Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 131387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Hutch looked beyond him at the grimy window behind Stormy’s desk, consciously letting every word Stormy said sink in and do it deep.
“My turn, so I’ll repeat the question. This have to do with Mabel?” Stormy asked.
Hutch looked back to him. “Yeah.”
“And Bree,” Stormy surmised.
“As well as a couple before her,” Hutch told him.
“Right, then. I haven’t met her. I can’t give you advice about her specifically. What I can say is, if you feel it, don’t bury it. Don’t ignore it. Don’t try to shove her into some version of someone she’s not. Trust me, brother, when she gets shot of you and moves along to the next guy who doesn’t have his shit twisted, and he makes her happy, they get married and get into Halloween decoration contests with their neighbors, you’ll kick yourself. Only time I ever thought of leaving here to hit the big city and disappear, being in a small town where it’s practically impossible to avoid seeing them together.”
Hutch was both processing all of that and feeling Stormy’s pain as Stormy sat back in his chair and continued.
“You know what’s weird?” He didn’t wait for Hutch to answer, he got into it. “I got Viggo out of that play of Angelica’s. That means I got no complaints. Did it change my life in a way I wasn’t expecting? Yes. Do I give a shit about that now? No. Now, I’m pissed at Angelica not just because she scarred me, but because I let her. And I let that fester. It’s not that I didn’t have a right to be pissed. It’s that I held on to it too long.” His lips tipped up. “But I blame Angelica for that.” His lips tipped down. “Seriously though, I feel she bears some responsibility for me losing Lillian.”
More to process.
Hutch already knew Mabel wasn’t Bree.
But was he holding onto some invisible thread that made him think she might have Molly or Danielle in her?
Or his mom?
Storm kept speaking.
“Make no mistake, I’m happy for Lillian. I’m happy for Harry. Anyone can see they’re good together. And deep down, I can tell, he’s better for her than me, and not just because my shit was twisted. Took some time, but I realized he was the man for her, I wasn’t, and it worked out the way it should. So it’s gotten better. But it hurt like a motherfucker when the light dawned on what I let slip through my fingers. This Mabel does it for you, don’t put yourself through that. There’s some good ones. Doc found Nadia. I lost Lillian, but Harry’d been grieving for a long time, and he found love again. It happens.”
In the expanse of one night, that night being Saturday, Hutch had gone from having convinced himself he could let Mabel cut ties, move on, and be in her life even if she was with another guy, to thinking he’d rip the throat out of any other guy she might be with.
So yeah.
The problem he knew was going to be a big problem had become a much bigger problem.
With one solution.
“Bree isn’t worth you not being happy,” Stormy said.
Hutch focused on him.
“And I don’t know the ones before her,” Stormy went on. “But I do know, they fucked it up with a smart, steady, loyal, hardworking guy like you, so they aren’t either.”
“I’m fallin’ for her.”
A slow smile spread on Storm’s face. “Well, that’s good. Can’t wait to meet her.”
“She wants us to be friends with benefits. Which we are. We have a deal.”
The smile ran away from his face. “Really?”
“Rule is, if one of us starts feeling something deeper, we talk about it, back off.”
Stormy’s brows knit, he looked to the door and back at Hutch.
“Aren’t you here putting snow tires on her truck and puzzle weights in the back?”
“Yeah.”
“A woman’s man does that for her, Hutch. You sure about where she’s at?”
“I’m sure her ex fucked her over more than Bree did me.”
“We’ve all been fucked over. That doesn’t mean we give up.”
“I broach this with her, I risk her ending what we got.”
“So…what? In the meantime, you fall harder for her, she gets her orgasms, finds another guy she doesn’t have some fucked-up deal with and hooks up with him?”
Hutch had to stretch his neck at the thought of it.
Storm didn’t miss his actions. “Listen, Hutch. Again, I don’t know her, but I know you. I knew why you were with Bree. Until she pulled that with you, I wouldn’t have minded sloppy seconds. She’s gorgeous, she’s got attitude, she likes to have fun. It wasn’t that. You knew what it was. This, I can tell, is different. This, I can tell, is not something you’re gonna wanna fuck up. And if she isn’t there with you, cut her loose so she doesn’t fuck you up.”