by Sable Sylvan
During the week, Cayenne and Basil worked separately. Cayenne would work in the kitchen during the mornings, while Basil worked on his laptop, looking at furniture he thought would look good in the restaurant. Cayenne had her sleeves rolled up and was cooking up a storm, cooking classical Texan cuisine ranging from barbecue to burgers and Tex-Mex. All the Quincy and Scoville siblings would come over to have a big lunch together and go over what had happened that day. Lunches acted as a daily business meeting. Then, Cayenne and Basil swapped places. At night, Basil experimented in the kitchen, making dishes for Cayenne to try, but she hadn’t liked any of them. Cayenne sat at the table doing market research. Basil cooked dinner for everyone, and then they all headed back to the house. Usually, staff would have cooked all the meals, but they had their hands full. Five times the people in the house meant five times the cleaning. Cooking up grub beat cleaning toilets or doing laundry.
That was their routine…at least, until Friday.
On Friday afternoon, after cleaning up the dining room, Cayenne was still cooking.
“Hey,” said Basil. “Can I help you with something?”
“Ugh, if you insist,” said Cayenne. “Wash the round platter I served the gelatin desserts on, and get me some small paper cups, the ones with wax inside, and a box of the fancy toothpicks, the colorful ones with the plastic at the tip.”
Cayenne kept cooking up the tri-tip steak on the stove, and once it was done, she let it sit for a second while she set up the paper cups on the tray. She then cut the steak into small bite-sized pieces, stuck each of them with a different toothpick, and added them to the cups. Then, she added hot sauce to each cup.
“What are you doing?” asked Basil.
“Making samples,” said Cayenne. “I know the people of this town, and I know they want good old fashioned beef, not…what was it you made last night?”
“Gyudon, a Japanese rice bowl with beef and onions,” said Basil.
“Yeah, well, tri-tip is better,” said Cayenne.
“What’s the deal with the toothpicks?” asked Basil. “Why the fancy ones?”
“They look more appealing, and they’re color coded,” explained Cayenne. “See? The ones that are green are for the jalapeño sauce, the red ones are for the roasted habanero sauce, and the brown ones are for the adobo chipotle sauce.”
“That’s smart,” said Basil.
Cayenne went back to the stove and started to clean up, but Basil put his hand on her arm.
Cayenne looked up at Basil. He hadn’t touched her in a long time, and each time he did, it sent a tingle down her spine.
“What?” asked Cayenne.
“I’ll clean up,” said Basil. “You go out there and hustle. It’s supposed to be chilly tonight. I know this is Texas, but…”
“You’re right,” admitted Cayenne. “We heard that on the radio on the way in. I’ll make it fast. Smell this. The tri-tip sells itself.” Cayenne went over to the coat rack but didn’t put on her hoodie. She put on an apron, black, reading ‘The Feminine Mesquite’ in white, with one of the colored dragons from the hot sauce bottles on the front. The aprons had been made to promote the new adobo chipotle sauce, and Cayenne and Basil had been borrowing them from the hot sauce shop.
Basil got the doors for Cayenne who stepped out onto the Main Street of Fallowedirt, Texas with a platter full of tri-tip and a heart full of dreams. She’d show everyone she was right. She had been right last week, and she’d be right tonight. Her sister was right. She’d wasted her time with the cook-off. It was supposed to be market search, but the sample size was altogether too small. She’d let the people vote, as they had at the fair, except this time, they’d be casting their ballots in the form of empty paper cups and toothpicks that had been licked clean of delicious hot sauce.
Cayenne looked down the street. Fallowedirt was plain, but like anything, it was gorgeous by the light of the afternoon summer sun. A group of people was walking down Main Street and window shopping. They’d be into her sauce!
…But the people passed by her, without a word, even as she hawked the sauce like an expert saleswoman.
The wind started to blow as the sun fell in the sky, and the tri trip on the platter was getting cold. She had only managed to get a few people to try the tri-tip, and none had gone into the store to buy any sauce or told her that this was the most delicious tri-tip they’d ever tried. Cayenne went back inside and microwaved the little cups on a microwave safe plate before replating them on the platter and heading back out.
It was night time, but there were people out and about in Fallowedirt…none of whom wanted to try her sauce.
The wind was still blowing gently, but the temperature had taken quite a drop. It was usually in the sixties or seventies on a June night in Fallowedirt, but that night, it was in the low fifties.
Cayenne turned as she heard a noise. She thought it was a potential customer, but no, it was just frikkin’ Basil.
Basil had his sleeves rolled up and was holding her hoodie.
“Hey, put this on,” said Basil, walking toward Cayenne. He didn’t toss the jacket to her because she was holding the tray of meat.
“I’m fine,” said Cayenne coldly…literally coldly, as a shiver went down her spine.
“I can hear your teeth chattering from back in the kitchen,” said Basil. “Just put on the hoodie.”
“I’m fine,” said Cayenne. “Shouldn’t you be working on dinner?”
“The pizzas are in the oven,” said Basil.
“How did you manage to ruin pizza?” asked Cayenne.
“It’s hard to mess up pepperoni and five-cheese pizza,” said Basil. “You’ll come in for dinner, right?”
“Just save me a slice or two,” said Cayenne. “I’m busy, Basil.”
“Fine, suit yourself, Kai,” said Basil, walking back into the restaurant.
Cayenne stayed outside, and the temperature dropped a few more degrees, slowly but steadily. The streets of Fallowedirt weren’t empty. There was a bar across the street that was full of people that were watching a sports game. Cayenne started watching what they were watching on screen, some golf tourney, and started to zone out. She felt herself almost drop the tray, so she shook herself awake.
The lights outside of The Feminine Mesquite went off, and Alice and Herb and Sav and Mace came out the front door.
“Kai, what in tarnation are you doing?” asked Alice, putting a hand on her hip.
“Passing out samples,” said Cayenne. “Let me guess. You’re here for dinner. Quincy-Scoville party of nine?”
“Party of nine?” asked Herb. “You’re not saying that you’re gonna stay out here during dinner.”
“It’s fine. Basil promised to save me a slice,” said Cayenne. “I just need to finish up here. Okay?”
“If you insist,” said Savina. “But Kai, take my hoodie.”
“I’m fine,” said Cayenne. “I’m not cold.”
“Yeah, and I’m not polar,” sassed Mace.
“Mace, manners,” said Herb curtly.
“Well, we’d love for you to join us,” said Alice, staying behind as the rest of the group walked into the restaurant so she could have a moment with her second youngest sister. “But…you do what you think is best. Just, don’t make the mistake I made, Kai.”
“What mistake?” asked Cayenne.
“Don’t let pride get in the way of what’s important,” said Alice. “Okay?”
“I don’t know if that’s a promise I can make,” admitted Cayenne.
“I’m not asking for a promise,” said Alice. “I’m asking you to try.”
“I can try,” admitted Cayenne. “You better get a slice before the Scovilles eat us out of house and home.”
“Says the girl standing outside with a platter of cold tri-tip?” said Alice, a hand on her hip. “Don’t catch a death of cold, or Grandma Barbara will tan my hide.”
“Of course,” said Cayenne. “I’ll be in shortly. Don’t worry.”
Alice went inside and turned on the outside lights so that Cayenne wasn’t in the dark.
The streets of Fallowedirt were still pretty empty. The only thing that was brightly lit were the bars, especially the sports bar. Cayenne went back to watching the game and started to feel sleepy…too sleepy.
She didn’t want to go inside and fall asleep at the table. All she needed to do was shut her eyes for a second.
Cayenne sat down on the wooden bench outside of the restaurant and shut her eyes for a few seconds. A few seconds became a few minutes, and a few minutes became fifteen minutes.
Cayenne was so deep in sleep she didn’t hear the sports bar doors open and hear the people spilling out, angry about the loss of the local favorite golfer. This was Texas, after all, and it wasn’t football season, but they still took their sports seriously.
Cayenne did wake up when she felt someone brush by her arm. She opened her eyes. Two men were in front of her, out of town looking men, with a wolfish looking set of features.
“Sorry, can I help you?” asked Cayenne sleepily.
“We’re just wondering if we can sample what you’ve got,” said the first man, leaning forward. Cayenne saw that the top of his chest was exposed, hairy, but there was what looked like a tattoo on his chest. That’s when she realized that these men weren’t just wolfish…they were werewolves, wolf shifters.
“Yes, take as many samples as you like,” said Cayenne, offering the tray to the men.
“Silly girl, we don’t want your meat,” said the second man, taking one of the pieces of meat, eating it, and throwing the toothpick and cup out onto the street. “We want your curves.”
“Although you do look good enough to eat,” said the first man.
“You have the wrong idea,” said Cayenne. “All I have is hot sauce.”
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, sugar pea,” said the second man, reaching forward to brush against her shoulders with his hand, the paw mark of his species rough against her exposed skin. Right about now, Cayenne wished she’d worn that frikkin’ sweater.
“Don’t touch me,” warned Cayenne.
“Or what?” said the first man, brushing his hand against Cayenne’s thigh, which was only covered by a pair of short denim shorts.
“Don’t touch me,” shouted Cayenne, getting up from the bench, but the wolf shifters pushed her back down.
“Come on, darling, let’s have some fun,” said the second wolf. “Let’s take this party back to our place.”
Cayenne reached up and slapped the second wolf shifter. She couldn’t help it, but as soon as her hand made contact with the werewolf’s five-o-clock shadow, she regretted doing it, as she saw both of their eyes glint bright green and seemingly flash from within.
“Oh, now you’ve pissed him off,” said the first wolf. “You might just get eaten up, Little Red Riding Hood.”
The second man had backed off…but he was getting down on all fours. Cayenne knew what he was about to do, and there was no way for her to stop it.
Well, no way for her to stop it, but that didn’t mean that someone else couldn’t handle it.
A beast with ivory fur that looked like it had risen out of the sands of the desert of time barreled through the front door of the restaurant. Giant, with a snarling mouth that wasn’t in a grin but was open for the bear to use to roar at the wolves that dared to threaten the woman he had yet to claim, there was no mistaking this bear as anything but a Scoville Polar shifter.
The polar moved forward, and Cayenne realized she knew exactly which polar this was. She had seen it just a few weeks beforehand.
It was Basil frikkin’ Scoville, and he was on the warpath.
Basil looked at Cayenne and nodded his head for her to move. Cayenne started to move toward him, but the two wolf shifters had quickly shifted into their wolf forms. They were gray wolves with streaks of black and brown fur, and they snapped and snarled at her, threatening to bite her.
Basil took this opportunity. He ran forward and barreled into the two wolves, pushing them back, careful not to hit Cayenne. Cayenne quickly moved backward, so that she and Basil had switched spaces.
Basil roared at the wolves. He snapped right back at them and swiped at their faces. They’d threatened his woman, so all bets were off. The bear had taken over, and Basil couldn’t hold it back even if he’d wanted to…and the human side of Basil didn’t want to show these wolves an ounce of humanity.
The wolves leaped forward, to bite at Basil’s neck, but the first missed. The second did not. It had a lock on Basil’s neck and even though Basil squirmed and swiped, the second was not letting go of his neck.
Cayenne couldn’t just watch this happen and not do anything. There was no time to get the rest of the Scovilles. She did what every Southern woman must do time to time and made do with what she had…and like a Texas woman, defended her family and her property.
Cayenne grabbed the platter. It was metal, not too heavy, but it could do some damage. She flipped the sauce cups off the platter and ran with the platter, up to the second wolf, and used the platter to smack the wolf on the head. She used the metal disk’s sides to smack the wolf on the neck, making it let go of Basil’s neck, before using the broad side of the platter to smack the wolf’s head aside as if the head was a ping-pong ball and her platter, the paddle.
Cayenne and Basil covered each other’s backs as the wolves circled them.
It was a Tex-Mexican standoff, but what these wolves didn’t know was that the polar and the BBW were more than just hot sauce hotties. These two firecrackers could bring the heat.
Cayenne let out a big yell, and Basil roared as Cayenne reached forward to smack a wolf upside the head with the platter, and Basil pounced to swipe the other wolf on the side of its face. Cayenne kept beating the wolf up as Basil kept hitting the other wolf in the face. The wolves, stunned, became confused, and then yipped and ran off into the night.
Cayenne went to sit down, huffing and puffing. She’d had an adrenaline rush, and now, she was crashing hard. Before she reached the bench, she slipped on one of the slippery pieces of tri-tip that were now sprinkling the sidewalk outside the restaurant. As she fell backward, two strong arms caught her and held her up.
She looked up. It was Basil, in his human form…and he was naked. She didn’t look down, or at his chest. Her eyes fluttered closed as her body instinctively curled up against his chest.
Basil opened the door and gently placed Cayenne on the couch before heading to the back room…which meant that Cayenne got another sneak peek of Basil’s bare buns.
Cayenne yawned as her sister Savina came out of the kitchen.
“Kai, what the heck happened?” asked Savina.
“Two wolves got fresh with me,” said Cayenne. “But am I seeing things, or are you really there?”
“I’m here,” said Savina, pulling up a chair to sit with her sister. “Kai, you had me worried. I stayed behind tonight to help Basil clean up after dinner. It was another punishment given that Mace and I got into another fight. Mace went back to the house where he has to help the staff scrub toilets tonight. Anyway, I didn’t hear it, but Basil’s a shifter, so he suddenly just turned, told me to stay put and not leave the restaurant, and he left, and I swear, swear to goodness, mid-run, he shifted. He frikkin’ turned into his polar, and then…what happened?”
“The two wolf shifters had come up to me when I was on the bench and were aggressive,” said Cayenne. “They were interested in more than the hot sauce if you catch my drift.”
“You don’t mean…” started Savina.
“That’s right,” said Cayenne. “They asked me back to their place. I said no, they ‘insisted,’ and I slapped one for being gross…and the one I slapped started to shift. That’s when Basil burst out of the door and frikkin’ saved me…but it was two against one, so I helped. What’s Basil doing back in the kitchen?”
“Getting changed into a spare change of clothes,” said Savina. “All the Scovill
es keep a spare set of clothes at the store, the restaurant, the warehouse, and the factory because eventually, they’re gonna need one.”
“I gotta get up and clean up the mess outside,” said Cayenne, getting up. “I can’t just leave the meat to rot on the street. What would people think?”
“Don’t get up,” ordered Savina, pushing Cayenne back down onto the couch. “I’m supposed to be cleaning anyway, aren’t I? You just stay put and get some rest.”
“Okay, okay,” said Cayenne, yawning as she lay back down. She was so exhausted by what had happened.
Thirty minutes later, Cayenne was woken by the feeling of being carried. She freaked out and opened her eyes, and realized that the person carrying here was Basil.
“You’re awake, good,” said Basil. “It’s time to go home. You’re gonna sit in the back with me. Savina, grab the door. I know that I said I’d drive, but…looks like I’ll need to stay in the back with Kai.”
Savina opened the door to the kitchen and turned the light off and locked up once Basil was outside with Cayenne in his arms. Cayenne shivered and nuzzled closer to Basil, who was wearing a flannel shirt again…and that’s when she realized one of them had put her in one of the Scoville brothers’ shirts, too. The flannel Basil was wearing was boring and basic, but the one she was wearing felt cashmere soft. Basil had worn one of his brother’s ugly flannels and let her wear his nice, warm one? What the heck was going on?
Savina quickly came up to the SUV and opened the back door.
“I’m gonna sit you down real fast,” said Basil. “I’ll be sitting in the back with you to keep you upright during the drive. Savina, don’t aim for the potholes.”
“You got it, boss man,” said Savina, getting in the driver’s seat.
Cayenne was buckled into the seat behind the passenger seat, while Basil took the seat behind the driver’s seat, giving Cayenne more room. Cayenne kept falling asleep, so Basil finally just let her rest her head on his lap. It wasn’t the safest thing to do, but smacking wolves upside the head with a metal platter hadn’t been either.
