Page 101 of The Love Haters

“Good boy,” I said, standing up to leave.

But when I stood, George Bailey stood, too—right there on the mattress. His body language said,Don’t you dare.

“Am I—not allowed to leave?” I asked Hutch.

“I’m not sure,” Hutch said. Then he said, “Maybe give him a few minutes to settle?”

“Okay,” I said, resting back against the headboard.

At the next clap of thunder, George Bailey raised his head and looked back and forth between the two of us, likeHow could you be letting this happen?

“He’s really shaking,” I said. The bed was trembling.

“I know,” Hutch said, reaching around to clamp an arm against him.

“It must have been really hard for him before”—I couldn’t bring myself to sayat the puppy mill—“when it thundered.”

“It must have been loud. They were in a metal structure with no windows.”

I stroked George Bailey’s soft head. “Monsters,” I said.

Hutch nodded and then said, “You might have to wait here until he falls asleep.”

I was getting that vibe, too. “The trouble is, I’m wide awake now.”

“Me, too.”

“Can I ask you about something, then? Since we have nothing else to do?”

“What?” Hutch asked.

“What happened between you and Cole? What’s the fight about?”

Hutch shifted to meet my eyes. “He hasn’t told you?”

“No.”

Hutch frowned. “Huh.”

“It might help me to know,” I said, trying to make it sound like I wasn’t just curious.

Hutch nodded, his worried frown back. Then, when he’d made a decision: “Okay, but you didn’t hear it from me. If Cole finds out that you know this story, you’ve gotta throw Rue—not me—under the bus.”

I could tell from the tilt of his eyebrow that he was mostly kidding. “Deal,” I said.

“So, this was… a year ago. Cole was getting married.”

Cole was getting married?I tried not to register surprise on my face.

Hutch went on, “His fiancée—not sure how much he’s told you about Scarlett—was really aggressively flirty, you know?”

Why would Cole have told me about Scarlett?

Hutch went on. “She was that way with everybody. She posted bikini pictures online all the time—just had that vibe of someone who wanted the whole world to notice her. It creeped Rue and me out a little, but Cole loved that about her.”

I wondered what it would be like towantto be on display.

“Anyway,” Hutch said, “that’s why I didn’t see it coming, I guess.”

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