Chapter 35 Sutton
Sutton
“What’s it like today?” My words sound clear, my face feeling a little swollen but nothing like previously.
“It’s actually looking great.” Hudson checks me over before throwing a cool pack my way. I did my immunotherapy in the morning this time, giving me plenty of time to recover so I can still make it to the diner before Charlotte’s shift ends.
“That’s good, right?” I put the cool pad against my lips.
“Well, it means it’s working. Another few doses, and your allergy may be nearly nonexistent. You will always have to be careful, though.”
“Shit, so I’m cured?” Excitement takes over my face. That would mean I could get the beehives going for Charlotte.
“With each treatment, you’re getting better and better. Looking at you now, I can’t even really tell that you have an allergy. So your histamine reaction has reduced rapidly.”
“Good. I want to start building the hives soon.”
Hudson quirks an eyebrow at me. “Soooo Nikki? Your brother tells me you’re never home anymore. Hiding out with her, I hear?”
I would beam if I could, but my lips feel too tight.
It’s been weeks now of being with her. I’m sure most of the town suspects that we’re together, but only my closest friends really know the truth.
Any and all thoughts I may have had about getting her out of my system are null and void.
She’s in my system. Deeply embedded. I crave her daily.
Can’t function without seeing her. Every afternoon, I’m at the diner, pretending to help Preston with his homework before I drive them home.
I usually grab us dinner, spend the night with them, Preston going to bed, and I get to have her all to myself.
That’s my favorite part of my day. It's now our routine, and I don't ever want it to change.
“Yeah,” I say with a smile.
“That’s it? Yeah? Is Mr. Sutton Silvers, international movie star, billionaire bachelor, the man every woman wants in her bed, lost for words?” He looks at me like I’ve grown a second head.
At that, how I really feel tumbles from my lips. “What do you want from me? You want me to tell you that she’s fucking amazing? That she’s smart as well as beautiful? That I could listen to her from sunup to sundown? That I could sit at that fucking diner all day, every day, just watching her?”
“You already do that. From what I hear, Rochelle does a roaring trade on the chicken pies lately, all because you order them for lunch and dinner most nights.”
“Well, they are delicious.” So is my girl, I think, keeping that tidbit to myself.
“What are you going to do about it all, then? I mean, we all thought you would be here for a few weeks, and so far, it’s been months. You’re building a property here, but I thought that would just be for a yearly holiday visit. Are you, what? Planning on moving here permanently?”
Clearing my throat, I bypass his question with a simpler one of my own. “I gotta get to the diner. Want to join me?” I stand, looking at the clock, not wanting to be late.
He rolls his eyes at my distraction but relents. “Yeah, why the hell not. I need a break.”
We walk out of his office, straight to my truck, settling in for the five-minute drive to the diner. Taking a breath, I decide to be honest with Hudson. I don’t need to hide my intentions from him.
“I’ve been pushing Griffin to finish the house in record time. I want to be in it. I want her to be in it with me,” I tell my friend, keeping my eyes on the road, but I can feel him looking at me in complete fascination.
“That’s serious, Sutton.”
“I know it is. I think she’s it. I think she’s the one.” I feel vulnerable, but I know it deep in my core, and I have since the moment I first laid eyes on her. People talk about love at first sight. I always thought it was bullshit. But now, I know differently.
“This is Whispers, not Vegas. You can’t just meet a girl and get married in a matter of months.”
“I didn’t say marriage…” Although, now that thought is in my brain, it’s starting to grow legs.
“Yeah, alright, just be careful. Harvey is starting to become good friends with James at school, and the kid doesn’t need some high-profile celebrity coming in and out of his life like a yo-yo.”
I smile, my chest warming at the fact that Preston’s friends group is growing. He’s a kid, and running about with his friends is what kids do. Ever since he slept over, Harvey, Kevin, and Preston are a formidable trio. It’s good to see.
As what he says sinks in, though, I get a bit irritated. “Why does everyone think I’m just going to pack up and go back to LA?” Pulling up outside the back door of the diner, I turn off the truck, moving in my seat to look at my best friend.
“Well, that’s where you live. That’s the lifestyle you lead. That’s where your work is…” Hudson makes his point.
Sure, I’ve always been known as a bit of a joker. Led the playboy lifestyle for years, traveled with no ties and no responsibilities. But I’m different now. This life I’ve started to cultivate here in Whispers, it feels like it’s where I’m meant to be.
“Not anymore,” I tell him seriously, and his eyes narrow.
“What do you mean, not anymore?”
“I think that part of life is closing for me.”
His shock is palpable as his head rears back. “What? No more movies?”
“Never say never. If the right one came along, I would consider it. But I don’t want the media, the nightclubs, the models, the travel.
I’m older. I’ve reached all my goals. I want something new.
I want to settle here. I can still work periodically if I want to, but I like the lifestyle here.
I like that people leave me alone, and I’m even starting to enjoy the peace of the forest.”
Hudson laughs. “Sutton Silvers in nature… you really have done a complete turn.”
“So what, Sawyer can move here and love it, but I can’t?” With a huff, I jump out of the truck, and Hudson follows me.
“That’s not what I’m saying—”
“What are you saying?” I cut him off as I push through the back door, feeling agitated and wanting nothing more than to see my girl. Looking up and around, I smile when I spot her. But then my vision turns red.
“What the fuck.”
A man has his hand on her, and the complete terror in her eyes is noticeable from across the diner.
“What? Oh, shit.” Hudson tries to grab me, but I’m already on the move.
I don’t stop as I stride over, Charlotte stepping away just as I reach her.
I have tunnel vision as I grab the guy's collar and yank him up off his feet. He’s tall like me, but overweight, and by the smell of him, he drinks too much.
But I don't care as I pull back my fist, launching it into his face as his three friends jump up to his defense. I haven’t been in a fistfight in years.
But Hudson knows I’m quick to anger in these kinds of circumstances, and as kids, Sawyer and I were always fighting with kids at school or from the neighborhood.
I grew up tough and that toughness hasn’t left me.
“You’re going to regret fucking touching her,” I spit out, knowing exactly who these guys are.
“Who the fuck are you?” he sneers through a bloody lip.
“I’m her boyfriend, asshole.” I throw another punch, straight into his jaw.
“That's for breaking her bee clip,” I tell him with a growl.
“Her what?” He rolls around on the ground, trying to stand, and I clench my fists, waiting for him before I hit him again.
“That’s for mugging her,” I bite out as he staggers back from another punch.
Shit really hits the fan as the other three men try to pull me back, one even taking a swing that I dodge.
Hudson springs into action, throwing down with one of his friends beside me and shoving back another.
The asshole beneath me lunges while I’m distracted, his punch connecting with my cheek and sending stars through my vision for a few seconds.
I hear the front door open, relief momentarily taking over my rage as Tanner strides across the diner to us.
He doesn’t have to even ask what’s happening; his eyes take in the scene of four strangers who now look like they’ve been through the ringer, Charlotte wide-eyed and standing at a distance, and both me and Hudson seething.
With Tanner’s hulking form approaching, Hudson pushes the other guy off him, one who still hasn’t caught wind of there being another strong man in their midst, until he collides with the booth, eyes snapping to me and my friends standing like a brick wall before all four of them.
“She isn’t worth the hassle.” The asshole I punched spits blood on the floor.
“Yeah, let’s get the fuck out of here,” another says, his cheek and nose red from where Hudson must’ve hit him.
Seeing that they’re now somewhat outnumbered in size and brawn, the guys start to step away, back toward the front door.
But they don’t leave soon enough.
“Why do you look so familiar…?” one of the guys says, looking at me like he just won the jackpot. He probably has; I heard the media is now offering well over half a million for a photo or a sighting. “Hey, you’re that movie star everyone is looking for!”
The four of them pause at the door, all with matching shit-eating grins.
“No one knows where you are, do they?” the asshole who touched Charlotte says as he smiles at me with his split lip and cut eye. My jaw tics, and I step forward to punch him again, when Charlotte grabs me.
“Sutton.” Her voice sounds like a sweet melody. Calming me almost instantly. And stopping me in my tracks.
“Well, well, well… Buckle up, because they’re all going to know in about five minutes,” he says with a sickening laugh, and all four walk out, taking my secret haven with them.