I like to think I did what any sane woman would’ve done in that situation. I jumped on Hutch’s back and clawed and screamed like a wild banshee.
CHAPTER 22: Hutch
I felt tiny hands grasping at my shoulders as I landed another punch to the asshole animal doc’s face. How the hell he thought he could take my woman out and sit close to her was beyond me. Veronica was on my back, though, and while I already wanted to kill Matt, if he accidentally hit Veronica, I would kill him.
“V, get off!”
She somehow managed to get her arms around my neck and her legs curled around my waist. Any other time and I would’ve really appreciated the gesture, but I was worried she was going to get hurt.
I pushed off of Matt and dragged Veronica from my back. I tossed her into Sterling’s arms and turned back to Matt. He tackled me backwards, taking out a table and a couple of drinks. I felt glass shards bite into my back and made sure to roll him under me so he got to feel it, too.
Someone screamed as we rolled into another table. Matt gave as good as he got, landing punch after punch as I did the same. I started to enjoy the fight, giving into my animal instincts. Bloodlust was taking over, my bear demanding I kill the son of a bitch who dared talk to my mate.
Before I could satisfy my bear, though, I was grabbed from behind. I snarled as I found myself being held back my Thorn and Sam. Wyatt stood in front of Matt, holding him back.
I tried to jerk free. “Let me fucking go!” I growled.
“Looks like you need a night in a holding cell to calm down, son.”
I jerked around at the sound of Sheriff Day’s rusty voice. The man never intervened with these types of matters. He just let shit happen. Until now. He looked around the bar and shook his head. “You going to come willingly or do I have to tranquilize your big ass?”
Fury tore through me. “Tranquilize me, if you have to. I’m not leaving here without-”
Shock rippled through me as I felt the needle jam into my neck. I fought against the hands and arms holding me back. “Let me go! I’m going to kick this old man’s ass, too!”
Matt gasped from across the bar. “What the fuck? I was calm!”
Sheriff Day shrugged. “Just wanted to be fair.”
I looked around for Veronica, needing to see her as the anger seeped out of me and my body grew sluggish. She was still in Sterling’s arms, kicking and clawing at him. She was tough, my little mate, just like she’d need to be to deal with a man like me. I groaned and then felt my body go slack.
*
My eyes felt like someone had poured sand in them. I blinked a few times and rubbed at them. When my vision cleared, I saw metal bars and concrete. Everything came back to me and I growled low in my throat. Fucking Sheriff. The one time he decides to do his job and he shoots me.
“Don’t growl as though you didn’t deserve to be shot. You were trying to kill Matt.” Veronica appeared in front of me, looking like sex in heels in a dress that showed damn near all of her hot little titties. She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. “Stop looking at my chest.”
I pulled myself to my feet and swayed as the last of the drug worked itself out of my system. Being a shifter meant my body rid itself of unhealthy shit like that pretty quickly, but it still didn’t feel great. I gripped the bars and groaned. “I’m going to be sick.”
Worry crossed her face, but then she rolled her eyes. “Go ahead.”
I swallowed it down and tried to settle my rolling brain. Dizziness washed over me again and again and I almost wished I’d slept a little longer to avoid it.
“Are you okay?”
She scoffed. “Am I okay? You’re the one who looks like you got your face slammed in a door. You didn’t have to fight Matt, you know.”
I gripped the bars tighter. “Don’t say his name.”
“Don’t say his name.” She mocked me with a deepened voice. “You’re a fool. You’d fight anyone for touching me, but you won’t just fight for me.”
“I was fighting for you!”
She shook her head and looked so damn sad that my stomach flipped again. “No. You’re fighting like I’m your property or something. You’re not fighting for me. You’ve done nothing for me, nothing to try to win me over.”
I thought about it and frowned. “I brought you home with me. I…”
“Because Georgia and Allie came up with a way to push your bear over the edge. I sat on some guy’s lap and had to deal with his bad breath and handsy nature to get attention from you.”
I swallowed as rage coursed through me. I didn’t like what she was saying at all. “But you know you’re my mate.”
Her cheeks burned red as she glared at me. “Of course, I do! I have since that first day I bumped into you! I’ve known you were my mate for over a year and I knew every single day that you were rejecting me. I hid from you because I was horrified that I’d run into you and see the look of disgust on your face again. I had to trick you into touching me. Do you understand how that makes me feel? I had to change my appearance completely to get your attention. Was I so horrid before?”
I jerked away from her like she’d hit me harder than Matt ever hoped to. “What?”
She stared at me with tears pooling in her eyes. “I don’t want to do this anymore, Hutch. I did this tonight for Georgia, but I can’t do it anymore. I’ll spend forever alone, but that has to be better than having to convince the man who’s supposed to love me that I’m good enough for him. I do have a little bit of pride. Maybe not enough to have felt the humiliation and shame to the extent that I should have, but enough to end this right now.”
She turned away and I rattled the cell I was in by throwing myself hard against the bars. “Veronica! Wait! I was fighting for you tonight. I didn’t want that asshole touching you. You’re supposed to be with me.”
She looked at me with tears flowing down her cheeks. “You don’t get to say that now. You should’ve done it so long ago. You broke my heart, Hutch. I don’t want to let it go on for one second longer.”
She turned and hurried out of the hallway connecting the jail cells, ignoring me as I screamed her name.
“Veronica! Stop. You’re my mate. We’re meant to be together!”
Panic flooded me and I found myself doubled over, clutching my chest as air refused to enter my lungs. My mate had rejected me. Just like I’d been doing to her for over a year. A year in which she knew we were mates and allowed me do it. A year that she felt the way I was feeling now.
Dots appeared in front of my eyes and I went down to my knees. Gasping for air that wouldn’t come, I fell over and stared at the ceiling while my body finally sucked in a breath of air and my lungs clenched around it.
My mate had rejected me. She should. I was horrible. I closed my eyes and fought tears. I couldn’t lose her this way. Even if I didn’t deserve her, I had to show her that she was worth fighting for. I owed her that. I would fight for her. She belonged with me. I’d spend forever fighting for her.
CHAPTER 23: Veronica
It’d been days. Days. I’d finally managed to stem the flow of tears, but in their place, was a cold emptiness that terrified me. Even when I was at dinner with Allie and Georgia, even when I made more of an effort to see my own family and went to Dallas, I felt horribly alone. It seemed that everywhere I looked, I saw couples paired off.
Knowing that I would be alone for the rest of my life was disheartening. It made reality sad and dark. That wasn’t even me being dramatic. I knew, without a doubt, that I would spend the rest of my life alone, because I couldn’t stomach the thought of touching another man after the night I’d spent with Hutch.
Life seemed to be made for couples.
Seeing my friends mated, too, made me feel extra poopy. I was happy for them, of course, but it was hard to see people being with their mates. Every time Wyatt or Thorn looked at Georgia and Allie, I felt like an ax was landing on my poor, pathetic heart.
Some pitiful part of me had h
oped that having me walk away from him would send Hutch running after me. I’d meant the things I said to him, but I still hoped. I wanted to be proven wrong. I wanted him to show me that he did care about me. Instead, it’d been days and I hadn’t seen him once.
I wasn’t hiding anymore. He was. Each time Thorn looked at me, there was pity on his face. He would pat me on the top of my head, call me a kitten, and then shake his head like he’d just seen the worst train wreck of his life. It wasn’t great for my mentality.
None of Hutch’s other friends would even look at me for too long. What I’d feared had come true. I was the sad, forlorn woman who got rejected by her mate. I was like the sick old dog in the shelter who people kept passing and tried to avoid making eye contact with because they didn’t want to feel guilty for what I was going through. And, what was worse, I was now destined to be Burden’s lonely spinster librarian.
I was experiencing life through a haze of numbness and I had no clue when it would end. Was there some kind of time limit for how long a mate rejecting you could affect you? Would I eventually hit max time spent? Would I be released from the hell of mourning a man who was still alive and well?
God, I’d been reading too many sad novels. I hadn’t touched an erotic romance in longer than I cared to admit, especially with the book exchange right around the corner. I didn’t know how I was supposed to suggest which book to read if ladies were interested in spanking, or beginner BDSM, when the mere thought of sex made me want to hurl.
I’d no sooner found my groove that I lost it again. I’d lost my groove so bad that I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to get it back. Not that I’d ever need it again.
I left work and headed home, but Georgia intercepted me. She caught up to me when I was just a block from my house and I couldn’t hide the exhaustion that darkened my face.
“Ronnie, honey, you need a drink.”
I shook my head. “No. I do not need a drink, Georgia. I need to go home and get in bed and sleep. I’m tired.”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the bar. “I love you, but you don’t need more sleep. You need to get your mind off of all this shit. Come on.”
I wanted to fight, but I didn’t have it in me to resist a powerhouse like Georgia. I let her pull me to the bar and sighed, “One drink.”
She pushed open the door and then shoved me in. “Good luck in there.”
I turned to ask her what the hell was wrong with her, but she slammed the door in my face and laughed wickedly. I pushed at it for a few seconds, but she was holding it firmly shut.
Sighing, I turned around and nearly screamed. Standing in front of me was Hutch, wearing a tux and holding a huge bouquet of roses. I put my hand over my heart and tried to calm the frantic thing.
“Wha… What are you doing?”
He smiled at me, a sheepish but genuine smile that, as big as the man was, reminded me somehow of a sweet little boy. “Fighting. I’m fighting for you, Veronica Maddox. I’m trying to win you over. Will you go on a date with me tonight? Please?”
I looked down at myself and cringed. I was wearing an old pair of once-black leggings that had been washed so many times they were grey, and a baggy, oversized and somewhat-wrinkled T-shirt. I didn’t have a stitch of makeup on and I’d clipped my hair back with bobby pins at some point in the day and had forgotten to take it down. I was a mess.
I halted my assault on my looks and frowned. “I told you I’m done, Hutch.” My looks didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to play games anymore.
“I’m not done. I’m never going to be done with you.”
I sighed. I felt so exhausted, and he didn’t get it. “I have no more fight left.”
“You don’t need it. Go on a date with me tonight. Let me fight for you. It’s my turn.”
I opened my mouth to argue but he held the flowers out to me. I took them and stared up at him. “Thank you. I… I don’t know if this is a good idea.”
He stepped forward and stroked his hand over my cheek. “Give me one more chance. That’s all I’m asking. One more. Give me a chance to show you that I will fight for you. I promise I’ll try my hardest not to fuck it up this time.”
When I started to shake my head, he caught my chin in his fingers and forced it up and down instead. I felt like crying. I wanted to run home and protect my heart from him. He was too dangerous.
“Say yes, V. I can’t live without you. Let me show you that.” He stared at me with so much desperation on his face that I caved.
“Just tonight.”
“If I can’t convince you to give me another go after tonight, I don’t deserve you.”
I grunted. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
He gave me a look that was all dark intensity and it went straight to the granny panties I was wearing. Oh! I was wearing hideous underwear. I’d actually gone to the store to buy it, just so I wouldn’t have to be walking around in sexy lingerie while I was heartbroken. Suddenly, that seemed like a mistake, though. Not that Hutch would be seeing them, but still.
“I need to go change.”
He shook his head. “No. If I let you in your house, you’ll never come back out. We’re leaving from here.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t appreciate being bossed around.”
His lips curled up and he raked his eyes down my body. “I’m sure that’s not always true.”
My cheeks flushed and I reached up to hastily take the bobby pins out of my hair. I finger combed my hair around my face and did anything else I could think of to distract from the telling heat in my cheeks.
“Come on. We’re taking a little trip.”
I watched him walk around me and huffed. “At least take off the jacket and bowtie, Hutch. I feel like your scruffy maid right now.”
He wagged his eyebrows. “You trying to get me naked already?”
I rolled my eyes and followed him out of the bar and into the parking lot. “Where is everyone? I’ve never seen the bar empty.”
He opened my door for me and looked down with a secretive smile. “Out, I guess. To be fair, though, you’d never seen the bar at all until a few weeks ago.”
I gasped as his big hands went around my rib cage and easily lifted me into the truck. His hands lingered and I bit my lip as I looked out at him. I was weak. I wanted him. I wanted him as much as I ever had before. More.
CHAPTER 24: Hutch
My dick hardened as she licked her lips and leaned into me. I wanted to accept that invitation. She had no idea how hard I was fighting the urge to take her mouth in a punishing kiss. I’d missed her. Her scent was affecting me more than I’d even thought possible.
I’d spent too much time planning the night to just give in and take her in my truck like the horn dog that I felt like. I had to make this perfect for her. I wanted her to know how special she was.
I closed the door and heard the little growl she let out. Smiling as I walked around the truck, I couldn’t help but look back at her. She was stunning. In simple clothing and without makeup, she was the woman I’d first run into. Having her like that felt like a chance to start over. Like I could go back in time and do it all over. The right way. Because I knew, too late, that I’d done everything wrong.
She was scowling at me as she tucked her hair behind her ear and crossed her arms over her chest. I couldn’t tell if she was wearing a bra and it was driving me to distraction.
I climbed into the truck and her scent curled around me until I was tenting the pathetic material of my pants. I was so hard that it wouldn’t have surprised me if seams started ripping.
She stayed silent as I drove out of town and took the little side road that careened up one of the larger mountains around Burden. It wasn’t dark yet, so she’d be able to see the dangerous drop-offs on her side of the truck.
“This is the mountain my dad used to bring me to when we hung out together.” I took a hairpin turn going as slowly as possible to avoid scaring her and then c
ontinued up. “Sterling was more of a Momma’s boy. He didn’t like coming, so it’d just be me and Dad. There’s a spot to park at the very top and it looks out over everything around. We’d sit up here and he’d talk to me about what it means to be a man.”
She turned to face me and nibbled her lower lip.
“He was a great man, my dad. He always did the right thing. No matter what. He found his mate young, married her, had two sons right away, and worked his ass off for his family. I don’t remember him ever being angry or raising his voice. I don’t think he ever drank more than one beer at a time. Always had a smile on his face.”
“What happened to him?”
My chest tightened the way it always did when I thought of Dad. “He had a massive heart attack when I was fourteen. I found him, sitting behind the wheel of his truck, just slumped over. The doctors said he went quick.”
The sadness on her pretty face was genuine and I felt bad for causing it.
“You were so young. What happened to your family after that?”
I kicked the truck into four-wheel drive and powered through a few deep ruts in the road. “The bills piled up. Mom hadn’t worked while they were married. Dad made enough for them to get by on comfortably and he liked that she was home when he got off work. He said it made him happy. The funeral was expensive and we owed on that. Finances dwindled fast. Sterling was a boy still.”
She grinned. “So were you.”
I shook my head. “All those talks with Dad had taught me something. Once he died, I became the man of the house. I convinced a guy in town to let me work for him even though I was underage at fourteen. I quit school and I worked my ass off to make sure Mom and Sterling were taken care of and were okay.”
Bears of Burden: HUTCH Page 9