Promises Part 1 (Bounty Hunters 1)

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Quick stood, his hands on his strong hips, his sharp eyes filled with rage, making his usually meadow green eyes appear more hunter green and meaner.

“Nothing’s wrong. I was just—”

“It ain’t gonna happen. Whatever you were thinking right then.” Quick pointed at Cayson’s head. “Not. Gonna. Fuckin’. Happen.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything bad.” Cayson hurriedly tried to recover. “I was trying to come up with a suitable apology for the way I talked to you. I shouldn’t have called you Roman. If you prefer Quick, then I will call you that.” Cayson tried to look unaffected, but his brain was screaming at him to make it right. Make friends with them. Let them see how great a guy you really are. Maybe there was enough room in Duke and Quick’s circle of friends for him. He didn’t expect to be an honorary member of the club, but an invite to a barbeque or a fight night would be nice.

Cayson bit his bottom lip—another nervous gesture—while he thought of the right words. He was a thinker, typically, and didn’t usually act or even speak without thinking it through first. So why did Quick take him so far out of his comfort zone and make him pine for things that would never be within his grasp?

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“You didn’t, doc,” Quick said, his tone unfazed.

“Well then, good.”

“If you want to examine your patients, I think you should do it in your own office, not mine.” Quick went back to shuffling some papers around as if Cayson was dismissed.

“You’re a real asshole. You know that.” Cayson regretted it the moment he said it. Because Quick stood to his full height and came from around the desk and stood over him like Cayson was in for the ass whupping of his life, but if he was… fuck it. Might as well have his say first. “You called my office, worried about your friend. When I couldn’t reach him to schedule him to come into my office, I came out to check on him. Not all doctors disregard their patients as soon as they exit the hospital doors. Duke will be under my care for a year or more. Since y’all are all so close and you’re my other patient’s next of kin, I thought we might see each other a few more times.”

“You make personal visits to all your patients’ ‘kin?’” Quick used air quotes around the word kin. “Or just the ones you want to shag? Are you that hard up, doc?”

Cayson could feel the warmth from embarrassment spreading across his chest and rapidly making its way to his neck, and then his face. He had to be red as fuck because his face felt like it was on fire. He was humiliated. Was he hard up? Yes. Was he lonely? Yes. But he didn’t have to be made to feel like a pathetic loser. He was too old for that. True, most of his colleagues were married and settled with families, and Cayson craved it, but he’d settle for someone that would just treat him nice. How hard was that? Ask him about his day when he got home. Make love to him after a hard day. Hold him and whisper words of encouragement to him when he lost a patient on the operating table. Those things happened to him regularly, but he dealt with them alone.

There was nothing else he could say. Quick wasn’t the man he thought he was. Cayson made to stand but he ended up awkwardly maneuvering around Quick, who was still standing over him. He hurried out of the room, vowing that no matter what, he’d never come back to his house again.

He took care of his patient and got the hell away from where he wasn’t wanted. Cayson pulled out his cell phone and called his office, letting the nurses know that Duke’s labs needed to be picked up from Cayson’s house. Since he didn’t have any more appointments and wasn’t scheduled for surgery until the following day, he figured a day off might not be a bad idea. He’d call his father and see if he wanted to go fishing or something. Since his mother passed a few years back, it’d just been him and his father. After a while I’d only be him.

Cayson’s phone chimed and the name he saw on the caller ID almost brought tears to his eyes. But he must be a glutton for punishment today because he picked up. “Hey, Joe.”

“Cayson, what’s going on? You busy?”

“Um. Not really.” Cayson pinched the bridge of his nose. “Actually, I was thinking of doing something tonight since I don’t have to get up early.”

“I was thinking of doing you. Come over,” Joe ordered. He was an anesthesiologist that used to work at the hospital with him, but right after their first casual hook up, the handsome man had gotten a job at another hospital across town. Duke thought that their few fucks were leading to more but he’d been gravely mistaken. Joe was adamant about not wanting to date, that he was too busy to be tied down. Even though they were both in their forties.