Page 36 of Should Our Hearts Catch Fire

“You’re welcome,” Gabriel whispers as well, as though he too can feel the fragile spell hanging around them, reluctant to break it. “See you around?”

Without hesitation, Ellis replies, “Yes.”

It takes all his strength to turn around and walk out. He manages in the end, forbidding himself to look back. It’s fine, he’ll be back tomorrow. He can last that long, for fuck’s sake.

When he’s in the security of his car, suddenly feeling ten degrees colder, he finally gets a look at the cup. He doesn’t breathe as he starts reading, and by the time he’s finished, his vision is blurry.

Whatever you’re looking for is looking for you too

His eyes burn, but he doesn’t cry. Instead, he laughs. It makes him sound like a lunatic, but he laughs.

Because for some inexplicable reason, it feels like he’s already found it.

Chapter 8

“That was fun!” Zekeexclaims when the morning rush finally dies down. He’s always enjoyed working under pressure, gets a kick out of it or something, but Gabe suspects his good mood has more to do with how Zeke humiliated him.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Zeke demands when Gabe strides past him in his hurry to get to the cold room.

He whirls around, pointing a threatening finger. “I’ll deal with you later.” And he will. Once he clears his throat chakra.

He runs to the cold room, sliding the door shut behind him. “FUUUUUUUCK!” Damn, that felt good.

He thunks his head against one of the shelves in tandem with his chanting. “Fuck fuck fuckity fucking fuck.”

He’s going to kill Zeke. Hell, he’ll look up fucking voodoo and turn Zeke’s miniature into a pincushion. He’ll make him suffer.

Not that Gabe needs help when it comes to embarrassing himself. He can do that brilliantly on his own. His filter is malfunctioning on a good day, but with Ellis it’s pretty much non-existent. Ellis is still his customer, a relatively new one at that, and Gabe called him gorgeous. And distracting! To his face! Talk about cringe.

Not as cringe as the ass comment, though.

Oh god. Did that really happen? Yup, it did. Forget about calling a guy you barely know gorgeous. Nothing tops admitting to said guy that you like to eat ass.

“At least I didn’t tell him I’d like to eathisass.”

Great. Now he’s thinking of Ellis’ ass. More specifically, he’s thinking of—

Nope. Not going there. It’s only morning and he has to get through his shift in one piece.

Shouting another half-hearted ‘fuck’ for good measure, he pats his overheated cheeks, straightens his apron and slides the door open.

Zeke is standing in the middle of the kitchen, one of his brows arched and a self-satisfied smirk on his stupid mouth. “Feel better?”

“You…” Gabe growls.

“Yes?”

Gabe throws himself towards the baking station and makes a grab for the wooden spoon. He holds it out like a sword, giving Zeke a seething look.

Zeke’s smirk drops. “You wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t I?”

Eyes darting around, Zeke snatches the thing closest to him which turns out to be a whisk. “Ha!” he shouts victoriously, taking a defensive stand. “What’s your problem, anyway.”

“My pro—” Gabe chokes out, shaking the spoon threateningly. “How could you do that to me?!”

“Christ’s sake, it’s like having a child,” Zeke says with an eyeroll. “Seriously, with all your mojo and shit, how can you be so dumb? He likes you!”