Another Visitor

Brandon opened his door to the smell of food but it was his best friend's scent that got to him first. As he stepped inside, he realized that someone was standing in his kitchen, and it was his best friend.

"Chance?" he called out, surprised that he was standing there when he thought he was in Italy. Chance was an artist, but he wasn't a starving artist like everyone would like to think. He owned his own galleries and they were scattered across the country. He was a painter slash photographer and he was always, mostly, out of town when a place caught his attention. He would rave on and on about how he had to capture the place in his mind and canvas, how he had to bring out the life in the place and all, and then he would travel there, snapping the place as much as he wanted, painting too when he wanted.

The equally tall man looked at him from the kitchen where he was standing with nothing but an apron around his neck and probably a pant beneath it. Otherwise, he was naked from the waist up, nodding at the song he was humming.

"Hey, Brand. You're back home." He said, pointing the spoon he had in his hand at him. "I was wondering when you would get home from work because you're taking long."

"When the heck did you get back?" he asked him. "I mean you could have told me that you were coming today and I would have picked you up at the airport." He said. Brandon knew that his best friend was someone that did things just because he felt like doing them, and no matter what he had said, he would continue to do what he wanted which he had no problem with, as long as he came back home where he belonged.

As expected, he smiled and shook his head. "Oh please, I didn't want to bother you at all, plus it's not as if I don't know my way here." He used the spoon that was in his hand to stir whatever it was he was cooking. Unlike Brandon, Chance was a really good cook, and it was as if he was perfect in every way. He was handsome, as well as intelligent, and he was talented in so many things.

Brandon was a man of many talents as well; it wasn't easy to read the looks and expressions on the faces of his clients and the people in the cutthroat business world just to know what they wanted, he was rich and handsome as well, but he wasn't as perfect as they saw him on the outside. There were so many things he couldn't do, like clean or cook but he didn't mind paying others to do them. It wasn't a big deal. If he was good at that as well, then how would those people that did it for a living live or pay their bills?

"Well, it's really nice to have you here. It's been a while since we saw each other and I have so many things to talk about with you." Brandon said.

Chance chuckled, and he shook his head. "Of course, Brand, I am sure you have something to talk to me about." He looked up from what he was doing and glanced at his best friend for a moment, then he added. "But first, you should go upstairs to your room for a quick shower, then we can both eat dinner and talk about whatever it is you have in mind."

Nodding his head in agreement, he said. "Oh sure, thank you. I'll go do just that and be right back."

This was one of the reasons he loved his best friend. He was a low ranked wolf, but still, he was like a brother to him. He had never treated him with bullshit unlike some of the people he knew. He respected him not because he was from a rich family or because he was business oriented, he did because he had something to offer the world and because he was an alpha that didn't care who he was but treated everyone equally.

Back at the university, when Brandon and Chance had met as new students and roommates, they had become fast friends and so close that people usually thought that they were a couple. He would wash his clothes, cook for him, and even clean after him, not once minding that he couldn't do anything in return except probably add more work to his already piled work.

Quickly, he went upstairs to his room and it took him about ten minutes to have a shower, got dressed in a comfortable gray pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt before going back downstairs to join his best friend. By the time he was back, Chance was already setting the table. They sat down on the chairs that were against the kitchen island with their food in front of them.

Before Brandon could pick up this spoon, the pressing thoughts of everything he wanted to say to his best friend made him turn towards him, and he said. "God, I've got so much on my mind lately, with everything going on at the company, people in the media writing so many lies about me, and my mother and grandmother pestering me about getting married again." he started.

Chance looked at him, and he furrowed his brows into a frown of confusion. "I know you very well, and I'm sure you can handle the pressure from your company. We both know you don't care about what the media says about you, so the only thing I'm going to comment about is your mother and your grandmother pestering you about getting married." He dropped the spoon he was holding to pick up the cup of water beside him. Slowly, he drank the water until he was satisfied, then he dropped it on the table, making sure to place it in the exact spot a ring of water had formed by the cup itself.

"What is so wrong about that?" he asked, pushing his brows up in question. "I mean it's been two years since Ashley died, and you haven't had another woman since then not to mention the ones you sleep around with all one night stands. This is the time you should be thinking about settling down because we both know you need an heir. You're an alpha for crying out loud." He said.

"God, you sound like my mother and grandmother right now, and you know you talking like that is the last thing that I need right now," Brandon said.

The pressure from his parents, his mother especially and his grandmother was really something he couldn't handle, not when he had so much to handle at the moment in the company.

Chance nodded his head. "I can understand that Brand, but still, we both know they are right. You should really find someone before your mother starts to skim another introduction between you and another woman like Abigail." he lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "Well, the ball is definitely in your court. So you can play it just the way you want."

"I know there are rights, but they should still give me time to do that. I mean, pestering me won't make me do it anymore faster than I would." he shook his head, dropping his spoon onto his plate. "The fact that my grandmother is even threatening to disappear if I don't find someone to get married to is really making things worse."

Chance dropped his spoon and threw his head back and laughed. "I see that woman still got it. She's a lot more smarter than you give her credit for." He said.

Squeezing his face at Chance laughing, he said. "It's not funny, man. We both know she could definitely do that." He said. "Do you remember one time, second year at the university when she left the house and disappeared for a week because Dad was still riding that bike parked in my garage at the mansion when she asked him not to anymore?"

Chance covered his mouth with the palm of his hand, remembrance coming into his eyes and he nodded. "Holy shit. Yes, that's right. It was winter and we were all worried about her, thinking she might have been kidnapped or something when she couldn't be reached. It sure wasn't funny back then." He said.

After the laughter had died down, Brandon asked. "So what do you think I should do?"

Shrugging his shoulder again, Chance said. "You can either hear them out and give it a chance, or you don't. It's your choice, but know that I'm here for you, whatever decision you decide to make."