Hector (22 page)

“Morning,” he smiled.

Instinctively Drew moved away, but she didn’t want to be too
dramatic about it, so she abstained from jumping up and away from him like she
really wanted to.

“Morning,” she said as calmly as she could.

“I’ve been hoping to run into you alone.” That statement from
anyone else wouldn’t be so creepy, but coming from Ross, it was just that. He
must’ve seen it in her questioning eyes because he added. “I mean so I can talk
to you. I wanted to apologize and tell you how sorry I am that I made such a
bad first impression.”

Not sure how else to respond, she nodded, gathering her things
but avoided direct eye contact. “It’s okay.”

“I was also wondering if you don’t have a class anytime soon if we
can go grab some coffee or something. You know a kind of peace offering.”

This time she did meet his eyes. Unlike Hector’s sexy, carefree
and very bright eyes even when they got all intense, Ross’s were a bit bloodshot
and glossed over as they were the last few times she’d seen him, no doubt from
all the pot he smoked. But there was something more cynical about them too.

She started to shake her head, and when he reached over and touched
her leg, Charlee sprung to her feet immediately. “Whoa wait!” Ross lifted his
hand up in the air to show her he meant no harm. “I’ll behave. I promise. I
just wanna talk to you a little more.”

“I can’t right now. I have to go.” She lied, picking up her last book
from the bench.

Her heart sped up when he stood up next to her. She was only glad
she was in the middle of the campus with lots of other students still around,
unlike that first time.

“You ready to go, Charlee?” She turned to see Walter standing
there with his backpack over his shoulder, looking a little surer of himself
than he had the first time he came to her rescue.

Immediately catching on, she nodded. “Yes, we’re late.” With a
quick half smile, she glanced at Ross, who was now frowning, and hooked her arm
into Walter’s. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll take a rain check then,” Ross said as she and Walter walked
away quickly.

“Rain check for what?”
Walter asked in a
low voice. “What did he want?”

“To have coffee with me and you saved me again. Thank you, Walter.”
Charlee pulled her arm out of Walter’s when they turned the corner of a
building and she was sure they were out of Ross’s sight. “Sorry about latching
on to you.” She shrugged. “It was an impulse I guess—felt safer.”

“It’s okay,” Walter smiled. “I didn’t mind. So he’s still bothering
you, huh?”

“Actually, I hadn’t seen him in a while, and I’m pretty sure he’s
not out to harm me, not here on campus in broad daylight, anyway. It’s just . .
.” She glanced at Walter a bit hesitant to go on but then did anyway. “He
brings back old memories for me.”

Walter’s eyes opened a bit surprised. “You know him from way
back?”

“No.” Charlee shook her head before taking a seat on a bench.
Walter sat next to her, and she turned to him with a frail smile. “But feeling
spooked or maybe just harassed by someone like him brings back old memories of
when I was a kid in school.” She lifted a shoulder. “I’ve always been really
shy. So I didn’t do well fitting in. The kids were . . . Well they weren’t very
nice. It’s why I ended up just being homeschooled.”

Walter’s eyes opened even wider. “You left school because you
were bullied? So did
I
.”

She tilted her head. This shouldn’t surprise her, but he was so
big.
“Really?”

Walter frowned. “Well, I was practically done with school. Just a
little over a month before I finished high school, I dropped out. It was kind
of impulsive and stupid actually, but I’d just had it.”

Charlee shook her head, taking a deep breath and glanced away. “I
just don’t understand what it is about people that make them enjoy being cruel
to others. I don’t think
it’s
Ross’s intention to be
cruel.”

“He’s a jerk, Charlee.”

“Oh, I know.” Charlee glanced back at him, agreeing quickly. “I’m
just saying I don’t think he means to hassle me more than pursue me, but it’s
the way he goes about it—so aggressively and intimidating, like his just
sitting down so close to me today, especially because our first encounter
didn’t go over well at all.
That’s
what drudges up the ugly memories.”

“Well, I wouldn’t take my guard down about him not meaning any
harm.” Walter said with a somber expression. “I still remember that look in his
eye the day you wouldn’t give into him.”

Charlee thought about the first time she ran into him after that
day and how creepy it had felt. “I won’t.” She smiled and stood up. “I better
get going. I was so busy just trying to get as far as away from Ross that I
went the opposite direction. My next class is clear across campus.”

Walter stood up. “I’ll walk you.”

“No, you don’t have to, Walter. Being my bodyguard is not your
job.”

Walter shook his head. “My next class is that way too. And I want
to.” His smile was a shy one. “Who knows? Now that I’m working out so much,
maybe I will look into doing some bodyguard work.”

Charlee smiled maybe a little too big. Just like that, the
butterflies in her belly started up again. Walter talking about working out was
all it took to bring on the thoughts of Hector, his rock hard body, and the
fact that she’d be seeing him again soon.

With her heart rate already taking a flying leap, she reminded
herself of what she promised Drew. No matter what happened, she would remain
composed. Charlee had also promised she wouldn’t do what she tended to do when
she was trying to cover up feeling hurt or uncomfortable—overcompensate by
acting too much the opposite way or say something rash if she got angry. She
shouldn’t be angry, because in this day and age people did things like this all
the time. Becoming angry or hurt would only make it obvious that Hector had
been the first guy she’d done anything like this with. Charlee shouldn’t give
him the pleasure of knowing that, if he didn’t deserve it. She was a modern
woman living in a modern world. This was true. She agreed completely, even
though this
was
huge for her.

Charlee smiled inwardly, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She
remembered the way Hector gazed so tenderly into her eyes, kissed her so
sweetly, and how sincere he was when he’d said the things he had. What she
didn’t dare tell Drew was that the more she thought about Friday night, the
more she was convinced this hadn’t been so insignificant for him either.

***

Monday . . . Tuesday . . . Wednesday . . . Thursday. .
. Disappointment didn’t even begin to describe what Charlee was feeling. Hector
hadn’t bothered to show up for chess lab all week. It was already Friday, and
Charlee was certain he was avoiding her. Overhearing the guys and Walter talk
about Hector with the two girls he’d apparently taken home again last Friday
night didn’t help either.

As devastated as she felt, she was madder at herself than anything.
He’d shown up with two girls—two girls he
knew
she’d seen grinding up on him on the dance floor just prior to them ending up
in that room. And though he’d referred to them as just friends, Charlee knew exactly
what kind of friends they were and, therefore, what kind of guy that made him,
and still she’d gone against her better judgment and allowed him to kiss her.

The worst part of it all was even though Drew insisted this
wasn’t a big deal, and it really shouldn’t be because she hardly knew him, it
was
. It was a
very
big deal. Every day that week when she walked to the chess lab,
her insides would knot up about the possibility of facing him again.

Even though she’d given up hope that he would show up this week
at all, her insides were already knotting up as she took the walk of shame to
the chess lab again. More than likely, he’d give it at least an entire week, if
not more, then show up next week sometime and act as though nothing had
happened.

As much as she dreaded facing him now, she almost wished he’d
just show up already so she could get it over with. Just as she made it up the
stairs of the physics building, she heard it.

“Charlee!”

Her heart was immediately at her throat when she turned and saw
him hurrying toward her.
Wish granted
.

Trying desperately to push back the emotion that just seeing him
brought on, she focused on trying to appear unfazed. His expression gave
nothing away. She didn’t know what to make of it. The fact that he was hurrying
toward her, however, could be a good thing. Had he missed seeing her as much as
she’d missed him?

Instead of rushing up the stairs and pulling her to him like
she’d begun to envision, he stopped at the bottom when he got to it. The dark 5
^th
Street t-shirt he wore was a little on the snug side, and she could make out
those abs and strong chest—the chest she’d been pressed up again that amazing
night. “Can I talk to you for a second before we go in there?” He motioned to
the doorway of the physics building where the lab was at.

Nodding and beginning to feel a little numb, she made her way
back down the few steps, ignoring her tangling insides. Unlike Friday and all
the other recent times she’d been around him, he now avoided making eye contact
for longer than a few seconds. Charlee already had a very bad feeling about
this.

They moved off to the side to avoid blocking the stairway, and
then he said what he’d been in such a hurry to get to her for. “Does, uh,” he
glanced back at the building. “Does anyone know about last Friday?
Anyone from the chess team?”

She shook her head, staring at him, her stomach dropping because
she knew now where this was going. “No.”

His relieved expression both confirmed it and mortified her, but
she dare not show it. “Can we keep it that way?” His eyes met hers, and for a
moment, she saw that tenderness she’d seen Friday night, but he glanced away
quickly. “I mean I just don’t want things to get weird, you know?” He shrugged,
looking back at her with a forced smirk, but his eyes were vacant now—cold.
“Shit
happens
when you’re drinking and not thinking
straight. People do things they shouldn’t. That’s all it was. But if you’re
cool with it, we can pretend it never happened.”

Not falling apart. Not falling apart.

Feeling the air sucked out of her, she took a moment to gather
her wits. As the realization of what he’d just said sunk in, the knots in her
stomach unraveled into angry flaying whips. Just like last year, she’d been
completely off the mark. Hector was no better than the other jerk who’d
humiliated her so callously. Feeling a sudden rebellion like none she’d ever
felt, Charlee smiled and began to move because she couldn’t stand there staring
into those cold unfeeling eyes for even another second. “Not to worry, Hector.
Your party wasn’t the only one I went to last weekend. I’d already forgotten
about that.”

That sparked something in those unfeeling eyes, and the smirk
he’d worn earlier was wiped clean. She could tell she’d stunned him into
silence.
Yeah, take that
.

“Is that right?” He finally said as he walked alongside her.

She smiled as naturally as she could and fought the urge to stop
right there and tell him off, but she didn’t. Instead she glanced at his
hardened stare. It was the same one she’d seen last week when she checkmated his
ass. Only instead of intimidating her as it had last week, this time it made
her feel a little better.

Good. He probably expected her to be mortified or react the way
she really wanted to and confirm that she really
was
different, just like he’d told her that night: different from
all the whores he was usually with—prove what he’d obviously figured out that
night. That he was the first guy she’d made out with
ever
. He’d messed with a prissy little virgin who was probably
expecting much more from him now than all those other girls. Well, she’d be
damned if she’d give him the pleasure. “Yep, I had an exhausting weekend.”

Charlee realized she was overcompensating—being rash. Drew could
call it whatever the hell she wanted, but she was done being the martyr. From
that moment on as she hurried up the stairs feeling the slow boil in her veins
with a silent, brooding, Hector beside her, she vowed never to let heartless jerks
bring her down again.

Hector opened the door for her, and she strutted by him, doing
her best to ignore the scent of his cologne because the memory it induced
nearly choked her. As soon as she entered the lab, she zeroed in on Damian,
knowing from experience a game against him would take just as long as she
intended on being there: long enough so that it wasn’t too obvious she wanted
nothing more than to run out of there and as far away from Hector as she could A.S.A.P.,
but not too lengthy, because she wasn’t sure how much longer the indifferent
act would hold up.

As expected, she played a crap game. It was impossible to
concentrate while trying to disguise how she was feeling. Keeping her eyes off
Hector hadn’t been difficult. She’d been terrified the entire time to even
glance his way. The moment that Damian won, she shook his hand with a smile.
“Good game.”

She gathered her things, relieved that she could finally get out
of there, and made her way to the door.

“You’re leaving already?” Walter asked curiously.

He was sitting at a table with Hector and two other guys. Charlee
allowed herself a quick glance at Hector after smiling and nodding at Walter.
The hardened expression from earlier was still plastered on his face and that
perfectly defined jaw from his flexing. “Yep,” she said, looking Hector
directly in the eyes and continued to smile. “I’m going out, so I gotta go get
ready. Have a good one, guys.” She waved at them with her fingers in that
playful way she’d seen other girls do and walked out.