“Nine o’clock,” he growled between clenched teeth before he took a step back. Then he somehow managed to squeeze his massive girth through my small window, making sure to pull the screen shut behind him, slipped out onto the roof, and shimmied down the side of my house to sprint across the lawn to his place that was across the street as if it was a normal routine for him.
This officially had to be the weirdest morning of my entire life.
***
This wasn’t a date, yet I felt oddly nervous getting ready to meet Hutch for breakfast. I showered, pulled my dark hair up into high ponytail, and then dug around trying to figure out what to wear. I finally decided on a pair of blue jean shorts, along with a t-shirt, decorated with ballet shoes from camp. Comfortable, casual, and something I would normally wear hanging around with my friends.
Friends... Is that what Hutch and I were? I knew nothing about the man, except that he was Patrick’s brother. People called him the mute because he hardly ever spoke unless spoken to, and he kept mostly to himself. Usually if you were friends with someone, you knew their middle name, the kind of music they liked, their favorite ice cream flavor, and what kind of movies they enjoyed. I knew none of these things when it came to Hutch Kelly. He probably didn’t even like music because that would require you to sing, which would mean you needed to make noise, and he didn’t seem to like to do that.
Stop it, Jill, that’s rude, I admonished myself before I grabbed my cell phone, slipped my feet into a pair of flip-flops, and made sure my light was off before hurrying out of my bedroom. My mother was on the back porch having her morning tea so I was lucky enough to skip out without having to talk to her. I felt a pang of guilt since I wasn’t home long yesterday either before I ran off with my friends, so I made a mental note to make sure to be home for dinner tonight. I hit the sidewalk, wondering if Hutch would actually show up or just blow me off. Shrugging the negative thought away, I focused on enjoying the quiet Sunday morning. Ocean View was a small town—everyone up in everyone’s business type of place—but was days like this that I knew I’d miss it when I leave the town at the end of the summer. New York was going to be a completely different place that would take some getting used to.
As I rounded the corner to the Angry Egg, everyone’s favorite breakfast place in town, I saw Hutch. He had his hands shoved into the front pockets of his blue jeans as he shifted on the balls of his feet and kept his gaze to the ground. He had put on a baseball cap, maybe to hide his face, but it was hard not to recognize him since he was easily the tallest person in the crowd.
"Ready?" I danced over to where Hutch stood without thinking so I could hook my arm through his, and felt him go stiff next to me. Shit, the touching thing. That was going to be hard for me since I was always a touchy-feely type. I quickly removed myself from him. “Sorry,” I mumbled as his ears turned pink.
It was obvious how much Hutch hated this by the way he was looking at me. I should have just let him leave like he had wanted, but I still wanted to know why he was in my room. “I hope you’re hungry.” I started to open the door, but he surprised me by grabbing it first and holding it for me before following me inside the busy diner.
We were lucky to snag an unoccupied booth by the front. Hutch slid into one side, facing the door, while I took the opposite seat as the waitress came over to leave us with a couple of menus. I glanced up to find Hutch with a petrified look on his face as he looked around the restaurant instead of figuring out what he wanted for breakfast.
"Jo and I come here all the time," I blurted out, trying to break the awkward silence. "I always get chocolate chip pancakes and she orders the blueberry." I grabbed the menu in front of him so I could flip it open to the pancake section and then tapped at it lightly. Hutch still looked like he had seen a ghost. It was obvious he wanted to be anywhere than here at this very moment. Was I that hideous? My ex had always told me I was the prettiest girl he had dated, but I thought he was just trying to get into my pants.Spoiler alert, he never did. "That way we can share with one another." He didn't say anything, not a big surprise there, but his eyes roamed around the restaurant, wide and glossy. "Hutch," I said his name softly. "Hutch, honey, are you alright?" I dragged my teeth across my bottom lip.
His brown eyes zeroed in on me for what felt like the first time, and it made my stomach Do all sorts of flips. It wasn’t because of all the booze I had consumed last night either. It was because I felt like he could actually see me. Straight into my soul, as if he could read every single thought I was having at this exact moment. "Everyone is staring." His voice was barely a whisper, but I had the feeling he wasn’t talking to me. I glanced around, but no one was watching. Okay, maybe there were a couple of blue-haired old ladies, but that was it. "No one is—"
"This was a bad idea." Hutch's hands came up to his hat and he flipped it off so that he could tug and pull on his hair. Jesus, that looked painful. I was almost afraid he was going to start pulling it out in giant chunks.
I was out of my side of the booth before I realized what I was doing and slipped in next to him. "It's fine," I assured him. "Hutch." I rested my hand against his arm, and he instantly jerked out of my grip. "Hey." I pressed my palm against his elbow this time. "You're okay, Hutch. You’re safe with me." I kept repeating his name, hoping it would calm him, but I honestly had no idea what I was doing.
He looked at me for a second before his hands fell from his hair into his lap. I felt the way his body turned lax as he twisted his giant frame toward me. My goodness, he was sex on a stick. Hutch’s brown eyes softened as he continued to stare at me, and I’d be lying if it didn’t make a fluttering feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Run my tongue over that plump top lip before I sank it inside his mouth, and just the thought made my core clench with need. His face was perfectly sculpted, his jawline profound, and I suddenly had the urge to reach up to trail the tips of my fingers over the jagged edges.
"Hey, Jill." Molly, one of the servers, came over to our table. "It's good to see you. How was camp?" I watched the way her eyes slid over to Hutch with questions in her eyes. She made no move to speak with him because she knew she wouldn’t get an answer.
"Camp was great," I chirped, unaffected. "Although getting up to plier, that’s the knee bends that you might have seen ballerina’s do, at five in the morning wasn't my favorite thing." I rested my hand on Hutch's thigh without even thinking and felt the tight muscles twitch as he reacted to my touch. At least he didn’t push me out of the booth onto the greasy, sticky floor. That would have been super embarrassing.
Molly nodded. "You two ready to order then?"
She had a gleam in her eye that screamed she couldn’t wait to spread this gossip. That Hutch Kelly and Jillian Robinson were seen canoodling at the diner this morning. Everyone loves a small town in movies, but try living in one with all the damn tea everyone spilled about you.
I nodded. "I'll have my usual chocolate chip pancakes, and Hutch...” I glanced in his direction.
“Blueberry,” he muttered without looking at Molly.
I flashed him a smile before I folded up both menus. “Blueberry for Hutch. Coffee”—I had to look at Hutch again and he gave a quick nod. “Two coffees,” I finished.
"Great, I'll put your orders in." Molly headed off to the kitchen leaving us alone, and I started to get up to move back into my original seat when Hutch stopped me with one word.
"Stay.”
"Are you sure?” He only nodded. I rested my elbow on the table and then placed my chin in the heel of my palm to look at him. "You're a tough nut to crack," I teased and watched his ears turn a shade of red. "I didn't mean...Sorry." I straightened back up again. “Can you try and tell me why you were in my room this morning?” I changed the subject, only to watch Hutch’s eyes narrow.
“No.”
I folded my arms over my chest as Molly dropped off our coffees. I thanked her before I reached for the sugar packets to dump two into my cup. “That’s not very helpful.” I took a sip as Hutch drank his black coffee. “You’re going to either have to write it down for me or use your words.” I regretted saying that the moment the words slipped from my mouth.
His eyes flashed angrily at me. “No.” He shook his head. “Move.” The he attempted to stand up.
“You’re just going to leave now? Is that it? Because you don’t like what I say to you? Newsflash, Hutch, we’re adults here, and sometimes people are going to say things that
aren’t nice. Time to grow up and get over it,” I snapped against my better judgment. I wasn’t normally like this to people. What was I doing? Pushing his buttons to purposely upset him? Or just trying to get him to talk?
