Page 6 of Pretty Baby

“What has you smiling so early this morning?” His buddy Byron asked as he sat across the table from him at the diner they’d agreed to meet at. Byron, a Professor at the University, hadn’t been in town long, but they’d hit it off when they’d met at the club.

Grant laughed. “Did you just roll out of bed?”

The Professor wasn’t looking very professor-ary at the moment. No, Byron’s tattoos were on full display and his dark hair was a mess at the top of his head. He looked bleary-eyed and tired. Byron grunted in response to him.

“Well you weren’t at the club last night so what’d you do?” Grant asked.

“Met a boy on that stupid app we downloaded last week.”

Grant shook his head. He and Byron had gotten drunk once and had started talking about having boys of their own. Jace was still in that new fabulous phase with Avery and they’d been jealous. Finding the app that was supposed to bring Daddy and boys together had seemed like it’d been meant to be. They’d made profiles and checked out the pretty boys but the next morning Grant had forgotten all about the app.

Byron must not have felt as silly as Grant had.

“From the look of you this morning it went well?” Grant questioned.

“No,” Byron said with a groan. “It really didn’t. The boy was nice and sweet but we just couldn’t seem to connect. I tried everything, man. Really. We had talked about what he wanted and what I was looking for. But there was no fucking spark.”

“So why do you look like shit?” Grant hated that Byron had struck out when he knew exactly what Byron was talking about. He’d felt that spark with Caleb the night before.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Byron said. He brightened when the waitress approached the table with a mug and carafe of coffee.

She set the mug down in front of Byron then filled it before topping off Grant’s cup.

“I’ll give you boys a few minutes to decide,” she told them.

Neither of them really needed to look at the menu but Barb would come back when she felt like it. They’d both been there enough times to have the menu memorized but that was just the way Barb ran things.

“You wouldn’t have had to use the app if you’d get off your ass and claim the boy you really wanted,” Grant told him.

Byron grunted and shook his head.

Grant had been amused at first when Byron had shown a real interest in Mitch. Grant, Mitch, and Jace had been friends since college and Mitch had never had a Daddy of his own. When Byron appeared at the club the first time Byron hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Mitch. But Mitch, being Mitch, was too caught up in his horrible relationship with his father and the bullshit from the shitty law firm he was employed at to give Byron any sign he was interested.

“He was at the club last night,” Grant shared.

Byron’s head snapped up. “He told me he wouldn’t be going this weekend.”

Grant lifted a brow. He wasn’t aware that Byron and Mitch spoke regularly.

“I ran into him at the coffee shop,” Byron said with a smirk.

“The coffee shop that Avery’s works at, the one I told you Mitch started going to in order to see his new friend,” Grant said knowingly.

Byron lifted his mug. “That would be the one.”

Grant had to laugh. He didn’t feel guilty at all. Mitch needed a push and Byron was just the Dom to give it to him. If Grant could help the two men make a connection then he was happy to keep playing both sides. “Avery finally agreed to a play date at the club. Jace rushed to get it set up before Avery could make himself sick worrying about it.”

“That’s smart. Jace knew I had a date too. I’m glad he got Avery to finally get out.”

“Me too. I think there will be more playdates. Avery loved the club. He was in awe of the puppies.”

“I bet. So, tell me about the smile,” Byron said. “Did you get some last night or what?”

“I met someone,” Grant shared. “I didn’t sleep with him. He’s… special.”

Byron sat up straighter before holding up a finger. He took a sip of the hot brew before hissing. Then took a long drink. When he pulled the mug away wincing Grant merely shook his head. “Who?”

“You might already know him.”

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