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to hide hang between them.
    He went red. “Who the hell are you?”
    “Dr. Seth Holt.” Seth didn’t offer to shake the man’s hand, not that Camden had ventured within reach. He’d stopped a good twelve feet away.
    “I don’t want you around my son.”
    “Last I checked, this was a public sidewalk.” Seth folded his arms across his chest. “Are you saying I’m committing a crime by standing on a public sidewalk?”
    “I’m saying I want you to stay away from my kid.”
    Seth glanced down and saw that Jeff had paled. Not wanting to upset the boy, he softened his expression and his voice. “Jeff, you’ve got some dirt on your face. I don’t want to have to tell Dr. Julia your face was dirty. How about you go wash it up, so I can tell her you were spit shine clean?”
    He dropped his voice so only Seth could hear. “Are you and Dad gonna … talk?”
    Seth nodded.
    “Don’t hurt him, okay?”
    Damn it. “I won’t.”
    The little skeptic gave him the once-over. “You look awfully mad.”
    “I know, but mad men don’t always hit.”
    “Promise?”
    Gritting his teeth, Seth staved off a sigh. “Yeah, I promise.”
    Jeff ran up the walk, giving his father a wide berth, paused on the porch to look back and double-check Seth, then went on into the house.
    When the door slammed shut, Seth turned his attention back to Jeff’s father. “Camden, let me be perfectly clear. Jeff is my friend, and I am going to check on him every day. That isn’t negotiable.”
    “The hell you say. You can’t stick your nose in my personal business.”
    “I’m using every ounce of restraint I possess to keep from kicking your ass for beating on a kid,” Seth warned him. “Now, I can check on Jeff without you causing any grief, or you can cause grief, I’ll kick your ass, and then check on him anyway.” Seth shrugged. “Your choice. I’m up for either.”
    Camden’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat. “Don’t come on my property. You come on my property, I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”
    Seth stiffened his stance. “You’ll let me see Jeff whenever and wherever or I’ll have the cops riding your back, nonstop.”
    “Don’t threaten me, Holt.”
    “No threat.” Seth would report the bruises to the social worker and to the cops and he’d call them daily for a report. In his experience, cops had a low tolerance level for men who beat up on kids. “It’s a solemn promise. I saw the bruise.”
    Camden paused on the first step up to the porch and looked back at Seth. “What?”
    “I saw the bruise.” Seth let his anger seep into his voice. “Don’t hurt the boy anymore.”
    “He fell playing football.”
    “Sure he did.” Seth grimaced. “It’s a little tricky to bruise your inner and outer arm, your armpit, and your ribs by falling down, Camden.”
    “He did fall,” Camden insisted.
    “Okay, fine. Let’s keep this simple. I don’t give a damn how he gets bruised, if I see another one on him, I’m holding you responsible.”
    “What gives you the right—”
    “You grab the boy hard enough to leave a bruise that covers half his body-and you want to talk to me about rights?” Losing it. Control slipping. Promised Jeff. Seth took in a deep breath and dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “I’m holding you responsible.”
    “Okay. All right. You can see him.”
    Typical. Back a little, big-man against the wall and he folds, provided you’re big enough to stomp him.
    The front door swung open and Jeff ran outside, up to the fence, and then cranked back his neck. “This okay?”
    Seth leashed his rage, forced himself to relax, and then looked down at Jeff’s upturned face.
    He’d washed it, all right. But only it. A thin rim of mud circled his jawline. The face was clean, but his throat and neck were dust covered and mud splotched from water droplets. Seth nearly laughed. “Looks good to me.”
    Camden slipped-into the house.
    “Dr. Seth?”
    “Yes, Jeff?”
    He licked