Page 161 of Smooth Sailing

Hugger’s gaze drifted to the window he sat at in Di’s studio.

“I’ll tell you something, brother,” Big Petey said, regaining his attention. “There’s a lot that goes into making us who we are. Yeah, part of it is our parents, and I don’t think I’ll get an argument from you that you had the best mom on the planet.”

“You won’t get an argument with me on that,” Hugger said low.

Pete nodded once. “Yup. And she provided the guidance to make you the man you are. And we can just say that woman had more than enough of putting up with men, so she knew how to guide you to be the best you could be. You took it from there. And I can guaran-damn-tee you, that woman in there”—he jabbed a finger at Di’s workshop—“sees every lesson Jackie taught you, every gift Jackie gave you, everything you sucked up from the life you led so you could give good to the woman you claimed as yours. And Di wants that, and she wouldn’t care if you dug graves either. She just wants you.”

Hugger suddenly realized he was having trouble breathing.

“I’ll tell you one more thing before I go back to your girl,” Big Petey stated. “If I hear you even remotely runnin’ yourself down to me, I’m an old bastard, but I’ll find it in me to kick your ass. I get you. I get what you gotta work out. I get that you gotta get past that and I’m pissed as shit I didn’t push it so you could get past it a lot earlier than right now. But you’ll get past it, with your Club at your back, because you got him in you, but you’ll learn you are not him.”

You are not him.

Yeah, fuck.

He couldn’t breathe.

Pete wasn’t done.

“Di doesn’t care what books you’ve read or what countries you’ve visited or what job you do. She cares that you ran the vacuum. She cares that you made her dad safe. She cares that you made her safe. She cares that you held her when she lost Maddy. She cares about the way you look at her, you treat her, and you touch her. That’s all she cares about. You’ve known her a week and she knows you better than you know yourself, brother. You can decide to stay home while she gallivants around the world, but she’ll always come home to you and be happy as fuck she did.”

Hugger stood still as Pete got up on his toes to get right in his face.

“Pay attention, son, she’s been givin’ you that from the very beginning. Don’t put your own damned self in the place of missing it, which might mean you’ll miss out on the best thing that’s ever come into your life, because I promise you, you’ll hate yourself for the rest of it if you do.”

“Relax, Pete. I already decided I’ll do whatever it takes to make Di mine.”

Big Petey rolled back on his feet and muttered, “Well, all right.”

“Do me a favor and look after her so I can buy us a mondo-sized box of condoms.”

Pete narrowed annoyed eyes at him, then blew out a breath.

After that, the man turned and stomped back to Di’s workshop.

Hugger got on his bike and rode to a CVS he’d noticed while taking Di to work.

Before he went in, he pulled out his phone and texted Di to see if she needed anything.

He’d nabbed the prophylactics and was heading to the cashier when she texted back Twizzlers cherry licorice bites.

This text meant he was smiling, even after he’d cashed out.

He was on his bike, ready to start it up and roll out, when the urge hit him.

It was the type of urge that had only hit him once before, last night when he didn’t know what to do to help Di.

But now he had time.

His first instinct was to fight it.

His second was to set it aside and think about it later.

His last was to just fucking do it.

So he called Dutch.

“Yo, Hug,” Dutch answered. “All good?”

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