Page 57 of Baby Boy

Jace chuckled. “I know. But if you get run down, then you’ll get sick too. That I can’t allow.”

“You can’t allow me to get sick?” That didn’t make sense, did it?

“No. You’re my boy and I insist that you’re happy and healthy at all times.”

Avery giggled. “I don’t think you can insist on that. People get sick.”

“Not my boy,” Jace said again.

Avery loved that Jace always thought of him as his boy, no matter what.

“Okay, I’ll try.” He couldn’t promise not to get sick since he couldn’t really control that, but he wanted to make Jace happy.

“Good boy. Now rest your eyes. I’ll have you home in no time.”

Avery sighed. He wished that Jace’s home was his real home. Being there was so much better than anything else. At Jace’s house, he got baths and toys and special clothes. He couldn’t believe that he’d never known this side of him existed. He loved being a little and having a Daddy. Even though it had been such a short time, Avery couldn’t imagine not having this part of his life.

CHAPTER NINE

AVERY

Avery was exhausted, but there was no way that he was going to cancel his date with Jace. Friday night seemed so far away and he hadn’t gotten any more time with him. The restaurant Jace had picked shouldn’t be too busy on a Wednesday night.

Avery stepped off the bus and looked around. The bus had dropped him off four blocks from the restaurant. That seemed like miles he needed to walk. But he’d do it. Maybe he just needed to rest for a moment though. He was so tired. Avery flopped down on the bus bench and stuck his hand in his backpack. He ran the edge of his blanket over his thumb. The soothing helped his gather his thoughts. Gave him time to breathe.

A horn honking had him jumping and almost tumbling off the bench.

“Avery!”

Avery looked up as Jace stopped next to him. The passenger window was rolled down and Jace was frowning.

“Why are you sitting there?” Jace asked. He was already undoing his seatbelt.

Avery climbed to his feet and flushed. He hadn’t meant to get caught. Jace was by his side before Avery noticed him getting out of the vehicle.

“Uh, hi,” Avery said, shuffling his feet.

“What are you doing?” Jace questioned. He ran his hands up and down Avery’s arm like he thought Avery was cold. Which he was. Was it ever going to warm up? It felt like it’d been winter for years.

“I was going to walk to the restaurant.”

“You said you had a ride,” Jace pointed out.

Avery had said that. “Jasmin was going to drop me off on her way home, but she had to work late. I didn’t want to miss dinner…” He shrugged. “So I took the bus.”

Jace blew out a breath. “Okay, but why were you sitting on the bench when you were supposed to meet me?”

Avery shrugged. Why did Jace have to drive by as Avery was taking a break? If Jace had just gone to the restaurant, then they wouldn’t be having this conversation. Jace probably wouldn’t even have known Avery had taken the bus.

“That’s not an answer,” Jace stated.

Avery huffed. “I don’t know,” he snapped.

Jace flinched and Avery felt bad, but damn it, he was tired and hungry and Jace was messing up their date by catching Avery out. Jace had wanted to pick him up, but it would have been out of his way, so Avery had insisted it wasn’t necessary. “Avery?”

“Why couldn’t you just fucking meet me at the restaurant?” he yelled. Shit, Avery didn’t even know why he was upset. He slapped his hand over his mouth, unable to believe what he’d just done.

“Okay, little one. You know better than to use that language. And you should have called me when you didn’t have a ride. Like I told you to,” Jace said. He didn’t sound angry, but Avery had to peek up at him to make sure. Jace didn’t look mad but he was frowning in concern.

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