Acceptance (Club X Book 5) (9 page)

I knew I was asking him to be different than he naturally was. I also knew he’d never truly be like Cash was with Olivia. It simply wasn’t who he was.

Kane swallowed hard and looked down at the bed. “I hide things so you don’t get hurt, but even more, so you aren’t in danger. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, angel.”

“You aren’t going to lose me. I found the best man in the world, Kane. I’m not going to let this life we have go for anything.”

He smiled at me and nodded. “From now on, when my brothers and I get together to talk about this, I’d like you to be there. I should mention that it might mean Shay will be around because Stefan told her everything.”

A tiny lick of jealousy flared inside me every time Kane even said her name. I knew it was stupid and irrational because they’d both sworn nothing ever happened between them, but that had never been the problem. She’d been the one to convince him to be there for me and Annalea, not me.

I wasn’t jealous that he cared for her. I was jealous still all these years later that my words hadn’t been enough but hers had.

Forcing a smile, I kissed him. “That’s fine. What about Olivia and Cash?”

Kane shrugged. “So far they don’t want any part of this new brother thing. I guess I don’t blame them. If Cash had seen him tonight, I don’t think that would have helped either. He seems to be nothing more than a fall down drunken kid of twenty-six.”

“Well, whatever he is, if he’s your brother, you’re going to have to decide how much you want to do with him.”

Bringing my hand to his mouth, Kane kissed my wedding band and smiled. “We’re going to have to decide.”

It wasn’t a huge step, but it was a step, nonetheless. Knowing Kane, that word we’re meant the world to me.

Cassian

M
y phone buzzed as I
pulled my car into my parking spot behind CK. Looking down at where it sat in the console, I saw it was Stefan. To get a call from that brother before noon was like seeing snow for the Fourth of July, so I quickly answered it, curious as to what had gotten him out of bed so early.

“Hey, Stef. What’s up?”

“Have you talked to Kane yet today?” he asked hurriedly, like he hoped I hadn’t so he could tell me what he had to say.

Turning the engine off, I slid out of the driver’s seat and slammed the door. “No, why?”

“You missed a good time last night. Well, not the first few hours, but the last one was much better.”

Struck by how unlikely those words were coming from Stef about a night out with Kane, I stopped dead at the back door to the building. “You two went out last night? Really?”

Stefan’s laughter at even the suggestion came through loud and clear. “Uh, no. We might not hate each other, but Kane and I have completely different ideas of what constitutes a good time. No, we went on a stakeout. Well, sort of a stakeout.”

I could imagine this brother doing something like that, but Kane? He was the steady rock among the three of us, and now he was going on stakeouts with Stefan? And why would either of them be part of a stakeout? What the hell was going on?

As I opened the back door to the restaurant, I said, “I’m not sure I even want to ask what you mean, but I am curious why Kane of all people would be doing something like that, and with you, to boot.”

Sounding like I’d hurt his feelings, Stefan asked, “Why be like that? Kane and I get along fine. We have for a while. We even do things together.”

Now it was my turn to laugh. “Really? Since your girlfriend and his wife can’t be in the same place for more than a few seconds, exactly what are you doing together?”

“So now that you finally caught up with the rest of us this is going to be part of every damn conversation with you? And unlike you, Cash, we can do things without our women tagging along. Seriously, dude, when did you become so whipped?”

I dropped my keys onto my desk and shut the door to my office. “It’s not being whipped if you really love the person, Stef. So are you going to tell me what you and Kane did that you called me about this morning or are we just going to continue with the insults about my happiness?”

Stefan sighed like he was six years old again and I’d just popped his balloon. “Jeez, everybody in this family is so fucking testy.”

“It’s just that I have a busy day ahead of me and need to get going with work.”

In truth, I had a sinking feeling the story he was about to tell me had to do with Sebastian and the possibility he was our brother, something I didn’t want to think about at that moment. Or any other moment in the foreseeable future. Kane and Stef may have been all jacked up about getting a new baby brother, but I didn’t want to be involved.

“Fine. I’ll make it short then,” Stefan said in his hurt feelings voice. “We ended up meeting Sebastian Thorne last night and it was going pretty well until Abbi showed up and Kane thought she’d been with the guy. Well, I don’t know about well because he was pretty drunk, but he’s definitely a good time. We still don’t have any real proof that he’s one of us, but he damn sure looks like it. He’s the spitting image of Kane.”

Whatever he said after Abbi being with the guy who might be our brother got lost in the recesses of my mind. Confused, I said, “Wait a second. Abbi and Sebastian Thorne know each other? Before or after she met Kane?”

What the hell was I saying before or after? Abbi wasn’t the type of woman to cheat on anyone, and for God’s sake, she adored Kane. Maybe I’d heard Stefan wrong.

“No, no. Abbi met him just a month or so ago. Odd coincidence, I guess. But that’s not the point of the story. Keep up, Cash. The point is we met him and got to talk to him face-to-face. I have to say I’m definitely hoping he’s one of us now.”

“Why? Because he’s a good time?”

The phone fell silent for a moment, and then Stefan said, “Well, yeah. It’s hard being the only person in our family who still knows how to have fun. Marriage has ruined you, and Kane has been a lost cause since the night he met Abbi. It’ll be nice to have someone around who isn’t all about work and home for a change.”

Sometimes Stefan was still that twenty-one year old punk ass brother who refused to see that life was more than drinking too much and screwing women. I’d hoped Shay would help that, but even after all these years together, she and he seemed no closer to settling down. That only encouraged him to think he could still act like a kid.

“Well, that’s nice for you, Stef. I’m a little busy today, so have fun,” I said as I opened my laptop to begin my day.

“That’s it? You’re still not even the least bit interested in finding out anything about this guy who very well might be our brother? I mean, what the fuck, Cash?”

“Stef, by the way you’ve made him sound, I can’t imagine having anything in common with this Sebastian person. I’m just a boring guy running a successful business and loving my family. I’ll leave you to find out about him, and if he’s in fact our brother, I’m sure I’ll meet him at some family get-together at some point.”

I couldn’t imagine that ever really happening, in truth. While my mother had accepted Kane, I doubted she’d be inviting yet another of my father’s kids over for the next family barbeque. Then again, she did love Stefan and nothing made her happier than to encourage him on his flights of fancy, so maybe she would welcome another illegitimate son with open arms.

Regardless, I wanted nothing to do with the whole damn matter. Our father’s sexual peccadillos and the results of them weren’t anything I had room for in my world. If Stefan and Kane cared, so be it.

It didn’t change how I felt.

“So you still don’t want to find out about him?”

“Nope. You and Kane can have at it.”

Stefan grunted. “So is Kane in yet? I’m curious to know how he’s doing this morning.”

“No. If you want to talk to him, you’ll have to find him at home, I’m guessing. You know, where his wife and kids are, the people he lives for.”

More grunting came through the phone. “Whatever. Nice talking to you, Cash.”

“Same here, Stef. Talk to you later.”

I tossed my phone onto the pile of papers on the corner of my desk and tried to push the thought of brothers entirely out of my mind. I knew Stefan wouldn’t let up on this whole Sebastian issue, though. It had become like a cause to him, and when my younger brother found something to focus on, there was no changing his mind.

That was fine, but I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I’d heard whispers about my father’s other kids all my life, and I was sick of it. Maybe that was selfish of me because I’d had the luck of being his firstborn and namesake, but I didn’t care.

I’d done everything my father had ever asked of me without question. I’d lived my life so he could be proud. To the day he died, I looked up to him.

But now that I was a husband and father myself, I could see the chinks in his armor. The man I’d idolized all those years hadn’t been good to my mother or his children by her. Stefan still bore the emotional scars of being overlooked his entire life by the one man he wanted to notice him.

And me? I’d thought being like my father was something to be proud of until I met Olivia. That my father had never come to that revelation for my mother ate at me every time I thought about him out fucking other women and producing kids all over town.

I loved Kane as much as I loved Stefan, but now that I had a wife and son of my own, I didn’t want to have to keep welcoming my father’s sins into my life anymore. This Sebastian person might very well be a great guy. He might be, but there was no room in the world I’d created for him and the baggage he undoubtedly would bring with him.

A knock on my office door tore me out of my thoughts, and I called out for whoever it was to come in. Kane appeared in my doorway dressed in his usual suit pants, dress shirt, and tie but looking unusually happy, especially considering what Stefan had told me about the events of the night before.

“You’re in early this morning. It’s not even eleven yet. What’s up?”

His smile faded just a bit, and he said, “Wanted to make sure I took care of that issue with the produce people, so I got here early to talk to the owner. I’m tired of us getting only half of what we order and then having to listen to excuses. Plus, I needed to have a talk with Gabriel about the problems we had on Saturday.”

“I’m glad it was you who met with him. I have to say I didn’t want to be the one to do it,” I admitted. “For a chef, he’s way too emotional. I thought he was going to lose his mind the other day.”

Kane folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the doorframe. “Well, I smoothed things over, so hopefully he’s happier now. We can’t afford to lose him, Cash. He’s one of the reasons people come to this place.”

“I know. I don’t deny how good he is. I just don’t like all the bullshit he brings into my work life.”

Smiling, Kane nodded. “You’re all about keeping the bullshit out it seems these days. Everything okay?”

I knew where he was going with this. “Yeah. I just prefer an uncluttered life filled only with this place and my family.”

“And if Sebastian Thorne turns out to be our brother, will that include him?”

Usually I preferred Kane’s way of being straightforward. Today I would have liked him to be less frank, though, so I could pretend to not understand his meaning and escape more discussion of this damn Sebastian person.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, hoping if I chose my words correctly that I could avoid this discussion again in the future. “You and Stefan seem to have a one-track mind when it comes to that topic. I’m sorry, Kane, but I don’t feel the same way you two do, so whatever happens with him, I’m not sure I’m ever going to be interested in being a part of it.”

Wincing, Kane nodded again, and a look of acceptance came over his face. “I get it. I just wanted to see if anything had changed in your mind. I won’t ask again.”

“Thanks. Now if you could convince Stefan to do the same.”

Kane’s smile returned, brightening his face. Chuckling, he said, “I don’t see that happening. He loves the idea of having a younger brother who’s more like him than we are.”

I rolled my eyes, remembering my conversation with him. “I heard all about it. It sounds like he’s found a potential partner in crime for his nights out. Shay’s going to love that.”

Knocking his knuckles off the door, Kane smiled. “Maybe. Well, I’ll see you later. I’ve got a few errands to run before we open. Call me if you need me.”

With that, he was gone. This was why we got along so well. If it was Stefan standing in my doorway, I’d be talking myself to death about this Sebastian thing until the restaurant opened.

And somehow I was supposed to want another brother just like him?

I opened the door to
our condo as silently as possible, knowing that Olivia had likely just gotten Cassian to sleep. A tired mother wanted nothing less than to have some idiot loping into the house at nearly midnight and waking up the child she’d spent hours finally getting into bed.

Even if that idiot was the man who loved her.

She sat curled up on the couch, her eyes closed as the TV played some movie we’d said we wanted to see over a year ago. We’d never gotten to the theater for that one or half a dozen others that had seemed interesting.

I leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips, waking her. She sat up with a start and shook the sleep from her head.

“Hey, did you just get home?” she whispered.

“Yeah. It was a late one tonight. How was your day?” I asked as I sat down next to her.

“Busy. Your son got into the flour and dumped the bag all over him. He looked like a little pasty ghost, and you should have seen the tub after I got him all clean. It looked like there had been a disaster in there. That took up about two hours of my day.”

I pressed a kiss onto her forehead and held her tired body to mine. “I’ll trade you. I’ll take care of Cassian and you can deal with my brothers and this Sebastian nonsense.”

Olivia squeezed me to her and whispered, “You still don’t want anything to do with that? I know they want you to get on board.”