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?
His nostrils flared. “You...you were drunk, Jillian,” he spat out, and popped his jaw. I watch
ed a vein throb in his neck. He was seriously pissed at me right now.
Suddenly a flash from last night came back. I left Belle’s house, but instead of taking the long way home, I decided to walk down the beach, even though I knew that I shouldn’t. Only, it wasn’t just any beach. It was the beach called Biker’s Beach, and the one place everyone knew to stay away from at night. The rumors about how the bikers hung out to drink and other nefarious things were actually true. I knew better than to step foot there at night, but I was just in a rush to get home. Molly returned to the table with our food, placing the plates in front of us. I suddenly felt like I had lost my appetite.
“Thanks.”
"You are so welcome." Molly flashed a big smile at Hutch before she looked at me. "If you two need anything else, just give me a holler. Enjoy your breakfast." She winked at me and was off again.
I slowly began to cut up my pancakes, wondering if I would be able to eat. I remembered a couple of men weren’t looking to walk me home. I took a bite of my breakfast and looked up to find Hutch watching me with venom in his eyes. “You were there,” I whispered, but he shook his head. “Then—”
“I saw you.” He shook his head before he grabbed his silverware to start aggressively cutting up his pancakes. His jaw was set in a hard line. He growled deep in his chest before he stopped to stare at me. “You could have been hurt, Jillian.” He dropped his gaze. “What were you thinking?” He had spoken more to me right here than he probably had in his entire life. Then he began to brutally mutilate his food with his fork.
“Not like that.” I went to take the silverware away, but he pulled his hands away. “You cut them up one at a time so that if the other person wants one, they can. What? Why are you are you looking at me like that. Are you mad at me now?”
“Yes.”
“You are? Because of last night?”
He just gave a curt nod.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered before I picked up my fork to push my pancakes around the plate. I wanted to blame it on the margaritas, but I knew that wasn’t the honest truth. I was drunk, tired, and just wanted to get home to my own bed so I took a shortcut that I knew I shouldn’t.
“You could have been hurt,” Hutch muttered again. “What if—” I looked up to see him staring at his plate with his ears burning bright pink again.
“Thank you.” I bumped his shoulder lightly with mine. “Let’s eat up before our food gets cold. Maybe we can go for a walk on the beach after,” I suggested, effectively ending his train of thoughts.
Chapter Two
Hutch
The first time I noticed Jillian— I mean, really noticed her — was a couple summers back, when she had just grown up into a full-fledged woman on me. It scared me how much I wanted her. She was sixteen at the time, and totally, completely, and absolutely off-fucking-limits, but I still watched her like some creepy dude. Jillian had always been different from the rest of the Ocean View residents. Happier, sweeter, and kinder to me even if we hardly ever spoke.
Thinking about her walking home alone on Biker’s Beach last night made me furious. I had been minding my own business, just sitting out on the sand, like I did a lot in the summer, when I spotted her stumbling down the beach. Alone. Everyone knew better than to go there at night, but by the way Jillian was acting, she had forgotten that rule. I hadn’t even thought about what I was doing when the first guy had started toward her. I just reacted. I hit him before I grabbed her and ran straight for her place without looking back.
“Hutch, come on!” Jillian cried as she caught me watching her. “How can you be such a slowpoke?” Her laughter was a melody to my ears. “With legs that long, you should be miles ahead of me by now,” she teased over her shoulder. Despite everything, despite how I knew this was so fucking wrong, my dick pressed against the zipper of my jeans. Or maybe it was just the sight of Jillian. Her chestnut brown hair, the way her green eyes sparkled with happiness in the sun, and that perfect, dancer’s body.
Out of your league, Hutch.
There was my brain, screaming into my ear. Only I found myself hurrying to catch up with her like she wanted. It was the exact reason I had accompanied her to breakfast because she had wanted me to. I would probably eat glass, commit murder, or rob a bank if the girl asked me to. Just to see her smile at me again.
I blinked as I realized she was almost knee-deep in the ocean. She didn’t seem to care that the hem of her shorts was starting to get damp or that people were watching as she splashed around in the water like a little kid. No, Jillian was someone who loved life. She caught me watching and waved me over, but I only shook my head.
“Hutch.” Christ, the way she said my name like that should be illegal. “You’re being a party pooper.” She blew a raspberry before she brought her thumb up to her nose and waved the rest of her fingers in the air at me. I had never seen a woman more beautiful.
Jillian was the one that insisted we go up to the beach after breakfast to “walk off our food” as she put it, but she didn’t look like she needed to walk off anything. Her body was... hell, her body was perfect. Not like any eighteen-year-old I had ever seen before. I had only agreed because I didn’t want the time I was spending with her to end, because I knew once it did? Jillian would simply forget about me. Forget my name, forget this happened, and go on living her charmed life before she disappeared to New York forever at the end of the summer.
“You’re no fun.” She splashed water in my direction, but it didn’t even come close to hitting me. “Jerk,” Jillian called before she stuck her tongue out at me. Fuck me right in the taint; that was hot. I could imagine what she could do with that.
I took a couple of steps closer and then nodded in agreement. I hated bringing attention to myself. Going out with her to breakfast today was bad enough, but now, the beach? Hell, everyone would make a big deal out of it, and I just wanted to disappear into the background. Being a person of my size was already hard enough. Everyone would be talking about how Jillian Robinson had gone to the Angry Egg with me and me alone, which was something I was not okay with. People already spoke enough about me behind my back.
Jillian folded her arms over her chest. “Please? For me?” She pouted like a child not getting their way. When I shook my head again, she simply turned to drop into the water and submerged her entire body into the ocean. I watched, mesmerized, as Jillian ducked her head under the water, swam around, and then stood back up, pushing her damp hair from her eyes as a big smile spread across her beautiful face before she began walking back to me.
I was seriously, totally, and completely fucked right now. There was no other way to explain my feelings. When Jillian emerged from the water seconds later, I couldn’t help but notice how her shirt clung to her perfect breasts, and the fact that her nipples were rock hard. Kill me now. As she moved closer to where I was standing, Jillian started squeezing the water from her shirt, the one with little ballet slippers all over it, giving me a peek at her toned stomach and abs.
“Tell me you know how to swim. You’ve lived here your entire life?”
I nodded.
Jillian brushed the water from her arms. “You just didn’t want to swim with me?” She tilted her head up at me when she got closer.
My brows dipped as I tried to get out of this. “No trunks.” I’m not a big swimmer actually, but I didn’t tell her that part. I don’t like not being able to see my feet, or the feel of seaweed on my legs, or the thought of getting eaten by a shark. It freaks me the fuck out now, but before it happened, I had spent hours upon hours in that water with my friends.
“Sure. I didn’t have a bathing suit on, but that didn’t stop me.” She looked up at me from under her lashes as she continued to brush the access water from her body, and I noticed the goosebumps that had started to break out on her skin. She must be freezing right now.
Without even thinking about it, I yanked my shirt up over my head. “Here.” I held it out like an idiot. “You’re cold.”
&n
bsp; Jillian wrapped her slim fingers around the cloth. “How very gentlemanly of you.” There was no teasing in her voice. “But now you’re going to what? Walk around shirtless?” Her eyes slid over my bare chest, and I suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious. “Thank you, Hutch, but the sun will dry me off.” She held her hand out with my shirt in it, which I took and slipped back on.
We started to walk in silence farther down the beach, Jillian carrying her shoes while my boots were filling with sand. It was only a matter of time before I had to stop to remove them. I sat down on one of the many benches that were lined up to empty them out, only to have Jillian sit right next to me.
“Can I ask you a question?” She turned her face up toward the sun and closed her eyes to soak it in, and I had to resist the urge to run my fingers over her flawless skin.
Here we go. “Okay,” I answered, emptying out my second boot, and anticipated the question I knew was coming.
Jillian twisted her small body to look at me. “Is this how you thought your life would turn out? I mean, did you always know you wanted to be a mechanic growing up or did you want something more than that? Something bigger in your life?” That was not the question I had expected to come from her plump pink lips.
“No,” I answered honestly.
Her brows dipped. “That’s all you’re going to give me?” Jillian sighed. “Look, Hutch, I know you’re a man of few words, but I was hoping for something more.” She glanced out to look at the water. The beach was quiet for now, but soon the tourists would arrive, and the sound would be overpowering. I tried to avoid this place as much as possible when that happened. “I’ve always wanted to be a dancer.” I watched as her tongue slid out so she could moisten her lips. Cruel and unusual punishment, but I couldn’t drag my gaze away. “But, lately...” She didn’t finish her sentence, but I understood what she was getting at.
I squared my shoulders as I tried to prepare myself to answer her. “What I meant, Jillian, was that this was not the life I expected for myself. I had dreams of getting out of this town. Of making a name for myself, but things happened, and well, here I am.” Her head swirled around like that little girl in The Exorcist. “What?” I saw the way Jillian was watching me with big, wide eyes. God, she was simply stunning beyond words. She must have guys lined up at the door to date her, two feet wide and six feet deep.
Out of the Dark Page 2