Hector (25 page)

Drew’s excitement about her newfound revelation only irked
Charlee further. “And how in the world is that a good thing?”

“Because, at some point, they meet their
match.”
Drew was getting more and more excited with each word that came
out of her mouth. “They have to fall for someone eventually, right? Maybe
Hector’s finally met his match, and you’re it! And why wouldn’t you be,
Charlee?” Drew’s excitement finally calmed. She stopped walking, making Charlee
stop too then faced her tilting her head and looking very thoughtful. “I know
you don’t believe this, but you’re beautiful, not just on the outside but the
inside as well.”

This, coupled with all the emotion she was still holding in, instantly
choked Charlee up. She pressed her lips together, trying desperately to keep
them from quivering. “Stop, Drew. You’re gonna make me cry.”

Drew smiled big. “Don’t cry. And, no, I won’t stop because it’s
true. This is good. I really think I’m onto something here. We should go have
dinner and brainstorm—somewhere a bit fancier than Taco Bell.” Drew snapped her
fingers suddenly and her face scrunched. “Crap! That reminds me. I forgot
something.”

“What?”

“My check.
It’s ready.” She took a few
steps backwards. “They called this morning to tell me I could pick it up. I’ll
be right back.”

Charlee watched as her friend hurried away toward the humanities
building. Drew worked part-time in the office, even though she didn’t have to.
Her dad gave her all the money she needed.

Smiling now after having gotten all emotional just earlier,
Charlee wondered what exactly Drew had in mind as far as brainstorming. She’d just
as soon move on and leave this behind. Trying to figure out why Hector had no
interest in doing anything more with Charlee would only make things worse. As
soon as Drew came back, Charlee would tell her she was done analyzing this.

“So, is it possible to cash that rain check in now?”

With a flinch, she turned to face Ross. For once, he looked
bright-eyed and fresh with no lingering smell of marijuana. Her eyes were
immediately on his newsboy type brown cap that somehow made him look even more
cleaned up. His smile was even a bit humbled, unlike all the other times when there
was something so smug and cynical about it. Still, she knew she must’ve looked
as alarmed as she always did when he’d approached her because he put both hands
behind his back.

“I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself. In fact, they’ll remain
this way the whole time.”

Relieved to see Drew walking toward them, she smiled softly, gulping
back the inevitable apprehension she felt about even holding a conversation
with Ross. “I’m waiting for my friend. She’s right there actually,” Charlee
pointed in Drew’s direction, and he turned to see her as she got closer to
them. “We’ve got somewhere to be.”

Ross’s smile dimmed a bit, but he shrugged. “I’ll get my chance
eventually, right?”

A bit curious suddenly and because he didn’t appear so menacing
this time, Charlee had to ask. “A chance for what exactly?”

Seeing Ross smile so big, especially about something she just
said, felt wrong somehow. She didn’t mean to get friendly with him. She’d just
been curious and in a cautionary way, not in the way she knew he was thinking.

“Everything okay, Charlotte?”
Hector walked
up to them out of nowhere and stood right next to her, his presence even bigger
now than normal. “Is this guy bothering you again?”

Chapter 15

With his hand fisted and ready to go, Hector stared
into the guy’s anxious eyes. He didn’t even care that they were in the middle
of campus and this could get him in trouble. All Charlee had to say was anything
remotely negative about what this guy had just said or done to her, and he’d
make sure it was lights out for him again.

The guy spoke first. “I was just telling Charlee—”

“No! You don’t get to call her that,” Hector got in his face now,
feeling the real need to punch something, and this guy’s face would do just
fine. “You don’t get to call her anything, you disrespectful asshole!”

Charlee attempted to get in between them, but Hector wouldn’t
budge. “I’m fine actually,” she said, sounding almost annoyed.

Hector turned to face her. Drew was there now too. Looking almost
as irritated as Hector felt, Drew asked the very thing he was thinking, “Are
you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Charlee said to Drew then turned to Hector. “We
were just talking.”

The guy had backed up away from Hector the second he’d turned to
face Charlee. She then turned to the guy and actually smiled. “I gotta go, but
we can talk another time.”

“I look forward to it.” Ross said, attempting to sound cheery,
but there was no masking the dread in his eyes. “And I’ll answer your question
then.” He tipped his stupid hat at her, glancing at Hector just before turning
around and walking away.

Hector’s mouth nearly fell open. “You’re seriously talking to
this guy now?”

Charlee started walking, but Hector kept up walking alongside her.
“What’s wrong with me talking to him? He’s apologized for what he did
already—more than once. He wants to make things right. That’s all.”

Unfuckingbelievable
!
“That’s all?
Really?
Has he apologized to Walter too? Your friend—you know that one that ended up in
the emergency room because he came to
your
rescue from
this
asshole and his
friends?” His insides were on fire now. Was she really this stupid? Then it hit
him, and he got in front of her, making her stop. “And exactly what question do
you
have for
him
?”

Her expression had changed from annoyed to a bit regretful when
he mentioned Walter ending up in the emergency room. He hoped that meant she
got how chicken shit this was of her to be hanging out with the dude now. But
her expression went back to annoyed again. “That’s none of your business, now,
is it?”

Suddenly this wasn’t about Walter anymore. Suddenly what he felt
was more than just anger, and he didn’t even care how clear he was making that.
“You into this guy, Charlee?
Is that it? You’d
actually consider something with that piece of shit?”

Her pink lips parted, but she said nothing. He was done. If he
stood there for even another second, he might just spill his guts—tell her why
he was really so ready to beat the shit out of this guy. Because seeing her
standing there with him, having an obviously enjoyable conversation, had set
him on fire, and he was ready to blow now. From what Walter had told him
already about Charlee making excuses for the guy, he had a feeling what that
might mean.

He started walking away before he could explode but then stopped
and turned to her again. “You might wanna let Walter in on this shit; otherwise,
he may still think you need saving from this prick.” She stared at him wide-eyed
now. “You wouldn’t want him to end up in the emergency room again in case he
sees you and your fucking little boyfriend snuggling up somewhere.”

Just the thought made him want to roar. He glanced at her friend
Drew for a second, taking in the strange expression. She’d seemed just as
irritated by Charlee moments ago. He wondered what the near smirk she wore now meant.

Without giving it another thought, he walked away before he spit
out any more venom. He’d said enough. If she hadn’t figured it out already, she
would if he stayed there and continued to let it all out.

Stalking through the parking lot now, he tried to make sense of everything.
Charlee was
not
a stupid girl. He’d
heard of people being book smart but dumb as rocks when it came to street
smarts. That could very well be the case, but he still didn’t buy it. Shy girls
that had the brains to get a full ride in college and did volunteer work for
charity would have more respect for themselves.

So she let Hector kiss her at the party. That was different. They
had a connection. He
felt
it. She
certainly hadn’t been so keen about that other guy she’d been dancing with. He
may’ve been a douche, but he wasn’t necessarily bad-looking. If she was really
the type of girl she now wanted him to believe she was, then she would’ve just
gotten friendly with
that
guy.

As much as she appeared to be at ease with pretending nothing
ever happened between them, Hector was beginning to think maybe that wasn’t the
case—not entirely anyway. Since it’d been impossible to not stare at her like
he did so often, there was no denying that she was having just as hard a time
not looking his way. At first he thought he’d imagined it, but he was sure of
it now. The irritation he thought he’d picked up on was loud and clear when she
told him she was fine talking to the guy, even though she thanked Walter for
saving
her again just days ago. He
picked up on it again when she’d told Hector it was none of his business. At
the moment he’d been on fire—too wound up to put it together.

This actually calmed him now as he climbed into his truck. If
that were the case, if she was, in fact, upset about him telling her to forget
anything ever happened between them, then maybe that explained why she’d want
him to believe she was really the kind of girl she made herself out to be. She
didn’t want him to know she actually was upset about his dismissing the very
special time they spent together that night. It was special, damn it. He’d go
with that for now. It was easier to accept that than the alternative.

By the time he got home, he’d calmed down some. His theory made
total sense. The only hole in it was one nagging thing:
I’ll answer your question then
. What the hell could she have asked
him that she was so quick to say was none of Hector’s business? Was it possible
she could actually have some interest in the dirtbag? The guy who’d made her
scream so loudly that if she hadn’t, Hector never would’ve gone out of his way
to see what was going on? No way.

“
Mijito
,”
his mom called out when he walked in. “Come look!”

Hector walked through the small living room into the kitchen
where his mother stood over the kitchen table, holding some papers. Abel sat at
the table with a plate full of food, looking through the papers also.

“This one!” she said excitedly, holding a paper out to him. “This
is the one I like.”

Hector took the paper from her. Now that Abel had signed such a
huge deal, he was using the advance he got from it to buy their mom a house. Of
course, she insisted they still live with her, and, for now, Hector wouldn’t
have it any other way, only he couldn’t see himself bringing home girls to
spend the night at his mom’s house. She was old-school and considered it
disrespectful unless he was married, and Hector knew
that
wasn’t happening for years.

He smiled when he saw the pictures of the luxurious-looking home.
“
Damn
, Abel!
All
this?”

Abel nodded then smiled at their mom.
“Why not?
Mom deserves it.”

“
Ay, mi
rey
.”
His mom got teary eyed, leaned over, hugging Abel by the shoulder, and kissed
his head. “I told him, Hector. I don’t need all that. I’ve lived in this little
house for years, and we’ve been fine, but he insists. You know I’m not asking
for all that.”

“I know that, Ma.” Hector laughed.

Of course, his mom would never ask for something this lavish. He
and Abel had been telling her for years she could buy the more expensive stuff
from the supermarket to make life easier on her since she still insisted on
cooking them home-cooked meals almost daily. But, no, she still bought the
whole chicken, skin and all, instead of the more expensive boneless chicken
breasts.

“
Estan
locos
!” she’d say. “Pay over three
dollars a pound when I could pay thirty-nine cents!” Abel and Hector had taken
over the grocery shopping for the most part in the past year or so.

“Is that what I think it is?” Hector looked at Abel with a
hopeful smile.

Abel looked up at what Hector was pointing at on the paper.
“Yeah, but don’t get any ideas. That place would be for me.”

Well, shit
. For a
moment there, Hector thought he’d figured out a way around his mother’s not-having-girls-overnight-at-
her
-house rule. The house his mother
liked had a separate pool house way behind the main house, a house Abel would
be making the most of.

“But don’t worry. The place has two master bedrooms on either end
of the house, and the house is
huge
.
Each master has its own separate entrance.”

“
Cochinos
!”
Their mom said, frowning as she walked
around the table to check the food on the stove. “Is that all you two are
worried about?”

She turned around and waved a spatula at them, and it was on. She
was going into one of her rants. Abel gave Hector a look. They should’ve known
better than to talk about this in front of her.

“Even if are paying for it, Abel, if you want me living there
with you two, you will not be parading a different girl in and out of there
every day. I won’t have it. You need to be respectful to me and yourselves.
Besides,” she turned to stir the food in the pan then turned back to them, “any
girl who is okay with knowing she is not the only girl that’s been in your
bedroom that week or even month for that matter is not the kind of girl you
want to be bringing home.”

Hector wondered what his mom would have to say about Leticia and
Miriam and smirked.
Try the same night, Mom
.

“
De
que
te
ries
?
”
His mother glared at him.