DISCLAIMERS: in Part 1

Hidden Desires, Part 10

©2002 -Vertigo-

Cayden 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.

"... 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 oughtta 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 harrass 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?"

Cayden shook her head and sighed. "I don't know. Wade, you should have seen her, she was crying, she was so upset. She said that it made her crazy to be telling the truth and me not believing her. I don't know what to think."

"You gotta admit, its hard to believe she's telling the truth."

They sat there, drinking beer and lost in thought until Cayden stood up and stretched. "You know, I almost believed her. She's either telling the truth, or a very convincing bullshit artist, and some how... I don't think its the latter. Maybe I don't want to think that."

"She must have put up a good fight."

"Actually she was pretty frustrated." Cayden grinned. "I know this is probably going to sound sick, but she was kinda cute when she was pissed."

Wade snickered. "I can't believe you would even go there. Now I really need to see this woman."

"She's certainly easy on the eyes my friend, but straight girls who tell tall tales aren't my type."

"I thought you said you believed her?"

"I said I almost did."

"I hear ya Cayd, but you know, maybe you should talk to her when you're both calmed down some. Maybe there's more to the story. She sure seemed insistent that she was telling the truth."

"She did." the shopkeeper agreed. "Though I can't really come up with any other reasons for her boyfriend to make his assumptions."

"I think if you two talk in a civilized manner, she'll tell you what's going on."

"Maybe. In the future. The very distant future, I might think about letting her explain."

***********************

"Brooke, do you want some tea?" Harriet Hewitt asked her depressed daughter.

"No, Ma, I don't want anything, thank you." the blonde said sadly.

The older woman moved to sit besides her daughter on the couch. Brooke looked miserable and it broke her heart. "Honey, I know it hurts. Do you want to talk some more?"

Brooke sighed. Her mother was under the impression that she was upset solely over leaving Grant. She couldn't tell her mother that Grant didn't matter half as much as Cayden's opinion of her. She felt horrible that she was perceived as a liar to the tall woman. She felt as if she humiliated herself, and Cayden just stood there, smirking, making her feel even worse. Frustration bubbled over Brooke's tolerance level and she felt her eyes well up uncontrollably.

"Brooke, come on honey, talk to me, or cry if you want to, but don't just sit there."

The small blonde who felt far smaller than her 5'5" broke out into tears. "Oh mom, I feel so horrible!" She sobbed.

"I know baby." Her mother cooed. "It's scary when we suddenly find ourselves all alone."

Brooke forced herself to stop crying. "That's not it Ma." she whispered through a sniffle.

"Then what can be bothering you so?"

"I can't. Nothing. I'll be ok." the blonde said unconvincingly and slipped out if her mother's embrace.

"Where are you going?"

"To bed, ma." Brooke sighed and went to her old bedroom.

**********************

Cayden awoke in the middle of the night her mind too active to sleep. She replayed the previous days events over again in her head, not wanting to, but unable to make it go away. She growled as she remembered Brooke's boyfriend poking her. What did she say his name was? Grant? Stupid name. The tall woman fluffed up her pillow and tried to go back to sleep, but her brain wouldn't allow it. Suddenly, her door opened, ever so slowly and she frowned. The bed shook as La La lept up onto it, purring before he even reached Cayden. She reached out her hand and waited for the cat to head-butt it. She extended her long fingers and rubbed and scratched him until he started dancing around the bed. "Ok, that's enough, lay down now." she whispered. The fat cat flopped down and stretched all his paws out, purring like a machine. "Geez, you're getting louder by the second. You're going to wake up daddy and then what am I going to do if he catches us like this?" she joked, still idly petting him. "Can you believe that Brooke?" she asked La La, who really couldn't care less. A thought occurred to Cayden and her lips turned up into a smile. "You know..." she started, her eyes closing as she recalled their second meeting vividly. "She was definitely into me. In fact, La La, she was even staring at my ass." Cayden began snickering. "I bet you anything that Jodie is right... as always. I bet, that Brooke never had feelings for a woman before me." Cayden chuckled smugly. "Heh. I'm her first... and you know what?" The brunette shifted her feet and laced her fingers behind her head. "It doesn't feel half bad. I mean, compared to all the other mental cases falling all over me, I kinda like that Brooke thinks I'm hot." A cocky grin formed on Cayden's face and La La squirmed around until he got comfortable again. "Yep, it feels pretty damned good. Too bad she annoys me. For a woman with such a fine body and the sexiest green eyes, she really pisses me off."

**************************

Brooke was sitting astride Cayden's lap, facing her, the brunette's lips latched onto her breast, her large hands drifting up and down the blonde's naked back. Brooke groaned and dug her fingers into Cayden's shoulders and arched her back, forcing more of her flesh into Cayden's mouth. Electric blue eyes looked up and a shock jolted Brooke's groin. "I want you so bad..." she moaned in a throaty whisper. "Please, touch me..."

The tall woman's hand slid between Brooke's legs, long fingers touched her, spread her wetness around, glided up and down. Brooke shuddered and ground herself into the brunette's fingers as blue eyes never left her own. "Yess.. Oh Cayden yes..."

Brooke awoke with a violent shiver. Green eyes scanned desperately in the dark for something... anything to ground her and tell her she was awake. Finally aware of where she was, she sat up and kicked the sheet off of her damp body. "I don't believe it! You have got to be kidding me!" she muttered in wonder, wiping her hands over her face. "Why the hell am I still dreaming about her? After what happened..." she turned on the bedside lamp and swug her legs off the bed. "I am nuts! What is going on with my hormones? How can I still have those kinds of dreams after how she got off on my distress?" She walked into the kitchen, passing a sleeping Fred on the way. She smiled at the curled up little dog and proceeeded to get herself some juice. Glancing at the clock she made a sour face whe she saw it was only five-thirty. She still had time to sleep but doubted it would happen now. Her eyes were wide open, her pulse was beating rapidly as she tried to erase the sensations that were coursing through her body. The sound of tiny toenails informed Brooke that Fred was coming and the blonde squatted down to wait for him. She watched the little old dog stretch before she petted him gently. "So Freddy baby, what do you think about an early walk today?" Fred's ears perked right up at his favorite word. Brooke smiled and stood up again. "Okay, just let me shower and dress and we'll be on our way."

*************************

Jodie was completely confused. Wade had told her everything that happened between Brooke and Cayden in a late night phone call. Jodie wasn't confused about the story, she was confused about Cayden's behavior. Not only was her friend acting completely out of character by instigating a confrontation, but she seemed to enjoy being mean to Brooke. Sure, Cayden had every right to lay into the small blonde, but, she shouldn't have enjoyed it. Cayden hated making people feel bad. Not the teasing kind of bad because she did that all the time, but the genuine make someone cry bad. That struck Jodie as very odd. Wade too. They speculated as to the cause of this impromptu change in their friend. Wade thinks Cayden has serious feelings for Brooke and is transferring her emotions to anger. Jodie wants to agree, but she really wants to witness it for herself. True, Cayden had been acting rather strange lately, talking about meaningless sex, making out with Denise without a care in the shop. Still, Jodie needed some proof. She needed to be sure that Cayden was truly acting this way towards Brooke, because she couldn't really believe it. Both Wade and Jodie agreed that Cayden should be angry. They also concurred that Brooke's claim of innocence was flaky. Both Wade and Jodie wanted answers. If Cayden was really falling for Brooke, it should make sense they should sit down and discuss this normally and calmly, not with alarms blaring and big emotions. Wade said to leave it to him. Jodie was skeptical that he could come up with something but since she had no answers, she allowed him the chance.

part 11

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