Chapter One
To Hive or not to Hive? Getting his kink on was almost always better than not, and it had been a long day but it was a Thursday which would mean a slow night at the club. Eric didn’t have to decide quite yet, and he should get his head out of the fetish club and into his medical practice.
He had two last appointments before he needed to make a call, and they were easy-peasy sibling physicals. Logan and Chase Bishop. Good kids, never any signs of abuse or neglect, generally healthy except for the usual childhood ailments. Actually, he hadn’t seen them for a year because they’d been right as rain. And not that he’d ever wish sickness or injury on any of his patients, but he’d missed seeing their mother.
Devaney Bishop was not just a beautiful woman but also a sweet and gentle soul who clearly doted on her children and had an expansive sense of humor. She was a little nervous, but he liked that too. Maybe liked it too much.
He smiled broadly at the whole family when he came into the waiting room, although it faltered when he looked at Devaney. She was gorgeous as ever but her usually creamy porcelain skin looked dull and pale, even for her. Dark shadows were smudged under her eyes and her typically glossy blond hair was frizzy and brittle. What the hell had happened to her?
“Hello, Bishops, good to see you. Seems like things must be going well since I haven’t seen you boys in a year?”
Devaney gave him a tight smile. “We’re fine, thanks, Doctor Southerland. Logan, why don’t you go first? I’ll go in with Chase when you’re done.”
“Whatever,” the teenager muttered from under a floppy mop of light brown hair. He shut off the game console he was playing on and shoved it in his pocket as he stood.
When Eric offered him a fist to bump, Logan did it—but rolled his eyes first. That was fine. Teens could be surly and self-absorbed. Hell, the kids in his practice could act any kind of way as long as they were sleeping well and eating right. It wasn’t his job to correct their manners. Although if this boy were giving his poor mother a hard time it did make him want to deliver a very stern lecture.
After a brief and easy check-up with Logan—kid was a bit sullen though he’d perked up talking about playing on the lacrosse team, making the Clover Hills varsity squad as a first year—Eric walked him back out to the waiting room and gestured for Chase and Devaney to come on back.
Usually Marni or one of his other nurses would be here to help him out but Heather was on vacation, it was Jane’s usual day off, and he’d sent Marni home early since it was just the Bishop boys. That woman worked too much. He knew, because he was there with her.
To be fair, probably 10 percent of their patients on any given week were really “patients” and they got to play with some delightful little girls and boys and their caregivers, enjoying some med fetish, bondage, age play, maybe other things depending on the arrangements that had been made.
But those were still obligations, appointments that had been made. And as sweet or bratty as those littles were, they always went home at the end of the day. Yes, they occasionally had a patient who was coming to them solo but those were few and far between and mostly they were looking for a release for a need they were mortified to have and he and Marn were a last resort.
He wanted to be someone’s first choice. Someone’s everything. Eh, he’d find it sometime. A little girl to hold and keep, care for and spoil, and of course do absolutely perverted things to. Someone who would understand he could be a consummate professional with the actual kids he saw, and a dirty motherfucker with the littles. They’d have to be okay with that too.
Someday. Someday his princess would come.
* * *
Thank goodness the boys were healthy and she only had to deal with the most basic of questions from the handsome Doctor Southerland. He’d always made her nervous in that way of attractive men—he didn’t exactly flirt with her, but…okay, maybe a little.
He’d always been kind and had a smile for her and the boys. Someone who was smart and easy and genuinely nice. She never felt like she was bothering him, even when she made a fuss about things that were probably minor. No, Eric Southerland always made her feel like she was trying her best to be a good mom and that was a completely rational and wonderful thing to be.
Not like Carter who always made her feel foolish and hypersensitive and ridiculous with his eyerolls and his muttered swearing.
She was embarrassed as things were by how hard she was working to pay attention to what Doctor Southerland was saying. Asking Chase about when he went to bed, what his favorite foods were. It wasn’t easy through the nausea and the increasing pain.
Given that her migraines had started when she was fourteen and she was forty-two now, one would think she’d be used to them, handle them better. But how did one handle pain that wouldn’t quit? How was a person supposed to deal with feeling this ill every month? She felt like it stole days from her life and it was even harder now that she and Carter had split up.
Not that he’d been much help—he thought she was exaggerating and being a drama queen, faking how much pain she was in and how incapacitated she was. But he’d at least get the boys some spaghetti while he was bitching about how she was making mountains out of mole hills.
“Any new pets, other changes in the house?”
Shit.
“Um, yes. The boys’ dad and I got a divorce. They live with me during the week, and with their father on the weekends.”
Devaney felt her face color the same way it always did when she had to tell people she and Carter had split. A couple of her friends had been sympathetic, but most of them had asked how she could let a man like Carter go. Her own mother had tsked and told her she should’ve done more to keep that man happy.
Yes, Carter made good money and he was handsome, but he could also be cruel, both effortlessly and purposefully. What did they want her to do? Just put up with that? No. She wouldn’t do that to herself, and she certainly didn’t want her boys thinking it was okay to treat your partner that way. She probably wouldn’t have asked for the divorce but she wasn’t upset Carter had.
Doctor Southerland’s forehead creased with concern. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Anger flared in her stomach. Yeah, everyone was sorry Carter had left her. Poor Devaney, couldn’t keep a man happy and now what was she going to do?
But before the anger and resentment could really take hold, Doctor Southerland continued. “Even when a divorce is the right thing to do it can be hard on families and take a while to adjust. But I’m sure you’re doing everything right.”
He gave her a gentle, sympathetic smile, not showing his teeth, and it was so warm and kind she wanted to cry.
The truth was shewasdoing her best to make sure Chase and Logan knew they were loved, that the divorce wasn’t their fault, that she and Carter loved them very much and always would. She’d tried to keep all her problems with Carter a secret much like she had when they’d been married.
Grin and bear it, Devaney.Don’t let those boys know how difficult their father was making this. Don’t mention money in front of them, how Carter was behind on child support and tried half the time to get out of taking the kids when he was supposed to. Make excuses for the bastard when he didn’t show up at school events like he’d promised he would or when he was late picking them up on Friday night because he’d gone on a date or to the country club first.
It was so hard and she was so tired. She hated that Carter got to be the fun parent, taking them to movies and ball games and letting them eat junk all weekend, allowing them to stay up all hours, and then she had to try to fix everything when they got back on Sunday nights. Fight an uphill battle until Carter picked them up on Fridays and then worry about what kind of mess he was going to leave her with once the weekend was over. Not to mention work and fitting in all of her chores and—
Suddenly her stomach lurched. The nausea was always bad right before a migraine took her out for a few days but usually if she could be still and quiet she could make it through without actually puking. But she’d been rushing around all day, and the bright lights of the office and the pressure to focus so she wouldn’t seem like a moron might be too much.