Despite the Pain

Chapter 18

"I promised Gisselle and Alina I'd hang out with them today," I said, giving Albion a look over the tray of cookie dough I was laying out.

"Why d-do you look so upset about it?" Albion asked, smirking at me.

"Gisselle just wants to grill me about us," I sighed. "You have no idea how she gets."

"Us?" Albion said, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Wh-what are you going to--tell her?"

"Nothing," I said, swatting Albion's hand away as he reached for a lump of dough from the corner of the tray.

"You could t-tell her--some things," he said, reaching for the bowl of dough instead. I didn't even bother stopping him.

"Like what?" I snapped, pulling the tray to the edge of the table. Albion shrugged, grinning at me as he popped a piece of cookie dough into his mouth.

"He just wants everyone to know he's seen your boobs," Ryan said. I whipped my head around to look at him; I hadn't even heard the customer he was helping leave, let alone step into the kitchen.

"He told you?" I turned back to Albion, who was already blushing. "You told him?"

"He--he asked," Albion muttered, dropping his eyes to the table and tugging at the edge of his hat. I just rolled my eyes, picking up the tray to carry it to the ovens. How much was he telling Ryan and Alina about us? Was Alina telling Gisselle? If Alina was telling Gisselle, then Gisselle was certainly telling Callum, and Callum was completely unable to keep his mouth shut if he had something to tease me about. Did Ryan's friends talk that way, too? Was that why that jerk at the restaurant acted the way he did? I slid the tray into the oven and closed the door before turning around to look at Albion.

"Don't say things like that about us to people," I gestured toward Ryan. "Especially him."

"I resent that," Ryan said, pointing at me.

"Shut up," I snapped, crossing the room to Albion as Ryan returned to the storefront.

"Are you r-really--mad?" Albion asked, looping his arm around my waist as I reached his side.

"No," I leaned against him and draped my arm around his shoulders. "But you shouldn't share... stuff like that. Details. Especially if you ever want to see them again." I smirked as I leaned in and kissed him, loving the way it felt when he smiled against my lips. He deepened the kiss briefly, pulling away at the sound of Ethan's footsteps on the stairs.

"Behaving yourselves down here?" Ethan smirked, looking at Albion and I.

"Yes," I shoved Albion's hand off my hip.

"Careful," he grinned at us, punctuating his sentence with a wink. "Try not to let him distract you too much."

"Too late," Ryan called from the storefront.

"I should get going," I said, turning to Albion and trying to stop the conversation from progressing any further. "I'm sure they're already waiting for me."

"Where are you off to?" Ethan asked.

"The Crawford's," I said, turning back to Albion as he stood from his seat.

"Okay," Albion kissed my cheek. He didn't seem to care that his father was still standing there. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," I said, glancing toward Ethan as he disappeared into the storefront, sparing me any more embarrassment than I already felt. I watched Albion climb the stairs before going into the back room to get my coat.

"Here," Ethan stepped in as I pulled on my coat, holding out a paper bag. "Take these over there with you."

"Um, okay," I took the bag, opening the top to look inside. Cookies.