Page 16 of Wanted: Unwavering Daddy

Julian cleared his throat. “So, there’s an art gallery in New York City that wants to do an exhibit of my stuff.”

“Holy shit,” Toby said.

“That’s epic,” Dylan added.

After three servers delivering our food and more chatter about everything we’d heard so far, Levi said, “All right, Indie. What about you?”

Toby clapped his hands in front of his face like he had a secret no one else knew. Indie cleared his throat. “Well, I’ve been doing some soul searching, and believe it or not”–he pointed a finger toward Toby–“this guy has been a big help. So… I’m leaving The Tap?—”

There were groans from Julian and Luca.

“I know, I know. You’ll miss me, but I’m going to be helping out more at the Takoda Outreach Center with talks and other stuff they need, and I’ll be teaching yoga a few mornings a week.” He rushed out the last word so quickly that I almost thought I misheard.

“No way,” I said.

He shrugged sheepishly. Probably because he’d had a rocky start with Toby. “Yeah. I don’t know, but Toby was right. That stuff really helps clear your head, and it’s become an important part of my life and my routine.”

Dylan held up a glass toward him. “Congratulations, man. I’m happy for you.”

“Wow. Who’s next?” Archie asked.

Chip raised his hand shyly. “Me.”

“And if you were listening, I gave it away already,” Joey said.

Faces screwed up around the table, but I’d caught it. From the amused look on Dylan’s face, he had, too, but Chip deserved to share his big news. Joey winked at me. “Go ahead, Chip,” he nudged his employee and friend.

“Joey and Tucker officially promoted me to office manager this morning.”

Nigel thrust his hands up in victory. “Yes! Didn’t I tell you that you’d love him?” Nigel was the one who’d brought Chip into our group—to Takoda to begin with—so he threw huge big brother vibes toward the sweet guy. It was awesome seeing his new life here working out so beautifully after the abuse he suffered before Omar, Nigel, and Ollie rescued him.

Chip blinked tears of happiness out of his eyes, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t feel my own eyes well with tears.

Luca winked at his friend, then more dramatically than he ever did anything, he removed our attention from Chip with a, “Well, I got the grant I applied for. We have to iron out some details, but…”

Our hooting and hollering got so loud that Indie said, “Oh shit,” and held up his phone. “Our Daddies are threatening to come get us if we don’t tone it down.”

Archie shrugged. “I’d be okay with that. Hutch works so much he isn’t always home in the evening.”

“I’m okay with it, too, as long as they’re just picking us up and taking us back to Roland’s house,” Hayden said.

“Oh, I like that idea,” Kenny said.

Julian tossed a wadded-up napkin at him. “Imagine that.”

“So I’m telling them to come get us?” Indie asked, obviously wanting to get back to his Daddy, too.

There were yesses all around. Indie punched at his phone, then laid it down and turned to Kenny. “Okay, a few of them are coming for all of us, so we have just enough time to box our leftovers and hear what’s going on with you.”

Kenny sniffed. “The same ol’ same ol’, but…this is nice, guys. Thank you for including me.”

Levi barked out a laugh. “Once these guys claim you?—”

“Or one of the Daddies,” Hayden inserted.

“There’s no escaping them,” Levi finished.

Kenny reached over and grabbed my hand. “I think I’m pretty okay with that. It’s nice to have found such a loving family.”

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