70

~Darlina's POV~

"Did you guys have to start fucking last night?" Emmett complained to me as Atlas and I stood in the kitchen with him later that night, watching as he cooked dinner for the three of us.

My eyes widened and I quickly looked away, an embarrassed blush creeping up my neck at the sudden topic. "Emmett." I grumbled, leaning forward against the counter. "Do we have to talk about this?" I asked, wishing he wouldn't bring up the topic. However, Emmett glanced over his shoulder at me and scowled.

"Why are you complaining at me?" He griped. "I'm the one that was kept up by you guys. Seriously, if you're gonna be fucking, can't you do it when I'm not here? Or at least be a little more considerate when I'm trying to sleep." He huffed, causing my face to flame hotter with the embarrassment that clung to every inch of my body. I buried my face into my hands while Atlas just snorted, a hard smack resounding through the kitchen that I knew had come from my boyfriend.

Boyfriend. Atlas is my boyfriend. I would never get used to saying that, I was sure.

"You're just jealous 'cause you're not gettin' laid." Atlas responded casually, causing me to choke on my spit. I lifted my head and looked back and forth between the two men, Em's eyes now narrowed on Atlas in a glare. "I am too getting laid!" He exclaimed rather defensively. That just made Atlas smirk, not looking convinced whatsoever.

"Sure you are. Maybe by your fist." Atlas retorted smugly, to which Em didn't seem to have a retort, effectively affirming Atlas' words. My face was so hot by now I felt like I would burst into flames.

"Are you guys really talking about that right now?" I asked the two of them in a mumble, drawing Emmett's attention to me. He cocked up an eyebrow and looked up an down my figure. "C'mon, Li. We both know you should be used to Atlas talking like that." He chortled. I huffed and pushed off of the counter, cocking out a hip. "I don't know what you're talking about." I stated, deciding to play off his insinuation.

Emmett snorted while Atlas watched with an amused, mischievous glint in his eye as he scanned his gaze over my flustered face. "Sure, you don't." Em responded flatly, stirring the noodles around in the pot while waiting for them to cook. I pouted, looking down at the kitchen floor. Atlas elbowed his friend and sent him a slight glare before slipping past him to throw an arm around my shoulder, tugging me into his side. "Just ignore him, smalls. He's just bein' an ass." He assured me, trying to lessen the clear embarrassment I was feeling.

I leaned into his embrace and saw Emmett scowl at Atlas, not appreciating the comment. "How am I being an ass?" He asked, letting out a huff. "All I did was ask you guys to either keep it down when you're screwing or to do it when I'm not around. Not even just because I was trying to sleep, but the last thing I want is to actually hear Li having sex." He grumbled, shooting Atlas a dirty look before he glanced down at me. "I'm fine with the stories, that shit doesn't bother me as much, but I don't want to hear it happening. She's like a little sister to me." He added simply, looking back down at the pot again.

Understanding flooded me a little more and I nodded slowly. "Okay." I agreed quietly. "I get it. It'd be weird for me, too, if I heard you having sex." I admitted, cringing at the idea.

On the other hand, Atlas didn't look very sympathetic of the reasoning. He glanced down at me and winked, causing me to curiously tilt my head, unsure why he was looking at me like that. "Thank you, Li." Emmett sighed in relief, smoothing his free hand over his short braids. His hair had grown out quite a bit, making his braids a little bit longer than what their normal length was.

"Just please never bring that up in front of me again." I almost pleaded with him, playing with the fabric of Atlas' tank top absentmindedly. "It's embarrassing." I added quietly, earning an amused snort from Em.

He snickered, seeming to find my embarrassment more funny than anything else. "Yeah, yeah, I won't as long as I don't have to hear shit anymore." He assured me, which was plenty good enough for me to believe him.

My stomach suddenly grumbled loudly, causing both Emmett and Atlas to look at me with raised eyebrows. I placed a hand over my stomach and awkwardly cleared my throat, embarrassed. "S-Sorry." I stammered an apology out. "I'm hungry. I didn't get to have lunch today." I excused quietly. Atlas frowned and slid his large hand down my arm, gripping my hand in his. "You didn't?" He mumbled, a furrow between his brows. "Am I gonna start having to meet you for lunch just to make sure you're eating?" He asked.

I cocked up an eyebrow. "I eat plenty." I responded with a huff. "But I had a busy day today at Dina's, so I didn't get a chance to even order anything, let alone actually go somewhere for lunch." I explained, wearing a frown on my face. "Although having lunch together sounds very nice to me." I admitted shyly.

"Alright, you two," Emmett said as he lifted the pot off the stove top after turning it off so the flame wasn't on anymore. "Get outta my way. You can go be lovey-dovey and gross somewhere else." He stated, slipping by after we stepped out of the way. He stopped in front of the sink and dumped the pot of noodles into the strainer that he had waiting in the sink, setting the empty pot on the counter before grabbing the strainer to put the noodles back in it again.

With my attention now on the spaghetti that he had finished making, I abandoned the conversation with Atlas to peek around Emmett's side. "Is dinner done?" I asked eagerly, my stomach rumbling once again. He had already made his incredibly delicious spaghetti sauce before Atlas and I even arrived back home, which was sitting on the stove-top in a pan, simmering on low heat. I was starving, practically drooling at the idea of eating spaghetti.

An amused smile formed on his face as he glanced at me. "Yes, you freak." He snorted. "Dinner's done." He said, causing me to excitedly bounce on the tips of my toes.

Wanting to eat right away, I bound over to the cabinet and reached up, swinging open the door to grab a plate. I hurried over to the pot that Em had moved over to the stove again, piling my plate with noodles that I then poured some of the spaghetti sauce over. Though Em had also made meatballs, he knew that I had a particular preference for eating spaghetti without meatballs, so I didn't bother to get any. Instead, I grabbed a fork and then dumped some parmesan over my spaghetti, thoroughly mixing it all together before happily making my way towards the dining room table.

Not longer than five minutes passed before Atlas joined me with his own plate of food, which was far fuller than mine was. Emmett joined us last, the three of us contentedly eating dinner together.

Once I was done, I took my plate to the kitchen and began to clean up the mess that Emmett had left behind from cooking, as he always did. If I was being honest, we had a rather good dynamic, as Emmett was usually the one that cooked and I was the one that made sure everything got cleaned up afterwards. Atlas would usually end up helping me, if I allowed him, which I usually didn't.

However, when Atlas came in to help tonight, I didn't protest or tell him to go away like I normally would do. I often liked my space to myself when cleaning up the kitchen, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to let him help this time.

"Not gonna stop me this time?" Atlas asked with a chuckle as he loaded in the clean dishes after I finished washing them, causing my gaze to flick up to him. I cocked up an eyebrow. "Do you want me to?" I retorted sassily, which only made him smirk. He delivered a harsh smack to my ass and I jerked in surprise, almost dropping the fork in my hand. And to my horror, I felt myself clench my thighs slightly, wondering why I had liked that.

"You and your sass." He hummed, not sounding upset about it at all. Instead, he sounded almost...endeared.

I blushed, going back to washing the dishes quietly.