Page 25 of Hutch (Minnesota Raptors #2)

Hutch

Collin finds me sitting outside, staring off into space.

“You cool, bro?”

I shake my head. I’m so far from cool, it’s not even funny.

“She got a call that scared the shit out of her.”

“Who did?”

“Daisy.”

“Who do we need to fuck up?” He sits down in the chair beside of mine, looking as pissed off as I’m feeling. “That girl is the sweetest thing alive and anyone who scares her damn sure will be scared of us.”

“It was her ex. I know they had a bad breakup, but when he called…she started shaking.”

“Shaking?” He frowns, leaning forward so his elbows rest on his knees. “What did he do to her?”

“Fuck if I know. I can barely get her to say two words about him, but that call rattled her so much she asked me to stay the night. Said she’d find me a blow up mattress or something.”

He lets out a low whistle. “Fuck.”

“She ran off to bake a cake after she asked me. I think her asking me to stay freaked her out as much as the phone call did.”

“Bro, she asked you to stay. That means she trusts you. Yeah, she might be freaked, but she asked. That’s a win.”

“What’s not a win is the look of sheer terror on her face when asswipe called.”

“Red is a firecracker. I can’t see anyone scaring her.”

“Me either and I guess that’s why it threw me.”

“I’m staying too.”

“You are?”

He nods. “She’s my bestie. I can’t let her go around scared. She needs to know we got her back.”

“She might have something to say about you staying over. And I’m not sharing the air mattress either.”

“They even got one here?”

I shrug. Who the hell knows?

He shoots off a text. “I’m making Miggy bring us over the two we have in storage in the garage for when families are over.”

“Good thinking.”

“What do we know about asswipe?”

“His name is Joseph Ayers. He just declared for the NFL draft. Goes to school in Texas.”

“I know the name. Mitch is a huge fan of his. Says he’s one of the best quarterbacks in college ball right now.”

“Yeah, I know the name too. You forget I love football, just not as much as hockey.”

“You’d never be a quarterback. You can’t throw a ball for shit.”

“I’d be a good wide receiver since I can catch the ball.”

“You rethinking hockey?”

“Fuck no. What are we going to do about this guy?”

“Why doesn’t she have his number blocked?”

“I don’t know.”

“We need to convince her to do that and maybe change her number.”

I nod and look out over the backyard. It needs to be cut at least one more time before fall settles in. Dylan needs to get on that.

“What are you thinking about?”

“The grass,” I murmur.

“The grass?”

“Yeah, Dylan needs to cut it.”

“Bro…”

I shake my head. “It’s better than focusing on wanting to go find asswipe and beat the shit out of him.”

“I know how you feel, but we need to calm down. If the press gets a whiff of our feelings, it’ll be bad. The Raptors would probably drop up like a hot potato.”

I know that and it’s why I’m so angry. I can’t do what I want to do which is go find him and beat the living shit out of him. Instead, I turn my attention to something else.

“You call your family?”

“ Si . They’re all happy for me.”

“And Abuela ?

Collin laughs. “She was so excited and speaking so fast, it was hard to understand her and I speak the language.”

“I love her.”

“She said she was coming to visit in three weeks and she wanted to come to a game if there’s one while she’s here.”

I grin, imagining his tiny little grandmother screaming at someone while watching us play in a professional hockey arena.

She’d have the loudest drunken fan cowing before her in seconds.

I just wish his parents could come, but since they got deported for being here illegally, getting a visa to come and visit is next to impossible for them.

Maybe we can find a good immigration lawyer and do something about that now that we will have the money.

“ Mi mamá y mi papá are excited for me too. I’m thinking now that I can afford it, I might try to hire a lawyer or something to help them get back into the country.”

“I was just thinking the same thing. I’ll pitch in and help with the cost. I know how important it is for you to have them here.”

Collin’s quiet for a moment, and then clears his throat. “Thank you.”

I reach over and grip his shoulder. “We got them. You’re my family and that means so are they. It might take some time, but we’ll get them back here for you.”

“You’re my brother, Hutch. Even if I can never bring them here, I’ll always have you and Mama Kathleen.”

“Always.”

“Come on, let’s go and keep Red company. She’s probably in her head and while she won’t say it, she needs us to be there.”

He’s right and I stand, surprised when he hugs me. We’re not really touchy feely guys with each other, but I hug him back. Tonight is a big deal for both of us.

Daisy is pulling ingredients out of cabinets when go inside. No one else is around so I assume they either went downstairs to join the team or they’re off on their own. Either way, I’m glad it’s quiet. Daisy seems to appreciate the quiet more than most.

“Hey, you good if we hang out?”

She nods and we both take a seat at the kitchen island. She has her ingredients spread out next to the mixer she’s moved over to the island.

“What kind of cake are you making?” Collin leans over and inspects what she’s got sitting out.

“Apple spice cake. There are fresh apples in the fridge so I thought I’d use them and replace them tomorrow. No name on the bag, so I’m not sure who’s they are.”

“I’ve never had that before.”

“It’s my Nana’s recipe. She taught me to make it when I was eight or nine.”

“ Mi abuela taught me how to make churros when I was six. I remember standing on a stool so I could see what she was doing. Some of my best memories are cooking with mi abuela .”

“If you have to do a vegetable only diet, I’ll try to find some Mexican vegetarian recipes for you. If you want.”

She sounds so unsure of herself and I hate it.

“If you do the cooking, then yup, your bestie wants. Don’t tell mi abuela , but your cooking rivals hers.”

She smiles slightly and starts putting ingredients in the mixer. We’re quiet as she puts the batter together and Collin licks his lips when she asks him if he wants to clean the bowl while she pours it into two waiting pans.

“Bro, you know there are raw eggs in that batter?”

“Don’t judge me.” He happily takes the bowl and starts scraping out what’s left and shoves it into his mouth. Gross.

“I’m judging.”

Daisy laughs as she puts the pans in the oven and then starts to clean up. Once that’s done, she looks around and it’s apparent to anyone with eyes that she’s still unsettled.

“Did you listen to the voicemail?”

She shakes her head and opens the fridge. “Are you still hungry?”

“I can eat,” Collin says and puts the now empty bowl into the dishwasher. “You cooking?”

She nods and starts poking through the fridge. “What sound good?”

Collin smacks his lips together. “Whatever you want to cook sounds good to me.”

Daisy smiles. “I think you’d eat if everything around you was burning down.”

“Never pass up free food.”

My phone rings and I step away from the kitchen knowing Collin will keep her talking and her mind off asswipe.

“Hey Mom.”

“What’s wrong?” She sounds worried. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m not hurt. I’d have told you if I was. Like I said, it’s good news.”

She lets out a breath. “I was worried. You don’t usually leave voicemails.”

“The Raptor’s recruiter called Coach. He wants to sign me and Collin to start right away. Two of their players were injured in Wednesday’s game and will be out for the rest of the season.”

“They want you to start now? What about school?”

“We’re going to go talk to the Dean on Monday and try to arrange for remote learning and then scheduling any tests we have to take for when we’re home. Even if I have to drop out this semester, I will finish school. There’s summer classes and online classes I can do from other schools.”

“I’ll come with you on Monday. The Dean knows who I am and to not argue with me.”

I laugh, knowing she’d want to be there for that meeting. The Dean had one run-in with my mom during my sophomore year and let’s just say he probably never wants to meet her again.

“I’m so proud of you, Jonathan.”

“Thanks, Mom. I’m at Daisy’s, but I’ll swing by the house tomorrow. I might even convince her to come over too.”

“Uh…”

“Mom?” Curious, I wait her out. She sounds sus.

“Um, I had plans tomorrow…”

“Plans?”

She sighs. “I want you to meet someone.”

What is this?

“He and I have been seeing each other for a while now and I didn’t want to introduce you until I knew more about him and…”

“Mom, slow down. Who is he?” I can’t remember the last time she went out on a date. I think I was in middle school.

“His name is Michael Sutton. He owns his own business. I met him when I was at Caroline’s house a few months ago and his company was mowing her lawn.”

“He owns his own business?” Well, at least he’s not a bum.

“Yes, he does well for himself. He’s kind and funny and he makes me happy. I wanted to introduce you a few weeks ago, but then you were talking about being stressed and then the scouts were coming by and I didn’t want to stress you out even more…”

“Mom!” I interrupt her rambling. “Take a deep breath. Invite this guy to dinner tomorrow. Me and Collin will grill him and see if he gets our stamp of approval.”

She lets out a shaky sigh. “You’re not mad?”

“No. As long as he’s not a bum like Dad, then I’m good with it if he makes you happy. You deserve it.”

“Your father’s not a bum, Jonathan.”

“He walked out on us, didn’t he?”

“He wasn’t happy. No one should be forced to stay in a marriage if they’re not happy.”

“Yeah, but he skipped out on me and Olliver without so much as a backwards glance. That makes him a bum to me.”

She doesn’t want me to hate my father, but that shipped sailed a long, long time ago.

“Can we not fight about Dad tonight? I just want to celebrate the biggest win of my life so far.”

“Sure, honey. I’m proud of you.”