Page 28 of Hutch (Minnesota Raptors #2)

Hutch

What do you even say to that? I don’t know how to respond.

I’m in utter shock and enraged at the same time, but I don’t want her to see my anger because she’s scared enough as it is.

My beautiful little scrappy girl is sitting here shaking for all she’s worth and I’m not gonna add to that if I can help it.

Without thinking about it, I pick her up and put her in my lap, locking my arms around her.

“Why the fuck isn’t he in jail?” Collin spits out.

Her flinch at his tone sets my temper flaring even more. Collin needs to chill. The glare I shoot his way lands and he looks down, realizing what he’s doing.

“He was, but charges weren’t pressed against him.”

“Why not?” I ask, keeping my voice soft and calm.

“Everyone told me not to. Even the cops. They didn’t want to ruin his future. He was going to a Division I school. They pressured me not to press charges.”

The police harassed her into not filing charges against the bastard? Small town hick cops.

“His uncle is the town sheriff.”

Fuckers.

“Joseph came to see me in the hospital. He said he’d go do the same thing to Nana again and again until I learned to keep my mouth shut. And he bragged he’d get away with it.”

Collin let loose with a string of curse words in both English and Spanish so fast I couldn’t keep up with him. Not only did asshat beat a woman, he threatened to do the same thing to her sick, elderly grandmother. Fucker.

“He was right, too. No one was willing to take my side over his except for Lucy. She wanted me to press charges, but he was threatening Nana and everyone else, including the police, were telling me it would be awful to ruin Joe’s life over one mistake.

The only thing I could do was to agree not to press charges and drop the whole thing to keep Nana safe.

He stayed away from me after that. I think his uncle told him if he didn’t, they’d have to press charges or something.

I’m not sure though. Sheriff Ayers told me he took care of it and Joseph wouldn’t come near me again. ”

I really hope I get to meet this sheriff one day just to tell him what an asshole and fuck up of a cop he actually is.

“I stayed with Nana until she died, sold the house to pay off the debts, and used everything I had left to come here. I just wanted to get away from that whole town after what happened.”

I’m not sure how to react without scaring her further.

I want to go to that place she grew up and bitch slap every single person who pressured her to let a batterer go free.

All because he was the town’s golden boy expected to do great things and make it to the NFL.

Which it appears he is going to do since he declared for the draft.

“Where’s Lucy now?” Collin asks after a few minutes. He has a tick right by his left eyebrow. I’ve only ever seen it once before when his parents got deported. He’s as furious as I am.

“She’s at school in California. Basketball scholarship. I didn’t even know she’d come home that weekend. She came by to surprise me and force me out of the house. I might be dead right now if she hadn’t stopped by. I had a lot of internal bleeding.”

I can actually feel the color drain from my face. If Lucy hadn’t been there she might have died. I’d never have met Daisy. And if she’d died, they would probably have marked it as unsolved and hidden the truth to protect the little fucker.

Small towns might have their charms, but they also have dark secrets as well. Darker than some of the biggest cities. I’m never ever living in a small town.

“I’m sorry that happened to you, Red.” Collin runs a hand through his dark hair and lets out a deep sigh. “And I’m sorry if I scared you. I was just so angry…”

She reaches out and pats his arm, keeping her head buried in my chest. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s fucking not okay,” he rebukes gently. “I might yell, but I will never raise a hand against you or any woman in anger. My family taught me better than that.”

She doesn’t say a word, just pats his arm again.

My sweet, beautiful scrappy girl. Collin looks so stricken when he realizes she’s trying to comfort him when she’s the one who needs all the comfort she can get. God knows no one else did it for her. Fuckers.

“Will you make sure the doors are locked?” she asks softly.

“Sure, Red. No one’s getting in this house that’s not supposed to be here.”

She snorts and I don’t blame her. There’s lots of people here on a regular basis that’s not supposed to be.

It’s the sports house with parties more often than not.

My first thought is to talk to Mom about maybe letting Daisy stay in my room at the house, but Mom’s not home a lot and she might need people around if asshat tries to see her.

At least here there are people who can be trusted to watch out for her.

“I wish we could have you come stay with us, but the house they provide the hockey players is only for us. If anyone ratted you were there, then we’d all be kicked out of student housing.”

“It’s fine, Collin. Can you please go make sure the doors are locked?”

He sighs heavily and stands. “Sure, sure. I’ll also call and have them bring over the air mattresses.”

“I’ll finish cooking.” She pulls away and I’m reluctant to let her go, but she’s trying to distract herself from her memories and I can’t deny her right to do just that.

She showed us her most vulnerable side, why she’s so cold to any attempts to get closer to her.

I understand it now. I also know she trusts me enough to let me through those protective barriers she’s built around herself and that makes me the luckiest motherfucker in the world.

“Give us a few.”

“Yeah, I need to cool down. She’s shaking and I don’t mean to make it worse.” Collin watches her walk to the kitchen. “I want to beat him.”

“Same here, but like you said, we can’t let it show.

Not when we’re this close to the dream. We can’t protect her or get your family back stateside if we blow up before contracts are signed.

If he ever comes near her, then we’ll do something.

For now, we control our tempers and just be here for her. ”

Collin sighs heavily and goes outside instead of down to the basement where the rest of the guys are. I follow Daisy into the kitchen where she’s turning the stove back on to finish cooking.

“Cooking seems to soothe you.”

She nods. “Nana had me with her beside the stove for as far back as I can remember. She taught me so much about cooking and the rest I learned from watching cooking shows and experimenting myself. I only started watching them to try and find new recipes or alternative ways to cook food I already knew how to cook. Nana lost her appetite so it became a point of pride when I made something that tempted her. I guess in a way, cooking became my refuge and my escape from everything going on. It was something I could control.”

That I got. She’d lost control of everything so finding something that she could control, it must have made her feel safer in a world of pain. Cooking isn’t my idea of control, but if it works for her, then it works for her.

“What’s your favorite thing to cook?”

“Comfort food really. Things that I like to eat when I’m sad or its cold outside.

Nana loved pizza though and the red sauce was too much for her.

I found out Pizza Hut had a white sauce pizza and bought one.

It was actually good and I did my best to replicate the sauce.

Nana loved it and that’s all that mattered.

I still haven’t perfected it, but I will one day. ”

She sounds calmer. I guess the act of cooking actually does do a lot to calm her down, both physically and emotionally.

“Feeling better?” I ask softly, coming over to stand by her at the stove.

She nods, not looking at me.

“Did you just put nutmeg in the mac and cheese?” I can’t hide the outrage in my voice. It’s scandalous. Nutmeg does not belong in mac and cheese.

She laughs and it warms my heart, chasing away some of the dark shadows of the last few minutes. Her laugh is like hearing an angel sing to me. It soothes me the same way cooking soothes her. How am I going to leave her knowing asshat is hitting up her phone?

“Nutmeg gives it that something special. Trust me, you’ll like it.” Her hand trembles as she stirs the cheesy noodles. She’s not nearly as fine as she let on. She’d make a good voice actress.

Placing my hand over the one gripping the wooden spoon, I lean in. “It’s okay to not be fine, Daisy. I’m here now and I’m not going to let asshat hurt you again.”

“You’re leaving.” Her tone is hushed and it breaks my heart.

“Yes, but I’m making sure people know to look out for him and to not let him near you. All you have to do is call one of them and someone will be there within minutes. And I’m just a call away if you get scared. If I can get to you, I will and if not, I’ll make sure someone can. I promise.”

“Why? You don’t even know me.”

“Why? Well for starters, what asshat did to you is unacceptable. No man has the right to beat a woman. I would stand up for anyone who’s facing an abusive asshole.”

“I wish people back home thought like that.”

The anger rushes up again at the pain in her voice, but I push it back. I won’t show her my anger.

“Good thing you moved to where people do care, isn’t it?”

She looks down at the pot instead of at me.

I lean in, until she’s flush against me and place my chin on top of her head.

“And I told you, sweetheart, I’ll be your friend for as long as you need me to.

You’re mine. Have been mine since you ran into me and all your shit flew everywhere.

I’m a patient man. I can wait for you to be ready for me.

But you’ll always be safe with me. That much I hope you know. ”

“You do make me feel safe.”