Emmett made a noise in the back of his throat, face flushing, and whipped back around. CJ was on the other side of the two tables, putting together boxes, but he glanced up at the sound. His smile was gentle as he waved Emmett over. After he rounded the tables, CJ handed him a flat box and went back to putting his own together, taping the bottom securely.
“You can ask about us, you know,” he said after a few moments of them working in silence.
Emmett glanced at where Ollie and Six had disappeared down a hallway. “I don’t want to be rude.”
“You’re not,” CJ assured him, nudging their arms together. “Oh, wait, hang on one second.” He turned toward the bar and cleared his throat loudly. “If you two are about done, Kenneth was supposed to hang our sign ten minutes ago.”
The pair of kissing men parted, Houston chuckling and whispering something to Kenneth, who nodded. Houston looked past him at him and CJ and grinned. “He’s all yours.”
CJ shook his head, but he was smiling too. Kenneth grabbed a large poster off the top of the bar Emmett hadn’t noticed and hurried over. He was handsome in a sort of nerdy way, black-framed glasses slipping down his nose as he ducked his head. His light brown cheeks were a rosy color that only made him better-looking, unlike Emmett, whose pale skin made him look like a lobster when he was embarrassed.
“Sorry,” Kenneth murmured, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from smiling a little. His lips were swollen, and Emmett forced himself to look away. “Got a little distracted.”
“At least you didn’t leave to go fuck him in the supply closet,” CJ said, laughing and handing over the tape he’d finished using.
Kenneth glanced around and then groaned, kneeling to secure the poster to the front of the two tables. “Ollie’s the one who planned this, and he just left?”
Emmett moved back to the other side of the table to see it better. In big, bold black lettering, someone had painted the wordsDevil’s Hands’ Canned Food Drivewith smaller words beneath statingThank you for your donation!There were a bunch of different kinds of canned foods around the words, creating a border. They were so detailed, Emmett thought for a second someone had printed a bunch of pictures and glued them on.
“Wow. Who made this?”
“CJ,” Kenneth said, sounding proud. “Isn’t it great?”
“You’re so talented,” Emmett said, then felt dumb for stating the obvious. When he glanced at CJ though, he was blushing and smiling.
“Thanks, Emmett. I thought it turned out pretty well.” He cleared his throat and gestured at him and Kenneth. “You two haven’t actually met, right?”
“Oh, no.” Kenneth turned and held a hand out to him. “I’ve heard about the famous Emmett though. It’s so nice to officially meet you.”
He was shaking his hand before the words sank in. “Famous? I don’t know about that…”
CJ laughed. “Between Ollie, Viper, and now Rooster, I think everyone in the club has heard about how sweet and adorable you are.”
“Oh god.” He covered his face and groaned. “How embarrassing.”
“No, it’s cute!” Kenneth corrected him, giving his arm a squeeze. “Before I started dating Houston, all anyone knew about me was I was a terrible roommate.”
“What?” He dragged his hands down enough to peer at Kenneth. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
“No, it is,” CJ said, chuckling. “But it turned out that he’s actually awesome, so I forgave him.”
There was definitely more to that story, but before he could decide if he should press his luck and ask for more details, the bar door opened, and someone came in carrying a plastic bag with canned food. He scurried behind the table, making room for her to come forward, and Kenneth hurried toward her, taking the bag from her and leading the way.
CJ handled chatting with her for a few minutes, answering her borderline-rude questions about why a motorcycle club was running a food drive and thanking her profusely for her donation. Once she was gone, he turned and huffed at him and Kenneth.
“Seriously, Ollie needs to get Six’s dick out of his ass and get out here to deal with people.”
Emmett choked on his spit.
“Shit, sorry,” CJ said, laughing and patting him on the back. “I just know basically everyone who brings something in is going to ask about the club or make snide comments, and I’m not equipped with the necessary customer service experience to deal.”
“You handled that perfectly,” Kenneth assured him, looking through the items in the bag. He made a disgruntled noise, pulling a can out. “This is expired. Shit. Hang on.”
Kenneth started pulling everything out of the bag and lining the cans up on the table, separating them into two groups. When he finished, they were about equal, the ten cans split in half.
“These—” He waved a hand over the pile on the right. “—are expired.”
“That sucks,” CJ said, turning and grabbing an empty box. “Put them in here, and let’s label this box so we don’t mix them up.”
