“Aren’t you busy enough?”
“With what exactly?”
“Music, the band, coven, and let’s not forget...your practice?”
“I can write music anytime, we can play and practice at the club, and my coven members are fine living their lives. As Long as they don’t go rogue or break any of my rules, I don’t need to be involved. And my practice will not suffer. I’ve been thinking of bringing another doctor in anyway.”
“All right then, let’s do it. But if I see you trying to juggle everything all at once and not living a little, I’m going to tell Rosemary what’s going on. You know she’ll tell your father.”
“Oh, for crying out loud. Seriously? You’re going to play thedaddy card?”
“I’ll play any card I can to make sure you don’t sink back into a world of self-pity and guilt. Or try to work yourself to death.” Chance told him seriously. “I know you can’t be killed easily, but I don’t care.”
“I won’t,” Scott told him.
The man falls in love and wants everyone to have a mate. It must be a mayor thing to be a nosey matchmaker.
“I won’t let you promise me that because I know it’s one you will never be able to keep.”
Scott knew Chance was right. He could already feel himself pulling back from everyone little by little. In many ways, Scott was like his patients—he was broken and lonely, which was why he never judged them. While he tried to help them, he refused to get help for himself.
“Just promise you won’t tell Rosemary. I don’t need my parents breathing down my neck. They keep dropping the grandchildren hints. Like they don’t have enough between my brother and sister? They have so many kids between them. Even I forget their names sometimes.”
“But you’re their precious baby….”
“There you are.” They both looked to their right when they heard Marlow’s voice. “Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?”
“Uh…” Scott said just as Chance snorted.
“You have patients waiting for you at the office,” Marlow complained, and started dragging him back from the way he came.
“What the hell are you talking about? You kicked me out of the office for your personal time, remember?”
“That was an hour and a half ago,” Marlow said with a huff. “You need a minder.”
“That’s why I hired you,” Scott drawled, not caring he was being dragged.
“I thought I was fired?” Marlow asked without looking at him.
“Hey, I’ll see you for dinner on Thursday. We can work out the details on the club then.” Chance yelled. “That’s if your guard dog will let you.”
Scott could hear the laughter in Chance’s voice and gave him the middle finger, which only made his friend laugh more.
Chapter Three
Scott opened the door to his apartment and placed his leather case down.
The sounds of pots banging together reached his ears from the kitchen. He had a small, three-bedroom apartment with a living room and an eat in kitchen. One of his rooms he’d converted into his home office and the other his playroom—a room he hadn't used in a very long time.
His stomach growled loudly when the smell of fried chicken, baked macaroni and cheese, mixed greens, along freshly baked cornbread reached his nose. The only one who would be able to cook all of his favorites the way he liked it was his sire. Excitement bubbled inside of him like a kid.
Sire is here.
“Are you going to stand there sniffing the air or come in and help me finish up dinner?” his sire said loud enough for him to hear in his rich, southern twang. It always amazed him that his sire had lost his Roman accent but spoke with a southern one after only living there for a couple of years.
“What are you doing here?” Scott asked when he walked into the kitchen.
“Do you ever cook?” Armand, his sire, asked. “I swear these pots still have a just bought shine to them.” He looked at Scott over his shoulder and smiled. “Your Bearer is off doing another movie, and I didn’t feel like sticking around waiting for him to come home. So here I am.”
