Page 1 of Hot Chicken
CHAPTER ONE
JACK
The Little Pippin Hookers Annual Craft and Rummage Salewas many things to many people.
For the civic-minded, like my fiancé, Hawk, it was a chance to support the community since all proceeds benefited local LGBTQ outreach programs.
For me, it was a chance to finally spend a day with my man—even if it meant we were toiling over donated kitchenware side by side at the Dishes and Doo-Dads table. We’d both been incredibly busy this summer, and couple time was at a premium.
For bargain hunters like Hawk’s uncle Drew, it was a chance to add to his wardrobe, even if it resulted in his boyfriend’s grumpy objections (“I don’t care how cheap it is, Drew! We’re supposed to be downsizing so we can buy a smaller place, remember?”) with a sunshiny rebuke (“But Marco, baby…it’s for charity!”).
For the town’s gossip hounds—okay, fine,allof us—it was a prime opportunity to dish and be dished about.
And for certain otherwise rational folks, it was an opportunity to be perfectlyirrational about kitchen décor.
Case in point… the cock.
“Oh my God!” Teagan Curran gasped. He stared into the half-disintegrated cardboard box of kitchen décor on the grass, which he’d been unpacking onto the Dishes and Doo-Dads table.
The sun shone down on the top of his head, turning his hair from its usual auburn to a bright, coppery shine. People at nearby tables chatted excitedly about the beautiful morning, even though the heat was already sweltering.
“This is epic!”
I glanced up from my own critically important task of affixing colored price labels to the table full of tchotchkes. “What is?”
“This!” Teagan lifted out a ceramic cookie jar and held it aloft, not unlike Simba on Pride Rock.
I wrinkled my nose.Thisappeared to be a rooster-shaped cookie jar. It was large and squat, with a white body, an orange beak, a chip on one wing, and somnolent eyes that suggested it had been napping. It also had a trulyenormousset of red wattles.
Cute… if you liked that sort of thing. Epic, though? Not so much.
Hawk, who’d been cleaning a decade’s worth of dust off some donated teacups, glanced up. We exchanged a quick smirk, and when Hawk looked away, I caught him fighting a grin that made my whole dusty, sweaty morning worthwhile.
Teagan’s friend Fern set another donation box beside the table and peered at the rooster. “Looks like an ’80s dust catcher to me,” she said with an eye roll. “Oooh, unless there’s money inside?”
“Hush, Fernella,” Teagan chided, covering the rooster’s ears. “He’ll hear you.”
“He?” Fern repeated. “Oh, Teagan, honestly…”
“What? He might be a mere decorative object to you, but to me, he has a very distinct psychic presence.” Teagan liftedhis chin stubbornly, which set his long, red ponytail swinging. “He’s yearning for something.”
“Aw.” Hawk’s kind brown eyes shone with sympathy. My man hated to hear of a creature in need, whether it was a fellow human, a pregnant cat… or apparently poultry-shaped crockery. “What do you think he’s yearning for? Chicken feed, maybe? Oh, or cookies since he’s a cookie jar?”
I snorted. “Maybe air-conditioning, to escape this heat wave?” I wiped the side of my face against the shoulder of my T-shirt, and Hawk, because he was Hawk, gave me a distinctlyinterestedup-down look that made my heart beat faster.
“Maybe a best friend who’s not a drama llama?” Fern suggested, shooting Teagan a grin. “I know that’s whatIyearn for.”
Teagan’s lips twitched. “Mmmkay, first of all, youlovemy drama, Fernalicious. Youlivefor my drama. The universe created you as a vessel for my drama, as it does with all best friend pairings, just as it created me to be a vessel for yours?—”
“Oh, ew. Fucking gross.” Fern shuddered and retched. “You just made it so weird, Teagan. Why are you like this?”
Hawk covered his laughter with his hand.
“And second of all.” Teagan’s ponytail swished triumphantly. “This isn’t drama at all. It’s me accessing my latent talents.” He narrowed his eyes. “Which, as my best friend, you should beencouraging.”
“Your latent talents?” Hawk tilted his head, plainly confused. “What talents?”
“Well, since you asked…” Teagan began, giving Hawk a friendly smile.
