Page 18 of Soft
Moseley shook his head. "I didn't think you were being a jerk. I get what you mean. The workload is fine because Grizzly has so much lined up and organized that handling it gets easy. Plus he checks in from home. He doesn't take calls or do any video conferencing, which is how we know that he just wants to be alone for a bit."
The words felt wrong. Why would he want to be alone? Someone so charismatic and handsome, even in his soft, quiet way, should be surrounded by people. He should be doted on endlessly.
I sensed they weren't going to tell me anything further, much less give me the man's address to show up at his door. While it frustrated me, I also appreciated that they were smart enough not to give a stranger something like that, even if the stranger was someone who would potentially become a client. Grizzly's safety was a priority and would continue to be as long as I was around.
"I guess I'll head out then. If you could let him know I stopped by, that would be great. I'll be in town for five, six more days—I'm not quite sure. It's technically spring break at the college, and Pops surprised me with this. I’ve had to verify we actually have return flights home since he’s so in love with Bellport."
Moseley's smile grew with the change of subject. "That's pretty cool. You and your dad are tight."
"Yeah." My smile matched his now. "He's my rock. The most supportive person in my life, and he'd do anything to help me reach my dreams."
"Cool," Cheyenne said, her tone as if she was in awe of the fact.
I told them goodbye, then headed out. Only once I was outside of the building and looking around Bellport did I realize I didn'twant to do anything else. My morning had been carved out for meeting Grizzly. For getting to know him in person. I’d told Pops to wander about on his own. He wouldn't care if I called him and asked to join. It's just that… I didn't really want to.
I would figure out the town on my own or with his help later.
All I could think about was Grizzly, home alone. He needed support. Needed someone to step into his life and take charge. The Daddy in me wanted to rush in and take over, but I didn't have the resources to get the information I needed to do so.
As I was standing there, my phone rang in my pocket. I answered after noticing it was Doyle. I was thousands of miles away and the man could still hunt me down.
"Hey, whatcha’ doing?" he said when I answered.
"Nothing much. I tried to meet up with Grizzly, and it fell through. Hopefully I'll get to see him before we leave though."
Doyle made a sound as if he was agreeing with me. But then the line went quiet, and I knew there was more to why he called.
"What did you do now?" I asked.
"Me?" he said, voice going higher with each word. "I didn't do anything. I was merely informed that there might be a certain party happening today, and it might have some local Daddies who you could connect with."
The idea held some merit. At least I could meet others in the lifestyle here. It would give me some type of foundation to build upon over time. Hopefully they were nice. With Doyle recommending them, they had to be. He didn't take kindly to people who were assholes. He made his dislike of them very clear.
"And how did you hear about this party? Why do you think they would be a good fit for me?"
I paced the sidewalk. Pops had dropped me off and taken the car with him, so I was left to public transportation or hoofing it. For now, I just needed to think straight, which meant moving.
Doyle spoke up, telling me it was actually Princess Aster who found out, because he had been texting with the friends he met on the train that one time at Christmas. They were talking about how they also had Daddy parties, because Aster had been sharing about the one we’d had before I left.Yada, yada."Point being, these guys are good people. I met them, and they were awesome. Plus—and this is the best part—the Daddies are athletes."
His words hit me like a ton of bricks. "Are you serious?"
"Yep. Bet you even know a few."
I racked my brain to think of all the athletes I had spoken with him about over the years who came out of Bellport. He wasn't a big fan of sports, so I always tried to make sure it was someone that would interest him. I could have never guessed any of them were Daddies.
"My brain is going a mile a minute right now. I don't think I could actually figure out who it would be."
"That’s fair," Doyle replied. "But I'll make it easy on you. I'll text you the address. You have a blanket invitation to show up. Why don't you go mingle? Hang out with everyone. See how it goes. If it's a hit, great. You've got people for when you move there. If it's not, then we'll try again with different people."
"You really want to help place me with a new friend group? Like I’m being rehomed?"
He scoffed. "As if they’ll be a replacement for us. The Princess Pack is legendary. But yes, you do need people close to you who you can spend time with as well. It's not like we can uproot all of our lives to move down there with you."
"No, and I wouldn't ask you to," I told him, voice holding firm. Because I knew Doyle, and if he got an idea like that in his head, he might even try to convince the others. New Roughoak was their home. I would not uproot them simply because I would be lonely. He’d been right before. We could get on flights or trains or drive to each other. There were always video calls and texting too. It didn't have to be the end of our friendship.
"Send me the info. I'll go take a look."
"And give me a report after, of course," he demanded.
