Hector (13 page)

She glanced down, staring at her hands
knowing exactly what Drew was thinking. “No, Drew, it’s not about that. It’s
been over a year and I’m over it. Besides that was totally different. I really
don’t think Hector is like that.”

“I don’t either,” Drew said softly. “Most
people aren’t, sweetie, but I get the feeling you don’t truly believe that
yet.” Drew reached out and squeezed
Charlee’s
hand
softly. “What Hector did was probably just out of pride. You got one up on him,
and he reacted, but I’m telling you, Charlee, I have a sixth sense about these
things. There’s something more going on here not just on your side but his as
well. I haven’t seen you this upset about anything since . . .”

Glad that Drew didn’t go on, Charlee took a
deep breath. Admittedly, it had been the first thing that had come to mind
yesterday when Hector left her standing there to drown in her own humiliation.
But Drew was right. This was different. Charlee had brought this on herself. He
just reacted. She shook her head. It wasn’t about that at all. “I just hate
that the one place where I feel most comfortable being,” she squeezed her best
friend’s hand, “except here with you, of course, has now been contaminated by
this guy. I could never walk in there again without feeling uneasy. Even today,
I was certain, because of his fight tonight, he wouldn’t be there, and I still
skipped out on the lab just in case.”

The compassionate expression on Drew’s face
was suddenly replaced with a mischievous smirk.
“About that
fight.”

“No.” Charlee sat up.
“Absolutely
not.
He didn’t say it, but after what happened yesterday, I’m sure the
invitation has been revoked. He hates me now.”

“Charlee, you said you were certain he was
going to kiss you.”

“But he didn’t. He just meant to humiliate me,
which he certainly succeeded in doing.”

Drew sat up too, taking in another spoonful
of the quart of ice cream they were sharing then waved the spoon at Charlee.
“No, no, no, Charlee Brennan. Not so fast. You said he flirted with you even
before any of this happened.”

“He flirts with everyone!” Charlee countered
quickly. “And he asked about you, remember?” She took the quart of ice cream
from Drew and sunk her own spoon in. “He
lumped
me in with
Walter.”

Gawd
, could this be anymore
mortifying? But she blamed herself. To even think for a minute that he would
actually want to kiss her, especially after what she’d done to him. The worst
part about this whole thing was that he now knew that, just like all the other
girls he’d ever encountered, she too wasn’t immune to his charm as she so
snootily thought she was. Okay, maybe she didn’t think so before, but after
seeing him with those girls Saturday night, she certainly thought she could be.
And boy did he prove her wrong. Now every time she’d see him she’d know what
he’d be thinking.

“Hear me out, okay?” Drew said as Charlee
licked another spoonful of ice cream clean. She was well aware that, even if
she didn’t want to hear Drew out, there was nothing she could do or say to stop
her friend from saying what was on her mind anyway. So her shoulders slumped and
she waited grudgingly. “You said you caught him looking at you more than a few
times even before you began to play him, right?” Charlee nodded. “And knowing
you, just like the night of the tournament, you made absolutely sure you showed
no interest in him whatsoever.
Which, by the way, good girl.
After what we saw Saturday night, you don’t want him thinking you’re like those
girls.”

“That’s just the thing,” Charlee said,
letting her head fall back against the headboard of Drew’s bed. “Now, he knows
I am!”

“No, he doesn’t,” Drew insisted. “It didn’t
actually happen, and who’s to say you would have done it.”

“He—”

“No!” Drew was even firmer this time. “Okay,
so you went a little goo-goo eyed on him and froze. You were nervous. A guy
like him has got to know a girl like you is not used to that.”

“A girl like me?”
Charlee sat up straight again. She knew exactly what Drew meant,
but she felt the need to at the very least protest. “What does that mean?”

Drew rolled her eyes then scooted over closer
to Charlee and leaned her head on her shoulder. “You know what I mean, Charlee.
You’re shy and quiet but very sweet. I think anybody can see that about you
from a mile away. You’re nothing like those stupid girls on Saturday, and there
is no way he would think you are. He knew you’d freeze up. But he doesn’t know
for sure that you wouldn’t have snapped out of it and pushed him away if he
actually did kiss you. Heck, you don’t even know.”

Oh, Charlee knew all right. As mortified as
she’d been, she’d gotten back to her bed last night, and even as she cried, she
kept imagining what it would’ve been like. How amazing it would’ve been to feel
those sexy lips on hers. She’d been thankful that Drew had been on a date
yesterday and gotten home late enough that Charlee could feign the sleep of
death. Charlee had been in no mood to talk about it last night. She wasn’t this
morning either, but when she got home early after skipping out on her chess lab
today, Drew knew something was up immediately. It didn’t take much before
Charlee was in tears again and Drew came to the rescue with tissue, two spoons,
and a quart of chocolate chip mint—her favorite.

Charlee shrugged, feeling too drained to
argue.

“I have a theory,” Drew continued. “Now even
though you don’t believe it, I’m telling you, believe in my sixth sense,
Charlee. He acted very strange Saturday night. He couldn’t keep his eyes off
you, and you’re saying he was doing it again yesterday, right? How many times
would you say you caught him staring?”

Charlee exhaled. “I don’t know,” she said,
dumping her spoon into the container of ice cream. She’d had enough.

“C’mon, Charlee, think.
Roughly
how many times?”

Charlee knew exactly how many times: four
before he’d even come over to sit with them then at least four more times
during her game with Walter. Not to mention the way he’d looked at her every
time he spoke to her. It was why she’d begun to think maybe there was some
interest, especially remembering what Drew had told her about the way she’d caught
him staring at her on Saturday. But if Charlee—the most pessimistic person in
the world—could let herself become hopeful over a few stares, she knew Drew the
hopeless romantic with her unnerving sixth sense that always seemed to be spot
on, would go nuts if she told her just how many times, in turn, giving Charlee
false hope as well. Something she did not need.

She lifted a shoulder as indifferently as
possible. “I don’t know three, four times maybe.”

Drew was on her feet at once. “I knew it!”
She punched her fist into her hand, smiling. “We’re going to that fight
tonight.”

Charlee’s
mouth fell open just as her heart rate took off. She knew she
shouldn’t have said anything. Before she could protest, Drew was already
talking fast as she paced back and forth as she always did when she was trying
to convince Charlee of something, just like she had back home when she
convinced her to move out to California with her. This was not good.

“If for no other reason, we’ll do this so I
can prove my point.” Drew lifted her palm up in the air when Charlee began to
respond: another telltale sign that she wouldn’t be backing down. “This guy has
a thing for you. Maybe it’s just an ego thing. Guys like him are not used to
girls not showing any interest. Charlee, you go overboard doing just that when
you’re nervous, and, obviously, Hector makes you very nervous.” She stopped and
smiled. “Besides, this could be fun. Imagine all the other hot boxers we could
meet tonight? Not to mention an exclusive party. What else are we gonna do
tonight? Sit around drinking wine coolers and talk about the kind of guys we
wish we could meet?” Drew danced in place now. “We can’t stay long anyway. We
have Long Beach in the morning. We’ll just go for a little while.”

This was true. They both volunteered for the
Special Olympics, and tomorrow morning there was a marathon in Long Beach. They
had to be there bright and early to help set up. Charlee couldn’t come up with
a good enough argument fast enough, and quite honestly it did sound more fun
than staying home on a Friday night—again. But the thought of facing Hector so
soon terrified her. She was hoping he’d cool off over the weekend. She did the
only thing she could and gave Drew her best pleading look.

“Charlee, he’s fighting tonight, and Walter said
he was part owner of the gym too. You really think he’s going to have time to
hang out with anyone from the chess team?” Drew gave her that evil grin she
wore so well. “No
offendamundo
, but he probably just
invited you guys to be nice. I’m sure he won’t be spending too much time around
any of you.” She reached out her hand to Charlee and tugged. “Let’s go. We got
a party to get ready for.”

With a groan, Charlee stood to her feet. Why
did she have to have such a persuasive best friend? If it weren’t for the
sudden visual she was having of seeing Hector up close and shirtless in the
ring like she’d seen in all the images she
Googled
-stalked
of him, she’d certainly fight this tooth and nail. That and the curiosity of
seeing exactly what the tattoo on his chest was about, won out. She could only
pray now this, too, didn’t turn into a disaster like yesterday.

Chapter 8

Hector sat in the corner of the
ring in between rounds, breathing heavily when they walked in. Charlee had said
she wasn’t coming to the fight tonight. Turned down the invitation flat—she had
other plans. “Better plans” is probably what she really wanted to say. So for
that reason alone, Hector hadn’t expected her to show up, and then after what
happened yesterday, he knew there was no way she’d be coming. But seeing Walter
and some of the other guys from the chess team arrive together, minus Charlee,
somehow still managed to further Hector’s already irritable mood.

He didn’t even understand why her snub
bothered him so damn much. Sam thought what she’d done was hilarious. And the
fact that Hector had taken it so personally had him laughing louder than Hector
had ever heard the old man laugh. Hector didn’t think it was funny at all, but
the more he argued the more Sam laughed.

Sam said Hector was ripe for the target, that
it was his own fault for not doing going there prepared. She probably saw the
lack of significant effort Hector put into the actually study of chess. Hector
was too laid back about the whole thing, and Sam said it emanated off him. A
serious player would see that right away. When he was finally done laughing,
Sam had once again reminded Hector how seriously these players take the game
and told him he better learn to respect that.

If it had been Sam in that tournament, he
said he would've gone over the game himself that night, working through all the
variations until he was sure his play was accurate. Hector hadn’t bothered to
until last night. Even then, he still couldn’t figure out how she’d come up
with such a clever way to completely blindside him.

Sam also told Hector to get used to it. He
was in a different league now. The old man was just too damn pleased that Charlee
had done this to Hector. This, of course, only pissed Hector off even further.
Get used it? Like hell he would. It was one thing if he thought this had only
been some sort of hazing:
Charlee’s
way of welcoming
him into the team with a ribbing. But there was more to it. He’d seen it from
that very first day. She’d been nice enough and even smiled at him just the same
as before she’d known he was a contender.

Unless she was a total genius, what she’d
done must’ve taken her hours to memorize—to perfect.
But why?
The more he thought about it, the more it pissed him off. What the fuck was her
problem anyway?

Then he remembered how close he’d come to
kissing her, how badly he’d wanted to, and how quickly his anger had dissipated
the moment he’d gotten close enough to smell the sweet scent of her lip gloss
on those soft pink lips and the subtle sweet scent of her hair. He’d instantly
gone from fuming to fighting the urge to kiss her.

Hector would’ve given anything at that moment
yesterday to be able to go back in time and slam A.J and Theo’s faces into the
lockers a few times in high school. If he had, he would’ve been able to live
with the guilt of kissing Charlee in front of Walter. It was the only thing
that had stopped him yesterday.

After he’d finally made some major progress
in alleviating his damn guilty conscience, Hector wasn’t about to take a giant
leap backwards. Even feeling as bad as he’d felt all this time about not
sticking up for Walter in high school, he was now certain if Walter hadn’t
shown up at the gym Wednesday night he would’ve gone for a taste of
Charlee’s
lips anyway. Not only was the guilt still alive
and well but Walter was beginning to feel like a real friend now. He’d gotten
to know Walter a little better, and as big a goofball as the guy was, he was
actually a really nice guy with a giant heart.

On top of being a full-time student and all
the time he put into both the school and the U.S chess teams, Walter also
volunteered several days out of the week at the convalescent home where his
grandfather lived. He said there were a couple of old guys down there he played
chess with regularly; he even invited Hector to down there with him sometime.
Walter told him he’d be surprised how good it would make him feel to make
someone’s day just by spending a little time with them. Hector didn’t doubt it
one bit because he’d felt good seeing the hope in Walter’s face when Hector
assured him he could help him get in shape. Remembering what a nice guy Walt
was yesterday when Hector had been so close to kissing Charlee was bad enough.