“I’d kill the bastard,” Julian said in a dark voice. “He makes my dad look like a prince.”
“Not sure I’d agree with that,” Keira argued. “Your father was a sexist ass.”
Julian kissed the top of her head but didn’t argue. “At least he’s gone.” Julian gla
nced over at Cole. “That might sound harsh, but my old man was a jerk. He had very definite ideas of what a man should be and do. He wanted me to play football, to go pro, he hated that I wasn’t interested in that. That I wanted to study hard and go to college. One night, he drove them both home after he’d been drinking. He’d never let my mom drive if he was with her. He killed them both.”
Cole shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Julian.”
The other man just nodded.
“And you don’t need to explain to me about terrible fathers. That seems to be something the three of us have in common.”
Keira smiled sadly and squeezed his hand again. Things made much more sense now. And with that understanding, his plan became crystal clear. He’d take all the financial worries off their hands. He’d make certain they were safe. Taken care of. In every way.
He’d make himself indispensable to them.
Julian rolled over with a groan.
A low rumble brought him into full consciousness. What was that noise? Was Keira up and talking to someone? But, no, that was a male voice. Who was it?
He opened his eyes, staring around. The scent of sex filled the room. Everything rushed back to him.
Fuck. Cole. They’d slept with Cole last night.
Or Cole had fucked them, to be more precise. Images of the night came back to him. Cole and him taking Keira together. Then Keira sucking Cole off while Julian took her from behind. Halfway through the night, they’d cleaned up in the shower. Then Cole had taken her ass while Julian ate her out.
Holy shit. That had actually happened.
He rubbed at his head and carefully rolled out of bed, leaving Keira sleeping. Not that he need have worried. Keira was a deep sleeper. He usually set the alarm twenty minutes before they had to be up and woke her slowly. Not that it bothered him.
He moved out of the bedroom, towards the bathroom but hesitated as he heard Cole say their names.
“Yes, that’s right, Keira and Julian Michaels. The apartment will be for them. They’ll be moving in immediately.”
What the fuck? Why would they be moving into an apartment?
“Make sure it’s furnished; they won’t be bringing anything with them. Also get Jen to call me, I’ll need to set up a bank account for them both. Yes. Good. Do that. Then call Michael, I’ll need some contracts drawn up. Yes, to protect the company and my reputation. Right.”
Julian backed away and headed towards the bathroom, uncertain if he wanted to hear any more. He wanted to storm into the living room and demand to know what the fuck Cole was up to.
Why would he be talking about an apartment and bank accounts for them? They had their own place. All right, so it was falling down around them, and they lacked the funds to fix it up. But they’d get there.
They didn’t need Cole’s charity.
Anger built in his stomach as he finished in the bathroom. But as he strode towards the living room, he heard quiet murmurs coming from the bedroom. He turned that way. He walked into the room and came to a sudden stop as he saw Cole lying on the bed, gently brushing Keira’s hair back from her face as he placed a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.
“Deep sleeper, isn’t she?” the other man shot him an amused look over his shoulder.
The rightness of it stabbed him in the gut. He liked this. This shared knowledge of their lover. But it seemed Cole was playing a game and hadn’t bothered to give them the rules.
“Yeah, she takes a while to wake up in the morning.”
“Julian, I don’t wanna get up yet. Tell Cole I’m gonna be late. Tell him eight is a stupid ass time to start work. Civilized time would be ten,” she mumbled as she rolled onto her back. The sheet dropped down to her waist, revealing her full, heavy breasts and delicious nipples.
Cole cupped her breast and leaning down, suckled on her nipple.
“Julian, that’s nice. We don’t have time, though, Cole’s a slave driver.”