Page 76 of When It's Us
The dark-haired woman, Lisa, nods, drinking from her straw as she does. “Mmm,” she hums in affirmation, then grins around her straw. “How could I forget?”
“That’s his sister.” Shelby tips her head in the direction Nat went.
There’s a beat of silence. “The waitress?”
”Think she knows her brother is a self-important manwhore?” Shelby asks with amusement.
Oh, she knows.
“Probably,” Lisa laughs lightly. “Didn’t you say he lives out in the sticks, too?”
“I heard he’s got a sex dungeon out there,” Shelby says conspiratorially.
I roll my eyes, taking a giant bite out of my sandwich. Hutch would definitely get a kick out of that. Hell, he probably started the rumor himself.
“You’re only saying that because he doesn’t date locals, i.e., you,” Lisa says with a smug little laugh.
“He doesn’t date anyone. Hasn’t in years is the rumor. I heard he won’t even have sex with the same woman twice and heneverkisses on the mouth.”
My heart starts up a drumbeat in my chest, one that I can feel in my ears.
Thump. Thump.
Thump. Thump.
This conversation feels oddly familiar to the one I had with Wren and Finn last night.
I strain my ears to hear their conversation over a particularly rowdy group of twenty-something guys that pile into the café laughing and ribbing one another.
“Either way, I wouldn’t mind a ride on the Hutch Hayes express. I know dude’s gotta be hung like a horse.”
Something weird snakes through my stomach. Jealousy? Possessiveness? I want to whip around and tell these bitches that Hutch Hayesdoesdo repeats, and hemost definitelykisses on the mouth, but something stops me.
“I need to see what this guy looks like. I wonder if he has social media,” Lisa asks, and I snort.
“No, he has a business website, though. It’s only a headshot, but that’s enough. Let me pull it up so you can see what he looks like. He’s fuckinggorgeous.”
There’s silence for a minute as Shelby pulls her phone. “Holy shit. Heishot.”
“Tell me about it,” Shelby says.
“He looks like he’d talk you through it, too.” Lisa giggles, and I bite back the urge to put this woman in her place.
“Maybe he has a brother.” Her friend laughs.
“He does, but they’re both marred.”
“God, Shelbs, you talk about them like they’re famous or something.”
“Everyone in town knows them. They’re like Timber Forge royalty. Nat was the prom queen, and her older brother Hank—he’s got this whole moody rancher thing going on—was like a football God back in high school. Hudson, the second brother, is also fine as hell. Honestly, if there is someone you want to hitch your wagon to in this town, it’s a Hayes brother.”
“Too bad the only single one left is broken,” Lisa jokes as the two of them get up to leave, slinging their tiny purses over their shoulders.
My sandwich stalls halfway to my mouth. My brain screamssay something. But my chest screamsdon’t you dare.
I glance up in time to see them saunter out of the café, leaving a trail of too-strong perfume and their bitter words hanging in the air.
I stare after them, appetite gone, their voices sitting heavy on my shoulders.
