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)
“Let me guess, you didn’t buy her a ring.”
“Fuck no. Went right home from the bar and got shot of her ass. And you would not believe the fucking scene.”
Her brows winged up. “Wait. She cheated on you while you were off, serving our country, and when you were not down with that, she caused a scene?”
“Babe, don’t you know, it was my fault. I went away.”
Her eyes got huge.
Hutch kept right on going.
“So I knew she couldn’t handle being alone. I knew she wanted me out of the Navy. I asked if she wanted me out of the Navy so fuckin’ bad, why did she bang another man who was a lieutenant in it?”
“I bet she had no answer to that,” Mabel sniped.
“Oh, that was my fault too. I knew Teller had a thing for her. I’d seen him flirting with her. I should have put a stop to it.”
Definitely mad now. “You’re joking.”
“Not remotely.”
“What a stupid bitch,” she snapped.
“She learned her own stupidity when I kicked her ass out, she went to Teller, thinking he had a thing for her, when he had a thing for acquiring pussy. He’d had hers. He wasn’t interested anymore. She was very alone then.”
“Good,” she clipped.
He almost smiled.
Instead, he said, “So, we all got shit we gotta survive. When I say I loved her, I really did. Her cheating on me fucked me up.”
“Bet she missed your dick too, with the way you use it,” she stated. “I can’t be sure. I don’t have any experience. I avoid pussy collectors. But it seems the logical assumption they’re out to get, not give.”
It was then, he smiled and shared, “It wasn’t payback. It just happened. But I found myself in one of Teller’s ex’s beds. And according to her, Teller not only wasn’t man enough to finish SEAL training, he wasn’t man enough to make a woman finish. She knew about Molly. She told me she was going to be sure to let Teller know he not only didn’t have a big enough dick to satisfy the Navy, he didn’t have one big enough to satisfy a woman.”
“I hope she did that,” Mabel said gleefully.
“Yeah she did. Teller wasn’t pleased. Because, even if I didn’t say that shit to him, he came after me, and he found he also didn’t have a big enough dick to prove his point. He wound up with a busted lip, black eye, broken nose and sprained shoulder. I landed only three punches and gave him an arm twist to shove him away from me. Took two minutes. I wasn’t even winded.”
“Serves him right for thinking he could belly up to a SEAL.”
Hutch smiled again.
She returned it, before it chased itself away.
“So you lost her, and a friend too.”
“Didn’t know he was never a friend,” he replied. “But before that, yeah. He was a friend, and I thought a good one. But like your uncle, he paid. Until he got out or transferred or whatever happened to him, I didn’t keep a lock on it because I didn’t give a shit what happened to him, but he found himself lonely. Not for pussy. He was a good-lookin’ guy who had a uniform. For friends. Because he broke the bro code first.”
“So…quid pro quo, I had my fair share of shitty people…”
She had more than her fair share.
“…and you did too.”
She didn’t know the half of it.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“Thanks, Hutch. You didn’t have to tell me that story, but I’m glad you did, and it was sweet you did. Also sweet you don’t think I’m a reject in the scratch and dent section.”
At that, he wrapped both arms around her, slid them down in bed, and rolled so he was covering her.
Only then did he say, low and firm, “You’re not a reject, Mabel.”
“I know, honey,” she said softly. “I’m just glad you know too, because people who put me in that place because of shit I had no control over, but obviously, I’ve moved beyond it, annoy the hell out of me.”
Jesus.
What made this woman?
“So now, after sex and soul baring, we need to sleep,” she stated.
“That’d be good,” he replied.
She got out of bed, hit the bathroom to brush her teeth, and Tonks followed her (so did Moxie).
And he got out of bed, pulled on his jeans, and did a walkthrough of the house with Hannibal at his heels, making sure locks were locked, and the barn door panels that were mounted to shut her windows off from the outside were closed.
He hit the loft to see her in bed in little shorts and the Stony Bluff Sanctuary tee, before he hit the bathroom to brush his own teeth.
He took off his jeans before he got into bed.
He turned out his light.
She turned out hers.
They turned to each other.