Never Hide Chapter Seven

“Why have a cake at all?” I joked to Clarissa as we stepped inside the bakery, my mind still on Sky’s insane suggestion earlier.

The bakery was mostly quiet, with a few patrons sitting near the back of the shop, their eyes glued to their laptops. I’d been to this bakery before, quite a few times, and I always appreciated how laidback the place was. Even the music that played over the speakers sounded like it was made for the sole purpose of getting people to relax.

And the pastries? Incredible.

In fact, they were so incredible that I’d avoided coming into this shop on an empty stomach, in fear of abandoning all self-control. Although today, I felt like I’d be able to indulge my desire to fill up on their chocolate chip muffins or grab one of their delicious yet calorie-filled coffees to go.

“It’s like he has no idea what a wedding is supposed to be,” Clarissa joked back. “Oh my God. Sky is seriously one of the funniest people I know.”

“I’m standing right here.” Sky frowned, glancing around the shop. “And you two are being ridiculous. You shouldn’t have to have a cake at your wedding if you don’t even like cake to begin with.”

“You’re forgetting the first rule about weddings, Sky,” I spoke, walking over toward him.

“The first rule of weddings?”

“Yep.” I nodded. “The very first rule? Your wedding isn’t about you. If you wanted a wedding that was all about you, you could just get married in your backyard while you’re grilling something on the BBQ.”

“Yeah, you could. What’s wrong with a wedding like that?”

“In theory? Nothing,” I answered. “But that’s not what most brides want. Most brides want something memorable, something magical. They want something that their friends will talk about for the next five years–”

“Something memorable? Something magical?” The head baker, Harriet, appeared from behind the counter with a warm smile on her face. “That sounds like you’re looking for a slice of my double chocolate cake.” She beamed in my direction. “Ah, Raven! So lovely to see you again.”

“You’re on a first name basis with the employees here?” Clarissa asked. “Is this like your favorite place or something?”

“Or something,” I replied, not feeling like explaining to her that the bakery was the place I came to if I wanted to escape on my lunch hour, eager to get away from certain clients at work.

Eager to get a moment to myself, to breathe, when clients didn’t know whether they wanted lilac ribbons or citrus ribbons.

Eager to take a break outside of the building when clients were trying to match their wall decorations to cake flavors.

Eager to step away from my clients when they were acting just like Clarissa.

However, instead of letting my dear friend know that she was edging nearer and nearer to full blown Bridezilla status, I smiled back at Harriet. “Hey, Harriet! We were wondering if we could try some of your cupcake samples. Something to go along with the cake we ordered.”

“Ooh, a wedding! Did someone finally sweep you off your feet?” Harriet asked before she looked over at Sky. She paused for a moment, then gave an approving nod. “I like him. He seems sturdy. He’ll be good to have as your husband during a time of great trouble.”

“Oh, he’s not — we’re not…” I struggled to string a sentence together, way too flustered by Harriet’s assumption.

“It’s my wedding,” Clarissa chimed in as she raised her hand. “I’m the one getting married. Me.”

“Well, then, congratulations.” Harriet smiled again. “How about you all have a seat in that booth over there and I’ll bring you a few of our usual suspects?”

“Sounds perfect,” I replied.

“And for you, Raven, I’ll bring you a muffin. On the house.”

“That really won’t be necessary–”

“Take the muffin, take the muffin! You’re still single. There’s no need to be on some diet just to keep a man around,” Harriet continued as she turned back toward the kitchen. “I’ll be right out with everything, just you wait.”

* * *

Harriet had been right to bring me a muffin.

Because the longer I sat at this booth, the more it looked like I was going to need that muffin to get through the rest of this afternoon. I sat quietly while Clarissa did her own thing. Sky sat next to me, and Clarissa sat across from us.

I was about three bites into it while I watched Clarissa go back and forth between cupcake samples. Apparently, she didn’t want to get her hands messy, because she was using a fork to eat cupcakes. She’d dip her fork into a chocolate cupcake before quickly veering back to a vanilla cupcake. She’d then sigh before dipping her fork into a caramel cupcake, then make a dissatisfied face before bringing her fork up to a red velvet cupcake–

“Clarissa, come on. It can’t be that hard,” Sky suggested, sitting right beside me. “Just pick whichever one you think tastes the best. Isn’t that how this is supposed to work?”

“It’s not that simple, Sky!” Clarissa rolled her eyes in his direction. “If the way the cupcakes taste doesn’t go with the walls, it’s going to throw everything off!”

“Well, if it’s that important, you should probably get Trent’s input–”

“Trent! Shit!” Clarissa shouted, hastily getting up from the booth. “I forgot that his great aunt has that gluten allergy. I need to ask the baker if she can make us a batch of gluten-free cupcake samples.”

“I don’t know if that’s possible…” I started.

But Clarissa was already out of earshot, and I knew that continuing with what I was saying was a lost cause.

“So, this is what you do?” Sky asked as he glanced over at me.

“Are you talking about the muffin eating? Or the wedding planning?” I took another small bite of my muffin, not caring about his potential judgment.

“The muffin eating,” he chuckled. “You don’t really look like a muffin guy.”

“I don’t know what that means, Sky.”

“I just mean… you look…” He leaned back toward the cushion of the booth. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding… you know… but you look good.”

“Good?”

“Yeah, you look like you… when you’re naked… you’d probably still look good… that way…” Sky’s face went red after he spoke, and he immediately looked away from me.

What the hell?

Was Sky hitting on me? Or was he just an awkward-as-hell compliment giver?

I quickly shook off his unexpected compliment, not interested in deciphering his actions any further than that. I didn’t have time for Sky right now, especially if he’d just had a weird slip of the tongue.

I needed to figure out this cupcake situation, and I needed to figure it out fast if I was ever going to get out of this bakery before it was closing time.

“Here,” I said as I handed Sky a chocolate cupcake that Clarissa hadn’t touched yet.

“Are we allowed to touch the samples, too?” His question seemed earnest.

I couldn’t help but laugh in response. “How else are we supposed to have an opinion?”

“I don’t think Clarissa really wants us to have opinions,” Sky replied. “I think she just wants us to reinforce her opinions. Sometimes, it feels like she already knows what she wants to do, and we’re just propping her up.”

“Welcome to wedding planning,” I quipped as I dipped my fork into my own cupcake sample.

Apparently, I didn’t want cupcake all over my hands either.

It looked like a swirl of strawberry mixed with a swirl of vanilla. Once the bite of cupcake had landed on my lips, my eyes widened with surprise.

“Oh my God. This is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted,” I murmured, holding my fork up toward Sky, who was seated next to me. “Sky, you have to try this–”

Before I’d even finished my sentence, I noticed that there was now a small piece of cake slowly tumbling down his right cheek.

I didn’t know how, but in my excitement about the cake, I must’ve accidentally flung it from my fork and right into Sky’s face.

I found myself laughing as I watched the piece of cupcake tumble onto the table.

“Sorry! I’m so sorry!” I apologized through my laughter. “I had no idea that was going to happen! I promise!”

“You’re not acting very sorry, Raven,” Sky remarked, a smirk playing at the sides of his mouth.

“I’m sorry! I promise!” I tried to apologize again; this time only barely able to contain my amusement. “Here, let me get a napkin and clean that up–”

In that same moment, I felt something soft and sticky tumbling down the right side of my own face.

Sky’s smirk had turned into a full-blown chuckle as his eyes met mine. “You know what? That is pretty funny.”

“Did you just throw cake at my face?” I let out a faux indignant scoff.

“You started it.”

“Yeah? And I’ll finish it, too!” I joked before I dipped my fork back into my sample cupcake.

I aimed right for Sky’s face, which is when I noticed that he was doing the same.

And again, Sky and I seemed to be in a staring contest, our fingers pressing the tines of our respective forks back, as if we were waiting on orders to launch an attack.

“Don’t. You. Dare,” he instructed.

“Peace was never an option for us, Sky,” I answered, letting go of my fork’s tines, sending a small sampling of cake right onto his face.

Sky playfully lunged at me, pinning my wrists above my head while he held me against the booth’s shiny, red seating. I knew that in this position no one would’ve been able to see us, at least not any of the other patrons in the bakery.

Which was a good revelation, since it turned out that Sky was hard.

It took me a moment to realize what was pressing against the crotch of my jeans, as I briefly wondered if Sky carried his wallet in a somewhat interesting way.

But once it hit me that his hardened cock was right above mine, I was struck with a sense of confusion that quickly spread like wildfire through my veins.

Sky was straight, wasn’t he?

Him being hard didn’t make any sense, unless he was already turned on about something else before we’d started our impromptu cake fight. But why would he have started something like that when he had to know about the bulge in his pants?

Maybe he didn’t know.

Maybe halfway through our playing around, he’d gotten hard and it hadn’t even hit him yet.

Not wanting to make things weird, I pretended not to notice the way his cock seemed to strain against the fabric of his pants. Instead, I slightly adjusted the position of my hips underneath his own, trying to stealthily move them away from his crotch so he wouldn’t have to be embarrassed about getting hard in public.

“Um, Sky? You might want to…” I didn’t know how to finish the phrase, so I just quietly tilted my head down toward his pants area.

“You’re beautiful.”

“What?”

“You’re beautiful,” he continued. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

“Sky…” I felt like I’d been rendered speechless by his words. “I… I don’t…”

He interrupted my response by bending down even further, not stopping until his mouth was pressed against my cheek, and his tongue was licking the sample right off my skin.

I shivered beneath him, my own cock starting to harden.

Sky moved his mouth away from my skin and came back up to look into my eyes. Without saying a word, he brought his lips back down toward mine, our mouths almost grazing each other…

Almost.

“What the hell? I asked for a gluten-free sampler for the cupcakes, and the chef back there told me that if I wanted something gluten-free, I should’ve requested that weeks ago. Can you believe that? I thought bakeries were supposed to be accommodating!” Clarissa whined.

As she spoke, Sky moved several feet away from me, almost sitting at the opposite end of the booth. “That really sucks, Clarissa. Sorry you don’t get to try more cupcakes.”

I wanted to laugh at his obvious sarcasm, but I was way too unnerved by what had just happened between us.

What had just happened between us?

Sky had called me beautiful. He had held my wrists above my head. He was hard.

If I didn’t know any better — and I didn’t — I would’ve guessed that Sky wasn’t 100% straight. I also would’ve guessed that he wanted to get to know me as more than a friend, and that he wanted us to stay a secret.

Which wasn’t going to happen.

I wasn’t interested in being another straight guy’s toy that he could take out of his closet whenever he wanted to play, but as soon as things got too real, he’d stuff me right back into the closet, without a second thought.

“What do you think I should do, Raven? I should file a formal complaint, right? Maybe write a bad review on Yelp?” Clarissa asked.

“I think you should just choose from the samples you already tried, Clarissa,” I replied. “And I think if you ask Harriet nicely, she can have a gluten-free version of the cupcakes for you by the day of your wedding.”

“Fine.” Clarissa looked upset, as if she’d been looking forward to raising hell inside the bakery. “In that case, I think I’ll go with the vanilla cupcakes with the buttercream frosting.”

“That’s a really good choice,” I assured her. “I think it’ll go perfectly with the decorations and everything.”

“Yeah, it looks like you’re a fan,” she chuckled, grabbing a napkin off the table, and offering it to me. “What happened to your face? There’s cake bits everywhere.”

“Nothing,” I lied as I started to wipe the rest of the evidence off my cheek.

As I finished wiping my face, I caught Sky staring at me out of the corner of my eye.

I wanted to tell him to relax, that I wasn’t going to suddenly tell Clarissa that he wasn’t 100% straight, that I wasn’t going to suddenly run to the press and tell anyone who’d listen that he had called me beautiful, that he had been hard, that he had pinned my wrists above my head.

Once I was done with the napkin, I looked between Clarissa and Sky, offering them both one of my biggest and brightest fake smiles. “Ready to head out?”