Page 30 of Hutch (Minnesota Raptors #2)

Daisy

My nerves are shot. It’s been a long day and after having gone over everything that happened back home, I want to go lay down and have a good cry.

Since I opened my mouth and asked Hutch to stay the night, that’s not happening.

Maybe I’ll take a shower and cry. I need to get all of the icky emotions out. Crying usually helps me do that.

Why is Joseph calling me? What does he want? His uncle promised he’d keep him away from me. I said I wouldn’t press charges as long as he kept him far, far away. I still have the photos. Photos the hospital can verify if I have to use them.

I always thought of myself as a strong person, someone not given to letting fear control their every move.

That changed when I was beaten to within an inch of my life for breaking up with someone.

When his name flashed across my phone, it’s like time froze and teleported me back to that day in my house.

Every word echoed in my head. Every hit, every kick, I remembered and felt it again in that moment.

Muscle memory. My body remembers what he did to me even if my mind blocks it out on most days.

Picking up my phone, I text his uncle asking why he’s calling me and remind him I still have the hospital photos to back up my story. Joe needs to leave me the hell alone.

But what if he doesn’t? What if he finds out where I am? He did tell me that I belonged to him. Which is utter nonsense, but he might truly believe that. What if Hutch answering my phone sets him off and he tracks me down? What if…

Stop it , I tell myself forcefully. I told no one where I was going. Only Lucy knows and she swore to keep it to herself. Not even her parents or her brother knows I’m in Minnesota.

Please don’t let him find me.

My phone rings and I jump. Dammit. I hate feeling like this.

The name flashing on the screen makes bile rise in my throat, but I have to speak with him.

“Sheriff.”

“Daisy, I was surprised to get your call. Joe called?”

“Yes. The second time he called my boyfriend answered the phone and told him to lose my number.”

“You have a boyfriend?” He sounds pleased. Probably hoping that’ll deter Joseph more than anything else.

“Yes, but the question is why is he calling me? You promised he’d leave me alone.”

“He swore to me he would.”

“Then you’d better talk to him. I still have the photos.”

“Don’t go and do anything rash, girl. He just went and declared for the draft. He doesn’t need that kind of attention.”

He did not. I pull the phone away from my ear and look at it. He did not just tell me not to do anything rash.

“Daisy?”

Hutch is staring at me from the doorway to my room.

I shake my head and look dubiously at the phone.

“Is that asshat?” Anger vibrates through him as he strides into the room and reaches for my phone.

“No, it’s his uncle.”

“His uncle who let him get away with beating the shit out of you?” Rage coats his words and I’m afraid to let him have the phone.

“I called him to see why Joseph called.”

“May I?” He holds out his hand and I hesitate for a moment, but he waits patiently.

I put my hand over the mouthpiece. “You can’t say anything stupid. Your contract’s not signed yet.”

“I appreciate you looking out for me, baby girl, but I got this. May I?”

This isn’t a good idea, but I really don’t want to talk to the Sheriff after he tried to make this seem like it’s my job to not do anything stupid when it was Joseph who contacted me.

I give Hutch the phone.

“Hey, this is Jonathan, Daisy’s boyfriend.

I’m also a professional hockey player.” He pauses while he listens to whatever the sheriff is saying.

It doesn’t look like it’s going well because the anger only increases on his face.

“No, it’s time for you to shut up and listen to me.

She’s not in some small country town where they value assholes over women who’ve had the shit beat out them.

Where she is now, my family is in law enforcement.

And I guarantee you if your asshat of a nephew tries to get near her, he’ll end up in jail.

I’m personally going to go give his photo to my uncle so the whole PD will have it in their cars while they’re on patrol.

Any man who would dare tell a woman not to file charges against her abuser is nothing but a cowardly piece of shit who’s going to Hell no matter how many times he might ask for forgiveness.

You remember that, Sheriff. And tell you nephew if he calls her again, I’ll personally make sure the people at the combine and the draft see his handiwork. Got it?”

He hangs up the phone, hands it back to me and turns around.

Probably so I won’t see how mad he is. I appreciate that.

I don’t quite trust my instincts yet, but I really want to believe Hutch would never turn on me in anger.

Then again, I believed that about Joseph until he beat me.

I know comparing him and Hutch is like comparing apples to oranges, but there’s still a small ounce of fear there.

Can I really trust my own judgment when it comes to men?

Nana would love Hutch. Especially when he’s standing up for me. I can’t remember a time when Joseph ever did that.

“Are you okay?” I ask after he stands there for a full five minutes.

He nods. “I just don’t want you to look at me and see anger. I don’t want you to associate that with me.”

“I don’t.”

“You sure? I wouldn’t blame you if you did the way I’ve been flying off the handle tonight.”

“You’re mad, but that anger isn’t directed at me. Your anger is for me, not against me. I know the difference.”

His shoulders sag and then he straightens to slowly turn and face me. Most of the rage has left his eyes, but some of it still lingers, smoldering like a volcano about to erupt and destroy everything in its path.

“I never want you to be afraid of me. The thought of you flinching away is actually painful.”

“I know you won’t hurt me.”

“The thought of those assholes and how they forced you to not file charges…I want to go and cause so much trouble.”

“They’re not worth it. And I’m the one who called the sheriff. I thought maybe he could talk to Joe and keep him away. I don’t know why he’s calling and it scares me. He told me that day I belonged to him and he meant it. I don’t know if his uncle can rein him in, but I hope so.”

“He will. I made sure he understood what kind of hell would come for his nephew if he didn’t.”

I shake my head. He’d made essentially empty threats to the sheriff. Hutch might know people in the hockey circle, but he doesn’t know anyone at the combine or the major NFL teams. He never gave his name, though. Maybe the sheriff will take it as a real threat.

“Where’s Collin?”

“The guys couldn’t find the air mattresses and he went over to the house to dig them out of the garage. You want him to come back? I’ll call him and tell him to turn around.”

I bet he would too. He and Hutch would sleep on the hard floor if I asked them to. That’s who they are. I know it deep down. If only I could get over this irrational fear I have.

“You want a hot bath or something? My mom always says a woman can wash away her stress with a hot bath and a glass of wine. I don’t know if they keep any kind of wine here except for the cheap nasty kind.”

“You know what cheap nasty wine tastes like? I had you for a beer and whiskey kind of guy.”

“Don’t get me wrong, cold beer after a long day…perfection. I only do hard liquor if we’ve had a losing streak of more than four games.”

“You lose?”

He grins, and it softens the anger in his eyes. “It’s rare, but we do lose the occasional game.”

“Four in a row?”

“My freshman year, we lost more than half our games. It was bad, but we had seniors and juniors who thought they were the shit and the rest of us didn’t see much time on the ice.

It wasn’t until our old coach was forced to retire and we got Coach that we actually started winning.

He evaluated the team and sent the assholes to the third and fourth lines while bringing the rest of us who were actually trying to win and not just show off up to the first and second lines. We started winning games.”

“Why did your old coach retire?” I went over to my chest of drawers and dug out an old t-shirt and some pajama pants.

A bath would be heavenly, but not tonight.

It wouldn’t relax me with Hutch in the next room and especially not with Collin coming back.

I can rein in my fear when he’s here, though, and I might get a little sleep.

He might even be able to keep the nightmares away.

“He had a stroke. Doc says the stress got to be too much for him.”

“At least something good came out of it and you got a coach that cares. Speaking of, did you and Collin have a look at the agents he recommended?”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“What am I doing?”

“Deflecting. It’s not going to make what happened to tonight go away.”

“No, but I want to forget about it for tonight. Can we not talk about Joseph or his uncle anymore? Please?”

“Sure, sweetheart. What do you want to talk about?”

“Nothing? Can we watch a movie or something and just not think about anything? I need to settle.”

“Sure. Can I sit on the bed with you or do you want me in the chair?”

The fact that he’s asking means so much to me. Collin would have just plopped down and thought about it later. My nerves are raw and I need to feel like I have a little control when everything around me is spiraling.

“I’d put you on the air mattress, but since it’s not here yet, you can sit with me.”

“You sure?”

“You’re not going to hurt me.” I’m not sure I say it for me or him or both. Either way he sits down and leans against the headboard.