And then he just disappeared. For days. He didn't return her phone calls or texts. She found herself pleading with him in her messages.
She was confused, humiliated, and increasingly, angry. He didn't respect her enough to keep her posted on something that meant everything to her right now, and that hurt more when she realized that she had trusted yet another man who didn't deserve it.
She finally cornered him in the V3 office, and he couldn't have been more dismissive or uncomfortable. He practically implied she was causing a scene. Their discussion was cut short when her idiot assistant brought her a memo saying that Hutch had left V3. That made her very nervous - the pitcher had already been showing signs of stress about something he wasn't comfortable telling her about, and now he had cut all ties with her and with baseball.
Connor had tried to prevent her from contacting Hutch, and that was the last straw. He knew she couldn't do that, and that she wouldn't do that, and here he was ordering her to step away. Hell no - she was tired of men trying to make decisions for her about her clients. She quit on the spot.
After trying to track Hutch down and conferring with Hutch's father, she realized that there was one person who might be able to provide insight into Hutch's state of mind: Joseph Crabchek. And there was only one person she knew who could help her track him down: Nico.
God, she hated asking him for anything, considering that he was already dodging her about Carl. However, Hutch was at risk and he was more important than her own anger.
But how to get Nico to speak to her? He'd think she was contacting him about Carl and keep avoiding her. As she knew, he could keep silence for months. She finally decided to appeal to the one thing she knew still was true: he remained extremely protective of her. She texted him that she was in danger and needed his help. She didn't feel guilty about it at all: Hutch needed her help.
As she had hoped, he showed up. He seemed to understand how angry she was, and for once he was apologetic, and pleaded with her for more time, more understanding, more trust. Unfortunately, as she pointed out, he'd run out of all of those from her. When she asked him about Crabchek and he said he was looking for Crabchek too, she got angrier and angrier. Thinking out loud, she realized as she said it that he must not care about her at all if he was refusing to tell her about these things that were so necessary for her to help her clients. He looked extremely agitated - almost panicked, but then muttered something patronizing about how it was more complicated than it seemed. She lost it and told him that he could either tell her everything or get out of her life for good. And she meant it. She knew it would hurt to lose him again (even though it shouldn't, considering the way he had been acting since she got to V3), but she'd deal with those emotions when they emerged. For now, she was as mad as hell.
She turned on her heel and started to walk to the door so she could show him/throw him out. She had absolutely no expectation that he would tell her anything; why start now?
She hadn't taken more than a few steps when he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to face him. She was enraged at this point. What the hell was he doing? When he pulled her to him and kissed her, she figured it out, but she was too stunned to do anything but let him kiss her. He pulled back and she looked at him, amazed. He kissed her again, and this time she returned the kiss with an intensity that surprised her. They broke apart again and she again stared at him. She was having a hard time thinking straight, but she heard him clearly when he said he'd explain everything to her.