Hector (47 page)

Amazingly, Charlee actually felt better now. She was even smiling
and felt on the verge of laughing. “Well, it’s why I was the way I was last
night. I may never have been with any guy, and you are the very first person to
touch me that way, but I had experienced certain things most virgins haven’t,
and I just assumed I was probably the only freak on the planet had done that to
themselves.”

“Are you kidding me?” Hector laughed. “Every guy in the history
of man has been going at it long before they get any real action.
And seriously?
You really think you’re the only girl who’s
done this?”

She shrugged, still unable to believe she’d actually told someone
about this, and not just someone, Hector. He pulled her to him and kissed her
forehead. “I don’t think you’re a freak at all, not like you’re thinking anyway,
but I do like that you’re
freaky
.” He
slid his hand up her thigh, making her breath catch suddenly. “In fact, up
until I brought my mom into the conversation and totally killed it, I don’t
remember ever being so damn turned on just listening to someone talk.”

He kissed the side of her face, moving down her jaw. “In my
defense,” she said, feeling the shivers already from his soft kisses moving
down her neck. As much as she wanted him to keep going, she needed to explain
and make this very clear. “Until I moved out here, I really believed I’d never
have a boyfriend and, therefore, no sexual encounters or pleasure aside from .
. .”

“I get it, Charlee. I do,” he assured her, pulling away to look
at her, and lifted an eyebrow. “So what changed when you moved out here?”

She smiled softly. “That was the whole point of moving so far. So
I could start over. Drew wanted to move away from her mom and the ongoing
scandal, because after her parents separated, her brother’s coach ended up
leaving his wife for her mom. They’re now engaged, and we both knew as long as
I lived in that small town I’d continue to be the anti-social hermit I’d become,
forever. So she convinced me to straighten my hair, get a new wardrobe, do my
makeup so that my freckles weren’t so blinding—”

“I like your freckles.” Hector said very seriously.

“I know,” she smiled. “That’s why I’m not covering them anymore.
My point is Drew is very good about getting things together once she has a
plan.” Hector nodded, smiling now. “So she convinced me to agree that once we
were out here with this new transformation and fresh start because no one knew
anything about me, I’d be open-minded about socializing.”

He went in for her neck again, his tongue making her tremble.
Moving his hand between her legs now, he bit down on her neck. “Are you really
hungry right now?” he asked against her neck.

“Not for food,” she said with a smile.

“You think Drew’s home already?”

“Doesn’t matter.”
Her breath caught as
he licked then sucked just below her ear. “My bedroom door locks.”

Pulling away from her suddenly, he stared at her.
“You serious?
She won’t mind?”

“Nope,” she smiled, feeling wickedly aroused already. “Knowing
her, she’ll be thrilled that I’m finally acting like a normal college girl.”

Sticking the key in the ignition immediately, he turned on the
truck and backed it up. Brimming with an unexpected feeling of inner
tranquility, Charlee hadn’t realized how good it would feel to finally tell
someone her deepest secret. She was also glad to tell him about the incident in
her life that that nearly broke her. She didn’t think it possible, but having
everything out in the open like this with Hector might make for even better
sex. Squeezing his inner thigh and making him
squirm,
she leaned against his shoulder, the anticipation already intensifying.

Chapter 29

The rest of the week, Hector had to help with the move
to the new house. He actually went a few days without seeing Charlee. Thursday
was one of them. The one day he got out of moving duties early so he could
surprise her at the chess lab when he’d already told her he wouldn’t be there,
he got a text from her just as he hurried through the campus.

Since you weren’t going to be there anyway, I decided to
skip the lab today. Drew and I are shopping for some last minute things I need
for this weekend’s trip. I hate that we didn’t get to see each other today, but
I can hardly wait to spend the entire weekend with you. ;)

Stopping in his tracks as he finished reading her text, he nearly
growled from the disappointment of it. His dumb ass should’ve just told her he
was coming. He nearly spun around ready to head back to finish helping the guys
with the move when he looked up and froze. Ross was lurking around the physics
building, looking a little too suspicious for Hector’s liking. Maybe his trip
down here hadn’t been a waste after all.

Starting toward him, he didn’t miss the moment Ross saw him
coming. Instantly, he stopped leaning against the railing on the staircase—the
one Charlee would’ve walked up to get to chess lab.

With a little skip in his feet, Ross began rushing off in the
opposite direction. “Don’t make me chase you, asshole,” Hector called out
behind him, already picking up his own pace, “because I will.”

With his adrenaline pumping at full speed, Hector was already
having visions of chasing this guy down, tackling him on his ass and beating
the living shit out of him. He didn’t even care if it got him kicked off the
chess team. One way or another, he’d get this creeper out of
Charlee’s
life.

He calmed when he saw Ross slow down then stop all together.
Abel’s words came to him.
This shit’s
real now. You can get your ass thrown in jail
. Only because of this Hector
didn’t slam Ross up against a wall or even grab him by the shirt like he really
wanted to. But he did walk up to him with a purpose and got in his face.

“You here looking for
my
girl again?”

Seeing the stunned look on Ross face only enraged Hector further,
making him clench his fists. The guy shouldn’t be so surprised. He’d seen
Hector kiss her.

“I just wanted to—”

“Ask if you still have a chance?” Hector cut him off, his insides
getting hotter by the second. “You don’t.” He gnashed his teeth. Remembering
that this was the same guy who once wondered if Charlee was red
everywhere
made it even harder for
Hector to hold back.

“I just want to apologize—”

Hector grabbed him by the shirt now. He was done listening to his
bullshit. “You already have. She told me you did. Now you have a second to tell
me why you’re really here before I beat your creepy stalker ass into tomorrow.”

“Okay, okay,” Ross spoke quickly now. “I know she didn’t buy my
apology, so I just wanted to explain to her how that first day I met her that
wasn’t me. I was high and I’m not usually like that. Before that day, I’d never
seen her once, and it seems like after that I saw her
everywhere
. It was driving me crazy. I hated that she still seemed
so freaked out whenever I tried to talk to her. I wanted her to understand. I’m
not a bad guy like she thinks.”

Incredibly, this annoyed Hector even more. “Nah,” he shook his
head, “you
are
a bad guy. You don’t get
a second chance, not with
my
girl.
And let me tell you something else. If I see your ass creeping around or I find
out you’re still trying to
explain
your stupid shit to her, I’m coming after you. Stay.
The.
Fuck.
Away.
From.
Her.
You hear me? You see her,
you look the other way.” Hector squeezed Ross’s shirt even harder, nearly
picking him off the floor. “This is the only warning you get.” The second Ross
nodded in understanding, Hector let him go. “Now go!”

Hector wanted him out of his face before he changed his mind
about letting him off with just a warning. Not a bad guy his ass! He knew he
promised both Charlee and Abel he’d be cool, but if that wasn’t warning enough,
the idiot deserved anything Hector did to him if he even thought about still
coming around Charlee.

***

Friday hadn’t come fast enough. Hector was now on at
the airport ready to board a plane and spend the entire weekend with Charlee.

He took the moment she went to use the ladies’ room as they waited
to board to finally talk to Walter again about her. The guy had made some major
progress on his weight loss, and from the looks of it seemed Natalie had
dropped a few pounds herself as well. Hector hadn’t been back to the old folk’s
home with Walter in a few weeks, but Natalie had dropped Walter off at the
airport tonight, and while their goodbye kiss was awkward at best, Hector was
fairly certain this was a huge step for Walter. “So I take it you and Natalie
are
getting serious.”

Walter smiled sheepishly and nodded. “I guess. She’s met my
parents from all the times she’s been around them at the hospital and having to
talk to them when they asked her if she was interested in being my gramps’
exclusive nurse. Now she’s talking about me meeting her mom and grandma.”

Hector smirked at Walter’s uneasy expression. “That’s good,
right? You don’t wanna meet them?”

Walter shrugged. “She’s told me about them, and from what I
gather, they’re both hard asses. Not sure I’m ready for the inquisition.”

Hector laughed now, for a second, the thought of
Charlee’s
parents coming to mind. He’d gotten to know her a
little better in the last few days, but she’d still told him very little about
her family.

“You’ll be all right,” he assured Walter then decided to just put
it out there. Walter had already witnessed them together at the lab, and since
that first day when she’d been so upset about his lack of affection in public,
Hector hadn’t held back after that. “Charlee met my mom.”

As expected, Walter seemed surprised.
“Already?”

“Shit, first day,” Hector laughed, leaning his elbows on his
knees and put his hands together. Hector explained about his mom overhearing
him and Abel and how she’d be gone the next day and as usual got her way

“I was worried too and it went fine. You should be too. Whatever
you do, don’t blow it by refusing. If she wants you to, just take one for the
team and get it over with. You’re going to have to eventually anyway.”

Walter agreed with a shrug then smirked. “So you’re serious, too,
then? No more threesomes or juggling more than one hot babe at a time.”

Hector sat up, glancing in
Charlee’s
direction as she walked out of the ladies’ room and walked toward them.
“Nope, only one hot babe for me now.”

“That’s kind of hard to believe,” Walter said also looking in
Charlee’s
direction. “But since this is Charlee we’re
talking about, I can see how she’d make even a player like you wanna settle
down.”

“Well, she has,” Hector said quickly. “Now shut up with the
player talk.”

Walter laughed just as Charlee reached them. “What’s so funny?”
she asked, smiling.

“Nothing, he’s just being stupid,” Hector gave Walter, who was
still chuckling, a look. “
C’mere
.” He reached out for
her and sat her on his lap.

He could hardly wait for this weekend to start. Even though
they’d booked two separate rooms for them, that
wasn’t
happening, though they planned to make the most of both beds.

Once on the plane, Charlee snuggled up next to Hector. All three
of them sat in the same row with Charlee in between him and Walter. Hector
rubbed her leg openly. Any consideration for Walter’s feelings was long gone.
Walter had Natalie, and
Charlee’s
feelings came first
now. It still bothered him that, even for a minute, she’d think him capable of
being as shady as that asshole that had done her so wrong. Though the fact that
he and this guy did have something in common made him sick. They’d both stood
idly by and watched without speaking up as their idiot friends picked on a
weaker kid.

Hector pushed the thought aside and tried to focus on something
more pleasant—
Charlee’s
libido. As much as he wanted
to reassure her that what she’d shared with him about her rabid sexual appetite
was nothing compared to some of the real freaks he’d been with or heard the
guys at the gym talk about, he wasn’t going there. Being open and honest was
one thing. Sharing about past conquests was quite another. Even if Charlee had
ex-boyfriends or experiences with other guys, he had no desire to hear about
the details. Just hearing about her feelings for Danny had been grating enough.
He was certain she didn’t need to hear the details of his previous relations
with girls, even if they would make her see she wasn’t nearly as freaky as she
thought she was.

Still, she was just freaky enough to make him one happy guy. He
didn’t think it could get any better than this. He now had a girlfriend that
craved sex just as much as he did.

Their flight was a late one and over five hours. Normally Hector
would’ve been dreading such a long flight. He was used to the short ones to
Vegas and Big Bear and into Hermosillo where his grandmother lived, but five
hours sitting next to Charlee, after not having seen her yesterday, sounded
like heaven now.

This entire week had been crazy. Between things moving so fast
with him and Charlee and then moving all week, he hadn’t really had a chance to
think about it. It dawned on him now that he could finally put some thought
into this trip. “Aren’t we going to be close your hometown?”

She leaned her head against his shoulder and nodded.
“Less than an hour.”

“Are you gonna try and get together with your mom or anything?”
Without looking up or even answering, she simply shook her head.
“Why not?”