The Ceo's Contracted Mistress
The Ceo’s Contracted Mistress Chapter 29

On Sunday morning, Bobbie was dealing with a very cranky Max and found herself wondering if the boarding school Olivier had attended was still in operation. He had woken up on the wrong side of the bed, which was to be expected considering the melt down he’d had the night before when he’d refused to talk to Olivier again but both Ollie and Lark had talked to him for almost an hour.

“Max, eat your breakfast.”

“You burned my toast.”

“I didn’t burn your toast. One corner of the bread was touching the element. Eat around it.”

“It tastes like fire.”

“Then put peanut butter on it.”

“With my eggs? I need it to eat my egg yolks with. I can’t mix eggs and peanut butter, mom. Don’t you know anything?”

“I know you’re going to replace yourself locked in your bedroom for the remainder of the day if your attitude doesn’t shift and fast,” Bobbie pushed her glasses up in a movement he duplicated on his own face. She glared at him as he ripped the darkened corner of his bread off and flung it across the table before dunking his toast into his sunny side up egg. He glowered at her with his little nose scrunched so tightly she wasn’t sure how he could even chew.

Meri met her gaze across the kitchen table and bit her bottom l*p, trying to stop from laughing at his mood. Bobbie looked at her and picked her coffee cup off the table. “Meri, I’m going outside to drink my coffee. Would you like to join me?” She smiled as the other woman nodded and grabbed her cup, rising instantly.

“It’s raining out,” Max snarled at her.

“I’d rather sit on the porch in the rain and listen to the thunder than listen to your moaning,” Bobbie countered.

“Can I come outside? I want to eat outside on the porch.” Ollie asked avoiding Max’s angry glare.

“Bring your plate,” she motioned at Ollie to walk ahead of her.

“Do you think Daddy will call this morning,” Ollie asked as she stepped out to the covered porch and sat down at the little table. “He said he would.”

“If he said he would, then he will.” Meri spoke earnestly.

They still hadn’t told anyone Meri was there and Meri hadn’t checked in with her family, but Riggs had reassured Olivier he had heard from her, reported she was fine and wanted to be undisturbed. Olivier had told Riggs if she wanted to be on her own, to leave her be. He had done enough of trying to force people’s emotions and actions to suit his own needs and he was done with it. He said he’d reported back to his family she had checked in and she wanted space and he was giving it to her. It served only to piss Levi off, according to Olivier but considering how irritated Olivier was with the man, he could care less. Olivier was bearing the brunt of the family’s anger but as he said to Bobbie when they’d been up talking most of the night again on Saturday night, he had big strong shoulders so he could take it.

Bobbie sat next to Meri on the porch swing, and they sipped their coffee watching the rain come down and listening to thunder off in the distance.

“I hope we don’t get a tornado,” Ollie said suddenly from where she sat, loudly chewing bacon.

“There’s no tornado warning today, Ollie but there’s a storm brewing in the house ,” Bobbie looked over to her and smiled, “and close your mouth when you chew before the cows come replace you and bring you home to the field. You look like you’re chewing cud.”

Ollie gave a loud giggle at her mother’s words and folded her egg into her toast and bit it, using her fingers as a fork. “I think Max is sad because he misses Dad.”

“I think so too,” Meri said with a little smile as she exchanged a look with Bobbie.

“He told Lark she shouldn’t have talked to him on the phone last night because he wasn’t even her dad.” Ollie tattled angrily. “He was mean to her. She didn’t even do anything.”

“What did Lark say?” Bobbie couldn’t imagine Lark not speaking up for herself.

“She said he was her uncle and she loved him too and Max was a big giant jerk.”

“I see,” Bobbie struggled to keep from laughing at Ollie’s retelling of the story.

Bobbie looked up to see Everly racing across the back yard towards them, holding her hands over her head as if it were going to protect her from the rain. She jumped onto the deck with a squeal as water dripped down the back of her t-shirt.

“Why is everyone outside?”

“Because the storm out here is far less threatening than the one inside.” Meri quipped with big eyes as they looked over their shoulder to see Max in the window behind them watching them closely as he chomped on a strip of bacon. He was glowering furiously at them, standing only in his pyjama bottoms. Again, he’d removed his top. It had been a response he’d had multiple times during the week to when he was feeling overwhelmed.

They all turned their faces away from his scowl, hiding their own laughs.

“Holy, is he ever cranky,” Everly squeezed onto the porch swing between Meri and Bobbie, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter. “You’d think he and Grady had syncing cycles.”

“Grady still cranky?” Bobbie asked as she motioned for Ollie to take her dirty dishes inside the house.

“Not really. Olivier called him last night and he finally took the call. They talked for nearly an hour.” She nudged Bobbie’s h*p, “and then I got the full recap of the conversation for three hours. I swear, how does he take a one-hour conversation and turn it into three? It was one in the morning. I had to blow him to shut him up.” Bobbie shot Meri a sideways glance, “sorry Meri. Forgot you were there for a minute.”

Meri chuckled, “the only reason I have Elise is because Levi was in the middle of a merger with another company and I got so sick and tired of hearing about it, every time he started talking, I would take clothes off. We forgot birth control one time.”

They all giggled with her words and then the sound of shouting from inside the house made Bobbie grown. “If ever there was a commercial for birth control,” she intoned dryly getting off the swing to tend to argument inside.

“Hey,” she pushed the door open. “What’s going on?”

“I want to watch tv.”

“I want to play video games.”

The kids spoke over each other, and she shrugged, “well, I don’t like the yelling. Sort it out and if you can’t come to a compromise, leave the devices off and go replace something else to do.”

“Mom, it’s not fair. Ollie gets everything she wants!” Max stomped his feet and threw the remote control for the television across the room.

“Pick it up,” Bobbie pointed to the item he’d thrown, and he folded his arms over his chest and stared back. “Jesus Christ, I birthed his bloody clone,” she muttered as he took a stance she knew far too well. “Max, do not make me repeat myself.” She was trying not to raise her voice, but she was ready to lose her s**t. Four full days of temper and anger issues from the child who was normally the calm one was enough to make her scream at the top of her lungs. She suddenly was irrationally pissed off at Olivier. This was his mess, and he should be here to fix it even if she’d encouraged him to stay away. “Pick it up.” she stared hard at him.

“You’re being a jerk, Max!” Ollie screamed at him.

“Shut up!” he yelled at her. “I’m not a jerk.”

She moved in between them just as Ollie reached to shove him. “Olivia Rosamunde, hands to yourself. Maximillian Olivier, pick up the damn remote before I do, and it goes in the garbage, and nobody ever gets to turn the television on again.”

“This house sucks!” he screamed as he moved to follow his mother’s instruction.

The doorbell rang and she considered if it was Grady or Lark coming to the front door instead of the back yard, she was quite possibly going to flip out. She yanked the door open and was stunned to see a familiar set of brown eyes standing in her doorway.

“Oh, thank you God!” she yelled and threw her hands in the air. She pointed at him and then pointed at the kids, “your mess, you fix it! I can’t deal with their insanity any longer.” She stormed away in the direction of the kitchen.

“Daddy!” Ollie shrieked as she saw the man stepping into the house and ran full tilt at him.

Bobbie leaned against the kitchen counter and folded her arms over her chest and watched as Olivier, soaked to the skin from the rainstorm outside lifted Ollie into his arms and hugged her tight, dropping his laptop bag, overnight bag, and a duffle bag to the floor. She watched with interest as Max looked at them angrily and flung the remote onto the table and then moved to storm past Olivier to go up the stairs towards his bedroom.

“Nope,” Olivier shook his head and reached out and grabbed Max’s bare arm. “No way, mon chère. You have avoided me too long and you and I are going to talk this thing out. I tried to be patient and wait for you to calm down but the reason I am home a whole day early is because I miss you and I love you and we are going to talk.”

Max tried to tug his arm away, but Olivier kept a gentle but firm hand on his bicep, “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Tough,” he said simply as he set Ollie down on the floor beside them. “I am your Papa, and you can be as upset as you want but we,” he patted his chest and Max’s chest and tapped Ollie’s nose before pointing to Bobbie and then made a wide circle with his fingers, “are a family and we don’t just stop talking to each other just because we are upset. Family does not work this way. I love you. We are going to sort this out.”

“What if I don’t want to,” Max frowned at him, his eyes watering.

“You don’t get a choice. I’m the adult. I’m the Papa.”

“It’s not fair.”

“Life seldom is,” Olivier quipped, “but you are too important to me to let this go one more day without us working it out. So, I am home, and we are talking. Today.”

Bobbie covered her mouth with her hand as Olivier struggled to maintain his tough stance with his son. This was his first go at being stern and she wondered if he hadn’t practiced this the whole flight home. She had not expected him to arrive today, but he couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. While Max might not have noticed, Bobbie heard the waver in his voice as he tried to be firm. She bit her l*p to keep from laughing out.

“We had a rule, Max. What was the rule?” Olivier looked deep into his son’s eyes.

Ollie bounced on her feet, “I know the rule. I know it.”

“Shut up Ollie!” Max snipped at her.

“Max?” Olivier ignored Ollie’s attempt to steal his attention.

“I can be upset with you, but I’m not allowed to take it out on maman.” He looked away and stared at the wall, his cheeks red.

“Now, when I got to the door, I was pretty certain, I heard you, yelling at your maman.” He lifted an eyebrow and when Max opened his mouth to protest, Olivier held up a finger, “I am here Max. Right in front of you. You want to yell then you yell at me. If you want to be angry, then you be angry with me. You had plenty of chance to yell at me every time I called you this week. You decided you didn’t want to speak to me. That was a choice. It was your choice.” He pointed to Bobbie, “but the lady over there is the kindest, most loving woman in the world and you will not disrespect her again. Am I clear?”

Max’s eyes bugged at Olivier’s tone and then he nodded once.

“Go to maman, give her a hug, and apologize for yelling at her. Then you and I are going to sit, and we are going to talk this through.”

She had to admit, Olivier in full dad mode was bloody hot. Bobbie watched as her son begrudgingly walked toward her, his face tense as he stopped right in front of her. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing as Max, twisted his foot to its side and rocking on it.

“I’m sorry for yelling.” He whispered quietly.

She held her hands out and he stepped into her embrace, and she hugged him tight and kissed the top of his head. “Apology accepted.”

She looked over Max’s head and saw Olivier staring past the window overlooking the porch in confusion and then a crooked smile appearing. He pointed at the window and shook his head with a slow smile. “I see my mother has a new hiding spot.”

Bobbie looked where he was pointing to see Meri and Everly both openly eavesdropping on the conversation they were having with the kids. The two women were grinning widely and Everly shook her hand out as if it were burnt and then winked at Olivier. Bobbie chuckled at her antics.

“Mamaw ran away from home!” Ollie said excitedly. “We had to take her shopping for new clothes and everything. Daddy, she didn’t even have clean underwear with her.”

“I see,” he rubbed her hair as she gripped his hand. “Come, let’s sit and talk.” He looked to Max who was still clinging to Bobbie. “Max, where are you most comfortable having a talk? We can talk at the table, on the sofa or in your bedroom.”

“My bedroom,” he sighed loudly. “Can maman come?”

Bobbie smiled as she realized he’d already within seconds of being back in Olivier’s presence reverted back to calling her maman and it was cute. “Of course, I can come. Let’s go.”

Bobbie took Max’s hand and led him up the stairs, listening as Ollie chatted up the flight to Olivier telling him how excited she was he was home and how she couldn’t wait to show him her bedroom and their playroom.

They stopped at Max’s bedroom door, and they entered the room. Max moved to sit on the edge of his bed and Ollie threw herself on it and bounced, grabbing a pillow, and pulling it to the end of the bed. She lay on her belly with Max’s pillow under her face and her feet up at the head of his bed.

“Ollie, get your feet away from where I put my face!” he whined at her and pushed her.

“I had a bath,” Ollie argued with him as she sat up and sniffed her feet. “They smell fine.”

“You’re so gross,” he yanked his pillow from her.

“Enough,” Olivier’s quiet command made both kids look to him where he had taken a seat in the chair at Max’s desk. Both children stopped squirming and stared with huge eyes at his tone.

Bobbie moved to sit at the head of the bed and kicked her feet out, pulling one of the stuffed toys to her tummy as she watched Olivier lean forward, his forearms on his thighs and his fingers steepled together in front of him. She had seen him do this move when he was negotiating with Trace. He was focused. She suddenly had an inkling of what Max and Ollie’s teenage lives were going to be like if he was this intense. They weren’t getting away with anything.

“Max. I want to apologize to you, and I need to know you are going to hear me so can you please look at me?”

Max sighed loudly and then turned to face his father.

“Thank you. Ollie you too.” He waited until she sat up and faced him

“I am deeply sorry for everything which happened last week. There is a lot we need to talk about but first and foremost, there is something I need all three of you to understand and to know and it is, never, not once, not in a million years, did I ever even think for a moment of taking you away from your maman.” He looked to the kids, “do you understand this? Your home is where maman is. She,” he pointed to her, “is the center of our family. There is no family if she is not part of it. Our family is like a body, and she is the heartbeat. I will not ever try to take away your heartbeat.”

Bobbie felt her chest clench at his words, and she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and saw he was staring at her seriously.

“I mean it, chérie, if you decide tomorrow, I do not deserve a chance with you, they stay with you. Not because I don’t want them with me every day for the rest of my life. I do. I want my children more than I want my breath, but they need you more than I need to breathe.” He looked to the kids, “do you understand this?”

“Yes daddy,” Ollie whispered.

“Oui Papa,” Max echoed his sister.

“Now, next,” Olivier sighed, “running away from me and from home. It seems my entire family has been doing an awful lot of this lately. There is to be no more of this. No more trying to escape me. No more avoiding conversations with me, even if they are hard conversations,” he looked to Bobbie and Max pointedly. “We talk. We always talk. Even if it makes us feel nervous or makes our tummy hurt or makes us want to cry, we talk.” He eyed Max, “Every day we will talk. There will be no more of this refusing to come to the phone or turning phones off or going to cabins in the woods.”

“What about Mamaw?” Max asked curiously.

“She and I will talk later about running away from home. She will have to go deal with my father, her husband later. For now, her secret is safe with me.” He saw both kids smile at his comment.

“Is she in trouble?” Ollie asked her eyes wide.

“Not with me,” he shrugged, “but my father is very scared and worried about her. In almost forty years they have never slept apart.”

“I heard her crying,” Max said angrily. “She was saying her prayers before bed, and I heard her crying. He made her cry.”

Bobbie wondered how Olivier was going to handle this. The kids had already become so attached to Meri in just a couple of days. She had a feeling they’d defend her to the death.

Olivier nodded, “occasionally grown-ups do things which are, for lack of a better word, stupid. My Papa has always been an incredibly good man to me. Always. He loves me very much. He loves you,” he waved his finger between the twins, “very much and he loves my maman very much. I am not making excuses for his behaviour. What he did was wrong. I am furious with him. It will take me a long time not to be angry with him but,” he stared at them, “he is my father and I still love him. While he had good intentions, his actions were wrong.”

“Why did he do it?” Max asked, his little brow furrowed as he folded his arms again. “Why did he make maman cry and say he was going to take us away from her?”

Bobbie saw Olivier struggle for words, and she spoke up. “Max, do you remember when I told you how a bad man told your dad I was a thief?” She saw his brown eyes grow confused and concerned, “well Levi thought, perhaps I am using you and Ollie to get your dad’s money.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Max shrugged. “You have your own money. You have a job.”

Olivier spoke up, “Max, unfortunately, when you have a lot of money, like I have, people try all the time to steal it. All the time. It is why I have Riggs to protect me, and it is why I have many, many people who work for me checking all the time for threats. My father, wrongly, was worried your mom would replace a way to take my money.”

“But how would she use us?” Ollie asked still confused.

“By keeping you from me or threatening to tell the news about you if I didn’t give her money,” Olivier explained. “If your maman said to me right now, Olivier, give me a million dollars today or I won’t let you see Max and Ollie, what do you think I would do?”

“Give her the money,” Ollie exclaimed blinking at his words. “But she wouldn’t! Would you mom?”

“No,” Bobbie chuckled, “I would not.”

“My father though, he doesn’t know your maman very well and so when she said she didn’t want to get married right away, he thought maybe she was trying to replace a way to steal my money.”

“But why?”

“Because he thought since she didn’t want to get married, she didn’t love me and if she didn’t love me, it meant she could possibly be trying to trick me for money.”

“Well, that’s just silly.” Max rolled his eyes and pursed his lips. “Maman doesn’t want to get married because she doesn’t want more babies.”

“What?” Bobbie sat up at his comment. “Where did you hear this?”

“Me and Ollie and Lark know these things! We talked about it. When people get married, they have s*x like the monkeys and make babies. You and Papa said at our first sleep over you didn’t want to have babies.”