Page 27 of Hutch (Minnesota Raptors #2)

Daisy

The house is too quiet. Nana felt a little better and decided to visit one of her friends who felt poorly. I drove her over and she told me she’d call when she was ready to come home. Getting out is good for her. It’s not going to magically cure her cancer, but it’s good for her mental health.

I hate the quiet. It gives me time to think about things I’d rather not.

Like Nana’s cancer and my mother choosing drugs over me and Robbie.

Her doing that always made me think I wasn’t enough, that I was lacking in some fundamental way.

Maybe that’s why I refused to take off my blinders when it came to Joseph.

I looked past so many red flags. I’m so stupid.

How could I not see who he was behind the flashy smile and boy next door persona?

Turning on the TV, I settle on the Food Network channel. Maybe it’ll give me some new ideas. Nana’s appetite isn’t great, so when I can tempt her with something and she actually eats, it’s a huge win for me.

I sit on the couch and try to focus on the show, but it’s useless.

My mind keeps going back to the phone call with Joseph two weeks ago.

The things he said to me…the names he called me…

where is the boy I fell in love with? He was like a stranger when we talked.

He’s never used that tone with me before.

It actually rattled me. Even Nana noticed something was wrong.

I told her I broke up with him and she chalked my mood up to me being sad, but it’s more than that. He scared me a little with his anger.

How had I never seen that anger before? I mean he’s aggressive on the football field, but that’s expected.

It’s football for God’s sake. The men who play are brutal.

But that never filtered over into our relationship.

He was just always so sweet and considerate.

His cheating notwithstanding, I never thought he was capable of that kind of anger toward me or any woman for that matter.

His mother raised him and his brothers right. Or so I thought.

The doorbell rings and I glance out the window to see Joseph’s dad’s truck sitting in the driveway. I didn’t hear him pull up. I’m not sure I want to open the door, not after that phone call.

“Daisy, I know you’re home. Your car is here and the TV’s on. Let me in, please. I want to apologize for our last phone call.”

That sounds more like the Joseph I know, but still, I’m hesitant. That anger…it really threw me. I’m not sure he should come inside the house.

“Please, Daisy? I’m really sorry. I was drunk and we’d just lost a game and I wasn’t myself. Please let me apologize. Please?”

One angry, drunken phone call doesn’t undermine the years I’ve known him. Getting up, I unlock and open the door. He’s standing there with daisies in one hand and a pizza in the other wearing a sheepish grin on his face.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.” I stand back and let him enter. He puts the pizza on the coffee table and holds out the daisies to me.

I really don’t like them, but he always got them for me because he said they reminded him of me.

And not just the name. He said they were resilient and quietly beautiful, just like me.

How could a girl tell him she doesn’t like them when he gave her reasons like that? Certainly not me.

Taking the flowers, I set them on the table by the door. I’ll throw them away later because like I said, I don’t like them.

“Hungry?” he asks and points toward the pizza.

“No, I ate earlier.”

“You’re still mad.”

His brown eyes are shining with regret as he runs a hand through his dark hair. It’s almost black, but there’s enough lighter streaks in it to call it a dark brown.

“Shouldn’t you be at school or something?”

“I should be, but I wanted to come talk to you. I’m flying back tonight so I don’t miss practice. Coach will bench me if I go UA.”

“UA?”

“He was in the military and he uses a lot of those terms and abbreviations. It means unauthorized absence.”

“Then you really should have stayed in Texas. You’ll get in trouble.”

“Nah, you’re worth missing a game or two for.”

I’m worth… “What are you doing here, Joe? Really?”

“To apologize and to say I was stupid and I went a little wild when I got to college. I cheated and that is unforgivable, but I am sorry for all of it. And especially for that phone call. You didn’t deserve that, Daisy, and I’m appalled at my behavior.

I was hurting and I took it out on you when you’re the one who has every right to their anger, not me. ”

“Apology accepted, but I think you should go.”

He frowns. “I want to talk about us, though.”

“There is no us, Joe. The minute I found out about the cheating, I was done.”

“I know I did stupid things when I went to college…”

“No, it wasn’t just when you went to college.

You cheated on me all through high school.

Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Well, I did.

Amazing how my so called friends were quick to tell me all about your cheating when I finally saw the pictures.

You were smart enough to keep them all off your social media, but you forgot we have a lot of the same friends, including the guys who followed you to Texas. ”

He sighs. “That was a long time ago.”

“It’s been less than a year. I don’t call that a long time ago,” I tell him with all the sarcasm I can muster. “And you seem to chase anything with boobs now that you’re down there away from prying eyes. Not that that seemed to stop you when we were in high school.”

“Sweetheart…”

“Don’t sweetheart me. What you did…I would never have done and then you had the nerve to call me a whore. You’re the only guy I ever dated. I think you’re the whore in this situation, don’t you?”

“You think I’m a whore?” he asks incredulously.

“A picture’s worth a thousand words, sweetheart , and I counted at least thirty different girls in the photos on Brian’s page. So again, who’s the whore in this situation?”

That insane hurt overwhelms me and I turn away so he won’t see my tears. It’s why I didn’t see him coming, but boy did I feel it.

He grabs my arm and whirls me around and his eyes are wide and bright with anger. The same anger I’d only heard on the phone. I’d never seen it or experienced it in person.

“You’re hurting me, Joe. Let go.”

“No. I’m not a whore. Don’t you ever say that again.”

“Fine, I won’t say it again, just let me go.”

“No, Daisy. One thing we’re going to make clear before I leave this house today is that I am never going to let you go. You and I belong together.”

“We don’t. You cheated on me.”

“Because you made me!” he spits out.

“I made you cheat on me?”

He nods, his eyes growing brighter. He takes both my upper arms in his hands and shakes me so hard, I swear I can hear my teeth rattle.

“You kept yourself from me. Always running here and there, making everyone but me important. And then, you stayed here when you graduated. You were supposed to come to Texas.”

“My Nana is dying. I can’t leave her.”

He sneers. “Always the goody two shoes aren’t you, Daisy?”

“No, but I love my Nana. I wasn’t going to let her go through this alone.”

“You love her more than you love me.”

“Yeah, I do.”

He rears back like I slapped him, momentarily letting me go.

I waste no time in backing away from him and putting a good bit of distance between us.

The issue is he’s standing between me and the front door, effectively blocking my exit.

My only option is to keep going backwards towards the kitchen and the back door.

“You’re lying,” he snarls and comes at me. I turn and run, hoping to reach the back door before he can reach me, but he’s a football star and he’s faster than I am. He catches my hair and yanks me back into him, his arms crushing me when he holds me to him. “Take it back.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, hoping to placate him. “I love you.”

“Tell me you love me more than you do your grandmother.”

I try, I really do, but it’s a lie I won’t tell. The words won’t leave my tongue.

“Bitch,” he growls and twists me around so I’m looking up at him. “Say it!”

“No.”

He slaps me across the face so hard my eyes water. “Don’t make me hurt you, Daisy. Tell me you love me more than anyone else in the world and you belong to me. Tell me!”

I try to knee him, but he sees it coming and twists out of the way.

This time, it’s his fist that hits me and I blink away the pain.

As shocked as my body is, I try my best to get away, but he only pushes me down and his foot connects with my stomach.

Bile rises in my throat and I roll, but his foot follows and he lands a hard kick to my back and sends me rolling faster.

Pain bursts to life and I scream. My back hits the recliner and I try to use it to get up, but his hand catches hold of my hair and drags me up, slamming my head over and over against the wall, until I crumble to the floor.

And it doesn’t stop. He stomps me and when he tires of that, he starts kicking me again. It’s all I can do to hold on and not black out.

The door opens and my best friend steps in, her gasp of horror the only thing that stops the pain.

“Joseph, what the hell are you doing?”

“Get out of here. This is none of your business.”

“I’m calling the police!”

She doesn’t waste time when he turns her way, she runs out and I hear her car door open and close. Thank God.

Joseph doesn’t follow her. He turns back to me.

“You’re mine, Daisy. Don’t you ever forget it.”

And then he leaves.

It’s not long before I hear sirens and the paramedics rush in, followed by the police and Lucy. She’s holding her phone, screaming into it, but I can’t make out the words. I can barely see through the blood dripping into my eyes.

“It’s okay, Daisy. We have you.” The female paramedic looks familiar, but I can’t place her. Her face and those words are the last memories I have as the world around me goes dark and the pain stops.