“I’m in love with Ryder,” Hutch said, and the room immediately went quiet. “Jesus, you’re like a bunch of fucking children!”
Pride swelled in my chest for this man I’d fallen for. I knew how hard that had been for him to say, so I added, “We’re in love with each other.”
“And I couldn’t be happier for them.” Kinsley stepped up beside me and crossed her arms, similar to what Grant was doing.
No one else spoke for a moment, letting it sink in.
“Why… How…” Mom started but couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.
Of course it was Grant who spoke next. “Jesus Christ, son. What in the hell is wrong with you?”
“Hey, don’t do that. Don’t speak to him that way. Neither of us meant for this to happen, but it did, and now you all have to find a way to deal with it. But I won’t sit here and let you make him feel like shit for—”
“Betraying his sister!” Grant cut me off. “Is this because of me? Are you somehow trying to punish me for something even if it hurts Madison?”
“I can’t believe you would even ask me that, Dad. Everything isn’t about you. Do you think it doesn’t kill me to hurt Maddy? That I don’t hate myself for it? That I don’t berate myself for it every hour of every day? Because I can promise you, I do. I don’t know how I’ll ever get past hurting her like this, but…don’t I deserve to be happy? To be loved? There was no future for Ryder and Maddy, but there is for us. He makes me feel…” Hutch rubbed a hand over his heart. “Right…settled in here. You want me to walk away from that?”
I crumbled at that, damn near fell apart at what he said about me, about himself. I walked over to him and tangled our fingers together, a united front.
“You planned this, didn’t you?” Grant said to me. “First Maddy and now my son?”
“Jesus, Grant,” Kinsley interrupted. “You’ve always been a dick, but you’re taking it a bit overboard now, don’t you think?”
And Dad said, “This is exactly what you did last time, Grant. You put all the blame on Ryder. Would it kill you to try and be understanding?”
Grant nodded toward me. “He’s the common denominator, Allen.”
I felt that direct hit in my chest. He was right; damned if he wasn’t right. “I never wanted to hurt anyone. I loved Mads, just not in the way she deserved, but I do with Hutch. I won’t hurt him. I know this isn’t ideal, but he’s your son. You have two children, Grant, not just Mads, and—”
“How dare you speak to me that way—as if I don’t care about my own son. You know nothing about me. I love Grant. Just because I want the best for him—and want him to be the best—doesn’t mean I don’t love him. It’s the exact opposite.” He looked at Hutch. “Does your sister know?”
“Yes. She caught us together this morning.”
I closed my eyes and cursed softly, wishing Hutch hadn’t told the whole truth but not surprised that he did.
“So that’s why you decided to tell us? Not because it was the right—no, the right thing would have been not to get involved with him—but because you were caught?”
“Yes,” Hutch replied, and I turned to look at him. “It doesn’t matter what I planned. What matters is what happened. And yes, she’s as hurt as you would expect.”
I heard my dad mumble a quiet, “Shit.”
“Oh, Grant—Hutch. I believe you when you say you didn’t do this on purpose, but…she’s your sister. Is it worth it?” Nora asked.
I immediately tensed up. I couldn’t even be upset with her because it was a valid question. It would break me, but I would understand if Hutch had to walk away.
“I don’t mean any offense when I say that,” Nora continued, “but what it will do to Maddy…to our family…”
“I don’t want to lose any of you, but—”
“But nothing!” Grant shouted, effectively cutting Hutch off. “He broke your sister’s heart, and his family divided our business and became our direct rival! I knew something like this would happen. The second I heard he was back in town, I wondered about the two of you, and you assured me it would never happen, that you would never touch Ryder, and yet here we are.”
I frowned, confused. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but Hutch clearly was. He winced but then met his dad’s gaze head-on. “You’re right. I did say that. There is no real excuse for what I’ve done.”
“We didn’t do it on purpose,” I cut in. “We didn’t know who we were talking to because—”
“It’s fine, Ryder. He’s right. The details don’t matter. The truth is, I knew what I was doing, and I did it anyway.”