Rough Stock (13 page)

The first one had been relatively casual. “We just got word that Clay Harris took a fall and was injured in the competition in Philadelphia. We’re not sure how bad it is.”

The second was far more ominous. “We just heard that Clay’s in a coma. We’ll let you know more as soon as we can.”

But it was the next one that tore her apart. “Mrs. Harris just called from the hospital in Philly. Um, April, we all know you’re busy, but she thinks you need to get over there if you can, as soon as possible. Here’s the information…”

She lowered the phone after the final voice mail and sunk against Ben’s chest as the intensity of the feelings she’d managed to tamp down for all these years bombarded her at once.

“April, sweetie, are you okay?”

She shook her head. “Get me out of here. Please, Ben. Now.”

“Sure.”

He parted the crowd and soon had her out the door and seated in his car, while she did nothing but stumble after him in a daze, her phone still clutched in one hand and her purse in the other. Ben reached over from the driver’s seat and took both from her, stashing them in the console before taking her now ice-cold hands in his warm ones.

“Tell me.”

She did. Sobbing so hard at times she couldn’t form words, April told him the entire story of that summer. Every detail, things she’d never told another living soul. Things she’d managed lately to pretend didn’t happen as she somehow forced closed the door on that chapter of her life. She’d had to block it all out, it was the only way she could move forward. She finished, exhausted, broken and in more pain than she thought possible.

Ben listened silently until she was done, then he gave her hands a squeeze, turned in his seat and started the car. He pulled away from the curb. She assumed he was taking her back to her apartment, until he turned onto the highway, heading for the bridge.

“Where are we going?”

“Philadelphia.”

“What?”

“April, there’s a man you still obviously love lying in a hospital bed and he needs you. Once we get out of the city there should be no traffic this time of night. We can be there in under two hours if I speed.”

Her tears started anew. “You’d do that for me? Drive me all the way to Philadelphia?”

“Of course I would. I love you.”

April swallowed hard. “And the rest. You haven’t said anything about that.” She bit her lip and waited as he merged into the fast lane before finally answering her.

“Sweetie, I’m a gay man who lives in New York City and works in the fashion industry. Did you really think that a woman loving and being loved by two men in a caring, committed relationship would be scandalous to me?”

When he put it that way, it didn’t sound that bad. If only she’d had the guts to confess it all to him when they’d first met freshman year in college. She could have used his wisdom and comfort then. It would have saved her, all of them, a lot of heartbreak. But she had to remember, New York was not Oklahoma and she doubted anyone back home would be as understanding as Ben if they knew the truth.

“Thank you, Ben.”

He waved off her gratitude with one hand. “I’m not saying I’m not jealous as hell that you had not one, but two hot rodeo cowboys dedicated to pleasing you both in bed and out, but I guess I’ll get over it. Although, when you choose a man who thinks eight seconds is a long time, perhaps you need two of them. Hmm?”

Ben grinned at her and April felt her cheeks flush hot at the mention of the three of them in bed. He must have sensed her discomfort because he laid one hand on her knee. “Don’t get embarrassed, sweetie. I’ve got far more sordid secrets in my past, believe me. Including a ménage a trois. Two women and me.”

April glanced at him with a raised brow. “Two
women
?”

He laughed. “Yeah, I went through a period when I was trying to be straight. One woman didn’t do it for me so I thought I would try two. Had to get myself drunk as shit to do it too. As you can see, it didn’t work.”

She saw the good-natured grin Ben shot her before directing his eyes back to the dark highway. “So, do you think your two cowboys have any gay rodeo friends they can fix me up with?”

For the first time since getting the phone message that was bound to change her life whether she wanted it to or not, April laughed.

Chapter Twelve

“You sure you’re ready for this, Clay?”

“Yes.” Clay flipped the sheet and blanket back.

Clay may be ready, but Mason wasn’t. “But you only woke up like twenty-four hours ago. Don’t you want to rest some more?”

“I slept all damn day. The doc said things looked good. My parents finally went back to the hotel for the night. We’re doing this now, Mason.”

Mason sighed. He knew Clay when he was determined. He would do this with or without help. Not knowing whether he was being a good friend or an idiot who was helping him do more damage to himself, Mason let Clay wrap one arm around his neck while he supported Clay’s weight with an arm on his waist. The fact Clay had the power to swing his legs over the edge of the bed was encouraging. If he were paralyzed, or if there was spinal cord damage, that would have been impossible. Right? Although, what the hell did he know, he was no doctor.

“Clay, are you sure you want to try this?”

“Mason. Shut up and start walking.” A bead of sweat glistened on Clay’s brow.

“You’re in pain. I can tell.”

“
You’re
gonna be in pain if you don’t get me across this room.”

With a groan of frustration, Mason took one step forward and watched as Clay’s foot moved to follow. Clay’s weight shifted to the front foot and Mason decided that constituted one full step.

“See, that’s great. You took a step. Now let’s get you back to bed.”

Clay ignored him and took another step, then another, before he reached out and grabbed the end of the bed frame, rattling the metal as he leaned on it heavily. Mason stood behind him, braced and ready to catch him if he fell. But he didn’t. His face was bright red, his jaw set firm, but Clay stood under his own power.

Letting out a shaky laugh, he turned his head to look at Mason. “All right. It’s not so bad. You can get me back to bed now.”

Releasing a huge breath of relief, Mason resisted the urge to hoist him up and bodily put him back in bed, and instead moved under his arm again, letting Clay lean on him as he worked his way onto the mattress.

Clay looked up and over Mason’s shoulder and his breath caught in his throat.

Concerned, Mason leaned in. “What’s wrong? Shit, I knew this was a bad idea.”

When no answer came, he followed Clay’s gaze and there in the doorway was none other than April. A day late, but there nonetheless.

Seeing her standing in front of him after all these years took his breath away. She looked the same, but somehow totally different. Her skin was paler and more porcelain and her hair darker than he’d ever seen it, as if she hadn’t been out in the sun in a long time. Her face had been pretty before, but now she had a mature, sophisticated beauty that came either from getting older, or the killer red dress that revealed far too much of her body for Mason’s liking.

Tears in her eyes, she took one step forward into the room and then hesitated. When neither of them said a word, she spoke. “The nurse said I could come in. She said she recognized me but I didn’t know what she meant.”

She twisted her fingers together nervously. A few years ago Mason would have gone to her and held her until that frightened, uncertain look left her face. Now, he didn’t move, except to glance at Clay, who also had been strangely quiet. Mason wondered about that.

Looking more uncomfortable with each passing moment, April kept talking. “My father said you were in a coma.”

Finally, Clay spoke. “I woke up.”

Mason raised a brow. Perhaps he’d been wrong about April and Clay, because this was not the way a man should act when first seeing his girlfriend after he’d stared death in the face and won.

April’s gaze shifted to Mason and he felt as uncomfortable as she looked. “Mason.”

He gave her the smallest of nods. “April.” Of all of the times he’d dreamed of seeing her again, now that she was here he had nothing to say.

“I’m surprised to see you here.” Her voice sounded so small.

“I bet you are.” Mason’s response came out sharper than he’d meant it to and he saw her react to it. Her eyes filled, glistening with unshed tears.

He watched her swallow. “I’m glad you’re okay, Clay.” Then she turned and ran out of the room.

Mason let out a curse under his breath, then looked up to find Clay shaking his head.

“All the times I hoped and prayed she’d come walking into a room, and now that she did…”

Mason nodded to his friend. “I know.”

“She doesn’t return any of my phone calls and she hasn’t written since a card last Christmas.”

“I know, Clay. Not to me either.”

“Why?” Clay asked.

Mason laughed. “Hell if I know. I thought it was because she was dating you and didn’t want to tell me.”

Clay frowned. “I would have told you. I don’t take the coward’s way out, Mason. Never have, never will.”

“I know that, and I apologize. Hard to be rational about things like this though.”

“Yeah, I know.” Clay shook his head again. “Go after her, Mason.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I have a feeling we’re gonna be really sorry later if we don’t. I’m not exactly up for a sprint so it has to be you.”

“Are you sure?”

Clay nodded.

Mason let out a breath. “Okay. I’ll be back.”

He ran out into the hall and turned for the exit, figuring he’d catch her at the elevator, but when he passed the glass windows of the waiting room, he skidded to a stop. April was inside, weeping in the arms of a man who looked like he’d stepped off the pages of some magazine with his perfect hair and black tuxedo, complete with bow tie.

Mason stood transfixed, staring at what he assumed was the main reason for April’s absence in their lives, when she looked up and saw him. He was still deciding whether to turn around and go back to Clay’s room, or stand his ground when April sped past him and disappeared into the ladies’ room and her boy toy approached him. Then it was too late, because Mason never backed down from a fight.

The man was taller than Mason, and since he stood six foot one without his boots on, that was saying something. Perhaps there were heels on those black tuxedo shoes.

“You must be Mason.”

“I must be. And who might you be?”
As if I don’t know.

“Ben. Ben Michaels.”

Mason noted how
Ben, Ben Michaels
didn’t extend his hand to shake, which was fine with him. He had no intention of shaking the hand he could vividly picture roaming all over April’s body. He didn’t even have to imagine it, since that dress she was wearing was backless as well as practically frontless, and Ben Ben’s hands had been all over her, “comforting” her.

Once upon a time, that had been his job. His and Clay’s. Obviously she’d found one guy who could do the job it had taken them both to accomplish back when they were eighteen. Mason scowled at the thought.

“You know something, Mason? That girl dropped everything in New York and came here to see your friend because he needed her. When she arrives, you have the nerve to make her cry and then stand there with a puss on your face. You don’t deserve her.”

Mason stood tall, right up in Ben Ben’s face. “What the hell do you know about anything?”

His face showed a look of satisfaction. “I know everything.”

Mason snorted out a laugh. “I seriously doubt that.”

Ben Ben laughed himself. “Well, it was a long drive but I can probably remember most of the important details. Let’s see, you two had sex the first time in a lake by moonlight. Very romantic, I might add. And then you, she and Clay all…”

Mason held up one hand to stop him.

Ben paused, one brow raised. “What? You don’t want to hear what she told me about Clay?”

No, he really did not, but Mason couldn’t form words at the moment.

She had told this guy everything. April, who had trouble opening up to Mason and Clay that summer, had spilled all of her secrets and theirs to this man who obviously meant more to her than they had.

Mason swallowed hard and figured he had nothing left to lose. Since he’d already lost April, he may as well go for it. “So if you know so much, tell me this. Why did she stop writing to both of us? Why didn’t she call? Why did she act as if nothing had ever happened? Huh? I’m betting it was because of you.”

Ben’s face softened. “I don’t know why she didn’t keep in touch, but I can assure you, it had nothing to do with me.”

Ah, so Ben Ben was a new addition in April’s life. It must have been another guy then.

Mason sighed, feeling guilty for blaming the messenger. “Look, I didn’t mean to make her cry. It’s just…”

“You’re still in love with her and it hurts?”

God, Mason hated opening his soul to anyone, but he definitely was not going to do it for this guy. “Whatever. Look, you’ll take care of her and make sure she gets home okay tonight, right?”