Rough Stock (14 page)

Ben laughed sadly. “I can make sure she gets home, but I’m not the one who can make her okay. You and Clay have to do that.”

Mason frowned. “Haven’t you been listening? She doesn’t want us. She hasn’t for a long while. I don’t know what she wants.”

“Then find out.”

Shaking his head, Mason stared at this man before him. “You’re telling me to make a play to take your girlfriend away from you?”

At that, Ben let out a deep laugh, straight from the belly. “April’s not my girlfriend. She’s my friend.”

With one brow cocked, Mason pulled up one lip in a sneer. “Yeah, like she was just Clay’s and my friend too.”

Ben Ben shook his head emphatically. “Not the same thing at all.”

Mason continued to stare at the lunatic before him until Ben finally said, “You really haven’t figured it out yet, have you? I guess it’s true what they say about the turnip truck.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing, just me being a snide New Yorker. Look, Mason, sweetie. I’m gay. The only way April could be my girlfriend would be if she strapped a dick onto that hot little body of hers. And the only reason I know she has a hot body is because she wears the clothes I design for her so divinely. Now, if
you’d
be willing to join us in bed, I’m sure I could rise to the occasion and perform adequately for her…”

Mason skipped right over the fact Ben Ben was baiting him with his bawdy come-on. He jumped straight past the relief that he wasn’t April’s boyfriend because that didn’t mean she didn’t have one stashed back in New York. Instead he focused on the one thing that was most important. “You designed that…
dress
she’s wearing?”

Ben nodded.

Mason scowled. “Next time try putting a front and a back in it, okay?”

Laughing until he had to wipe his eyes, Ben finally found enough breath to say, “You cowboys are absolutely precious.”

With no clue how to respond to that, Mason turned. “You should go check on April.”

Ben grabbed his arm. “I’ll go in a sec. Listen, Mason, seriously. I can tell you this. I’ve known her since college. Whatever kept April away from you two, it wasn’t loving another man. I promise you that.”

Mason shrugged callously, letting his eyes roam over Ben Ben’s impeccable and very expensive-looking tux. “Then the answer is clear. We country boys were good enough for her then, but we aren’t anymore. That’s fine. Tell her I wish her well.”

He turned and walked back to Clay’s room.

Chapter Thirteen

Surrounded by the antiseptic smell of the hospital, April stared at the puffy-eyed, tear-streaked face reflected back at her in the mirror.

The door swung open. She’d expected it to be one of the female nurses, but instead Ben stood in the doorway. “May I come in?”

“I’m alone in here, if that’s what you’re asking.”

He shook his head and stepped inside, letting the door shut completely behind him. “Well, that, and I guess I’m asking if you want company.”

April released a short laugh. “Sure. Why not.”

Behind her, Ben’s hands began stroking her bare arms as he met her gaze in the mirror. “Wanna talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about? They both hate me.”

Ben shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. I talked to the angry one. Mason.”

April laughed bitterly at the apt description Ben had used. “And?”

“He’s hurt, he’s angry, but it doesn’t stem from hate, April. It’s love. Straight men don’t know how to deal with emotions like that.” He turned her to face him, and she leaned against the sink so she could look up at his face. “He said you stopped writing or calling them both.”

“It’s complicated, Ben. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

She sighed. The middle of the night in a hospital public restroom was not the time and place she pictured confessing her sins, but then again, there would be no good time for this. “That first time with Mason…”

Ben nodded.

“We didn’t use anything.”

April watched understanding dawn on her best friend’s face as he took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. “Oh. How did you handle it?”

“I didn’t. I ignored that I only spotted but never really got my period that summer. I told myself it was just nerves or something. I figure I was only two months along when I left for school and I wasn’t really showing so the guys never suspected. Then, when I got to New York for school…”

She swallowed hard. “One night I had a fever and chills, cramping and stomach pains and I had to keep running to the toilet… I thought at first it was a stomach flu. Then the pain was bad enough I thought it was appendicitis. My roommate brought me to the infirmary on campus and they told me I’d miscarried. A part of me was grateful I’d lost it, but a part of me was grieving over a baby I didn’t even know existed. Then they said it was still inside me and they had to do a D&C. The whole thing was horrible, Ben.”

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. “Oh, sweetie. I’m sorry you had to go through that all alone. You were so young.”

“It felt like God was punishing me for doing what I’d done, what we all had done together.”

“That’s bull, April. No god would blame a woman for loving as deeply as I know you loved those two.”

April leaned her forehead against his chest and rolled it from side to side in disagreement. “I’m not so sure about that, Ben.”

“So that was why you severed contact with them?”

She raised her head again. “I didn’t
sever contact
, I brought things back to where they should have been before I messed them up, just friends.”

“Only they didn’t know what you were doing or why. You need to tell them. This is tearing you apart, and them too from what I’ve seen of the pissed-off cowboy out there.”

Telling the story to Ben, who was sweet and understanding and loved her unconditionally, had been draining enough. She couldn’t imagine having to repeat the tale to the two angry men she’d faced in that hospital room. “What would be the point? So much time has passed. They’ve both hated me for so long. Even if I do tell them now, then what?”

“Then you see what happens. I’m not saying they’ll come to you with open arms, but at least maybe the hurt can start to heal for all three of you.”

The door swung open again and this time, it was a nurse. “Oh, hi there. Aw, don’t look so upset. The doctor was just in with him a few hours ago and he says he’s doing just fine. And I’m sure you being here will speed his recovery right along.”

April frowned. Why did the nurse think that? And why had she acted like she knew her before? “Um, when I arrived, you said you recognized me. Why was that?”

The nurse stepped to the sink and rinsed out her coffee mug, catching April’s eye in the mirror. “The photo, of course. When they brought Mr. Harris in, your picture was in his back pocket. When his parents arrived we gave it to them with the rest of his things and they said you two had been together since high school.”

Grabbing a paper towel from the wall dispenser, the chatty nurse dried her mug and hands.

“I married my high school sweetheart, so I understand, believe me. You must have been going crazy that you couldn’t get here right away. Anyway, you’re here now. I need to get back to my station.” She smiled prettily and was gone.

When they were alone again, April looked up to see Ben’s raised brow. “Carrying around your picture in his pants doesn’t sound like the actions of a man ‘in hate’ to me.”

When she didn’t move, Ben shook his head. “Stubborn right to the end. I’m beginning to think that’s an Oklahoma trait. Come on, sweetie. Splash water on your face and go see that man of yours.”

April scowled. “He’s not mine.”
Anymore.

Ben shook his head at her. “We’ll see.”

For some unexplainable reason, April did as she was told. She washed the tears from her face and then allowed Ben to steer her out of the bathroom. He gave her a small push in the direction of Clay’s room and motioned toward the waiting room. “I’ll be in there enjoying last year’s
People Magazine
.”

April’s heart warmed. “Thank you, Ben.”

He grinned. “No problem.”

Knowing her friend was behind her was probably the only thing that kept April walking toward her two former friends. Her whole body shook as she reached the doorway. She could see Clay in the bed sipping at a cup with a straw. Mason was there too, sitting in the chair with his arms braced on his knees in such a familiar pose April felt transported back through the years.

Mason saw her first and straightened up in the chair. Clay noticed her and pushed his cup farther back on the bed tray. “Told you she wouldn’t just leave.”

Clay’s low statement to Mason sounded cocky. Like Mason’s mannerisms, Clay’s attitude hadn’t changed at all since high school either. Clay’s comment was answered with a scowl from Mason.

April still hovered in the doorway feeling self-conscious as she noticed Clay’s eyes consuming her exposed cleavage. She crossed her arms in front of her. “Um, can I come in?”

“Sure, darlin’. Mason, give her a chair.”

Mason’s brows shot up but he stood as Clay had asked, shoved a chair in her direction, then he moved toward the door. “I’m gonna go to the arena and check on your horse. I’ll be back later.”

The unspoken words
when she’s gone
broke April’s heart. She moved far to the side so he wouldn’t have to squeeze past her to get out of the room.

Clay frowned. “Mason, it’s the middle of the night.”

He paused in the doorway. “So? The cabs will still be running, and you and I both know that even though the competition is over, the stock contractors will still be around keeping an eye on the animals. Besides, I thought you were worried about her.”

Clay sighed. “I am. All right. Do what you got to do. And while you’re there, get someone to show you my trailer and pick me up some clothes. I don’t intend on staying in this gown thing. I saw my keys in the drawer, and take my identification so you don’t have trouble getting back to the stock pens.”

Mason nodded, went to the bedside table drawer, opened it and grabbed an ID card and a set of keys. Then, without so much as goodbye, he was gone, leaving April alone with Clay. She’d intended on talking to them both together. That seemed like the right thing to do, but she realized having to face only Clay would be easier. Of the two, he definitely seemed to be the more receptive.

“Sit down, darlin’. Tell me where you and your friend were coming from when you came here instead? Because that dress sure is pretty enough for a party.”

April sat but kept her back straight, wary of the gaps in the dress if she slouched. “It was a party, and he’s just a friend, Clay. Nothing more.”

Clay smiled at that. “I know. Mason told me. And I have to tell you I’m relieved your date is gay, since I’ve held the title of your friend and I know what can happen.”

She ignored his teasing. “Clay. I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head. “No, darlin’. I’m sorry. I wasn’t very nice to you before. You kind of took me by surprise. Mason wasn’t very nice either, but he can do his own apologizing.”

“Mason is so angry.”

Clay nodded. “Yeah, but it’s only because he still cares about you.”

She doubted that. “Why are you being so nice?”

“The doctor says it’s a miracle there’s no permanent damage. Someone upstairs saw fit to give me a second chance. I reckon it’s only fair I do the same for you.” Clay stared at her boldly. “Besides, you’re not so easy to fall out of love with.”

Clay still loved her. That broke her and the tears started fresh. “Oh, Clay. I have something to tell you.”

And that’s when Clay’s nurse walked in, greeted them both cheerfully, handed him a pill and gave April a reprieve from her confession for the time being.

Chapter Fourteen

“Well, you’re not Clay, sugar, but I’m sure not complaining about the view.”

Mason unhooked his boot heel from the gate of April Dawn’s stall and turned to find the source of the voice.

She smiled at him and extended her hand. “I’m Kit, a friend of Clay’s. And who might you be?”

Mason shook her hand and had to work to disengage his fingers from her grip afterwards. “Mason.”

“Ah, the Army friend. Nice to meet ya.”

Maybe she was a friend of Clay’s, since she knew his name. Glancing quickly at the expanse of exposed cleavage, Mason had to wonder how good a friend she was.

Kit cocked a head toward the mare, who’d accepted Mason’s presence as if she’d known him her whole life. Clay always did have a knack for picking the best horses. “I’ve been keeping an eye on her for him. And I kept that stock contractor away from her too. He’s got it in his head that now Clay’s hurt, he’ll be willing to sell her.”

“I’m sure Clay will appreciate your help.”

“How’s he doing? I’ve been meaning to get to the hospital but…to be perfectly honest, I couldn’t bring myself to go.”

Mason nodded, understanding totally. If it had been anyone else besides Clay laid up there, he might not have willingly gone himself. “He woke up yesterday, and tonight he walked a bit.”