4. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

T odd loved his new job. He was a private chef. A. Private. Chef. If felt surreal. How had he gone from being fired from his line cook job at his ex-boyfriend's family restaurant, to making diner food and being a bloodwhore on the side, to becoming a private chef?

Okay, so he knew how. It still felt like a dream.

So maybe he was a chef to an assassin warlock vampire and his human mate who used to be thief—an infamous one at that. It should seem a little sketchy, but Seryn and Mitchell were amazing people. They didn't make weird demands and seemed to love everything he made.

Todd lived in Seryn and Mitchell’s guesthouse, which was bigger than any house he'd ever lived in before. It was three times the size of his last apartment.

But there was a downside. One very small problem and he’d just walked into the kitchen. Todd's ex also lived there, although for Evan it was temporary.

The whole situation with them living in the same place was convoluted. They had been indifferent to each other after a few screaming matches and Seryn threatening to kill them. Twice.

Todd wasn't proud of what those instances reduced him to. That Seryn had to break up their arguments like a parent, albeit a deranged one, still said a lot more about how childish he'd been, but he was ready to be friendly, although he and Evan would never become friends.

"Sorry. I didn't know you were in here. I can come back later." Evan turned to leave the kitchen.

Todd didn't stop chopping the veggies for the omelets he’d make later. "I start breakfast at seven a.m. every day, Evan."

Todd had gotten an early start, intending to bake. Baking wasn't something he'd done a lot of, but he used to have fun with his grandmother. He wanted to try his hand at her orange rolls. The only problem was he had to rely on his memory to piece together the recipe. He loved the trial and error. The process of failing and then getting it right would make the recipe his. All he needed was patience.

The dough Todd had made was already proving. The kitchen had a proving box. Todd was pretty sure he was the first person to ever use it. He doubted Seryn knew what the box was for.

"I know. I wasn't aware of the time." Evan stopped in the doorway. He no longer pleaded for forgiveness with his eyes, so that was an improvement. And maybe the ice in Todd's veins was thawing toward Evan.

"Just come in."

Okay, so maybe Todd was thawing out more than a little. With closure came the ability to forgive. So Todd was over it. Two years of his life wasted with a cheater? Yes. But he was ready to stop dwelling on how Evan had stuck his dick where it didn't belong and somehow ruined Todd's life.

"I won't bite your head off. I promise." Todd grabbed a mug from the cupboard and set the coffee machine to brew Evan a cup. "Sit."

He hated how he still knew which flavored coffee creamer Evan liked best and how much to add to his cup. Years of taking care of the 'busy doctor' had been ingrained into his chef DNA and now he'd die an old man still knowing how his ex-boyfriend’s took his coffee.

Evan liked the sweetest flavor, raspberry white chocolate, and that annoyed Todd for no rational reason. He added the creamer anyway. Did he think about spitting in the mug? Of course. But he didn't, and that was progress.

Todd set the mug on the island in front of Evan.

"You thought about putting salt in it, didn't you?" Evan smiled and picked up the mug, taking a sip. "It's perfect."

Todd smirked. "I couldn't with you watching."

"You thought about it."

"For one brief moment." He hadn't done anything to Evan's coffee because he hadn't wanted to ruin it. The beans deserved more love than that. The same couldn't be said for Evan.

Evan chuckled. "Thank you for the coffee."

"Would you like an omelet? I won't harm it either. I promise." Todd began preparing it, knowing how Evan would answer.

"Sure. Thanks, Todd."

It would be a few more minutes before Seryn and Mitchell would be down for breakfast, but he started on the omelets anyway.

Evan watched him. Todd tried to focus on chopping an onion, but he couldn't. He stopped mid-chop. "What?"

"Nothing." Evan took a sip of his coffee. "I saw your profile on Cupid's Arrow."

"So. That means you were on it too." Todd wasn't going to apologize for moving on with his life. He was finally in a good place after their disastrous breakup.

Evan shook his head. "Hannah discovered your profile and sent it to me."

Todd shrugged. "What's your point, Evan?"

"I didn't know you were ready to date again. That's all." Evan peered into the depths of his coffee as if he'd find some sort of words of wisdom there. "I'm not ready."

"We don't have to be in the same place at the same time. I mean I'm not ready to move from the guest house and you're leaving in—what—a month?"

"The apartment will be ready in two weeks," Evan corrected. He was always doing stuff like that, correcting the smallest thing. It had been more annoying when it had been little things like explaining why tea was better for him because it had less caffeine than coffee and then stating the amount of caffeine in each beverage. He’d done that on more than one occasion. It was as if he wanted Todd to know he was smarter just because he was a doctor.

"Two weeks. A month. Whatever." Todd totally wanted to challenge him to a cooking competition. The man didn't even know how to fry an egg. Preparing food was as much about survival as fixing ailments. Eating was about health too.

"The difference is two weeks." Evan smirked. The jerk.

"Shut up, Evan." Way to ruin the first good moment they had since the breakup. "Do you have something more to say about me being on a dating app? Not that I really care about your opinion, but you brought it up for a reason."

"I was just going to ask you if you'd had any luck on it." Oh, so Evan was fishing to see if Todd was dating anyone.

Todd rolled his eyes. "Why? Are you interested in online dating?"

"I might be."

Bullshit, but whatever .

Todd was saved from having to answer when Mitchell came into the room. He poured himself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter.

"Not killing each other is an improvement," he mumbled.

Todd chuckled. "Well, one out of the two of us is ready to move on. Isn't that right, Evan?"

Evan averted his gaze. "I decided to move back to Duchester and take the job with Mr. Sylvain."

Todd had a lot of time to hate Evan for how things had ended. Living in such close proximity should have kept him on that trajectory but it had the opposite effect. With closure came the ability to shed any feelings he had for Evan. "Congratulations on the job."

"Thanks. And good luck on dating. I hope you find a good guy. You deserve someone who will cherish you." Evan smiled when their gazes met.

"Thanks Evan." It was a nice thing to say, although Evan probably didn’t mean it.

Seryn came in a second later. He had a serious case of bedhead and still appeared tired. His expression was one of calmness. Todd suspected Seryn didn't feel calm at all.

He walked right to Mitchell and snuggled into his embrace.

The two of them were relationship goals. Todd wanted someone to take care of him the same way Mitchell took care of Seryn. In every relationship Todd had ever had it was always Todd nurturing the other person. He had always given one hundred percent to the relationship regardless of what he'd gotten back.

That had been the case with Evan too. They had busy lives with demanding careers, but it had been Todd who’d made sure Evan ate a decent meal and had clean scrubs. He'd done a million other things Evan had never acknowledged. And he'd gotten very little in return.

A balanced relationship would be nice.

Mitchell waved his cup underneath Seryn's nose. "Better get started on that first cup, boy. You have the whole day ahead of you. It would be a shame if you killed some innocent person just because you didn't get your coffee."

"I don't like coffee," Seryn mumbled.

Mitchell grinned. "And yet you claim to need at least two cups to function."

"It's not a claim. It's fact." Seryn met Todd's gaze. "Can you make a high-protein snack for this evening? And start stocking something with electrolytes in it."

"I can get something already bottled for now." But he could get individual packets at the big warehouse store two towns over. He intended to start shopping there once a month anyway.

"Also the housekeeper comes tomorrow. His name is Ulises. He's family just as much as Skippy so treat him as such."

Treating him like family meant Todd needed to find out what Ulises liked to eat. "Is he scary like the lawn guy?"

Skippy came twice a week to mow. He was the biggest, scariest guy Todd had ever seen. He was told Skippy, while not harmless, wasn't likely to hurt him. Not likely didn't mean there was a zero percent chance, so Todd avoided him. He managed to have a conversation with him about what he liked to eat. It turned out the big guy could be buttered up with sweets. He'd have yet another guinea big to try out his baking recipes on.

"Ulises is a gentle soul."

Todd got to work on the omelets and thought about what it would take to make nice with the housekeeper. Things in his life were finally looking up. He wanted to keep it that way, including plying his coworkers with their favorite foods.