Page 13 of April’s Fool

“He was standing next to me when Mercy let it slip that you were hiding something that was happening here at school.” I shrug.

“I’m going to kill her,” I hear her mumble, most likely to herself.

“No reason to kill your friend. I don’t think she was thinking clearly, considering I found her and Hazard alone together.”

“Oh, God. Mercy is going to end up getting some guy killed,” she mumbles more, causing me to laugh as I open the door.

“What’s so funny?” Hazard asks, stepping inside, eyes flicking between the two of us.

“Nothing,” April and I say in unison.

I snort, shake my head, and repeat myself, “Nothing, brother.”

“What’s so funny?” April asks with a huff.

Still smiling, I turn to her and answer. “What you said a minute ago, gorgeous, is fuckin’ funny. I couldn’t agree more. Just think about what you said and how true it probably is.”

April blinks up at me for a moment before she loses her frown and laughs.

“Now, I wanna know what the fuck she’s laughing about,” Hazard quips, stepping farther into the apartment.

“Nothing to worry about, Haz,” I say with a chuckle.

April sobers and looks between the two of us. “So, is someone going to tell me what exactly is going on?” She looks at me with those lust-filled eyes of hers, now full of caution. “What exactly are you doing here? I don’t want to hear lies either. Why did Twister ask you to come here? I know it was him.”

“Told you outside, and I wasn’t lying, April,” I tell her. “Given what just happened on the couch minutes ago, I thought you’d get me.” I keep my cool and do my best not to get annoyed that she’d think I’d lie to her. I get that she doesn’t know me, but after the kiss we shared, I need her to believe this one thing about me.

Even annoyed, I can understand her caution. The rational side of my brain, the part of me that isn’t thinking with my dick, gets it.

“I don’t need you to remind me of us making out on my couch,” she snaps, hands on her hips, eyes narrowing. “For the record, I didn’t say you were lying. I said, ‘I don’t want to hear lies either,’ so you can lose that tone of voice. I didn’t say or do anything to annoy anyone. Let alone tick anyone off. If anyone did, it would be you.”

April lets out another huff, drops her arms to her sides, spins on her heels, and stalks over to her bags, grabbing a ringing phone. I hadn’t even heard the phone.

Fuck me. This woman is in my head, consuming my thoughts. Screwing with my head so much I can’t think straight.

I focus on April, watching her closely as she looks at her phone. The way her expression loses all frustration and goes completely blank alerts me to something happening.

“Who was that?” I ask, stepping toward her.

April shakes her head and answers, “No one.”

I glance at Hazard and shake my head when he goes to speak.

“Why don’t you head back to the clubhouse? I’ll be right behind you soon. Meet you there.”

“You sure about that?” Hazard asks, one brow raised.

Was I?

No, I wasn’t, but when it comes to this whole situation, I have to be careful and not rush her.

“Yeah,” I grit out, nodding.

I know I can get April to open up to me about everything going on, but it won’t happen if we have an audience. One thing I’m certain about is that this woman is the type of person who shyly avoids crowds as much as she can. She’s cautious and doesn’t open up to anyone unless she wants to.

“Right.” Hazard nods, looking between the two of us. “I’ll see you back at the clubhouse then.” I know he didn’t want to leave, not after witnessing April’s quick change, but it’s for the best.

If I want to get through to her, I need to do it myself. She’ll listen to me, I’m sure of it.