Lockwood Creek Book Three - Can be read as stand-alone.
Dr Chris Chambers had no intention of settling down, he loved the chase too damn much. Or so he told himself. And love 'em and leave 'em were words he swore by. And so what if names like play...
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~ ~ Dr Chris Chambers ~ ~
Eleven Years Prior
"Earth to Chris!?" snarked my eldest brother, Cal. "You listening to me?" He eased up on the gas pedal of his police cruiser and shot me one of his infamous looks that always somehow made me feel two feet tall.
My lips twitched. "What? Pfft. Yeah, of course."
"And..." he prompted.
And what?"Okay." I held up a hand, smirking. "No, I wasn't listening."
Cal muttered something under his breath.
My brother lived in Big Springs, Howard County and I was visiting from Michigan where I was currently working. I flew down whenever I had time off or I headed to Colorado where my parents had relocated since my dad retired due to his ill health.
Cal had graduated with his associate's degree and joined the police force and moved to Texas because April, his wife whom he met in college had grown up here.
I was hoping to be moving on myself from Michigan. Adam my best friend, had given me the heads up to a position at the world-renowned Mercy Heights. He'd been there a while and it was where he met his wife, Emma. She was head of the Cardiothoracic Department. Not to mention she was as beautiful as she was brilliant. He was a lucky sonofabitch.
And I hoped with my stellar recommendations and Adam's good word that I had a shoe in to securing the position.
Time would tell I guess.
Cal cleared his throat. "I asked, why don't you come with me and April? You got the week off, yeah? We're planning on flying up to see Jamie."
Jamie was three years older than me and the middle child in our family. Only eighteen months separated him and Cal.
"You know him and Claire just had their first kid, right?"
Oh, I knew all about their kid. My parent's first grandchild was a huge deal. However, it was the last thing I wanted to talk about, fuck, think about.
But from the set of my brother's jaw, he wasn't gonna let this drop and heat crept up the back of my neck as Cal held a grenade to my tightly wound emotions in his hand.
Don't do it, Cal. Don't pull that pin.
"C'mon, Chris. It's family. Your nephew. You want to meet him, right?"
And there it was, the explosion inside my chest. Shrapnel taking a chunk of my lungs with it.
My grin gone. "Family Cal?" I seethed. "Are you kidding me?" My voice sounded shrill to my ears, a weird pitch sound that was nothing like me. "Why the hell would I want to do that—meet their kid?" The explosion opened up a can of worms as more unwelcome feelings came thick and fast.
