“You punched him,” she said quietly. She’d been shocked when she’d seen Cole walk through the door of Fet. Unable to move, she could barely breathe, so she’d just stood there when Julian stormed over and punched him. When he’d slipped to the floor, she’d turned, needing to get out of there. To breathe.
“It’s his fault. It’s all his fault,” Julian seethed. Anger filled his face. Her breath caught. His fury was a living, breathing thing inside him. She knew he was struggling with their adjustment back into real life. Knew he couldn’t rest, was constantly on alert. But she’d never guessed at the depth of his rage.
And it seemed that anger had found itself a target. Cole.
“Julian, it’s not Cole’s fault we were . . . we were . . .” Held prisoner. Tortured. Starved.
No, that wasn’t on Cole.
It was on her.
She’d never trust her stupid instincts again. From now on, she didn’t deserve to make any decisions. She didn’t deserve Julian. She dropped her face, her guilt flooding her.
“It is Cole’s fault. If he hadn’t turned on us, if he hadn’t fucked us over after sleeping with us then we would never have met Vincento. That bastard would never have gotten his claws into us. It’s Cole’s fault. He fucking . . .” he trailed off.
She reached up and placed her hand behind his neck. He flinched slightly and her soul cried. Wept huge tears she could never set free.
Cole had rejected them. He’d made them think he cared about them. Hell, Julian had even overheard him talking about moving them into an apartment and opening a bank account for them. Not that either of them would have agreed to either of those things.
But how did a person go from that to less than twenty-four hours later telling them that what they’d done together had been a huge mistake and that he could no longer work closely with them. He’d offered them both jobs in a different city. In the end they’d gone their own way, finding jobs in San Antonio with another company.
When he’d talked to them, he’d been so cold, so detached. As though he hadn’t been tearing the two of them into pieces.
Still, what happened later wasn’t his fault. Cole might have torn out their hearts, but he hadn’t broken them.
“You can’t blame him. That’s not fair.
”
“How can you not blame him? He’s a selfish, narcissistic asshole.”
“Talking about me again?” They both stiffened. Julian turned and pushed her behind him. She stumbled on her weak leg but didn’t say anything; Julian was only thinking of her protection.
“The world doesn’t revolve around you, Renard,” Julian snarled.
She peered around the wide shoulders of her husband to look at Renard with a sigh. Great. The last thing they needed was the grouchy, sarcastic head chef poking his nose in their business. Renard was like gasoline on a fire.
“Watch how you talk to me,” Renard said in a low voice. She shivered at the firm tone he’d adopted. She’d figured Renard for a Dom even though she didn’t think he ever went to Saxon’s to play. Then, again, neither did she or Julian so how would she know.
“You have no voice in what I say or do.” Julian took a step towards him, his hands clenched into fists.
The door opened again, and she wilted with relief as Joel Saxon stepped out. His gaze swept over all of them. His calm, sure demeanor instantly soothed something inside her. It was like she could breathe a little easier when he was around. She didn’t feel any sort of spark between them. Which was good, considering he was in a relationship with one of the sweetest people Keira had ever met.
But she did feel safe with him close by. And not just physically safe. It was like she knew he could control any situation.
She’d felt that around Cole as well. He was used to taking control. His dominance was part of him, it never shut off, which was kind of intimidating and a turn-on all at once.
She wanted to ask if Cole was okay, but she didn’t want to upset Julian, so she kept quiet. She guessed he was or Joel wouldn’t be out there with them. Then again, the two brothers didn’t have the best relationship so, for all she knew, he could have left Cole lying on the floor of the restaurant. Actually, no, he wouldn’t have done that in front of his guests.
“Renard, don’t you have a kitchen to run?” Joel asked smoothly, eyeing Julian.
“I was busy doing that until I was fucking interrupted by a freaked-out sub and her overbearing guard dog.”
Julian growled, and she wrapped her hand in his to soothe him.
“Where is he?” Julian snapped at Joel. “What is he doing here?”
“He’s being watched by friends,” Joel replied smoothly. “And I have no idea what he’s doing here. As soon as I made certain he was conscious, I came out here to check on the two of you.”