Page 14 of Should Our Hearts Catch Fire

So no, there’s no reason for him to feel guilty, but that doesn’t stop that squirmy feeling from turning into something heavy and cold.

In the back of his mind, it registers that Gabriel asked him something. “Yeah, that’s all. Thanks.” He pulls up the Wallet app on his phone, paying when the card terminal lights up with the total for his order.

Gabriel flashes him a smile. “Won’t be long.”

“Wait,” Ellis says before Gabriel takes off to make the drink. He fishes out his actual wallet, glad that he always carries a bitof cash on him just in case. He pulls out a tenner, holding it out to Gabriel. “That’s for the cinnamon roll. The other day,” he explains when Gabriel just stares at it uncomprehendingly.

“That’s not necessary. It was on the house.”

Ellis clenches his jaw. “I don’t like taking free stuff.”

He feels like a bug under the microscope with the way Gabriel’s eyes study him so intently. Then those same eyes soften, and he doesn’t feel like a bug anymore. He feels…somehow.

“Not everything has to be hard-earned, you know?” Gabriel says, his voice matching his gaze, making that squirmy sensation from before return with a vengeance.

“Yeah, it does,” Ellis disagrees. “What’s the point if it just falls in your lap?”

“Maybe you just deserve good things,” Gabriel says in a half-whisper. But the words ring loud and uncomfortable in Ellis’ head, making him want to run, to hide. Most of all, they make him want to scream at Gabriel that he couldn’t be more wrong.

He swallows it all down, one-handedly folding the note and putting it in the tip jar instead.

If Gabriel looked bummed before, now he looks completely dejected. It stings in a way it has no business to. They’re strangers. Gabriel was kind to him when he had no reason to, but that’s all.

Gabriel mumbles an obligatory ‘Thanks’, before moving towards the coffee machine.

With a sigh and a bitter taste on his tongue, Ellis goes to wait at the end of the counter. He can see Gabriel working from theside, but instead of watching, he angles his body away and pulls out his phone. There’s an unread text that he didn’t notice while he was paying. Suppressing a groan—could work wait until he is actually at work?—he unlocks the screen.

Some of his agitation bleeds away when it turns out it’s just his brother-in-law. And the text is actually a picture. Dawson has been sending him a lot of those, especially since he and Cal got a dog. This one is no exception.

Donut the dog. It’s a stupid name, but it kind of goes with Donut’s silly face, now staring at Ellis upside down from the screen, his tongue lolled out to the side, legs in the air. His paws are wet and covered in sand because duh, they’re on the beach. Or they were when Dawson took the picture.

An involuntary smile grows on Ellis’ lips even as something else, something sharp and nasty twists in his gut. He ignores it, crumpling it into a ball and shoving it somewhere deep inside him where all unwanted things end up.

Another text comes through, another picture. It’s of Cal, still on the beach, seemingly mid-nap. His eyes are closed, his mouth slightly open, and Donut is lying next to him, his butt practically pressed against Cal’s left cheek.

The picture comes with a caption.You can just feel the love LMAO

Ellis almost smiles again. Cal had called him when they took Donut home from the shelter, going on and on about how happy he was that Dawson finally got a dog, but afraid Donut would kill him in his sleep because he hates Cal’s guts. Ellis advised him to take the spare bedroom and to never step between a man and his dog. He doesn’t think Cal listened.

Swallowing down the lingering bitter taste, he locks the screen and shoves the phone into the pocket of his slacks. God, what kind of asshole isn’t happy for his own brother? Or his brother-in-law who he knows has been through absolute hell and deserves to be happy? Fuck, what’s happened to him? Ellis has always been a grumpy ass, but he’s never been that much of an ass. Maybe he can blame it on the heat. And sand. Fucking Queensland, seriously. This place is terrible for his mental health.

A movement from the corner of his eye gets his attention. He turns towards it just in time to see Gabriel securing a lid on a cup full of rusty-brown liquid. What did Ellis order again?

“Okay, here you go.” Gabriel slides the cup towards him. “A medium—”

“Ellis,” Ellis blurts out. “My name is Ellis,” he clarifies, so as to not look like a complete moron shouting out random names.

There really should be a law about the way you can look at a stranger, because the way Gabriel is looking at him right now? Yeah, that should be illegal. No one should be allowed to smile like the fucking sun at the guy who’s been nothing but a rude dickhead.

“Hi, Ellis,” Gabriel says, and yeah, another thing. No one is allowed to make Ellis’ name sound likethat.“I’m Gabe.” Before Ellis can tell him that he already knows, someone clears their throat. Turns out that Zeke’s been watching them through the kitchen pass. Gabriel hooks a thumb over his shoulder to point at him. “That’s…no one important.”

“Hey!” Zeke shouts in indignation, then salutes Ellis. “Name’s Zeke. The one who actually owns this place.”

“Co-owns,” Gabriel corrects.

“That’s what I said.”

“You—” Taking what looks like a calming breath, Gabriel turns back to Ellis. “Sorry. Don’t let our bickering keep you.”