Page 31 of Hidden Desire

“I’m not interested,” Marcus said. “But that’s totally not the point. When you have an in with HR, you tend to learn things, and well, let’s just say that it isn’t always what you want to learn. Take a look.” Sage grabbed his phone and read over an email that was sent to him. “It’s just a plan of what they’re putting together. They haven’t sent out the official word, but it’s coming.”

“What’s coming?” Lena asked, grabbing the seat next to Sage.

Sage pushed the phone towards her so she could read it. “All the senior nurses are getting their 401K’s slashed? How can they do that?”

Marcus shrugged. “And I’m sure they won’t just stop at the nurses. This is getting out of hand. Again, they haven’t finalized the email, but Wyatt said it’s only a matter of time. He was ordered to get it sent out by early next week.”

“Having the middle-man do the dirty work. That’s typical.” Sage shook her head.

“This is annoying,” Lena pushed the phone back to Marcus. “This would never happen if we had a union.”

“Then go ahead and start one,” Sage grumbled. Lena’s brow furrowed in thought. She had a meeting with HR the following week, and she hoped the email would have been sent by then. That way, she could bring it up without getting anyone into trouble. She grabbed her phone and pulled up Stassi’s number.

Sage

I miss you. Doesn’t look like you’ll make it to lunch. Come over to my place tonight!

Stassi was a great stress reliever, and if nothing else, she could have her as a cherry on her evening, but something had to change. She just wasn’t sure how to get that started.

Sage lit two candles and placed them in the center of the table. Flowers were already in the middle, which led to the perfect ambiance. There was a knock on the door, and Sage smirked. She was right on time. She loved that about Stassi.

Sage opened the door and greeted her with a smile before she lowered her gaze to the bag Stassi carried. “What’s this?”

“Well, I thought I might as well bring an overnight bag. You just never know, and it’s better to be prepared, right?” Stassi moved in and gave Sage a kiss, but the sight of the overnight bag did a lot to Sage’s emotions. When she invited Stassi, she hadn’t anticipated that Stassi would take it as an invitation to move in. Yet, here, it felt all too familiar, like her past life was colliding with her present.

Stassi tilted her head as the kiss ended. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked. “You look pissed.”

“Pissed? I wouldn’t say that.” Sage turned away from her and wandered back to the kitchen, where the décor greeted them with a romantic hue.

“This is nice,” Stassi whispered, but she didn’t sound jovial, like when she first arrived.

Sage forced a smile and turned back to her. “I’ll take your bag.” She reached for it and carried it down the hallway to her bedroom. She felt like she was headed to the gas chamber, instead of all the intimate possibilities that would draw them in.

When she turned back around, Stassi had made her way to the bedroom. Stassi smiled but glanced over to her overnight bag. “If I read too much into the evening, I’m sorry. I don’t have to stay over. It was merely a thought. Just in case, you know?” She walked over and grabbed her bag, but Sage was quick to reach for it.

“Keep it here. It was a good thought. I guess I just have a lot of thoughts going through my head. None that should concern you, though.”

Stassi frowned. “Well, if it concerns you, then it concerns me.” There was a small smile on her lips and Sage wanted to pull her into her arms and tell her how sweet that was, but she was frozen. Was it the fear of getting too close to someone else again, so fast? She moved past her, brushing slightly against Stassi before leaving the room. “You know,” Stassi continued. “Whenever I’m stressed, I find that a game of basketball will usually relax me. And I couldn’t help but notice that there’s a court out back. Up for a game?”

Sage laughed. “In my years of living here, I’ve never played one single game of basketball.”

Stassi grinned. “Good because then maybe I’ll have a chance.”

“What about dinner? It’s already prepared and just ready to warm up on the stove. Do you really want to go outside and work up a sweat before we eat?”

Stassi shrugged. “Not all that hungry, are you?”

Sage considered that, then sighed. “Alright. Let’s go.” She blew out the candles, and they left the apartment building. “There’s extra basketballs in here.” Sage stepped into the laundry room and grabbed a ball, and they left through a back door to get to the court. She began dribbling the ball but wasn’t too far into it when Stassi reached out and grabbed the ball from her.

“She shoots. She scores. And the crowd goes wild.” She cheered for herself, and Sage laughed.

“I never knew you were so competitive.”

Stassi grinned wider. “Guess there’s a lot you don’t know about me. Ball is yours.” She bounced the ball to Sage and Stassi went back to dribbling it. She saw Stassi moving towards her to come get the ball, so Sage dodged her and moved closer to her basket. She positioned herself and shot the ball, scoring. “Not bad,” Stassi said. “Now we have a real game.”

They were only ten minutes into it when Sage realized that Stassi was right. She had considerably calmed down, to the point where she was laughing and enjoying being out there with Stassi, as if basketball was her favorite pastime.

“So, do you wanna talk about it?” Stassi asked as she dribbled the ball and stared across at Sage. Sage smiled, relaxing even more.

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