Chapter 12 #2
He was sure that was exactly what Ollie had thought.
Emmett was pretty sure he would blush the entire time, but he was still grateful to have such a thoughtful friend.
The group began to break up around them—with a few people exchanging their white elephant gifts while Ollie wasn’t looking—but he and his friends and their partners stayed put, along with a couple of other guys and Roni.
Emmett swiped Rooster’s gift from him to look at it more closely.
It was a thousand-piece puzzle of the state of Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes.
The big cities and larger towns were listed on the map, but he was disappointed to see that Ridgewood wasn’t on it.
Maybe he’d add it with a marker once they finished putting it together.
“So when are you two moving in together,” Ollie asked out of the blue, and Emmett almost dropped the puzzle box on the floor.
He jerked his head up to stare at Ollie. “What? It’s only been a month. That’s… that’s way too fast.”
Rooster pressed a kiss to his ear, laughing softly. He was no help. In fact, if Emmett didn’t know better, he’d think his daddy had told Ollie to bring it up to try and convince him.
“Psh.” Ollie waved at him, then leaned back against Six, wrapping an arm up and around his neck. “If anything, you’re way overdue.”
Six shook his head at him, but there was a small smile tugging at his stern mouth. “Not everyone moves as fast as us, boy.”
“But wouldn’t it make life more interesting if they did?” Ollie countered, waggling his eyebrows.
CJ came over and sat on the ground near them, leaving Tank to… possibly sleep on the couch. He hadn’t removed the eye mask and wasn’t moving. “What’s going on over here? I couldn’t hear, but I recognized the look on Emmett’s face as the one he gets when Ollie’s saying something outrageous.”
“I just think if they love each other—” Ollie paused and looked at him and Rooster. “Whoops. Have you two said that yet?”
Emmett stared back at him, unsure how someone could be so casual about such important things. It was actually pretty impressive when it wasn’t aimed at him. “Yes.”
“Last night,” Rooster added, nuzzling into his neck.
“Aw, that’s sweet,” CJ said.
“What’s sweet?” Roni asked, parking herself on the arm of his and Rooster’s chair and handing him another flute of mimosa.
“Emmett and Rooster exchanged I love yous for the first time on Christmas Eve,” CJ explained, craning his head back to look up at her.
“Aww,” Roni said, ruffling Emmett’s hair. “My baby’s all grown up.”
“Yes, exactly,” Ollie jumped back in. “He’s ready to leave the next and move in with his daddy.”
“Whoa, what?” Roni said, looking around at everyone. “It’s way too soon for that!”
Ollie flopped back once more. “Ugh, fine. Then he needs to at least get a Property tattoo since he has his vest now.”
Emmett’s lungs seized up. A tattoo? They looked so cool, but he wasn’t sure he could handle getting stabbed over and over with a needle. He hated needles.
“Oh my god, no he doesn’t,” CJ said.
“Stop pressuring him,” Kenneth added.
“But it’s tradition!” Ollie wailed, like everyone was ruining his fun. He shook one of his legs out in front of him in a deranged manner. “You can do your thigh like me. You don’t have to do your butt. Viper, don’t you think he should get one?”
He expected her to defend his skin. He should have known better.
“Oh hell, yeah,” she said. “But this time, I’m doing it. Not Knuckles. My script is just as good.”
CJ snickered as she popped up and hustled across the room where someone had called her name.
“It honestly probably is. Knuckles just does more, so there are a ton of examples in his book to look at. That’s why I chose him, and then Ollie and Kenneth did, too, because they wanted very similar tattoos. ”
“But seriously, you don’t have to get tattooed if you don’t want to. Don’t let Ollie pressure you into it,” Kenneth told him, leaning forward to pat Emmett’s knee, then pushing to his feet. “Is there food? I’m starving.”
“Oh yeah!” Ollie started to jump up, but Six pulled him back down before he could fully stand.
“You forgot something,” Six said, voice low.
Ollie smiled gently and turned to face him more, cupping the side of Six’s face and laying a deep, slow kiss on him. Emmett felt like he should look away, but he couldn’t help but stare. The two seemed so mismatched, and yet were somehow perfect for one another, making them mesmerizing to watch.
Six brushed one more kiss to Ollie’s lips. “I meant reassure your friend you won’t pressure him. But I like the way you think, boy.”
“Not pressuring, encouraging,” Ollie said, peppering kisses across Six’s jaw. “You don’t feel pressured, do you, Emmett?”
“Um.” He did a little, but he also knew Ollie really did just get excited about things and get caught up in the moment.
If Emmett really didn’t want to get a tattoo, he’d respect his decision.
Unfortunately, Emmett didn’t know if he did or not.
He liked the idea, but the needle part really freaked him out. “I guess not.”
“See?” Ollie stood and planted his hands on his hips. “I’m helpful.”
Six snorted, and as soon as Ollie turned away, he slapped his butt hard enough some heads turned. Ollie gasped and covered himself, glancing back at Six with a mixture of shock and arousal.
Emmett and CJ exchanged a look, and then both started laughing. He had a feeling they were both thinking about how Ollie and Six had disappeared at the food drive, and it seemed likely to happen again.
A loud snore startled Emmett, and he stared at Tank in surprise. How could he sleep with all the noise around him?
“Oh, for fuck’s sakes. You can take the man out of prison…” CJ muttered, standing and hurrying over to his boyfriend.
Emmett turned wide eyes to Rooster. He’d found out about Tank having been in prison a few weeks ago at the drive, but hearing CJ mention it so casually drew him up short.
Not that he thought he or Tank had anything to be ashamed of.
It was just… Well, he wasn’t sure. It just seemed like something his family would try and pretend hadn’t happened, but he didn’t want to be like them, did he?
He wanted to be happy and open like his friends. The Sub Club.
“Do you think the Sub Club comes with buttons?” he asked Rooster, moving their gifts to the floor and then turning to straddle him. His face got a little hot, knowing others could see, but they weren’t doing anything outrageous.
“If not, you could make some,” Rooster said, smiling and resting his hands on Emmett’s thighs.
“Maybe I’ll mention it to CJ,” Emmett mused, squirming closer. “He’s a really talented artist. He could come up with something awesome.”
“That’s a good idea, baby.”
The scent of some sort of meat filled the air as Ollie instructed Six, Houston, and another guy Emmett didn’t know on where to set the large lunch spread. He was pretty sure he saw cheesy potatoes too, and he loved them.
“Are you hungry?” Emmett asked, looking back at Rooster.
His daddy raked his eyes down his body, lingering on Emmett’s lap. “Starving.”
He snickered and tucked Rooster’s hair behind his ears. “You have to wait until we get home to have that. First, you have to feed me.”
“Whatever my little boy needs.”