Bear No Loss (8 page)

April gnawed on her lower lip, grabbing her notebook again. For some reason, she was getting a great mental image of the villain of her fantasy book. An evil bitch that was as two-faced as she was conniving.

Wonder where the visual came from?

CHAPTER NINE

April

“Do you want anything?” Memphis asked, getting up from the seat he’d been occupying all evening, as close to April’s side as he could get.

“No, thanks, I’m fine with my tea,” April said with a slight smile, receiving a nod in response as Memphis made his way through the crowd and toward the bar at Austin’s Texas, the small bar that Shifter Grove could boast as its finest—and only!

“Everything okay?” Nicky asked, sliding into the seat Memphis vacated with a worried look on her face.

The bar was packed full, all the booths crammed with big hockey players or their local friends and fans, and April had found a seat at a long table set up in the middle of the bar. The music was loud and the conversation even more so, which meant that any private words needed to be shared by yelling, but that still left it pretty certain that no one could or would eavesdrop.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I’m just thinking about what you said earlier today,” April said with a shrug, biting her lip before she could will herself not to show weakness so easily.

She’d gone with a pair of jeans and a white cardigan instead of the dress she’d originally considered wearing, because Memphis had told her at one point during the previous day that he’d love to see her in a skirt. With Nicky’s words thrumming in her head, April had found herself not exactly sure if she wanted to make his day like that.

“Aw, don’t let it get you down, April!” Nicky said, putting a hand on her wrist and giving her a commiserating look, poking out her lower lip a little. “These things happen! You couldn’t have known that he took you to the mountains just to get in your pants, right? I mean, how could you have?” Nicky said with a flourishing exhale, her intense eyes seeming to study April closely again, though she glanced over her shoulder once as if checking if someone was close.

“Wait, what?!” April asked, turning to face Nicky in her chair. “Did he say that? Memphis actually told that to someone?”

“Oh, yeah! I heard him boasting about it to the guys after practice. That’s sort of why I guess we’re here today, so Memphis can show you off or whatever. Oh, here he comes,” Nicky said, putting a finger to her lips. “Shh, don’t embarrass him in front of his friends! Who knows what he’d do, right?”

Nicky slipped out of the seat and took her own again, with Memphis pulling out the chair and sitting down with a fresh glass of beer.

“You sure you don’t want anythin’, sugar?” he asked again, putting his arm over the back of April’s chair and leaning in a little.

April met his eyes and for a moment, she wanted to just take hold of his shirt, shake him, and yell at him. She wasn’t sure exactly
what
she’d yell, but she did know that it would be loud and angry and completely appropriate considering the things he’d done. Her mouth opened a little, searching for words, and then her gaze met Nicky’s, who was listening in on their conversation intently even while another player was trying to get her attention from the other side of the table.

She’s a good friend,
April thought for a second, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

“I think I’ll go get a drink,” she said, scrambling to get out of her chair.

“Don’t be silly! I’ll grab it for you, we have a tab at the bar,” Memphis said, beginning to rise from his seat but April was already up and rushing away from him.

“It’s fine,” she yelled over her shoulder, practically running to the bar.

She stopped at the edge of it, one hand on the mahogany, heaving in breaths quick and shallow like a frightened bird. Bringing one hand to her chest, she felt it tightening, like someone had kicked her right in the sternum. At the same time, she felt incredibly silly and completely lost. How could she have been so dumb as to think that this place could be a new beginning for her? That a
hockey
player
could want her for just her, not some stupid conquest or to prove a point?

What damn point? That he can get some dumb woman to fly in all the way from Wyoming and make a fool out of herself for him? Yeah, that must be it,
she thought, stifling a sob.

“What can I get you, Miss?” the bartender and owner of the place asked, a big mountain lion shifter named Austin, his kind eyes taking on a glint of worry. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Not my place to say, but there might be a few thinking that it just isn’t true,” Austin said with a congenial smile, laying a shot glass out in front of her. “See-through or not?”

April looked at the glass and then the barkeep dubiously, but one glance back at Memphis confirmed that Austin read her far too well.

“Not,” she said with a sigh.

“Coming right up,” Austin said, pouring her out a shot of bourbon.

“Thank you. How much do I owe you?”

“Oh, a long face like that on a pretty woman like you can only be because of the hockey guys at the moment. I’ll put it on their tab,” Austin said with a wink, before turning to deal with another customer.

April smiled privately, shaking her head as she picked up the shot. She’d at least been right about the town—everyone was nice here and it would pain her to leave, but obviously she couldn’t stay. No. First thing the next morning, she’d get Nicky up, pack their bags, and head back to Idaho Falls before she could make an ass out of herself in any additional way. If she got far enough and fast enough, she was sure she could put Memphis out of her head.

April was just beginning to down her shot when she glanced back in the direction of Nicky and Memphis, finding her roommate practically scaling the man like a tree, her hand on his ass and their lips locked in the sloppiest kiss she’d ever seen.

The shot went straight down the wrong pipe and April wheezed out a few coughs, her mind roiling and her stomach twisting at the sight before her.

I can’t believe this! What else can go wrong on this trip?!
she thought desperately, still coughing as she tried to press through the bodies separating her from the front door.

She needed to get out. She needed to get some air. She needed to be anywhere but where she was, where the man she had been starting to fall for was making out with the woman who seemed to be her only friend in the world.

“April!” Memphis yelled behind her, his loud voice booming over the crowd and the noise easily, but it just made her run faster.

No! All of this needs to fucking stop!
April thought through tears she had fought so hard to keep down.

She’d never been the kind to turn her back on a problem and just run, but this time, it was all too much. Everything seemed to be falling apart at the same time and in the middle of it all, she didn’t even truly understand why it affected her so painfully. She hardly knew the man, right?

Right?

CHAPTER TEN

Memphis

Shit, shit, shit!
Memphis cursed under his breath, practically pile-driving half the crowd to get out of the bar faster and to catch up with April, who must have been a track star in another life for how fast she moved when she needed to get away from him.

“April!” he yelled again, but even if she heard him, she didn’t even pretend to stop. “Get outta my way,” Memphis hissed, pushing through people with a snarl on his lips.

“Memphis, wait for me!” Nicky’s voice called behind him, making Memphis’s hackles stand up in utter rage.

He skid to a halt, cursing at losing even a fraction of a second because of that spiteful little bitch behind him, and wheeled around to face her. If he were any less of a man, he would have grabbed her by the arms and shaken some sense into her, but as much as he wanted to he couldn’t do a thing to her.

She isn’t worth it,
he reminded himself, and the sound emitted by his teeth grinding together made his head ring.

“Haven’t you fuckin’ done
enough
?!” he growled, his eyes flashing dark brown and his hands forming into fists that wouldn’t be raised, but dammit if he didn’t wish to use them regardless.

“What do you mean? You see what she’s like! She’s not worthy of you, Memphis!
I’m
the one who gets you! Don’t you see that?!” Nicky gasped, her cheeks red with a flush and her always-intense eyes shimmering with the oddest cocktail of malice and despair that he’d ever seen.

“You
get
me? You don’t even fuckin’ know me and I sure as hell don’t want to know you. You’ve been screwin’ with my head and I assume April’s too from the goddamn start! What was that kiss supposed to be about? You just lunge at me and think it’s okay?!”

Bile rose in his throat at the memory of her lips on his, so alien and so wrong. It was as if after tasting April, he couldn’t bear the thought of kissing anyone else, and frankly, he had no desire to ever have that change. He’d been sitting at the table, chatting with Jax and Logan, when suddenly Nicky had tapped him on the shoulder and kissed him out of the blue.

Memphis had pushed her off of him as soon as his brain caught up to the fuckery taking place, but the damage had been done. April had obviously seen him seemingly kissing her roommate and hightailed it out of Austin’s Texas. And now Memphis was wasting valuable time talking to this scheming bitch.

“You’ll love me when you get to know me, Memphis! We’re meant to be together,” Nicky said, drawing a couple of odd looks from around them.

She reached out her hands, grabbing his wrist, and Memphis yanked his arm out of her grip a fraction of a second later. His expression showed only scorn and disgust and he shook his head at the pitiful creature of a woman who he’d believed when he really shouldn’t have.

“Go home, Nicky. You’re not welcome here,” he said, turning around and breaking through the bodies milling around him.

He was seething with anger at Nicky and worry for April as he stepped out into the dark, cold evening. Street lamps had been set up only recently in Shifter Grove, but at first glance he couldn’t see April anywhere. Taking a deep whiff of the air, his eyes lidded for a moment as he caught her scent, sweet and inviting as always.

He knew where she was immediately after that. Turning right, he burst into a run, the snow squealing under his boots as he plowed down the street. In a few moments, he spotted April’s shuddering frame, walking hurriedly along the street, in the opposite direction of where her lodgings were. His stomach twisted, seeing her shoulders hunch and heave every now and then. April was obviously sobbing.

“April!” he said softly as he reached her, putting a hand on her arm and having her recoil from his touch.

She turned around, those pretty hazel eyes looking at him and projecting all the hurt in her soul. Her lower lip quivered and Memphis was close to losing his mind at how fucking angry he was with Nicky for bringing him and April to this situation. She crossed her arms over her chest and took a few steps back, shaking her head.

“No, get away from me! I… I don’t even know who you are. I don’t want you near me,” she whimpered, and it threatened to break Memphis’s heart.

He took a step closer to her, matching the pace she was backing away from him, holding up his hands as if trying to show her that he couldn’t do anything to hurt her if he tried. Not willingly, anyway.

“Sugar, listen to me. It was Nicky. It was her all along,” he said, trying to force his muddled thoughts into something resembling sentences.

He was gripped with terror at the thought of losing her and that made the explanation that much harder, because any missed word could be his undoing. That was to say, if there was a chance to explain at all, because the look on her face told him that she wanted nothing more than for him to simply disappear.

“Don’t lie! She told me all about you, your… I don’t even know what to call them. Hobbies? I should have never come here,” April said, shaking her head and turning to run from him once more.

He couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t.

Before she could get a step further, he put his hands gently on her shoulders and spun her around, slipping his hands to grip her waist. If she struggled, he’d let her go immediately, but she didn’t, freezing in place. Her eyes flicked down and her hands were on her arms, cradling herself. He’d never seen anyone so obviously hurt and it was the perfect representation of what he felt inside. If he could, he would have pulled her into an embrace and made it all go away, but he had to tread carefully, lest he lose her completely.

“Look, sugar, listen to me here for a moment. I don’t know what Nicky told you, but what you saw in there was her suddenly grabbin’ me and kissin’ me like we had somethin’ goin’ on. We don’t, we never did. I don’t operate like that. Ever since I met you in Cheyenne, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I haven’t so much as touched another woman, and spirits willing, I don’t intend to, okay?”