Page 36 of Hutch (Minnesota Raptors #2)

Hutch

My headlights bounce off the row of parked cars in front of the house.

I see Daisy’s little Honda parked at the end of the line.

She took the last spot, so I park my Jeep in the grass and then sprint to the front door.

I knock loudly, not caring if I wake anyone else up.

I don’t want to scare her. She’s freaked.

Not that I blame her. After what asswipe did, she has every reason to be spooked thinking it might be him.

It was in her voice. That fear and desolation…

it pulled me out of bed and had me running out of my house in the middle of the night to get to her as fast as I could.

Screw practice in the morning and my classes.

Screw the meeting with Cherese in the afternoon to sign contracts with her to be my lawyer.

Screw it all. I’ve never heard anyone sound like she did in those few moments on the phone.

When she opens the door, her face is so pale, it makes me worried. And she’s shaking. I slip around her, closing and locking the door, before I pull her to me. The force of her shaking vibrates through me like a punch. She’s scared to death.

“I’m here now. Everything’s fine,” I whisper and hug her tight, doing my best to instill some warmth into her. Her fingers are ice cold.

“He’s never going to let me go.”

“Come on, baby. Let’s get you upstairs and get you warm.”

He’s never going to let me go .

Oh, he’s going to let her go alright or he’ll deal with me. I may not have connections with the NFL, but I guarantee I know people who do. He wants to fuck with her, I’ll fuck him over a thousand times worse.

Her room is almost dark. She only has one small bedside table lamp on, but it doesn’t bother her. She goes straight to her bed and crawls in, pulling me with her. I kick my shoes off and settle under the covers with her, content to hold her for the moment until she calms down.

“Lucy called me earlier, when we were getting ready to leave the restaurant.”

“It’s a bar,” I say mildly.

“It has food,” she counters, starting to sound a little more like herself.

“Bars have food.”

She shakes her head, her hair tickling my chin. “They don’t serve actual food, just bar food. The place I work serves actual food.”

“Uh huh.” It’s not a bar. It’s more like Chili’s or Applebee’s, but if I can distract her from this fear that’s taken hold of her, I’ll call it a bar all day.

“She said Joe called asking who you were.”

“Fucker.”

“She thought he was calling because he wanted to tell me about the draft and that he thinks I’m still his girlfriend.”

“Where did he get that idea from?”

“That day before he left, he told me that I was his, that I’d always be his. He believes it.”

“He’s delulu.”

She nods.

“Lucy also pointed something out.”

“What?”

“That he knows a lot of players from a lot of teams. If someone sees me, they might tell him where I am. I live in the sports house. There are football players in and out all day every day. What if one of them tells him I’m here?”

Fuck me sideways. I never thought of that.

“Christa said Mitch has already warned all the players they’re not to talk to him about me, but he’s Joseph Ayers. Soon to be a pro ball player. If ratting me out can get them in his good graces…it might be more temptation than even Mitch can stomp out.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“I think I need to move.”

“No.” The word is out of my mouth before she stops talking. She can’t leave. The people here will keep her safe when I’m not here. I trust these guys.

“I don’t know…”

“I trust the people here. They’re my friends and they won’t let asswipe step one foot in this house. I trust Dylan and Mitch to keep you safe, Daisy. If you’re out there somewhere on your own, then you won’t have the same backup as you do in this house.”

“It might put them in danger. If someone got hurt because of me…”

“Hush.” I lean down and kiss her forehead. “These people are your friends, Daisy. Let them help you. No one will blame you if they get hurt. They’ll blame asswipe.”

“Why do you call him that?”

“Because it’s what he is.” I stroke her hair, feeling her body relax.

The shaking isn’t as bad as it was. “When I get back from signing contracts with Cherese, I’ll sit down with Mitch and talk to him about all this.

You do have a point. A lot of people would do anything to be on the good side of a future NFL player.

I’ll point that out to Mitch so he can watch for it. ”

“I came here for a fresh start away from everything that happened back home and I can’t get away from it.”

“My mom says you can’t run from your past. You can only face it and deal with it.”

“I don’t want to deal with Joe.”

“I know, baby.” I hug her tighter. “I’ll talk to Cherese and Gretchen to see if it’s possible to get a restraining order against him.

I think with your photos and if Lucy is up to talking to my future lawyer and signing an affidavit, it might be possible.

That way you’ll have a legal avenue to fight.

This isn’t some small town in West Virginia.

This is Minneapolis and here, I’m a big deal.

The Raptors are a big deal. The police will listen to you here. ”

She doesn’t look like she believes me and I don’t blame her. She’s had bad experiences with law enforcement. I’ll talk to Mom in the morning. I’m pretty sure she’s friends with a cop’s wife. Maybe she can talk to him to see what Daisy can do.

She sighs heavily. “I was starting to feel normal again and the fear was all but gone. He was in Texas and had no idea of where I was. Now that Lucy’s made the point about his connections on other college teams, I can’t get it out of my head. It was stupid of me not to think about that.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I disagree. “You were told by law enforcement who is a member of his family, that he’d stay away. You believed that. It wasn’t stupid. It was a natural response.”

She snuggles against me and I pull her closer until she’s laying on my chest. Her shaking has almost stopped.

“You make me feel safe,” she whispers.

“Good.” I kiss the top of her head.

“Lucy asked me tonight if Joe ever made me feel safe and I had to think about it before I said no. I’ve never had to think about that with you, even when I did my best to push you away.”

“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart, and I’m going to do my best to always make you feel safe.”

She tips her head back and looks up at me. Her eyes are bright and completely open and vulnerable. She’s never once looked at me with that much honesty. Her walls are down and she’s not hiding from me.

Finally.

“You have the potential to destroy me, Jonathan Hutchinson and for that reason you terrify me.”

“I swear on my mother’s life, I will do my best not to hurt you. I’m not stupid enough to think we’ll never fight or argue, but I won’t yell and I will never be physical. You have my word on that, Daisy. All I ask in return is that you don’t shut me out anymore.”

“It’s hard,” she says after a long minute, “but I promise to try.”

“All I can ask for, Red.” I kiss her forehead. “Feeling better now? Your shaking has almost stopped.”

She nods. “Yes, thank you for coming over.”

“You call and if I can get here I will. I’ll be gone a lot, though. We’ll be going all over to play, but you can call and we’ll Facetime for as long as you want.”

“I don’t have an iPhone.”

“Don’t tell me you’re an Apple snob.”

She laughs. “What?”

“One of those people who say Apple isn’t as good as some of the other phones. That they’re expensive pieces of junk.”

“Nope. I fall into the category of its too expensive for me. My phone is one I bought at Walmart that costs about a hundred bucks.”

I make a note of that. I’m buying my girl a decent phone. She will probably argue and refuse to take it, but it’s an argument I plan on winning. She needs a reliable phone.

“When’s your birthday?”

She looks up at me. “October 31st.”

“You’re a Halloween baby?” Her birthday is in a week. I have time to get her a good phone and an excuse to give it to her.

She laughs. “I had some of the best birthday parties when I was little. Not only did I get presents, but everyone got to dress up and we’d all go trick or treating afterwards.”

“Is it your favorite holiday?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“My birthday is July 14th in case you’re wondering.”

“I wasn’t.”

Now that sounds more like Daisy.

“Are you ready to go to sleep?” I ask, suppressing a yawn. “I need to be up in about three hours for practice.”

She bolts up. “What?”

I pull her back down. “We have an early practice, then weights before classes. The Raptors head coach want me to continue training with the team until my contract with them is signed. Coach is having me and C come in an hour earlier than everyone else for extra training. Says he won’t send us over there looking like untrained buffoons. ”

“He sounds like a crusty old grandfather.”

“Don’t tell him that.”

She huffs but lets me pull her back against me.

“Go to sleep, Red. I’m here and you’re safe.”

She nods and closes her eyes, trusting me.

No matter how badly I want to kiss her, I curtail the need. This is worth more than a few minutes of kissing. Holding her, having her trust me, it’s worth everything.

Closing my own eyes, I fall asleep to the sound of her steady breathing and the feel of her warm skin pressed against mine.