Hidden Desires (20 page)

"... of all the stupid..."

"Hey now, wait just a minute. Who are you calling stupid?" Brooke asked in irritation.

"Who?" Cayden pulled down the gate. "That man, " she pointed at a passerby. "He's who I'm calling stupid, Stupid."

"Well fuck you! I think you oughta get over yourself."

Cayden put her hands on her hips and glared.

"Yes, Miss high and mighty. I made a mistake, how was I supposed to know you had an alarm? I watched you bang the damned gate closed moments earlier."

"It likes me, it gives me a minute." Cayden snorted and then smirked. Brooke was cute when she was all fired up.

"Do you find me amusing?" the blonde asked, loudly.

"Just a smidge." the brunette replied, holding up her thumb and forefinger to indicate how much.

"Oh, I don't believe you!" Brooke started, waving her arms around in the air. "First, you treat me like dirt, then you accuse me of telling sordid tales, THEN have the nerve to stand there and smirk at me like I'm funny! Well let me tell you miss, I'm not laughing! I'm pretty damned pissed off at you! You have no right to talk to me the way you have been... I hardly know you for gods sake!"

"According to your boyfriend, we know each other quite well." Cayden said with another cocky smirk.

"I didn't tell him anything!" Brooke insisted. "I swear!"

Cayden gave her a withering look. "Uh huh."

"I'm not lying!" Brooke stomped her foot.

"Sure you're not." Cayden was beginning to like this. "He just came up with it all by himself, picked me out of the blue too. Of course after making all of it up, he had to come to my shop and accuse me of corrupting his sweet innocent Brooke, who might I add is a lovely shade of pink, perfectly suited for her angelic attitude. I have every right to be angry with you. You disrupted me, you caused me unnecessary grief and aggravation."

"But I swear..." the blonde's eyes welled up with tears.

"Oh no! I do
not
need that! I will not feel sorry for you. No way!" Cayden shook her head yet, didn't walk away.

"Fine, don't believe me. I know it sounds crazy, but I never told him anything about me and you. There isn't anything to tell. Why would I make something like that up with a woman I hardly even know? Why?" Brooke was pleading with Cayden now.

"You tell me."
Hmmm, oddly enough, I'm starting to believe her. Why would she go through all this trouble... oh no... she's really crying now. Oh shit. Now what?

Brooke was on the verge of telling Cayden what really happened, or at least what she surmised led Grant to believe they had something going on. She was tired of having Cayden angry with her.

"Ok, fine. Drop it." Cayden offered.

Green eyes looked up into dark sunglasses. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, just stop crying already."

Brooke tried very hard not to fling herself at the tall woman. Thank you god! "I didn't mean to get so upset," she started wiping her eyes, "It's just that I was so frustrated knowing I was telling the truth and you didn't believe me. It's hard to keep control."

"I never said I believe you. I just want this to end. I'm tired and hungry and I want to go home." Cayden said boredly.

"Well, excuse me for thinking you were nice! By all means, enjoy your dinner!" Brooke snapped, and started stomping away in a huff.

Cayden stood there a while longer and watched her walk away.
Still.. that's one fine ass.

 
*  *  *

Brooke was so mad she wanted to hit something. She was not only frustrated, but humiliated. Cayden seemed to enjoy making her feel bad.
I can't believe I thought she was hot! She's mean... she's rude... she's... she's... damn it, she's hot, who am I kidding? OOOO but she makes me so mad! I can't very well tell her why Grant chose her, I'd die! She'd probably get a kick out of that one, her and her cocky self. Oh, I am so screwed. I'll kill Grant. It's all his fault. How dare he go in there and harass her? She didn't do anything! Damn, she really had no choice but to think I'm lying. I have no explanation to give her, well I do, but I can't. What am I going to do? I don't want her to think I'm a liar, but how can I tell her? Oh excuse me Cayden, by the way, I dream about you naked, vividly, and apparently I talk in my sleep... and the fact that I doodled your name a hundred times on the bag you gave me doesn't help matters much.
Brooke covered her red face in her hands and groaned.
I cannot have her think I'm a liar! I don't want her mad at me anymore.

 
*  *  *

Wade was growing impatient, not to mention hungry. He already downed a beer and was halfway through another one by the time Cayden arrived home. "Well, what the hell took you so long?" he asked, raising his eyebrow as his tall room mate dropped the bag on the table and disappeared. He opened the bag and smiled to find two extra crispy end squares. He was about to thank her for the pizza when he heard the refrigerator slam so hard, the items on the door rattled. He cringed at the following drawer slam, listened to the tell tale hiss of a beer being opened then waited to hear the drawer slam again. It did.

Cayden was still pissed off. Really pissed off. She drank half the beer as she stood there, shivering as the cold liquid sliced a trail through her overheated insides. She stood there, leaning on the counter for a while listening to the fridge hum, relaxing her enough to take the deep breath she knew she'd need in order to face Wade.

Wade looked up at Cayden as she entered the room. "Cayd.."

"No." She held up her hand to stop him. "You wouldn't believe me if I tried to explain it to you."

"Try me." He persisted, biting into his pizza with an audible crunch. "Mmm, thank you, you're the best."

"She lied!" The tall woman declared, putting her beer bottle down with a bang.

Wade stopped chewing and raised an eyebrow. "Who lied?"

"Brooke! She lied right there on the sidewalk in front of everybody, and then the alarm went off, she had the balls to kick it, and then, Then she yelled at me! And to top it all off she goes and cries, right there! What was going to do? I told her to forget it!"

Wade stared curiously at his blabbering friend with wide eyes. "Cayden, you're going to have to back that baby up and start over."

"No, I'm finished now." she said, then bit into her own sausage pizza.

La La started pawing at Cayden's leg and Wade scurried over to remove his cat before Cayden could kill him. "Brooke came to the shop?" He asked, trying to make sense of her ranting.

"Yes." the tall woman replied tersely.

"She yelled at you?"

"Of all the freaking nerve!"

"You're not being any help to me. Please start explaining." Wade pled.

Cayden dropped her pizza on the bag she was using as a plate and took a loud breath. "Ok, Fine."

 
*  *  *

Brooke scoured her apartment for the phone number to The Huntington's cabin. She knew she had it, but was in such a state, she could not remember where it was. She tried Grant's cell phone repeatedly, but he was either out of range or he shut it off. She was more than angry with Grant, she was livid, and the longer she tore the house apart, the more she steamed. She fished her own cell phone out of her pocket book and started scanning the memory for the number, hoping that it may still be in there. It wasn't. Just as she emitted a frustrated growl, the telephone rang. She pickled it up with a deep scowl. "What? she asked gruffly.

"It's me."

Grant's voice was like Pavlov's bell and she snapped. "You! How dare you! What the hell were you thinking? What gave you the right? You have NO idea how angry I am with you right now!"

"You're angry with me? Are you nuts?" he asked with a humorless laugh.

"I must be nuts Grant, but you go ahead and tell me why I am." the blonde responded, clenching her fingers around the phone.

"When were you going to tell me about tall, dark, and gay?"

"There was nothing to tell!" She screamed. "You made it all up!"

"Oh, come on now. Cayden... ohhh Cayden..." he drawled out in a falsetto voice.

Brooke blushed furiously. "That was a dream Grant.. A DREAM you idiot!"

"I bet you didn't know that the love of your life is a slut did you?" he snorted.

"Slut? What are you talking about?" Brooke blurted out before she could edit herself.

"I thought not." He snickered. "She was all over these two women when I got to that shop, no couth whatsoever. But I tell ya Brooke, based on looks alone, you have great taste in women. You sure know how to pick 'em."

"Don't be an asshole. How dare you confront her before you knew the truth? Why didn't you just believe me when I told you there was no one else?"

"You said, there was no other man." he corrected smugly.

Brooke nearly screamed in frustration.

"Nice looking shop there." he added with a chuckle.

"Do you know how stupid I looked? I had no clue you went in there and threatened her! You are so stupid!"

"Oh poor baby. Did I cause trouble with .. Caaaayyyden?

"Fuck you, Grant! Just fuck you!" Brooke slammed down the phone angrily and screamed.

 
*  *  *

Grant stared at the receiver in shock. "Fuck me? Wow, she's really pissed."

 
*  *  *

Brooke surprised herself with the outburst, but Grant infuriated her. The way he said Cayden's name and the way he implied that he was thrilled with the problem he created made her see red. After a few more growls and screams Brooke realized she just fed into his imagination by being so angry. There was nothing she could do any more about Grant. His mind was made up and she pretty much made it all the more believable with her reaction. Oddly enough, she really didn't care what he thought, and as far as she was concerned she had nothing more to say to him. She strode into the bedroom with determination, and started throwing her clothes on the bed. She then stomped into the hall angrily, pulling out a small suitcase and brought it to the bedroom. She threw her clothes inside willy nilly, pausing to grab things from the bathroom and off of the dresser. When she was satisfied that she had all that she needed, she closed the bag and dragged it out to the front door. Dropping it heavily on the floor Brooke took a step back, one deep breath and then started to cry. The days events catching up with her all at once, she sat down on the bag and sobbed.

 
*  *  *

Cayden finished telling Wade what happened and left the room to wash the pizza grease from her hands. Wade sat there on the floor and gaped at her back as she left. Cayden was right, he didn't believe it. So, Brooke insisted that she didn't tell her boyfriend anything. Then, how would he even suspect that Cayden had anything to do with Brooke? Wade's mind was on overdrive. Why Cayden? They hardly know each other. Brooke even said that. Cayden said that Brooke was practically pleading with her to believe she was innocent. Hmm, but that's crazy. How is Cayden supposed to believe her? Really now, there had to be some sort of proof, something had to happen involving Cayden for her boyfriend to become suspicious. Wade furrowed his brows, deep in thought as Cayden returned with more beers. "So, do you believe her... just a little?"