Hidden Desires (19 page)

 
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Jodie had left a while ago and Cayden was enjoying the last hour of work. It was quiet, Christopher Lowell was in the bottom left square on Hollywood Squares, and life was good. She propped her feet up on the counter and leaned back. She couldn't wait to go home and eat dinner. She picked up the phone and called Wade's cell.

"Hi there." Wade said in a deep voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was looking for my homo." Cayden teased.

Wade snickered. "Was it good? Did I sound butch?"

"You sounded like Freddy "Boom Boom" Washington."

"OOoo. Cool! What's up?"

"Pizza, how many slices?"

"Two please. I want squares, ends please, crispy but not too.."

"You're getting two slices. Period." Cayden cut him off. "I'm not driving the man crazy."

"You're such a wuss. Fine, I'll take two soggy, droopy, old slices."

"Good." Cayden stuck her tongue out at the phone and hung up. She put her feet up against the counter and stretched out her legs, pushing the chair back and laced her fingers behind her head. She smiled as she glanced at the cash register. Today was a good day, Mrs. Friedman aside. She pulled in as much money on a Monday as she would on a typical weekend.
I wracked up. What do I want... let's see...
She started fantasizing about a new leather jacket, a trench coat and maybe an awesome pair of gloves to match. She was so wrapped up in her fantasy she didn't bother reacting to the tinkling of the bell, she just swiveled back and forth, all stretched out in her chair. When she finally did look up at her customer she became so flustered , she tried to get up and take her feet off the counter at the same time. Her arms flailed wildly and her long legs splayed open clumsily as the tall woman slid out of the chair and onto the floor with a thud.

Brooke's eyes widened when Cayden began flailing, and she put her hand to her mouth and watched helplessly with a wince as the shop keeper lost her balance and fell. She blushed, embarrassed for the tall woman. She strode confidently into the Deli with a whole lot to say, but now with Cayden in such a state, she lost her tongue.

"Goddammit to hell!"

Brooke took hesitant steps towards the counter and peeked over as Cayden grumbled.

Suddenly the chair was being lifted and Cayden's nightmare was coming true. She made a complete ass of herself in front of Brooke. She really hoped Brooke would disappear but she didn't and now that those green eyes were looking at her with interested amusement, Cayden had no choice but to respond. "Hi." she squeaked out, climbing clumsily to her feet.

Brooke, although thoroughly amused, was charmed. "Hi." she replied, not quite sure what to do with her hands as she watched Cayden right the chair.

"Um... I,, uh... it's just that you.. when you came in..." Cayden stuttered, red faced and mortified.

Brooke giggled. "I'm sorry I startled you."

"Yeah, well." The tall woman looked everywhere but at Brooke.

"Um, Fred needs a new leash!" The blonde said louder and with much more enthusiasm than she was comfortable with.

"Oh. Okay. They're over there." Cayden pointed.

Brooke went over to the selection and started touching them, not really paying attention to them at all. She desperately wanted to talk to Cayden, but after making such a grand entrance, she had no idea what to say. She felt quite smug actually, to be able to bring about that kind of reaction from the tall woman, but her empathetic nature made her feel for her too.
How embarrassing. She probably wishes the floor would open up and swallow her. Maybe I should go. I'm sure I'm the last person she wants to speak to right now.
Feeling suddenly awkward, the blonde turned around with an excuse on her lips about forgetting her money when Cayden's deep smooth voice cut through the silence.

"See anything you like?"

Brooke blushed instantly.
Oh yes...
She took a look at the shop keeper and swallowed dryly.
She looks composed now. God, she's so hot, and she's looking at me, she's waiting for an answer you idiot...
"Oh, no, not really. I guess I was preoccupied." Brooke admitted with a nervous titter.

"Can't imagine you'd find anything on that rack anyway."

The blonde looked puzzled as Cayden approached her. Huh?

"Those are for extra-large dogs. You want these." she pointed to another rack with much smaller merchandise.

"Oh." Brooke whispered, in embarrassment.

Cayden stepped back from the blonde and folded her arms across her chest.
I wanted to see her again, but so soon? I'm still mad at her. She has some explaining to do. Why is she so calm? Why is she actually here anyway? She has to know that after she told her boyfriend we were screwing around that he'd come here and let me have it. Isn't she remorseful in the least? She should be apologizing to me, not standing around and wasting my time.

"I think I like the blue one, but I also like the zebra one." Brooke said with a smile turning to face the tall woman. "What do you think?"

Cayden shrugged, her eyes narrowed and angry.

Brooke's smile faded and her heart sped up.
What the hell? She was fine just a minute ago
. She turned back around, too confused to think of the obvious.

"Are you almost done, I'm about to close up."

Brooke felt like a child when she met Cayden's cool blue gaze. "Um, yeah. I'll take the zebra one." she said meekly, not knowing what she did to anger Cayden suddenly.

"Cash only, I closed out the credit card machine for the day."

What is wrong with her?
Brooke fished around in her pocket book and came up with the correct change and held it out. Cayden took it away, avoiding any touching fingers and didn't even offer a bag. "Uh, yeah, thanks." Brooke said as she backed away from the counter and the angry stare she was receiving.

After the blonde left, Cayden blew out a loud breath. "I don't care how cute she is, I'm pissed off at her. Don't think I didn't notice that ass Ms Hewitt! Tight, sexy, ass that it was. Jeez, you'd think people like that would have ugly asses." Cayden's foot tapped with tension. "I can't believe she acted like nothing happened! She had to know that man came in here and threatened me. The nerve!"

Brooke walked dejectedly towards her mother's place. She was confused and sad.
What happened? Why was she so mad at me? What did I do? So what, she fell on her ass... of all the nerve. She was just embarrassed that I saw her make a fool of herself and I ruined her image! I didn't do anything wrong! Oooo! She has no right to treat me like that!
Brooke turned around and started marching right back to the Fuzzy Belly Deli.

Cayden was pulling down the gate when she saw the blonde heading her way, and boy was she steamed. She stood up and prepared for a confrontation.

"Just what gives you the right to treat me like that? What did I ever do to you?" Brooke asked angrily.

"Me? Hello? What did I ever do to you?" Cayden countered.

"Excuse me?" Brooke asked, louder this time.

"I said, What did I ever do to you?" Cayden yelled. "What nerve you have sending your boyfriend to my store to threaten me. You could have used anybody you wanted instead you had to go on and make up some fantasy fuck fest between us just to tick him off!"

Brooke paled and backed away.

Cayden pulled down the gate the rest of the way with a loud bang. "And you don't even apologize! You come in, scare me half to death so I almost break my neck and dawdle over leashes that you're going to put on a dog that can hardly walk anyway. What exactly do you want with me, Brooke?"

"Grant... came here?" Brooke squeaked out.

Cayden made a conscious effort to lower her voice. "Yes, as if you didn't think that telling him a story about us..."

"I never told him anything!" Brooke interjected..

"Bullshit." Cayden said with a snort.

"No, I didn't! I swear!" The blonde stomped her foot adamantly.

Glancing at the smaller woman gave Cayden second thoughts. She looked horrified. "Oh please, if you didn't tell him anything, where would he get that idea?" The tall woman asked, wondering if perhaps Brooke wasn't telling the truth.

Brooke began to blush furiously and looked like she may begin hyperventilating. "I can't... I don't know where he would get that idea."

Cayden raised an eyebrow. "Oh come on now."

"No, really... I... "

Dark eyebrows furrowed. "Brooke, now be real. If you didn't tell him anything, where would he get the idea that I, in particular, corrupted you into a life of lesbianism."

"Oh god... he said that?" Brooke squeaked.

"Something of the sort. Now look, I'm pretty pissed that you used me as an excuse, so if you just admit that you did it we can go on."

"But I didn't." Brooke was near tears.

"Whatever." Cayden said and started walking away.

"Damn it." Brooke cursed and kicked the gate. "Well, that went well."

C
AYDEN STOPPED SHORT and cringed when she heard the sound of Brooke's foot connecting with the gate. "Son of a bitch!" she growled as she twirled around and began running in the direction of The Fuzzy Belly Deli.

Brooke froze in place when she saw the tall woman bolting in her direction. She watched fearfully as Cayden was frantically digging through her backpack and cursing a blue streak. Before the blonde had the chance to run, the most hideous sound began blaring from the shop. "OH!" she shouted, scared half to death by the piercing noise.

"You just had to kick it didn't you?" Cayden yelled over the alarm, fussing with a set of keys and grabbing a padlock. "Goddammit!"

Brooke felt helpless and guilty as Cayden yanked open the lock. She wanted to take off, but felt responsible for Cayden's anguish and thought an apology was necessary.

"Here" Cayden threw the keys at Brooke. "Make yourself useful." The tall woman squatted down and held the bottom of the gate, ready to throw it open the second Brooke opened the lock. "Come on! Hurry up!"

"I'm sorry!" Brooke fumbled with the keys nervously, her hands shaking. The constant shrill shrieking of the alarm was making her crazy, she thought her ears would bleed.

"Goddammit Brooke!"

"Stop yelling at me! I don't know which key it is!"

Cayden stomped over and snatched the keys away violently. She shoved the proper key in the lock and yanked open the padlock with a glare to the blonde troublemaker. People were collecting on the sidewalk and this was pissing Cayden off even more. She threw the gate open halfway and ducked underneath it, disappearing inside.

Brooke didn't know exactly why she was still standing there, but she was. Near tears and feeling like a class A fool, she felt her lower lip start to tremble and sucked it inside of her mouth. The last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of Cayden. Suddenly the alarm stopped and it almost felt painfully quiet on the sidewalk. She could hear Cayden's muffled cursing before she even opened the inside door. She decided to leave, she didn't need to be there any more.

"... had to go and fucking kick it... wasn't pissed off already."

Brooke stopped and narrowed her eyes at the muttering shopkeeper.