Buzz (The Riley Brothers Book 1) (13 page)

“Yes, your group counts as a community group, so the rentals will be free for your intercity club games, provided no other sports groups need the space at the same time.”

Noah rolled his head back with relief. “Oh, thank God. And thanks, Jason.”

“But there's one catch. It's... not related to your club, actually. It's about--”

“--the art exhibition,” Noah finished at the same time as Jason. Oh, God. This thing was gonna kill him. “What's wrong now?”

“The specs you sent for the commissions were good. They're just looking for something a little less... informal.”

Noah wracked his brain. He'd thought the proposal was amazing – a rough sketch of kids skating on the frozen-over river. How much more Canadian and local could you get?

“Well, it's not like we have a local professional team anymore. Not even Moncton or Saint John. Closest one would be St. John's, right?”

“There's still a history. A lot of players here were drafted for pro teams – some kids have gone on to big things. That's what they're proud of.”

Noah rubbed his face. “All right. So paintings of them? Are any of them on the board?”

“There's a few...”

I knew it. The same guys who made their names two decades ago when hockey didn't even need helmets.
“Look,” Noah said, keeping his voice calm. “How about the up-and-coming? Jo does good, fast work. She can paint a series based on a variety of local teams. And I still want to get the river painting. They'd all be in that same style.”

“Okay. You go ahead with that,” Jason agreed. “That should be good.”

Finally, a breakthrough.
Noah was itching to call Jo that instant, but he nodded. “I'll get to it,” he promised and clapped Jason on the shoulder, then strode out of the office. He had a mission on his mind.

When he closed his hand around his phone, it vibrated and rang.

His first thought was,
Oh, crap. Cameron.

Cam had sent him a sweet good night text last night. He'd found it that morning, but in his haste to meet with Jason and confirm the arena rental, he'd forgotten to answer.

The call wasn't Cam, though; it was his uncle.
Not another swarm.
“Hello?”

“Noah, hi. It's your uncle Bill.”

Noah rolled his eyes but smiled, glancing down the street for the bus. Faster to walk. “I know. How can I help? Is it a swarm?”

“No, no. It's nothing like that. I just met your friend Cameron.”

“Oh. All right.” A little shiver ran down Noah's spine as he heard Cam's name aloud. He'd told Bill about a strong, honest, hard worker who needed a job. He'd also hinted that they might have gone out.

“How'd you like to come by tomorrow around one, help me build boxes with him? Don't worry, we won't make you do any heavy lifting. Your boy there looks like he can handle it.”

“Ha ha,” Noah groaned, but smirked to himself. Cameron
could
handle the heavy lifting. “Okay, I'll be there.”

“All right. I gotta go. See you tomorrow, Noah.”

Noah knew more than ever that he wanted to see Cameron without family around.

He texted Cam.
Welcome to town. I heard you're helping build stuff tomorrow :) I'll be there too. Wanna have dinner tonight?

Before he got home, he had an answer.
Thanks :) Sorry, I can't. Already told my brother and parents we can have supper. You're invited too though if you want.

Oh, God, he couldn't meet his family yet. He hardly knew Cameron, and they might have... expectations. Sure, they were expectations Noah wanted to fill, but...

Maybe after another few dates? It feels weird to be introduced so early
, he answered.

Cameron responded,
OMG. Yeah that would be weird sorry. I'm getting ahead of us
.

Noah grinned.
Not that far ahead. ;) Date tomorrow after carpentry then?

Sure :) Can't wait.

Me too. See you soon xx
, Noah texted back, his heart downright skipping a beat.

The answer made him blush.
xox. I was gonna one up you and respond with three xs but that might be getting ahead of us too.

Noah licked his lips and answered,
xxx ;).

He got a single word back:
yum.

Noah laughed as he fumbled to unlock his door.
You do taste great. ;) See you tomorrow.

I'm sure you do too. Soon... xxx.

Noah tossed his phone on the side table and made a beeline for the bathroom. He'd much rather have Cam's mouth than his own hand, but he'd take what he could get for now.

Gravel crunched on the driveway as Cameron pulled into the driveway of Bill's house. He lived on a large property near the edge of town, along a winding road. When he hopped out of his car, the garage door opened and Cameron waved at Bill and Noah emerging from the building.

“Hi,” Noah greeted, walking ahead of Bill to meet him. Already Noah's eyes fixed on him like he was the most interesting man in the world.

Cameron had to resist the urge to get flustered.
This is work,
he reminded himself. “Hi, Noah. Hi, Bill.”

“Good to see you,” Bill greeted, reaching out to shake hands while Noah stood by his side. “Come on in. I've got the pieces ready, so the assembly shouldn't take long. And I'll pay you for the day – this isn't an unpaid internship.”

Noah laughed and looked at Cameron.

“No, that's fine. I'll get an idea what the work's like,” Cameron told Bill.

“I'm paying you one way or another,” Bill promised with a vaguely threatening grin. “What's your rate like?”

Cameron laughed. “I don't know the going rates around here.” His agent would have killed him for that, but this was different. “I haven't done this kind of work in a long time.”

“A hundred bucks? I guarantee I'd wind up paying college students to do this job otherwise.”

Cameron nodded. “Okay. If it'll make you feel square.”

“It will.”

They shook hands again with mutual shoulder-claps.

Cameron noticed the way Noah's eyebrows raised slightly at the move.
Yeah, I speak straight man.

“So, Noah can show you how the boxes are put together. Once they're assembled and dried, I'm painting them on the driveway. I'm working on yesterday's built boxes right now out back.”

“Great,” Cam agreed, clapping his hands together. He'd worn a plaid work shirt over a plain grey t-shirt and jeans in anticipation of rough and dirty work.

Bill nodded and walked off to rows of square wooden boxes. Some were unpainted and others were glistening in wet, bright colors under the sun. The breeze caught the distinct smell of paint and wafted it past Cameron's nose and he coughed.

“Yeah, let's head into the garage. It's not much better there, though. Fuckin' glue.”

Cameron laughed with surprise. “You've been sniffing glue?” he teased.

“Oh, I promise I haven't,” Noah shivered, his expression serious.

Cameron reached out to squeeze Noah's arm and nodded.
Small towns like this, some kids do.
“So, show me these boxes.”

It took just a few minutes to explain how the boxes worked. Wooden tabs slotted together when the pieces were placed into a rotating jig, glued, and stapled together. As soon as Cameron wrapped his mind around how the jig worked, he got it.

Noah took charge of handing over pieces, glue, and the air stapler as they worked out a system for working together on the boxes.

“Hope you're not getting paid in dinner tonight,” Cameron teased once he had enough of a rhythm to risk distractions.

“Nope, my calendar is clear for you,” Noah smiled back. “How was Toronto?”

Cameron laughed. “Shitty as always. Glad to be back.”

“That was all your stuff moved out now?”

“Yep. I shouldn't have to go back, except when--”
When the heart specialist gets in touch. Shit.

Noah quirked an eyebrow.

“--When I wanna visit, but that's unlikely,” Cameron snorted, pretending to focus on turning the jig around. He reached for the air stapler and Noah handed it over.

Their skin brushed in a small electric jolt and Cameron shuddered. Noah gasped just before the air stapler fired.

Oh, crap.
This was only the first box of... fifty? Eighty? There were stacks of pieces everywhere. He couldn't get turned on yet.

Noah flinched so hard Cameron stopped before the second staple went in. “Loud, eh?”

“It just startles me,” Noah laughed. “I'm fine.”

Cameron smiled. “Want me to warn you?”

“Nah. I just assume whenever you're holding it, there's going to be bangs.”

“Lots of bangs,” Cameron teased, keeping his voice down.

Noah blushed and laughed, reaching out for the box once he loosened the jig and slid the box out. “Excellent. Yeah, this is a solid one. I'll stack them over here. So you said Toronto was okay?”

“Yeah, nothing eventful. Except saying goodbye to my buddies and packing up and selling all my furniture...”

“The rest of my week was boring compared to that,” Noah laughed. “Uh, I'm getting approval for the full exhibition space as long as I make it as 'local' as possible,” he air-quoted, rolling his eyes.

Cameron grimaced, squeezing glue into a line across the third board and sliding in the fourth. “That's ridiculous. Just being here makes it local.”

“Oh, I've had those discussions,” Noah laughed. “But I'm gonna get some commissions done – probably of the...” He trailed off as he handed over the air stapler and cringed.

Cameron reached out to squeeze Noah's shoulder as he pressed the tip to the wood and fired it twice, rotated it, and repeated. With each
bang
, Noah flinched. By the time he finished the fourth one, Cam figured Noah had lost his train of thought. “Commissions done?”

“Of the local hockey teams,” Noah continued as if nothing had happened. “University teams, maybe our ball hockey team, local kids on the river, that kind of stuff.”

Cameron saw a chance to distract Noah from his stress by asking more about the artist. That turned into a discussion of the exhibit in general. Noah was excited about several loans and the commissioned local pieces, but he talked more about the overall vision for the exhibit.

Box by box, Noah relaxed while Cameron got into the routine of light manual labor. He liked hammering boards into place, gluing, stapling, and pulling at the sides to make sure they didn't come apart. It was easy work.

Bill came to check on them a couple times as the stack of boxes grew, and he seemed impressed by their progress. For the most part, he let Cameron be once he saw the quality of his work, and Cameron's chest glowed with pride.

By the time they reached the bottom of the stack of pieces, Noah was getting restless. “Oh, thank God,” Noah breathed out as he handed over the last few pieces. “This is it.”

“That was it?”

Time had flown by with Noah's easy company and a little hard work. This was the kind of work Cameron would lose himself in for days.

“You wanna see the hives? This is the good bit,” Noah promised with a grin.

Cameron's heart raced. He'd never been up close to a swarm of bees and had that end well. “Without protection? I don't think they like me.”

Noah's lips quivered and Cameron's cheeks flushed.
Oh, you know what I mean.
Noah went on without commenting. “Yeah. They're gentle, I promise. It's wasps that are nasty bastards. And hornets, and pretty much everything else. Honeybees are a little tougher than bumblebees, but they don't sting unless you're threatening them.”

“Can they smell fear?” Cameron rubbed his glue- and sawdust-covered palms together to try to clean them off a little.

“Nah. You'll live. Here, wash your hands first.” Noah led him over to the industrial steel sink along the edge of the workshop, leaning over to turn on the water for him.

Cameron smiled, glanced behind to the door, then leaned in for a brief kiss. Noah's lips were soft and sweet, and Noah rose up onto his toes to press into the kiss.

When Noah pulled back, his eyes were wide and his lips were wet. He was
so
fucking kissable that Cameron had to resist the urge to do more than give one more peck on the lips.

Noah laughed at that little gesture and nudged him. “Come on, don't waste water.”

Cameron scrubbed off his hands, doing his best to get the glue off with soap powder. When his palms and nails were finally clean and his hands were dry, Cameron asked where the hives were.

Noah answered by taking him by a newly-dried hand. The touch of Noah's palm against his own made Cameron shiver with delight. Noah led him out of the workshop towards the tarps where Bill painted the last few plain wooden boxes.

With drying boxes everywhere, Bill was the king of a miniature city, surrounded by skyscrapers in cheerful colors.

“Already done? Oh, lord. It's coming on five,” Bill shook his head as he glanced at his wristwatch, holding his paintbrush. His eyes flickered down to their joined hands, but he didn't show any hint of surprise or disapproval. “That's nearly eighty in four hours. Great work.” He seemed sincere, and Cameron smiled. “I left your money in the car,” Bill nodded towards Cameron's SUV.

“It was nothing,” Cameron assured Bill. “Really.” He almost felt guilty taking the cash, but he knew his work would be rock-solid and it made Bill feel better.

“I'm taking him to see the hives you just unwrapped on the corner lot,” Noah said.

“All right. Watch out, there's a nasty one by the back corner. I'm checking them next week to see if there's queen problems... once I unwrap the rest.”

“Will do,” Noah promised, raising a hand in a little wave. “Then we'll be off, unless you need anything else?”

“No, that's great for a day's work. Thanks again for coming by, Cameron. I'm gonna be busy building gear and unwrapping the rest of the hives for the next couple weeks. I should be all right for that on my own, but I'll need a lot of help checking on them once they're all opened up.”

“Okay.”

“Tell you what: I'll call you in a week or two to start work. We'll work out a pay rate once I call a couple apiaries and find out the going rates. It'll be eighty hours a week for the next couple months. Get settled in town while you can,” Bill instructed Cameron. “You'll be shit beat soon.”

Noah squeezed his hand and Cameron laughed. “Okay. Sounds fair, sir. Thanks for the heads-up.”

“See you soon.”

“Good luck with them.” Noah led them down the driveway to the road where Cameron had parked, then beyond. “So, I guess I got the job.”

“I knew you would,” Noah grinned, squeezing his hand. He waited until they were halfway down the driveway before leaning up to peck Cameron's lips.

The little playfulness between them was impossible to resist. Cameron gently hip-checked Noah, grinning when Noah smacked into his shoulder. He let Noah knock him off a straight course and feigned injury.

The corner lot was easy to identify: a bright yellow electric fence protecting painted boxes scattered around in clusters. “Is all this your uncle's land?”

“Yep, he owns this whole farm. Well, it used to be a farm. He's got it as an apiary now. That's his house, a processing building, an old warehouse, and the garage for carpentry.”

“Nice,” Cameron whistled. “He's doing all right, then.”

“Yeah. That's why he needs help. I think it's getting kinda overwhelming now that he has hundreds of hives. And he insists on running the market stand, too,” Noah clicked his tongue. “Stubborn.”

“I don't know anyone who's stubborn like that,” Cameron teased. Noah shoved him with his hip and Cameron, caught off-guard, nearly stumbled into a ditch. “Hey!”

Noah laughed and hauled him closer again, making sure he had his balance before letting go of his hand. “Sorry.” He strode ahead to the gate. Cameron's nerves tingled at the fact that he was just inches away from the fence, reaching up to switch it off.

When Noah reached for the fence, Cameron flinched.

“Aha. City boy,” Noah teased, winking as he unhooked the gate. “I turned it off.”

“Still, I keep expecting... a shock,” Cameron laughed. “I'm not a city boy, shut up.”

“What part of Fredericton did you grow up in?”

“...The downtown part,” Cameron grumbled, rolling his head back for a moment. He couldn't match Noah's natural dramatic flair. “Fine.”

Noah laughed, then beckoned. “Come on. They won't sting. Probably. Don't act like a bear.”

Cameron eyed Noah skeptically. “I'm built like a bear.”

“Come on,” Noah laughed. “You don't look like one.”

“Thank God I hate playoff beards,” Cameron murmured under his breath. He walked through the long grass until he reached the fence.

Large dots flitted into and out of a couple dozen beehives. “Are the ones stacked up all the same hive, too?”

“Oh, boy. You
are
a rookie,” Noah laughed. He took Cameron's hand. “Yeah. Normally, they are, but over the winter they can be stacked for warmth. There's about fifteen here. That's a lot for one place.”

Cameron caught his breath as a small bee, just the size of his nail, dove for his head before diverting course with a buzz just past his ear. “Whoa.” It was only Noah's grip on his hand that kept him from swatting at it.

“Don't worry. If they're going for you, you'll know it,” Noah promised.

“That's... not as reassuring as you think.”

Noah laughed, approaching one pallet with a two-box-high hive. “Here, this one's a nice hive.”