Chapter 27 #2
Aaren shot him a nasty look, but Ballus didn’t see it. “Before I found my new sausage supplier, I wasn’t feeling great, no.”
Gable’s mouth twitched. “What are your feelings on your old supplier?”
“The old supplier sucked,” Aaren muttered.
“It was a lot of false advertising. I thought I was going to get 100% ground beef, but I ended up finding gristle and bone fragments in my sausage. The whole time, the old supplier kept telling me how good their product was, but I think they were the only ones who thought their product was decent. And they told me I was wrong!”
“You’re wrong a lot,” Ballus said.
Aaren shot Gable a look. You see?! “I was really disappointed and I regretted signing the contract with the old supplier, but I didn’t know how to get out of it.”
“Sucks to be you,” Ballus said.
Hades narrowed his eyes.
“So I was pretty miserable until my new supplier came along,” Aaren said.
“The new supplier keeps me stuffed with sausage, it’s amazing.
100% beef, plus extra spices whenever I want.
The sausages are so juicy. There’s so much squirting.
I have sausage twice a day, sometimes through the night. It’s like I’m in sausage heaven.”
Ballus made a face. “Why the hell are you eating so much sausage?”
“Why wouldn’t I? I just had some right before I got here,” Aaren said, rubbing his belly. “The juices are still inside me.”
It gave him one hell of a kick to say that in front of Ballus, without him being any the wiser.
Hades coughed, looking extremely smug. Gable shook his head amusedly.
Ballus made a face. “You’re going to get a heart attack from eating that much sausage.”
Aaren almost felt sorry for him. If he’d still been thinking of Ballus as his alpha, if he’d still been living with Ballus, those insults would’ve hurt more.
Right now, they rolled off Aaren like water off a duck’s back.
“My new supplier is great. I just need to get out of the contract with the old one.”
Gable nodded sagely, typing into his phone again.
Actually, now that Aaren had the breathing room to look around, and now that Gable’s sleeve had slid up his arm slightly, a familiar hawk tattoo peeked out from the back of his wrist.
Huh, Aaren thought.
He glanced at Hades to see if his alpha had noticed. Hades was drinking from his mug, and he had almost finished his sandwich. A few fries were left on his plate.
Fries, Aaren mouthed.
Hades looked at the fry in his hand, and back at Aaren. Then he flicked his fry across the aisle, so it landed on the booth seat next to Aaren’s thigh.
Aaren closed his fist around it and sneaked it into his mouth, extraordinarily pleased.
It was just a fry. But Hades had given it to him just because he wanted it, and he had done so masterfully.
Hades flicked a second fry at him. Aaren dipped it into his milkshake, before chewing on it. “Mmm.”
“How the hell did you get a fry in your milkshake?” Ballus demanded.
Aaren shrugged. “I found it in there.”
Gable coughed.
Ballus looked incredibly offended. He started looking around, waving his hand in the air. “I’m complaining to the manager.”
“What?” Aaren buried his face in his hands. “Please don’t. It’s just a fry.”
“In your milkshake! I knew we shouldn’t have come to this place. It’s such a dump. They can’t even serve their food right.”
Evacuation seemed more likely by the second. Aaren stuffed more cheesecake into his mouth. “I’m perfectly fine with a fry in my milkshake. It’s not even your milkshake. You don’t need to complain about it.”
“Fuck yeah, I do,” Ballus said, puffing out his chest like the asshole he was.
Aaren finished his cheesecake with an inward cheer. Then he met Gable’s eyes. “Is there anything else you wanted to know?”
Gable shook his head. “I think I’ve got enough.”
Aaren breathed a huge sigh. “Thanks.”
A harried server came over. “Is something the matter?”
“Everything’s fine,” Aaren said.
“My omega found a fry in his milkshake,” Ballus said. “We want a refund.”
Aaren groaned. “No, my milkshake is perfectly fine. I’m enjoying it very much. You’re just trying to make trouble for everyone.”
“You found a fry in it!” Ballus said.
“Because I put a fry in it.”
Ballus’ face turned purple again. “You lied to me. Where did you even get a fry?”
“I found it.” Gods, Aaren needed to get out of here, away from the eternal embarrassment that was Ballus.
He took three large gulps of his milkshake.
Then he fished out his wallet and placed some bills on the table—without counting, just because he could afford to now.
“I enjoyed my milkshake and cheesecake very much. I found no problems with them. Now, I’m going to leave this place very happily. ”
He slid his wallet back into his pocket, shuffled out of the booth, and left Gable, Ballus, and the server staring after him.
Without a backward glance, Aaren stopped by Hades’ table, picking up the remaining corner of his sandwich.
He stuffed it into his mouth and walked out of the restaurant.
Hades whistled appreciatively behind him. “Fuck, that’s hot.”
“What the hell,” Ballus snarled.
Aaren sped up, ducking out of sight. He felt like he could fly and he couldn’t stop smiling.
A few moments later, Hades fell into step beside him. “That was fucking gorgeous. You were fucking gorgeous.”
Aaren wriggled. “Thanks for the fries. They made me so happy. And the cheesecake too.”
“Good,” Hades purred. He slid his arm around Aaren’s waist and led him out of the mall.
It was only when they were safely ensconced in Hades’ car, that Aaren gave in to his guilty feelings. “Did I leave a huge mess at the restaurant?”
Hades huffed. “That was not your fault. Ballus used you as an excuse to pick a fight with the staff. His pride wouldn’t let him back down and admit his mistake.
I was so damn tempted to pay their bill, to shove it in his face, but I wasn’t going to make the staff deal with him blowing up.
Gable said he would handle it. Good guy. ”
“Yeah, he was great,” Aaren said. “I’m glad he’s the one doing the eval.”
“Same.” Hades reached over the center console and took Aaren’s hand, lifting it to kiss his knuckles. Aaren’s heart skipped. Hades’ touch was warm and sturdy, and the look in his eyes...
Hades was kissing him, suddenly, soft lips slanting against his own, his tongue sliding against Aaren’s.
“Fuck, when you pulled that mic drop on my sandwich, all I could think was, ‘That’s my omega.’ I was so proud of you.”
Aaren shivered. “Really? But it was because you were there, that I felt brave enough to do it. I knew you wouldn’t mind me stealing your sandwich.”
“You can steal all my sandwiches, sweetheart. As long as it makes you happy.”
Aaren grinned against Hades’ mouth, leaning into the kiss.
It was only when Hades pulled away, that Aaren remembered they were still in the mall parking lot. Ballus was probably around somewhere.
“I think we’re real close to getting Ballus off your tail,” Hades said.
Aaren’s heart skipped. “Yeah.”
With luck, things would go smoothly, and he would get Hades on his contract instead. One whole year with Hades—what would that be like?
And by the end of that year, they would have a baby.
Aaren scrubbed his palms on his thighs, trying to get rid of his nervous sweat.
The thing was, Aaren didn’t just have his own inexperience to worry about. What if Ballus discovered that Aaren was pregnant? With Hades’ baby?
Would he attack Aaren physically?
Before he could ask what Hades thought, Ballus stormed out of the fancy mall.
Aaren sank low in his seat, hoping he’d gotten low enough that Ballus couldn’t see him. Hades drove them out of there.
He couldn’t erase the squirming doubt in his belly, though.