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The bystanders who had been filming them on their phones.
“Who posted it?” he managed to ask.
“I don’t know. Luke said he’s trying to track down the original source, but the person who went viral got it from someone else, who got it from someone else. It’s been a shit-show.”
Caleb scrubbed both hands down his face, feeling a groan ripple out of his chest. Deep down, he knew something like this would happen. He knew that it wouldn’t just be over. He took a fortifying breath, then looked up at his brother. “So why are all these people here?”
Wren bit his lip and his eyes darted off to the side for a second. His tells were always so damn obvious. “Some of them are here to support you. People who understood what was happening in the video.”
“And the rest?” Caleb demanded.
Wren swallowed. “I think they just…want to see you. See if there’s more drama or something. A lot of them are curious about a bunch of Deafies running a café.”
Rage coiled at the base of his spine and threatened to explode like a firework. He breathed through it. “Tell them to leave.”
“They’re buying stuff,” Wren argued. “They cleared out the pastry counter, and…” His hands stilled, then he pulled his phone out of his pocket, reading a text before he shoved it back. “I need to get those cookies out there, and you need to go home until this dies down. I called Bodhi in to cover the counter while I take care of getting everything baked, and I already got ahold of all the other baristas to rearrange their schedules. Most of them are done with class by two, so we’ll be better off in the afternoon.”
Caleb drummed his fingers on his thigh in thought. “I’ll send Jori in, and I’ll go over to his place and babysit.” What he wanted to do was confront the whole thing head on and not hide like a damn coward, but the people weren’t there because they felt bad for him. They weren’t there because they wanted to support him after getting viciously dumped on camera.
They just wanted to gawk.
And he wasn’t in the mood.
He was exhausted and emotional, and the last thing he needed was to go viral again because of his temper. He wondered for a moment if maybe this café wasn’t a mistake. It offered so many people a chance to work a steady job without stressing about communication or being some sort of token diversity hire that would ultimately lead to getting fired for some BS reason. And Caleb knew this because he’d been through it.
This was his own job security.
He wasn’t going to let all those people ruin it. He wasn’t going to let Cameron take that away from him because he was a narcissist who loved a public fucking spectacle.
He might track him down and punch him in the mouth though, because Cameron damn-well knew what he was doing, taking that conversation outside in front of a bunch of people. Rubbing his eyes again, Caleb walked forward and wrapped a hand around his brother’s neck, squeezing.
“Text me if you need me. I’ll deal with it if I need to.”
“I’ve got your back,” Wren told him in response. “We’ve all got your back.”
Caleb felt warm and loved which was a nice contrast to the other raging badness that was burning away in his chest. He palmed his keys while he waited for Wren to let himself out, and after counting to twenty, he stepped out of the office…
And immediately crashed into someone who was hurrying down the hall. He tripped backward into his office, the other body falling on top of him, and it took his eyes a second to focus on the face hovering in front of his.
Bodhi.
Caleb felt that same bizarre rush in his stomach that happened every time he set eyes on the younger man. “Get off me,” he signed with one hand.
Bodhi scrambled back, his mouth moving presumably saying aloud, “Sorry, sorry,” the way he always did.
Caleb told himself to keep his temper in check, but in that split second of Bodhi talking, leaving the wall of silence up between them in his own fucking shop, he lost it. He slapped his hand hard on the floor, then climbed to his feet as Bodhi backed up toward the wall.
“For an asshole who loves hearing so much, you don’t like to listen, do you?”
Bodhi swallowed thickly, his eyes wide. There was something on his face—an expression Caleb knew intimately—and it caused something in his gut to crack wide open. Guilt poured in, but before he could do anything about it, Bodhi circled a fist over his chest. “Sorry. I know.”
Caleb took a breath to try and steady himself. His rage was not Bodhi’s fault. He slowed down his signs. “Why were you running like your ass was on fire?”
Bodhi glanced behind him like the answers were out there waiting in the shadows, then he turned his gaze back to Caleb. “I don’t like how many people are out there, but I know Wren needs my help. It was too much and I panicked.”
Caleb bit the inside of his cheek, then jerked his head toward the door. He could see it all over Bodhi’s face. The guy was about to crack and that was the last thing Caleb needed on his plate. At least this he could fix. “Come with me.”
Bodhi hesitated, but Caleb didn’t give him the chance to answer, turning his back quickly on the younger man and leading the way out the back door and into the service alley. The moment the door swung open, he spotted a few cars trying to cram into the tiny parking spaces and he ducked behind the massive dumpsters before he was recognized.
