Riding and Regrets by Bailey Bradford Read Free Book Online Page A

his league, he’d probably be disappointed in Jody as a lover. What if he laughs at me when I tell him I ain’t ever had full-on sex? He’s gonna think I am such a loser.
    Obviously I’ve had sex. I have Prissy. Jody’s stomach cramped and a stabbing pain ripped through his temple. He cradled his head as he stopped beside the truck. Every time he thought about Prissy’s conception, he drew a blank. His body flipped out on him, though, made him feel sick and weak and scared.
    Jody knew that meant something important. He wasn’t a completely ignorant fool.
    But he didn’t think he wanted to remember. It was all tied in with the one night that he tried to never think about. There was no other explanation.
    Jody got himself under control and made it back to the ranch. He did his job, working harder than he could ever remember because it helped him to keep from worrying about Prissy so much.
    Sort of.
    “Boy, you checkin’ that phone every two minutes just about,” Duke chided him. “That place would sure as shit call you if there was a problem. Loosen up them apron strings.”
    Jody was so offended by that entire spiel that he sputtered uselessly while Duke laughed.
    “Aw, calm down, kid. I didn’t mean anything by it.” Duke waved him off, but Jody was mad.
    “Yeah, you did, otherwise you wouldn’t have said any of it,” he said. Jody stood up straight, having been bent over to pick up another bag of the feed he’d been stacking. He was scared but determined to get his thoughts out in the open. “You meant it, and now you’re trying to play it off as a joke because you realise you sounded like an asshole.”
    Duke’s thunderous expression might have had Jody backing off not more than a week or two ago, but not now. Now he had scarier things to deal with than a pissy cowboy.
    “You need to learn to take a joke,” Duke rumbled as he narrowed his eyes at Jody. “You think it’s okay to smart off, but anyone teases you and you get as prickly as a porcupine. Grow up, kid. You got responsibilities no one else here does, and you have to step up to ’em. Quit acting like everyone’s out to get you. Ain’t none of us that interested.”
    Jody recoiled a step, his pride stinging.
    Duke sighed, cursed and took his hat off to scrub at his sweaty hair. “Damn it, okay. That was harsher than I meant it to be, maybe. That last part, I mean. I’m sorry for that.”
    Jody didn’t feel any better for the apology, but if he didn’t accept it, then he’d be accused of being an immature asshole again. “Okay.” He watched Duke for a moment and saw him grimace as he touched a spot on his head. Is that blood in his hair? I thought it was sweat, but… “Uh, are you okay?”
    Come to think of it, Duke wasn’t usually so mean. He’d got onto Jody more than once, but Jody’d had it coming, having shot off his big mouth.
    Duke growled, literally, like a mad dog or a cornered grizzly. “Get back to work,” he snapped. Jody started to, but there was something off about Duke and if he was going to be a man, then he needed to step up.
    “What happened to you?” Jody asked, approaching the older man slowly. He was fairly certain that wasn’t sweat now, but the barn lighting wasn’t the best. “How’d you get hurt?”
    “What’re you talking about? Aren’t you supposed to be doing something useful?” Duke shoved his hat back on and something about the way he held himself projected a menacing note Jody didn’t care for. “You ain’t mothering me, kid.”
    Jody held up his hands in front of himself. “Okay, Duke. I was just asking. You seem a bit—”
    Duke startled him with a sudden lunge forward. Jody yelped and skittered backwards, narrowly avoiding a solid punch to the face. “What the hell!”
    Duke snarled and swung again, then as suddenly as his violent spell had begun, it stopped, and Duke collapsed with a bone-jarring thud.
    Jody’s adrenaline was pumping and he shook all over as he tried to catch