Page 10 of Ugly Duckling (Content Advisory #6)

Five

Some things are better left alone. Like me, for instance.

—Sutton to her ex

SUTTON

The last place I’d ever thought I’d be was at Gunner Lewiston’s—now Penn’s—house.

The name change had come somewhere after Jett’s death, and I’d never asked him any questions as to why the name change.

I’d asked Rocky once, but she’d had no clue and hadn’t cared enough to ask why.

I also never expected to see Gunner again.

I’d heard from Rocky’s parents that Gunner had moved up to Dallas a few years ago, but I hadn’t gotten much more because Gunner’s dad was estranged from Gunner, and nobody really said why.

The question was on the tip of my tongue when Webber pushed off of the counter where he’d just finished cooking us breakfast and said, “Lottie’s coming with me today.”

Gunner’s brows rose. “Why?”

“Because you need to show her around and convince her to stay.” Webber laughed as he slapped Gunner on the back, knocking him forward.

I giggled, which surprised me, because I wasn’t a giggler.

I actually didn’t laugh all that much.

Usually when you’re the butt of all the jokes, you don’t get the chance.

Hell, I’d been somewhat normal looking for a few months now—thanks to all the swelling finally going down, and the scars disappearing into my hairline thanks to my hair regrowing there—and I was only just now thinking that people laughing in public weren’t laughing at me.

Webber left with Lottie, but only after Lottie got a bunch of hugs and kisses, one even from me.

When the door closed behind Webber’s back, I looked over at Gunner and said, “How do you always end up with such awesome kids?”

His smile was soft, but sad.

“Lottie is much more outgoing than Jett ever was. I remember walking into the stadium once, and there was a new trainer there, and swear to God, he screamed his little head off. Lost his ever-loving mind because there was a new person in there. Lottie, however? She loves everyone. Has never met a stranger. It slightly terrifies me because I don’t think she’d even cry if someone came up and took her. ”

“Surely she would.” I frowned. “You’re going to have to teach her about stranger danger.” I hesitated. “Just sayin’, but maybe she just trusts y’all implicitly. You wouldn’t let me close if you didn’t know me.”

“That’s true.” He nodded his head. “But still.”

I slipped off the stool to take my plate to the sink and groaned as my body nearly gave out. The only thing that saved me was the counter that I clutched on to.

“I’m going to be so damn sore tomorrow.” I groaned.

“I think you’ll live.” He smirked. “Webber asked me if we were going to run Boston…are you?”

“It’s one of my goals,” I said. “I might apply for it. But I’m not really sure how it’ll be affected with my training schedule for the Olympics. Running twenty-six miles and running fifteen hundred meters isn’t really the same thing. The training is completely different.”

“Run it,” he suggested. “You said you weren’t sure about the Olympics anyway.”

“The Olympics is a young person sport. I’m not all that young anymore,” I admitted. “At least not where I was for the first two.”

“I think you should still try out. But I wouldn’t put your life on hold for an almost mile if that’s not where your heart lies anymore.” He studied my face for a second before he said, “You could always start training to run the marathon.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I’d need someone to train with me to do that.”

His eyes were intense when he said, “Then move in here, and we’ll start training.”

“You literally just said that you don’t run marathons,” I said. “And I swear I heard you tell the lady behind you at the start line that you had no plans to ever run one again.”

“Plans change.” He chuckled. “Now, would you like to go look around the house?”

I glanced up at the stairs and said with complete conviction, “I don’t want to climb those stairs right now.”

His eyes were twinkling when he said, “Your room would be downstairs anyway. The entire upstairs is just one big loft area that I took over as the master suite.”

Oh, to have that kind of money.

I finally had the strength to walk my plate to the sink, and once there I washed it before setting it face down in the dish rack.

Gunner walked around me to my other side and bumped me over with his hip, taking over the sink as he washed and dried the rest of his dishes.

I couldn’t help but give him a once over.

He was in gray sweatpants that said “Oilers” on the hip, a black t-shirt that said “Hostel” on it, and black socks that had Under Armour over the toe.

I was dressed much the same as him, fucking freezing my ass off in his house.

I didn’t know if that was because it was cold outside, and he had yet to turn the heat on. Or if it was because my body was in shock.

Whatever the reason, I’d dressed in my warmest clothes.

A pair of black leggings, fluffy black socks, a t-shirt that read LSU on it, and a slouchy sweatshirt that said “Hostel High” on it.

He looked over when I was in the midst of examining my own clothes and said, “I can’t believe you still have your warm-up sweatshirt. Didn’t I cut the neck out for you?”

I grinned. “Yeah. With a pocketknife. That’s why it’s so jagged.”

His eyes went a little far away as he said, “Man, those were the times, huh? Track meets were the best.”

“Track meets were the worst for me. I ran the first run and the second to last, so I was out there the entire damn day. Plus, everyone was mean to me.”

His face went soft. “I wasn’t.”

No, he was right.

He was never mean to me.

“No, but your steady girlfriend was one of the worst ones there were.” I shrugged. “That was why I stayed so far away from you.”

“I should’ve taken your lead and stayed away from her, too.” He sighed. “I’m sorry she was so mean. I didn’t know that.”

No, he hadn’t.

If he had, he likely would’ve had nothing to do with her.

He was my biggest supporter in high school during sports when he caught people being mean to me.

That was why I always gravitated toward him.

We may not have spoken, but he offered a buffer even if he didn’t know I existed.

“You got something pretty awesome out of it, though,” I said. “Aleah was a dummy.”

His eyes narrowed on the mention of her name. “She’s the worst.”

“I actually ran into Aleah the other day on my way out of town. She was looking pretty dang rough.”

Gunner snorted. “She looks rougher and rougher each time I see her. Damn woman needs to get her shit together or she’ll waste the rest of her life away.”

Aleah was Jett’s mother.

I’d never been happier to see that they didn’t wind up together. Aleah would’ve only pulled the two of them down.

Plus, having that viper of a mother would not have been fun for either one of them.

“Ready to get out of here? We can go grab a cookie or something,” he offered.

My eyes snapped to his.

“Still have that sweet tooth, huh?”

My cheeks blushed. “I feel like it’s even worse now. Running more makes me even hungrier. I swear that I eat so much.”

“Come on.” He grabbed a set of keys, then turned to look at me. “Want to ride on my bike?”

I couldn’t think of anything better than being pressed up against him but, “I’m actually freezing right now.”

“Dang,” he sighed. “I don’t get to ride it all that much anymore. Lottie needs her car seat.”

Well, that made me feel bad.

“Do you have a big jacket I can use? Maybe I could borrow some sweatpants?”

He looked absolutely giddy when he said, “Of course I do.”

I walked out of the house five minutes later in his sweatpants, his sweatshirt, his large leather jacket, his beanie pulled down low over my head and his helmet.

“Not too big on you.” He shook my head in the helmet.

I snickered as he practically tossed me around.

He tapped his fingers lightly on the top of the helmet, then led me outside. “Just shove your hands into my pockets in my jacket. Hold on tight.”

He mounted the bike—still in his sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt to my own that said “Angel Security” and held out his hand for me.

I mounted, and he put my feet onto the pegs where they were supposed to be before saying, “Don’t move them off there. The muffler is hot as fuck.”

I actually remembered that.

Because the one and only time that I’d ridden on the back of anyone’s bike had been his.

In high school, he’d given me a ride home when he’d seen me walking down the side of the road.

He’d given me the same exact speech and we’d ridden home with the rain pelting the both of us.

It felt like needles.

“I remember,” I said. “You almost verbatim gave the same speech as that time you gave me a ride home in the rain.”

He chuckled. “You were the last girl I’ve ever had on the back of my bike. I sense a trend.”

Butterflies took flight in my belly.

But before I could reply, he started his motorcycle up.

A man came out of his driveway and threw up his hands, and Gunner flipped him off on the way past, making me laugh.

I stuffed my hands into the front pocket of his sweatshirt and threaded my fingers together.

He shifted in front of me, and I scooted just a little bit closer as he picked up speed once we exited the neighborhood.

We rode around for a few minutes before he pulled up in front of a bakery.

My mouth watered when I smelled the aroma pouring out of the open bakery doors.

An open bakery that had tons of people spilling out of it as they waited for their turn in line.

“This place is hopping,” I observed.

“A good friend of mine’s wife owns it. Her name is Maven,” he said as he took my hand and led me through the throng of people.

“She also takes orders over here. But no one knows what they want at any given time, so they wait in line so they can see everything. I know what she has on special today because I texted Maven’s husband, Auden.

They have a cookie flight. Do you want to try it? ”

“What’s the special?” I wondered.

Maybe I wanted to stand in line, too…