Page 43 of His Fresh Start Cowboy
Brand flinched. “You know something did.”
“What I know is that my boss helped me feel better after a bad day, and that’s all it was. I’d also like to get back to work now, if you don’t mind.”
Hurt flashed in Brand’s eyes, but he put his hand down and stepped back. “Fine. But something did happen, and you know it as well as I do. I don’t know why you’re pissed at me, but I want a chance to fix it.”
“You don’t...” Was he fucking kidding right now? “Were we in the same hayloft that day?”
“Yeah, we were, so I don’t understand what this cold shoulder is about. You’ve ignored me for almost a month, Hugo. I thought we connected but obviously not.”
Connected? Brand had kissed him like a rock star, gotten off with him, and then basically said it was just to make Hugo feel better, boss to employee. Maybe Hugo thought they’d connected briefly, but that had been shot to hell with Brand’s careless words. “Guess not,” Hugo said. “Can I go? I’ve still got work to do before I clock out.”
Brand’s eyes narrowed briefly, before his entire face smoothed out. “You can go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Unfortunately.
Hugo turned and strode down to the other end of the barn, spine straight and head tall. So far, every reason he’d come back to Texas had ended up backfiring in his face. Reconnect with his mother? Nope. Maybe show Brand how he really felt about him? Huge miss. The only good things he had right now were his friendships with Elmer and Rem, a steady paycheck, and a roof over his head. For now, those things would have to do.
Beyond irritated by his non-conversation with Hugo that afternoon, Brand texted Ramie and asked if she was working that night. She wasn’t and agreed to meet him at The Pointe, part of a long stretch of road that ended in a small cliff, over a dry riverbed that hadn’t carried water in at least a decade. It was a favorite make-out spot for local teens, and also a quiet place for a private conversation.
Brand met her there at seven with a chilled six-pack of beer, no intention of getting drunk but he needed something to soothe his sizzling nerves. Being around Hugo drove him nuts. For all Brand thought they’d made a new, intimate connection the Saturday they had sex, Hugo was acting like they’d arm-wrestled and then walked away.
No one else was parked at The Pointe that evening, so they settled on a blanket in the bed of Brand’s pickup and each cracked a beer. Brand took several long pulls before stopping and letting out an impressive belch.
Ramie snickered. “You’re always so refined. What’s up your ass this month? I’ve hardly seen you around the Roost.”
“I’ll give you four letters and none of them are in your nickname.”
“Thought so. This has to do with Hugo?”
“Yup. We had sex about a month ago, and he’s been ghosting me ever since.”
Her eyes widened briefly, then she took a long drink of her beer. “Okay, I didn’t see that coming. I thought he had some sort of long-term crush on you. Why would he ghost you after one lay? Did you suck or something?”
Brand snorted. “No. Not literally or figuratively. He was upset about something that happened with his mother, and I just...couldn’t not do something. So I kissed him, and it was amazing, and I made sure he was into it before things went further, and we ended up rubbing off together. I thought it was great. More than great. But he just...shut down. He flirted with me like crazy when he first got here, and now that we’ve had sex, he’s suddenly giving me the cold shoulder. I don’t get it.”
“So you had sex with him to make him feel better?”
“I mean, that was only part of it. I did want to sleep with him, I have for a while. I just...he was so upset. Something about it... I had to do something. Kissing him was the only thing that made sense.”
“Okay.” She drained the rest of her first beer and reached for a second. “So what exactly did you say to him after the sex was over? Word for word, if you can manage it, because it sounds like you put your foot in your mouth somehow.”
Brand thought back to that moment so many weeks ago and pulled on what he could remember. “He said thank you, and not just for the sex, but for checking on him and caring.”
“And you said?”
“That I do care, maybe more than I should because he’s my employee, but he was hurting, so I did something.”
“Really, Brand? In that particular, delicate moment you had to remind Hugo that you’re his boss?”
“But I am.” Brand felt about as smart as a box of rusty horseshoes. “Why was that wrong?”
Ramie looked like she was a few seconds away from beating him with her beer can. “This guy has liked you for ten years. He came back partly to try and, I don’t know, show you how he feels? Something like that. If you were upset and I had sex with you, and then I said ‘I’m glad I made you feel better, bud’ how would you feel? Like a pity fuck, that’s how. And I bet you a month’s salary that’s how Hugo felt when he left the loft that day. Like what you’d given him was a pity fuck.”
“But...” Brand stared at his own sweating can of beer, upside down and turned around by Ramie’s statements, because they were true. And now it all made sense. He had absolutely not meant any part of that day to be a pity fuck, but he now saw how Hugo might have interpreted it. “Well, shit.”
“Exactly. You’re a great guy, Brand, but sometimes you can be really obtuse about other people’s feelings.”
He snorted. “I sure proved that the first time we slept together, didn’t I?”
