Page 87 of Doc

I love you too, drama queen

Putting my phone away, I try to push my mother’s attempts at guilting me into talking to my father out of my head. The thing is, I know she’s right, but in the two weeks since the charity ball, I’ve done everything in my power tonottalk to my father.

I already know what he’s going to say…or not say. More accurately, he’s going to let his fists do the talking. A fact my mother is very aware of, yet she still will only let me avoid the issue for so long before stepping in further.

It’s not that she wants him to put his hands on me, but rather, she knows the sooner we have our…discussion, the sooner we can either move on or cut each other from our lives.

My father is every bit the Russian mobster, but for as much as his temper and bigotry rules him, he also lets things go once he has his pound of flesh. My childhood may be rife with unnecessary ‘discipline’, but I was never ‘unnecessarily’ beaten or abused. Once he punished me, he let it go, and he never really started hitting me until I was eighteen and could “take it like a man”, as he always said.

Maybe it’s fucked up to look at it that way, but we all handle our trauma differently, and that’s how I’ve always been able to move on from mine.

So, yes, I’ve been avoiding my father because I know how our discussion will end. It’ll be snapping the last thread in our turbulent relationship. And while my uncle and cousin support me, I also know the ties of loyalty go deeper than blood. As Cristian pointed out at the charity event, I belong to the Amatos now, and that changes everything.

We’re workingat the clinic today, which may be harder than assisting in emergency surgery, as at least the person on the table doesn’t flinch when you come at them with a needle. Who would have thought that bodyguards could be such wimps when it comes to getting vaccines.

“Have you eaten yet?” I ask Doc when I enter his office after my latest appointment.

“He has not,” James says from his place on the two-seater sofa in the corner of the room.

“Tattletale,” Doc bitches.

Raising an eyebrow, I stare at Doc until he sighs, long and loud. Taking a seat across from him at his desk, I say, “I know you’ve been busy, so have I, butImanaged to eat the wonderful, healthy lunch James packed for me, in between sticking people with needles. I just passed the break room and saw Rose eatingherlunch, and she’s been working with you all day. If she has time for food, so do you.”

James laughs. “I love you.”

I grin at the bodyguard as Doc grumbles to himself, but he gets up and grabs his lunch bag from the small fridge anyway.

“Too bad you were only fifteen when we first started working together,” James muses. “I could have used you a long time ago.”

I chuckle and Doc shoots us both a dark look, which we ignore. Before I can respond, my phone rings, long and shrill. My stomach drops because there are only a handful of contacts set to override my Do Not Disturb, and two of them are sitting in the room with me.

Pulling the phone out, I curse when I see my cousin’s name on the screen.

“Davidik? What’s wrong?”

David lets out a long exhale, and speaks in a shaky voice. “It’s Dominic… I… It’s… His father… It’s bad. He needs you, Sory.”

I jump up, heart thumping hard in my chest. “I’m on my way. Where are you?”

“Your place.”

“Be there soon.” I hung up and shove my phone in my pocket.

Doc and James both stare at me. “I need to go. My…” I swallow around the sudden lump in my throat. “Something happened to my best friend. David didn’t explain what, exactly, but he wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t necessary.”

“Go,” Doc urges. “He needs you. Do you want me to come?”

I shake my head. “You still have appointments. I can handle this.”

“Take James, at least,” he insists.

I open my mouth to argue, but James cuts in. “You’re shaking, Soren. You shouldn’t be driving.”

“What about Doc?” I shoot back.

“I’ll call my brother and he'll send someone to watch him.”

Doc rounds his desk and takes my face in his hands. “I’ll be fine. Go, let me know if you need me.”

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