Page 1 of Praised
CHAPTER1
FLYNN
I didn’t knowa lot about the east coast if it didn’t have to do with five-star hotels or three-starred restaurants, expressly limited to those existing within the very narrow margin of the New York City limits. But I knew my best friend’s boyfriend’s best friend—Jesus, that was a mouthful—was hotter than any man I’d ever thought that region of the country capable of producing.
Thankfully, I knew better than to shit where I ate because, on paper, Frankie was exactly the kind of man I liked to pursue. He was younger than me, he was—objectively—more attractive than me, if not in a rural Maine kind of way, and he didn’t live in the same state as me.
I know one of those three qualifiers feels not like the other, but I’ve always believed in shooting beyond your paygrade. Or mine, in this instance. And every instance. No one ever accomplished anything of note while playing within the rules or limitations that someone else set for them. While I appreciated the foolish kind of man who only wanted to fuck someone he thought was uglier than he was, to keep them on their best behavior and coming back for more, I personally liked a good challenge.
I thrived on proving everyone around me wrong…at every possible turn and in every possible way.
It wasn’t like Los Angeles had a shortage of attractive and willing men and women for me to choose from. No, that wasn’t the case at all. There was just something so quietly unpretentious about Frankie’s good looks that had me wanting to take his clothes off and whisper in his ear about all sorts of inappropriate things.
Frankie had been in L.A. for four days, helping his best friend Owen relocate from the small town in Maine they’d both lived in for their whole lives. Owen was the boyfriend of one of my best friends, and if they made all men in their hometown the way they made Frankie, and honestly Owen, then I debated the merits of letting him relocate here instead of uprooting our entire friend group and moving them all across the country.
And as he unloaded the last box of Owen’s hoodies into Archie’s house, I knew I was running out of time to make my move.
“I see you,” Owen said under his breath, bumping his shoulder into mine.
“See me what?”
“Not helping,” he said. “Staring at my best friend.”
“He’s not bad to look at,” I said.
“He deserves more than a fuck boy.”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “You think so low of me? After all we’ve been through together?”
“I know the kind of men the whole bunch of you are.”
“You domesticated Archie pretty quickly,” I reminded him.
Owen’s cheeks flooded with some kind of emotion that I imagined to be embarrassment. Maybe it was pride, though the two seemed potentially interchangeable at some points and that sounded complicated.
“That’s different.”
I didn’t think it was different at all, but I wasn’t in the mood to alienate my best friend’s recently relocated boyfriend so early on in their relationship.
“I’m just saying, I’ve heard the story, Owen. I know Val had your cock in his mouth the first time Archie laid his eyes on you after the grand breakup of your teenage years. I don’t really think there’s harm in getting your dick wet, and I’d be more than happy to help your friend out with it.”
“What is this?” Archie asked, coming out of the house with an air fryer in his arms.
“An air fryer?” Owen answered him with a question, and it was impossible to not laugh at both of them.
“I’m not sure if you noticed or not, but unless you count spraying cheese onto crackers, our mutual acquaintance here hasn’t ever prepared an actual meal in his kitchen.” I slapped Owen on the back, hoping he took the entire conversation for the joke I wanted him to believe it was.
Because I was very serious about taking Frankie to bed.
Or at least to the bathroom.
A parking lot maybe.
Even an alley. I heard that worked out well for Owen and Archie, at least.
“It doesn’t count,” Owen said, taking the fryer from a confused Archie’s hands.
“Have fun with that one.” I turned to head into the house in pursuit of Frankie.
