In the second her guard went down, Cy grabbed her hair, yanking her to him.
Hutch skirted Marduk with a roar, grabbed Cy from behind and tossed him bodily against the check-out counter. His hip hit and bounced, his appendages streaming blood as he came up swinging.
Hutch’s huge fist flew out, smashing Cy in the nose with a crunch she felt in her gut.
Her aggressor crumpled to the ground, an inert pile of ground meat.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Hutch rushed to Darby’s side. “Oh my God,” He took her gently by the shoulders and turned her this way and that. “Are you hurt, sweetheart?”
She shook her head. “No. The blood… It’s Cy’s.” She turned mute as tremors overtook her body, and Hutch gathered her up.
“Shhh. Shhh. It’s okay. It’s over now.”
As he soothed, Marduk and the gods who’d arrived with him en masse, stood around the stirring, moaning man, making sure he didn’t move. Seth manned the door, waiting for the police whose sirens quickly approached.
“Wh… What happened?” she hiccupped. “You…d…didn’t answer your ph…phone.”
All her sniffing and trembling had him stroking her back, murmuring as many endearments as his brain could recall.
“Our friend, Cy, sent some of his buddies after me to see if they could steal the rest of my money. They followed me to the diner—”
She jerked back and ran her gaze over his face, putting her hand up to the large bruise that graced his jaw. “They hurt you.” She shook her head and he felt her body stiffen. “How dare they?” Her ire rose, her distress lessening, proportionally. “Did you kick their asses?”
He chuckled, more than happy she’d returned to her feisty self. There’d be more than enough time for them both to break down, later.
“I got the better of two of them, but the third… Yeah. He was big. He got in a few good shots.” He wasn’t about to tell her about his ribs. A couple felt pretty banged up. “But the worst was, I dropped my phone and he stepped on it.” He sent her a wry smile. “It made me so angry, I gained a super-power boost to flatten him. I had no idea you called. I’m so sorry.” He buried his head in her hair. “That’s when Seth came along. We ran here and met Marduk and friends right outside the locked door…which Marduk took care of for us.” He wasn’t going to say gods in front of the downed asshole.
“Thank you,” she told the group. “From the bottom of my heart.” She turned her attention back to Hutch and picked up his hand, examining his swollen knuckles. She kissed each one, finishing just as the police rushed in, guns drawn.
The female officer in the lead stopped short, her eyes widening. She had to be swallowing her tongue over the fourteen enormous men. “Okay. Everybody freeze. Who’s who?”
If Hutch thought the room full before, it was literally packed with the addition of the local PD. He reluctantly let go of Darby, put his hands in the air and started explaining. “I’m Hutchinson Bates. The man on the floor, the owner’s nephew, stole from the register and attacked my fiancé.” He pointed to Darby. “If you check your records, you’ll see it wasn’t the first time. Five months ago, he sent her to the hospital after attacking her with a baseball bat.”
Several of the officers nodded, one calling for an ambulance, another speaking for the rest. “I remember that incident. Glad this morning wasn’t a repeat. How is it you caught him this time?”
Hutch wasn’t about to say they’d set Cy up. Who knew the implications of how that would play out in court? Better to explain it simply. “Darby felt something was off when they were changing shifts. She hid in the back room and called.”
One of the officers pulled an e-pad from his pocket. “You’re the fiancé,” he wrote as he talked.
“Yes, I’m visiting from Chicago.”
He tipped his head in the direction of the gods. “Who are the rest of these guys?”
Marduk stepped forward, arms crossed over his massive chest, attitude oozing from his pores. “We’re—”
“They’re my cousins,” Darby quickly insinuated herself between Marduk and the cop, somehow moving Marduk away. “They’re visiting the city, and when Hutch found out I was in trouble, he called them for back-up.”
Marduk huffed but remained silent. A few snickers might have emerged amidst the other gods.
“Why didn’t you call us, first?” The officer wanted to know, focusing on Darby.
“I… I don’t know. I panicked, I guess.” She shrugged, managing to look apologetic. “Last time you guys didn’t come soon enough, and I knew help was right around the corner, so…” she trailed off.
“Your name?” he asked.
“Darby Peltor.”
“And uh,” he cleared his throat and glanced at Cy, awake now and moaning. “Who messed him up?”
“I did,” Darby tipped her chin up. “He was coming at me and I used the coffee pots to protect myself.”
All heads turned to the broken, bloodied glass, still attached to the plastic handles.
“Smart thinking.”
Hutch stepped in. “When I got here, he’d grabbed her by the hair, so I pulled him away and punched him in the face.” A few officers dared to move the gods out of the way, and knelt to remove Cy’s ski-mask.
He screamed like a wounded moose.
“Looks like a direct hit to the nose,” one said, matter-of-factly and whistled appreciatively. “Guaranteed that’s not going to heal straight.”
Satisfaction swelled in Hutch’s chest. He would have liked to do more damage, but he’d settle for a permanently disfigured nose. “Which reminds me. At the diner down the street,” he gave the address, “you’ll find three guys trussed up in the back seat of my car. They were trying to rob me.” No need to complicate the story by saying they were friends of Cy. He’d let that play out however it would.
The cop with the pad extracted a radio from his belt and called it in before spouting more questions. “You there. By the door. What’s your role in all this?” He looked at Seth.
“Seth Traskell. I work here.” He hitched his thumb in a vague direction. “I live across the way. I saw the commotion and ran over.”
An approaching siren ended the interrogation.
“That’s the ambulance,” the one with the pad stated, directing his fellow officers who were with Cy. “Cuff him and bring him out. I want a detail placed on him 24/7. He’s not going anywhere but lock-up once we have the doctor’s okay. And you,” he sent his gaze around the room, encompassing everybody. “I want every one of you at the station later today to give your statements.”
His face took on a moue of distaste as a blubbering Cy was hauled to his feet. “We want an air-tight case against this guy. You got me?”
Hutch gave him a heartfelt smile. “Don’t worry. We’re all on the same page.”
“Arkie has surveillance,” Darby piped up, hopeful it would cement their case.
The officer jotted down another note. “We’ll check on it.”
Cy was hauled away, and the place eventually cleared of police. Seth also took his leave. Hutch felt Darby slump against him and immediately tensed.
“Hey. You okay?”
She looked up at him with a grin he wasn’t expecting. “More than okay. I just can’t believe it’s over.”
“Not quite over,” Marduk interjected. “The perpetrator still has to be put away.”
A blond god with beaded braids nodded, glowering behind him. “And if he’s not, we’ll make sure he never bothers you again, Ms. Peltor.” He turned to his friends who all gave nods of agreement.
“Geeze, call me Darby.” A dimple popped out on her cheek. “We’re cousins, after all.”
“Yeah, about that.” A honey-haired immortal with a head of curls and an impressive piercing through his bottom lip grinned back. “I hope you don’t mind, but once Marduk got involved, we searched your past. We know you don’t have anybody, so we’d be honored to become your cousins.”
Hutch
heard Darby’s tear-choked attempt at a response, but when nothing came from her throat, he stepped in, answering for her. He tried to hold jealousy at bay so his reply wouldn’t sound terse, reminding himself the gods were all happily mated. “She has me, but I’m sure she’d welcome you all as extended family.”
“Hell, yes,” another with dark skin and a goatee added. “Our ladies are going to love you. Do you like to shop?”
That got a laugh out of his girl. She sniffed. “I don’t have much practice, but I’m sure I’ll catch on.”
“Oh! That reminds me.” In all the excitement, Hutch had forgotten the tickets he’d scratched when he’d been waiting in his car, before he’d been yanked out by Cy’s buddies. “You’ll have plenty of cash to do it. One of those scratch tickets? It was good for fifty-thousand dollars.”
“What?” Darby’s eyes grew comically wide. “Fifty-thousand? Oh, my God, Hutch. Nobody ever wins.” She began shaking her head. “But you bought the tickets. The money is yours.”
He shrugged. “Ours, Darby. I don’t do lottery tickets. It was our combined plan that put them in our hands, so if anything, we split it.” He held his breath, wondering how that would go over.
She bit her lip. “I could use a little financial help with my move, and my wardrobe isn’t exactly up to par for my new job…”
With each word, his heart filled. Darby was committing. She was moving to Chicago and going to work for Lance.
She blinked. “And the extra could go to the animal shelter when we pick up Malarkey.”
“They can have all the rest,” Hutch readily agreed.
“But before any of that happens, there’s one thing that hasn’t been addressed.”
His joy tempered, he swallowed hard, waiting for the caveat.
She faced him, raising one hand to stroke the hair back from his temple. “I’ve been neglectful, and it didn’t hit me full force until you left this morning, and I really hate loose ends.” She turned to regard the gods. “You’re all witnesses.” Her gaze went back to Hutch, warmth filling her green eyes. “I love you, Hutch. And if you’ll have me, I’d like to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Wait!” One of the gods chimed in, extracting his phone from his pocket. “Can you say it again? I didn’t get it, and YouTube loves this shit. It was a proposal, right?”
Marduk cuffed the back of his head. “Cut the crap, Anshar. Let them have their moment.” He regarded Hutch with the ghost of a smile. “We’ll get out of your hair, now. You know where to find us.”
The group misted out.
“Wow. That was abrupt,” Darby fiddled with the top button of Hutch’s shirt, concentrating hard on her fingers. “I guess we’ll get used to it.”
It clearly wasn’t what she wanted to talk about. He lifted her chin, acknowledging her uncertainty. “So you love me, huh?” Much as he tried to tamp it down, his grin couldn’t get much wider without splitting his face.
With a rising smile, she took her cue from his unbridled joy.
“Yeah. I do.”
“And you want to marry me?”
She shrugged, attempting to appear nonchalant. “If you want.”
“Oh, Darby,” he lowered his head slowly. “I want. Very, very much.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Cy’s hearing had been short and sweet, despite the fact that Arkie’s cameras had proved non-functioning. Every god had shown up, and citing some compelling things they had extracted from Cy—visiting him in jail—they were able to testify to dozens of crimes he’d perpetrated. When Cy’s public defender had scoffingly questioned their knowledge, Darby and Hutch got first-hand proof of the group’s other-worldly ability as they’d immediately swayed the attorney and the judge overseeing the case. Consequently, Cy was sent away for fifteen to twenty in federal prison.
Good riddance.
Arkie had shown up at the hearing, not having been able to apologize enough for his nephew’s behavior. He’d waived any notice Darby would have given, telling her to grab the moment and enjoy her new life. The week she’d spent hanging around without Hutch, packing and closing out her Minneapolis life, lent itself to a few pieces of business her new cash influx made possible.
She’d raised Arkie’s suspicions over one such boon. A few days after the incident, a crew descended on the convenience store, and for the first time in over a decade, the neon in his sign came to life.
Not so secret was her large donation to the shelter, which Sissy promised would be used not only to keep the pound a no-kill haven, but to advertise the animals in very visible ways to foment their adoptions.
When Malarkey had pranced out of the shelter for the last time, smiling his big, dopey dog grin, she felt a huge sense of love and accomplishment. Once she started making money of her own, she’d make sure to continue her animal activism.
Her final stop before Hutch arrived to pick her up in a rental SUV with a small trailer in tow, had been the library. She brought Mrs. Leroy a parting present. Fourteen books, not in historical fiction, but in the paranormal romance world, a genre that had become her new favorite since interacting with the gods and goddesses of the Blue Hills. So what if it was mostly fiction? It tickled her, just like the group of immortal ladies who’d descended a few days before to take her shopping for a whole new wardrobe, making her laugh for an unprecedented seven hours.
The goddesses were as funny and irreverent as their husbands. She was completely in awe of Tess, in particular, being let in on how easily the diminutive goddess handled the big, bad thunder god.
They’d made her feel like an integral part of their group, and had eventually opened up and shared their stories and feelings about Beletseri.
For the most part they’d long since forgiven the Hell-bound goddess, and as mothers themselves, every one of them adored her son, Utu. The young boy spent his weekdays in the Blue Hills, going to school and playing with their own children, a happy, well-adjusted eight-year-old.
She and Hutch had an open invitation to visit them all, and she couldn’t wait to see their set-up. It sounded like something out of a dream. Gods, goddesses, witches, warlocks, living in a huge compound, visited by beings they called Glowies and Lauernley. She supposed she’d find out, soon enough, who those people were.
She made it back to her apartment building just as Hutch pulled up. Seth was already leaning against the peeling brick siding.
“You’ll get lead poisoning touching that shit,” she teased as she walked up.
“Too late.” He tapped the side of his head. “Already deprived in the brain department.”
Not for the first time, Darby wondered what his entire story was, but in their neighborhood, one learned not to ask. Instead, she teased. “You have enough smarts to help get my stuff into that trailer though, right?”
“Low brain-cell activity,” he smirked. “I think I can manage.”
Less than forty minutes later, all the worldly goods she’d decided to keep were secure in the rental and she was saying tearful goodbyes to Seth. “Visit if you can,” she sniffed.
“If Gram’s in a good place, I might be able to eke out a day or two.” He patted her back as they hugged. “Don’t worry. You won’t be rid of me that easily.”
Hutch stepped up and gave him a man-hug, reiterating the invitation. “I don’t know what we would have done without you. You’ll always be welcome.”
“Thank you, man. It means a lot. Now get going, and keep your girl safe.”
“That’s the plan.”
Seeing the last of her home for the last five years was harder than Darby thought. With her nose pressed to the window, she sighed. “I met some nice people here, Hutch.”
“It’s because you’re so good. You’ll make a whole new bunch of friends who’ll love you. Heck, my parents already think you walk on water, and with the preliminary stuff you’ve emailed to Lance, I’m going to have to tie him up so he doesn’t try to steal you.”
She snickered. As if the man wo
uld ever leave his wife. Tricia was beautiful, brilliant, and thought her husband was the funniest human being she’d ever met. A winning duo. She could only hope for that kind of connection with Hutch after seven years and two or three children. She sighed again.
“What is it?” he asked, ever in tune with her.
“I was thinking about children.”
“Specific children, or ones we haven’t made yet?”
“Ours,” she admitted, turning to gaze at him. He’d make an amazing father. “What do you say we get started on them immediately when we get back to your place?”
“Our place,” he corrected. “And we’ll have to wait until my friends help us in with your stuff. I’m not into a group thing,” he teased.
“I’ll give them an hour, a couple of hoagies and a beer. Then all bets are off.”
“Ah, Darby. Have I mentioned you’re going to kill me?”
She giggled. “Only about a thousand times a day.”
EPILOGUE
“Okay. You ready for this?” Darby chewed her lip, still looking uncertain.
“More than ready.” He reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. “Piece of cake.” He settled into his most comfortable chair, waiting for Beletseri to whisk him away. “I’ll see you late tonight.”
“I love you,” she said, just before his vision began to go wonky.
“I love you, too.”
Blackness swallowed him whole, and when he came to, he looked out across a vast, dark landscape, a single fire his beacon in the distance. “Really, Bel? You couldn’t have dropped me a little closer?”
“You’ll need the time to get your head around being here again,” she answered unexpectedly, a voice in the darkness.
He brushed his hands down his slacks and nodded. “You’re probably right. I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
“Good luck, Hutch.”
Hutch Nightmare Men Page 25
