Hector (18 page)

“Oh man, I missed him,” Maurice frowned as he
came and stood next to Drew. “I was trying to hurry and get over here to meet
him before he walked away.”

Since Hector had been so eager about bringing
Felix over as soon as he arrived, Charlee expected him to maybe offer to
introduce Maurice to Felix, but he didn’t. Instead he seemed a bit off put by
Maurice joining them again. He didn’t even acknowledge him, ignoring his
comment and turning to Walter. “So you gonna stand here all night or you gonna
actually do some dancing?”

Walter glanced at Charlee nervously then
turned to the dance floor. “I’m not much for dancing.”

Hector bringing up dancing again made
Charlee’s
heart start thumping. Would he be asking her to
dance again? The D.J. announced the appetizer trays had been refilled. Walter
and one of the other guys exchanged smiles. “Let’s go,” Walter said, and they
both took off.

The look of disgust on Hector’s face was
almost comical as he watched Walter rush off toward the appetizer trays.
“What’s wrong?” Charlee asked.

Shaking his head, Hector turned to Charlee.
The way his disgusted expression morphed into that sexy smile did all kinds of
funny things to her insides. “Nothing’s wrong. He’s just supposed to be
watching what he eats,” he said, motioning with his thumb in Walter’s
direction. “He asked me to help him drop some weight. I’m doing the best I can
in the gym, but that,” he pointed at Walter who was now making his way down the
buffet of appetizers. “That’s not gonna help.”

Charlee smiled, knowing that if Walter were anything
like her, food was comforting. She could tell she and Walter weren’t too
different in terms of being outgoing. He was just as shy as she was, and she’d
seen that look on his face when Hector suggested he maybe try dancing. It was
the same she was sure she’d made when Roger asked her to dance earlier. As
usual, it was only after Drew said okay for both of them that she reluctantly followed
her to the dance floor. When Hector had asked her, she’d been speechless.

Hoping to make up for choking during their
dance and clamming up, she tried to shake off any feelings of awkwardness.
“It’s nice of you to help him out. You
two been
friends long?”

She saw a subtle but noticeable change wash
over his face. He started to answer then stopped when something behind her
caught his eye, and he frowned then held his palm up. “Give me a sec,” he said,
bringing his hand down, and touched her arm. “I’ll be right back.”

As he walked away, Charlee stood there,
trying not to smile too silly. She felt a little ridiculous about how excited
something as simple as his touching her arm could make her. “What happened?”
Drew leaned into her. “Where’d he go?”

“I don’t know. He got called away.” Again she
did her best to flatten the silly smile that threatened to burst when she
added, “But he said he’d be right back.”

Charlee glanced back in the direction he’d
walked away. He was talking to his brother and Noah. She’d never admit it to anyone,
even Drew, because it was too embarrassing, but she knew the names and
recognized the two other owners of 5th Street from all the Google-stalking
she’d done this past week.

Drew smiled just as big as Charlee wanted to.
“I know we said we have to leave early.” Her best friend sounded almost as
excited as she felt. “But we can stay as long as you want to.”

Just the thought of dancing with him again,
being held against his body, and seeing that special something she’d seen in
his eyes earlier had her insides going wild again. She had to get it together.
Hector had walked in tonight with two girls for crying out loud: girls she was
certain he’d already slept with and at the same time to make it worse. Now he
was ignoring them to hang out with her. Next time, she could very well be the
one being ignored. Those girls could deal with it, obviously, since they hadn’t
left immediately like Charlee would’ve.

She knew all too well that even going into
this knowing the type of guy she was dealing with, she’d be crushed just the
same—absolutely, positively crushed. There was no way she could be dumb enough
to let herself get caught up in something like this again. Oh, but she was. She
could feel it already. And this was completely different from last year. She
never felt the kind of intensity she felt from Hector. There was no comparison,
and there was no way to describe it, but she felt something with him she knew
she’d never felt before. This was truly a first for her. So why was she still
so scared.

Drew touched her arm, leaning in again and
whispering so Maurice or anyone around wouldn’t hear. “I see your brain
working. Relax, okay? This is nothing like what you’re thinking. You may be the
same person on the inside, but you’re completely different on the outside now.”
She shrugged, giving Charlee a little smile. “So you dance with him again if he
asks, and you enjoy the party. It doesn’t have to go any further than that. You
can do this. It’s been long enough, Charlee. And remember my sixth sense about
these things? I’m telling you this is not the same.”

Charlee nodded, smiling and feeling extremely
grateful to have Drew. She’s the only one who really knew all about her fears.
Drew had been there and lived through her worst nightmare with her.

“You wanna another drink?”

“No.” Charlee shook her head adamantly. “No
more alcohol. I’d like at least a fighting chance of not doing or saying
anything too stupid tonight. I’m already a wreck.”

“Don’t be.” Her best friend smiled
reassuringly. “You’re doing fine.”

Drew glanced up in the direction where Hector
had been standing with Noah and Abel, and the immediate change in her demeanor
was enough to alarm Charlee. She didn’t want to be so obvious about it and jerk
her head around like she was so tempted to. Whatever it was Drew had seen, had
her feisty friend practically glaring now.

“What is it?” Charlee focused on the revolted
look in Drew’s eyes to keep from turning around. It wasn’t that hard a
temptation to fight anymore because she had a feeling what it could be.

“He’s dancing.”

Charlee swallowed hard, ignoring the plunging
drop she just felt her stomach do. His dancing wasn’t a big deal. It was partly
his party. But that look on Drew’s face said there was more to it. What did she
expect? After everything she already knew, did she honestly think one dance
with him was enough to get all stupidly excited about? She didn’t have to ask. She
already knew the answer just by the look on Drew’s face, but she had to know,
and she refused to look. “Is it Leticia, and can you please stop looking that
way already?” The only consolation was the song playing was not a slow one.

Drew finally turned her glare away from him.
“It’s both of them.”

Now Charlee couldn’t help but look. She
turned just as his eyes looked up and met hers. The song was not a fast one,
but it may as well have been a slow sensual one the way the two shameless
bitches worked their bodies up against his. Noah and Gio were also on the dance
floor, though each danced respectfully with only one girl, and neither of their
girls was behaving as vile as Hector’s partners.

Unlike he had earlier, Hector didn’t stare. Instead,
he glanced away quickly. He wasn’t dancing nearly as sensually as the girls
were, but he did sway his hips to the music and was in no way protesting their
bodies against his. Visions of that night in the parking lot came crashing down
on her. How could she have been stupid enough to let a few gazes from him, one
dance, and one moment, no matter how intense it was, block every fact she already
knew about him? She could never deal with this.
Ever.
“Maybe we should get out of here early.”

She turned to see her friend’s repentant
frown.
“Whatever you want.”

Charlee knew what Drew was thinking. Her
sixth sense had been wrong, and now she felt guilty about adding to
Charlee’s
premature excitement. But this wasn’t Drew fault.
Charlee should’ve known better. Thankfully, it was a quick slip and early on.
She’d never let on just what a letdown this really was because she’d begun to
think she, too, had some kind of sixth sense. Obviously, she’d been completely
wrong—again.

Pouting but then quickly replacing it with a
smile, she tried her damnedest to shake it off. “There’s still ice cream at
home, right?”

Drew’s smile was equally forced too, but
Charlee appreciated the effort. “And wine coolers.”

“Ugh, I don’t think I want any more alcohol
tonight, but I’ll take more ice cream.”

Waving at the guys from the chess team,
Charlee, Drew, and Maurice made their way to the exit. Knowing Drew had used
the ladies’ room not too long ago, Charlee took advantage when she saw the
ladies’ room outside the banquet room to tell Drew and Maurice to go on without
her. She remembered Drew saying Maurice would probably want to kiss her
goodnight, and she wanted to give them a little privacy.

Drew began to protest, saying they could wait
for her, but Charlee insisted they go on ahead without her. Finally alone as
she walked down the empty hallway toward the ladies’ room, she let the
disappointment set in. She didn’t even need to use the restroom, but she went
in anyway. Charlee was only thankful that the banquet rooms had restrooms so
this one and the halls leading to it were completely abandoned now that the gym
was closed off for anything more than the exclusive party.

She stood in front of the mirror, staring at
the clueless girl in the mirror.
Gawd
, she was stupid
or pathetic or both. Why didn’t she ever just trust her first instincts? Sure
she’d made a big change physically since last year. It might’ve even been big
enough to attract a guy like Hector but certainly not enough to tame him. Guys
like Hector obviously couldn’t even be tamed by sex kittens like the ones he’d
been dancing with tonight. And in all the photos she’d found of him online with
girls, they were all Latinas—dark-haired, dark-eyed girls, who could probably
all move on the dance floor as sensually as Leticia and Miriam had. There was never
one as lily-white as Charlee with her ridiculously bright red hair that exuded
about as much sensuality as a nun.

She leaned into the mirror to get a closer
look at her face. At least makeup helped conceal most of her infuriating
freckles. Surprised by how knotted up she was still feeling, she walked away
from the mirror toward the door even more angry with herself. It was
embarrassing how easily her made-up mind had been changed just by the few nice
things he said to her and his flirtatious gazes. She walked out, determined to
leave this behind her and stop thinking about him.

Wanting to give Drew and Maurice a little
more alone time, Charlee took her time walking down the hallway, peering into
the windows of the doors she passed. Each room was for some kind of specific
training. The one with the trophies and photos on the wall caught her attention
for a little longer. There was one light on in the corner, and it was hard to
make out much. Standing on her tiptoes, she strained to see the photos furthest
away. As if she hadn’t gotten her fix of photos of Hector online already, she
scanned the wall, looking for more of him.

“Looking for something?”

Charlee gasped at the sound of Hector’s voice
echoing off the walls. She spun around, feeling her face flush immediately. “I
was just . . . I had to use the ladies’ room and uh . . . the trophies,” she
pointed behind her. “I was just curious.”

Hector smiled, easily making her heart
flutter even after everything that had happened tonight alone. “It’s okay,” he
said, walking toward her. “Is Drew in the ladies’ room still?”

Charlee shook her head. “No, she’s waiting in
the car for me,” she said, trying not to be too obvious, but her eyes seemed to
have a mind of their own now.

They roamed his entire body up and down. No
longer wearing his coat, his snug black vest over his long-sleeved white dress
shirt accentuated his chest perfectly. For a moment, she wondered if he’d taken
the coat off himself or if had been stripped off by his dance partners.

“There’s actually some pretty cool stuff in
there,” he said as he got close enough for her senses to be once again
overloaded by everything about him: his eyes, his lips, his scent, and even the
heat from his body when he got close enough that she could almost touch it. This
was the very body she’d fantasized about so many times and now knew for a fact
just how hard and solid it really was. “I could show you quickly before you
go.”

Feeling glued to the spot where she stood,
she managed to move so that he could get by her to open the door. “No, I
couldn’t,” she said, still embarrassed about being caught snooping and not
wanting to confirm just how nosey she could really be.

“Why not?” he turned back with a quizzical
expression then chuckled. “This stuff isn’t top secret. Come on in,” he said,
opening the door and walking into the room.

She followed him into the dimly lit room and
stood in place, taking in the photos on the wall as he walked around turning on
lights. With her heart already beating way too fast, she took deep slow breaths
to try and calm
herself
. Not only could she do this
but she would and with as much dignity and poise as she could muster. He was
after all just a guy—a guy she would in no way be getting involved with.