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Given the way I saw Tristan frequently admiring his in the mirror over the last few weeks, I think he did, too.

“Hey, Henry.” Sam took a sip of his dark lager—his favorite, I’d learned—as he stepped up beside me where I stood at my porch railing, overlooking my backyard full of revelers.

“Hey, man! Congratulations.” I lifted my lowball glass of whiskey in the air in a toast.

I could barely tell in the dim light of my patio, but I thought he might have blushed. “Thanks.” His eyes lighted on Cameron where he was standing in the yard talking to Tris and Anson, and I swear they sparkled.

“You both are perfect for each other, really.” I smiled, taking another sip of my drink before turning to him. “Looked like the proposal went well.”

Sam breathed a laugh. “It did. Shit, never in my life did I imagine I’d ever propose to anyone. But Cameron’s worth it.”

I nodded, knowing his story. A lot of it had happened at Mix It Up, after all—including the proposal during Kink Night twenty-four hours ago—but we’d also met up for drinks a few times over the past year, Daddy to Daddy. I still hadn’t told him that I was Tris’s Daddy, but he would know soon.

Tristan and I had talked about it at length since we’d turned a corner last month, and I made sure my Angel Baby knew the timetable was completely up to him. I’d be thrilled no matter when or where it happened, but Tris assured me it would be soon—our schedules just hadn’t synced up with our friends’ yet.

I couldn’t wait for the whole world to know he was mine.

Sam and I watched everyone who was here to celebrate his and Cameron’s engagement tonight—how could I not throw a party when two of the most important people in my and my boy’s world vowed to spend their lives together?—in silence for several minutes, content to just pass the time without saying anything. I appreciated that about Sam. He always had a calming presence about him.

Cameron and Tristan scrambled up to us several minutes later, having abandoned Anson to another group of our friends. “Hi, Daddy!” Cameron nearly squealed, launching toward Sam, who’d already set his drink on the railing when he saw Cameron headed his way. Those two were relationship goals.

Sam returned Cameron’s kiss with gusto, and the love between them was so palpable, my stomach twisted, and I nearly had to look away. I had that same love myself, so my jealousy stemmed solely from the fact that they could display it so openly.

Soon.

Tristan eyed me over his vodka cranberry—a much easier drink to make with the limited bar supplies I kept at my house—and I smirked only for him. His eyes sparkled as he smiled back, and I wanted nothing more than to pull him into my chest and kiss him senseless, too.

Soon.

“Oh, shit” came from Cameron on the other side of Sam, and three pairs of eyes shot to him. Following his gaze with Sam and Tris, I saw Anson and Nate having a heated conversation on the far side of the backyard, away from other guests and out of the light of the patio. I could only tell it was them through a process of elimination—I saw Ethan, Zander, Joey, Oliver, Carter, and even Asher, a young guy I’d met briefly earlier this week when he’d come for the first time to the DASC, scattered across the yard—and their notable size difference.

“What?” Tris stage-whispered toward his best friend.

“There’s something going on between Nate and Anson,” Cameron stated confidently. “I’d bet it has been for a while.”

“I call bullshit,” Sam shot back, picking up his half-full glass and taking another sip.

His fiancé scoffed at him, playfully tapping his chest. “There totally is. I’m sensing a fuck-ton of sexual tension.”

Sam rolled his eyes, but I could see he wasn’t serious. “You’re just trying to pair all our friends up. Who are you going to suggest next—Henry and Tris?”

My heart stopped as Tristan’s eyes shot to mine. I could feel Cameron staring at me as well, and I knew he would be apologizing if it hadn’t been a secret.

Then Tristan’s beautiful face broke into the brightest smile I’d seen yet, and he reached for my hand. When he stepped close to me, shoulder to shoulder, my heart started racing. “Actually, we’re already together.”

Sam’s jaw was nearly on the deck as he turned to Tristan. “Holy shit! Is that who you were talking about last year?”

The entire party stopped at Sam’s shouted question, and I watched as every eye turned to us—even Nate and Anson had fallen quiet across the yard, their argument forgotten.

I hadn’t thought it possible, but my boy’s smile widened even more. Unfazed by all the eyes on him, Tris replied so self-assuredly I nearly swooned. And I did not swoon. “Yes. Henry’s my partner, my love, my . . .” He looked up at me, still with the grin. “. . . my Daddy.”

“Fuck yeah!” Nate shouted from the bottom of the porch steps, and soon our entire friend group was rushing us, crowding the suddenly too-small porch.

I felt bad for stealing Sam and Cameron’s thunder, but over the next few hours, both assured me more than once that they were thrilled for us. Sam gave me a stern talking-to about not telling him sooner, but when I explained that Tris had needed the time to get used to the idea of us, he was more than understanding.

By the time everyone left—after a second round of drinks and a late-night order of pizza to keep the party going well into the early morning hours—Tris and I were both exhausted but happy. After minimal cleanup, we locked the house and headed upstairs to fall into bed.

But my sweet Angel Baby wasn’t ready to go to sleep.