are they scared of everything?

"Asher. Mason. This is Kane." I slowly take my steps towards them, but they scoot closer together and away from me. I stop immediately.

"Boys, he's not going to tell anybody anything. I made him pinky swear." Her light voice and smile seem to appease them as I again slowly make my way towards them. They appear comfortable around her. That’s a good sign.

When I get to them, I’m about to touch one of their heads but he flinches hard at me that I recoil my hand back. What was that?

“Asher?” Kris comes up next to me and I step back to let her take a look at him, but her hand makes it further than I do before he flinches once again and they cuddle together. I grip my hands into a fist and try not to show how angry I am. How could Nora do this?

“Kris." The boy begs for her. "He’s going to hurt us.” Asher tries to warn her as Mason crawls over to Kris and puts his head on her chest. Asher follows suit and they both start crying into her chest. Not sure what to say I back away and I’m about to reach for the door when I hear Kris’ voice.

“He’s not going to hurt you.” Kris calms them down as she rubs their backs. Her worried eyes meet mine but she urges me to come back to them.

“No, mommy said he was a bad man!” My heart sinks. What? How could she say that? My blood starts to boil over and I want to break everything around me, but I can't. I won't scare them anymore than they already are.

“He just wants to play Mario Cart with us.” She smiles at them and they stop crying. They sniffle and look between me and her.

“That’s it?” Asher looks to Kris for an answer and she nods.

"Apparently, he's very good." Kris jokes with them and nuzzles her nose against theirs, causing my heart to nearly jump out of my chest. How is she so good with them? She didn't even have them for very long. The twins slowly look towards me before nodding, clearly placing their trust in her. She settles them down on the couch and puts herself between myself and them and patting down the seat next to her, I take it.

For the next thirty minutes, we proceed to play Mario Cart and Kris pretends to cheat by playfully messing with their controllers. They giggle and laugh with her, sipping on their sodas and biting into their chicken nuggets. For a moment there, everything seems so peaceful, like everything was right in its place. Before I know it, Kris stands up.

"Something to drink?" She gestures for me to scoot closer to her kids as she uses this opportunity to distract them.

"Just water is fine." Kris nods at me and gets out of my way as I sit next to Asher. They both still look a little nervous, but they peer at me curiously.

"You're our daddy?" Mason's gentle voice can barely be heard, but it comes through. I look at him with a soft smile and nod.

"Did we do something to make you mad?" Asher's eyes look to and from my eyes nervously. What?

"No. Why would you think that?" I try to soften my voice but it's pretty hard considering how rough it has sounded all these years. My young kids shiver a bit with my tone. That's something I am going to have to work on. My friends might be used to it, but I don't think I can expect my kids to.

"You didn't want us anymore." My eyes blink harshly at them all at once, not sure how to respond to that without rage spilling over.

"Why would you think that?" I c**k my head and make sure to soften my voice.

"You never came to see us." Asher lowers his head down with Mason as I go to touch their heads again. This time Asher lets me pat him as I gesture with my arm for them to come closer.

"I didn't know where you were, but I have and always will want you." They both hug me tightly and breathe out loudly. f**k. I have to have them. There is no question about it.

"Here's your water." Kris' loving voice brings me out of it. How does she do this? "So, boys. I know you want more soda, but I think one can is enough for today. Water for the rest of the day, okay?" They both nod willingly at Kris who gives them a soft smile.

"Kris, can we watch cartoons?" Mason eagerly waits for Kris' answer and scurries away from my arms. Internally, I smile at this. Kids will be kids I suppose.

"Yes, of course. Here." Kris grabs a remote and turns on the cable. Handing me the remote, she looks back to them. "Tell Kane what you want to watch. I have to run out for a bit." With that, she takes her leave from the office, allowing us to have a couple of private moments.

Kris POV

Thank God I am out of that office. Asher and Mason are such great kids. It's a damn shame that they are stuck in the situation that they are in now. In the depths of my heart, I know that I am going to take their case, if they will still have me, that is. Knowing what I know now, it would just be an injustice to sit around and do nothing about it.

The rest of my team is already on board with this and if we make it past the next month without a hiccup, we might be able to actually pull this off. The other four men come up to me almost immediately. Oh, great.

"So, what's going on?" Hunter sternly asks me and I hesitate to answer him. I can't exactly tell them what's going on in there. It's not my place to do that. Kane may not even want to let them know what is going on in there.

"Kane will have to update you on that if he chooses. I don't think you guys will be able to meet them today though. I'm sorry to keep you guys waiting."

"Don't be. We'll wait for Kane to finish." I look at them suspiciously at this. They really are very close with one another if they are going to spend their Friday afternoon doing absolutely nothing in my lobby.

"There's a bar upstairs. They're not technically open, but if you tell them I sent you, they will let you in." I offer to them, but they shake their heads.

"We appreciate the offer, but we would like to stay in the lobby if that's alright." Elijah responds back to me and I won't lie, I am definitely caught off guard.

"Yes, of course. Stay as long as you'd like. Let Jenny here know if you need anything." I nod at Jenny, but she already knows her instructions.

"Thank you." Keegan replies to me and I nod to him in acknowledgement, but he's not done. "For everything, Kris." I flash between all of their eyes and I can tell they are in gratitude of me. That's a little too much for me, so I give them a polite smile before ducking out of the lobby.

"We are taking this case, aren't we?" Lilliana asks right when the team enters the private conference room. I nod.

"Only if you guys are okay with carrying the load." Looking each of them in the eye, their determined eyes lets me knows that they were ready to do this before I even asked. "Okay, okay. I will talk to Kane and see if I can get the contract signed." They all leave and begin their preparations for the case. We were finishing up most of our pro bono cases anyway, so I am sure this will give them plenty to do.

Kane walks out of the office just as I am headed in that direction. I c**k my head at him in confusion. He shouldn't be out so quickly.

"Is something wrong?" He shakes his head at me but then gestures for his friends to come forth.

"I'd like them to meet Asher and Mason in your office." Though he phrased it like a command, I know that he is asking my permission.

"Please." I offer as I guide them through the office door. The four bend down to the small children on my couch as they make some introductions.

"You look like you want to ask me something." Kane's raspy rustic voice makes the hair on my arms stand up.

"Do you always do that?" I practically have to grit through my teeth, but I maintain my composure.

"I wouldn't be where I am without being able to read people." I am going to have to keep my communication with him as short as possible. His voice alone will distract me. "You changed your mind." I freeze up.