Accidents happens
Meeting Steve Rogers wasn’t part of her plan, neither was the way they met… with her slamming a full tray of cupcakes into one of the most notorious mobsters in the city. Of course, she didn’t know who he was at that moment.
“Oh my god, I’m so, so sorry,” she said, taking out a cloth to try and clean the pink frosting off his white shirt. She could feel his heavy gaze on her and was waiting for him to snap at her, but he didn’t. That surprised even him, but there was something about this girl that made him stop instead of screaming at her.
“Don’t worry, accidents happen even to the best of us,” he said calmly, his voice low and a little smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
Of course, the owner of the bakery, who knew who Steve was, didn’t take the “accidents happen” excuse kindly and fired her that same day.
She didn’t know what all the fuss was about, the customer had been pretty chill about the accident, and she thought that was enough. But no, it was never enough with men.
She would need to find a job soon. She needed the money. She had moved to the big city to put a big distance between her and her ex, but she came to New York with nothing, no money, no clothes, no belongings, nothing, considering she had been in a rush when she escaped the clutches of the devil she had been living with for four years.
“Fuck men,” she said, talking to herself while walking home. “Fuck this city,” she continued in her verbal assault. “Fuck…”
Before she could finish the sentence, someone cleared their throat behind her, and she turned around to see the same man she had slammed the tray of cupcakes into.
“I hope my name isn’t next on that long list,” he said jokingly, a little smile on his lips.
She was a little taken aback by his sudden appearance, but she chuckled. “I don’t even know your name, sir.”
Steve was a little surprised by this, there weren’t many people who didn’t recognize him or Bucky, but he didn’t comment on it and hid his surprise. “I’m Steve, sweetheart,” he said, stretching out his hand to her.
She took his hand and shook it while telling him her name… well, her fake name, the one she had taken when she escaped her boyfriend six months ago.
“Want me to put in a good word with the owner of the bakery? Get your job back?”
The question took her by surprise. What kind of power did this man hold? She thought about Greg, her ex, he was a powerful man, and she knew from experience not to mess with his kind… not again.
“No, thank you,” she pretended to be cool about it. “I’m a little too prideful to go back there after how the owner treated me.” That wasn’t a lie, she was too prideful for her own good. “But I appreciate your kindness.”
She could see how Steve’s face hardened for a few seconds before he masked it again with a soft smile and gaze.
“What about this…” he started, his voice soft, almost hypnotizing. “I went to the bakery because I was looking for a cake for next weekend. Do you think you can manage that?”
She looked at him, not hiding her surprise. She wanted to say yes on the spot, but she couldn’t.
“I would love to, but I’m pretty new in the city, and I don’t have any ingredients or a car to transport the cake. I’m sorry.” She really wanted to take the order, she needed the money.
Steve’s smile didn’t fade. He looked through his jeans pockets, took out some money, and handed it to her.
“It’s the least I can do for getting you fired. This should be enough for you to buy some ingredients…”
He couldn’t finish talking because his phone started ringing. He took it out and grimaced.
“I need to go, sweetheart, but I’ll send you the details for the cake.” He started walking toward where he had parked his car.
“Wait… you don’t even have my phone number,” she said, following him while putting the money into her jeans.
“I don’t need it,” he said with a cheeky grin, then got into his car and pulled off fast.
She didn’t know how long she stayed there, staring into nothing. When she snapped out of her surprise, she took out the money to count it.
“Holy shit,” she whispered. That was much more than a payment for a cake. “Who carries this amount of money?” she thought. “Doesn’t he know this city is fucking dangerous?”
She secured the money back into her jeans and almost sprinted to her apartment. The money felt heavy in there. When she finally arrived, a relieved sigh left her mouth.
“This city is mad.”
Two days later, she was walking out of a horrible job interview when her phone rang with a message from an unknown number. Her heart started beating fast. With shaky hands, she opened it.
“hi :)”
It was simple and didn’t give away who it was.
“What if it’s Greg?”
“Sorry, who is this?” she sent back.
“You wound me. Two days and you already forgot me, sweetheart?”
She let out the air she hadn’t even noticed she was holding. Sweetheart. That was how Steve had called her.
She didn’t know a single thing about him, but in a twisted way, she felt relieved that it was him and not her ex.
“Steve, hi. I’m sorry, your message took me by surprise,” she answered, not even asking how he had gotten her number in the first place. She supposed her ex-boss had given it to him.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I hope the money I gave you is enough for baking the cake.”
“It was more than enough. I’ll give you back half of it, or more,” she texted honestly.
“Nothing about that. That money is yours now,”she read. Then, another text appeared quickly after. “Any suggestions you have about the cake?”
With that, they started texting. She asked some questions about his preferences—the flavors he liked, the frosting, the decorations, and all that.
In the next few days, she sent him some ideas, started getting ingredients, and continued looking for a decent job offer. It was hard because, with a false name, she didn’t have many accomplishments. But she was managing.
The money Steve had given her bought her some time, what she didn’t knew was how accepting to bake this cake will mess her life.