Hector (33 page)

She wanted more, damn it. He’d suspected she might but couldn’t
be sure. Now he was one-hundred percent sure that if he asked her to be his,
all
his, she’d be willing to at least
give it a go. And if they gave it a go, he’d make sure it’d work out, because
after having just a tiny taste of what it’d be like, he was sure if things ever
went further between them there would be no turning back for him.

Hector still didn’t know too much about her, but he knew enough.
He knew she was sweet, smart, and when he looked into those eyes, he felt things
he couldn’t understand but felt damn good. To be able to feel that all the time
would be heaven.

Grabbing a handful of clipboards, he threw them in the box under
the counter, and they crashed loudly. Continuing to mutter under his breath, he
cleared off the counter of the greeting station in front of 5
^th
Street. Someone behind him sneezed, and he didn’t bother doing the polite thing
and saying, “Bless you.” He was too fucking irritated again to talk to anyone.
The sneezing went on again a few more times before he finally glanced back, not
bothering to hide his annoyance, and to his surprise, he saw Drew staring back
at him. She didn’t look nearly as friendly as she had last night.

Wiping her nose with a tissue, she glared at him. “Oh, I’m sorry.
I must be allergic to assholes.”

If he weren’t in such a bad mood, he might’ve laughed at that.
“What?”

“I just called you an asshole,” she said, lifting an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I got that. You mind telling me why?”

She leaned against the counter and glared at him. “I don’t even
know where to start. Maybe because you made my best friend feel special and
kissed her like she’s never been kissed before then avoided her for days only
to finally tell her to just forget it ever happened.”

“I explained why and even apologized for that. And she
is
special.” Hector’s words got a little
louder now. “I never took
that
part
back.”

Drew lifted an eyebrow. “Maybe because she cried all the way home
last night because the guy she’s crazy about told her he’s crazy about her
too—only not enough.”

“She cried all the way home?” Drew had just told him Charlee was
crazy about him, and all he could focus on was this part. He slammed his fist
on the counter. This was the last thing he needed to hear this morning. “I
never meant to make her cry.”

“Yeah, well, you did. And F.Y.I., it’s not the first time she’s
shed a few tears for you.” Feeling his stomach drop like a brick, he stared at
her as she continued. “You can’t tell her I told you though.”

Hector peered at her. “But last night she’d been drinking. What
other time did I make her cry?”

Drew rolled her eyes. “First of all, you’re delusional if you
think the only reason she cried last night was because she was drunk. Second, I
know what kind of girls you’re used to. We saw the little show you put on with
those girls in the parking lot after the tournament.”

She paused for a moment, letting that sink in, and it did. Hector
felt sick. Charlee had seen that? As if reading his mind, Drew nodded. “Yep, we
were just a few cars down, and saw the whole thing and how eagerly you drove
out of there. And let me assure you Charlee is nothing like that.”

“I know that.” Hector said quickly. “I’ve told her that more than
once. I know she’s different. That’s why I was worried last night. She’d not
like the girls guys go to these parties to meet. I knew she’d be vulnerable.”

Drew tilted her head, looking very unimpressed. “So she’s
different—special even, just not special enough?”

The receptionist that usually worked the greeting station arrived,
making Hector free to leave. He didn’t like that anyone within earshot could
hear their conversation. He walked around the counter. “Let’s talk outside.”

He walked out into the parking lot, and Drew followed him. “Can
you just be honest here? Do you really care about Charlee? She said you told
her you do last night. Was that just a lie because you saw a few tears and
freaked—”

“Hell no!
I wouldn’t do that.”

Drew put her hand on her hip and wiped her nose with the tissue
in her other one. “So, it’s true then. You do have feelings for her, but you’re
incapable of being with just one girl at a time.”

“It has nothing to do with that, Drew. I
can’t
be with her.”

She gave him the hairiest of any eyeball he’d ever seen. “What do
you mean you
can’t
be with her?”

He shook his head. Visions of
Charlee’s
pained expression last night battered him. “It’s a long story, and I can’t tell
you anyway because . . .”

“Because what?” Drew crossed her arms in front of her, the hairy
eyeball replaced with curiosity.

“Because I just can’t.
It involves
someone else.” He crossed his arms in front of him now, leaning against the
block planter wall in front of the gym.

The hairy eyeball was back. “You’re already seeing someone?
Or several
someones
?”

“No,” he shook his head. “It’s nothing like that.”

“And whatever or
whoever
this is, is worth it?
Worth passing up on Charlee—making her
cry?”

“Look,” Hector said, annoyed that she kept reminding him about
Charlee crying. “I should’ve never kissed her, and I should’ve never told her
how I feel about her. And the only thing I ever lied about was when I
insinuated that the kiss we shared meant nothing to me. But there’s nothing I
can do about that now.”

“Okay,” Drew said, looking even more annoyed than when she got
there. “I didn’t drive all the way down here to leave even more confused than
when I got here. So you’re telling me you do have feelings for her and that
kiss
did
mean something, even though
you wish you hadn’t now.”

“I never said I wished I hadn’t. I said I shouldn’t have. It just
makes things even harder now.”

Drew ran her fingers through her hair, looking completely
flustered now. “Are you
trying
to be
so annoyingly cryptic, because this is confusing as
hell.
”

Hector let his head drop back. She didn’t appear to be going
anywhere anytime soon, and he doubted she was going to let this go now. “Walter
is in love with her, okay? Or at least he thinks he is.” Hector pointed his
finger at Drew. “But you can’t tell her. I don’t want him finding out about what
happened between Charlee and me. When that happened, I already knew he was in
love with her or whatever. He and I go way back, and I owe him this
much—probably more. To at least stay away from the one girl he’s ever felt like
this about.”

Drew’s mouth had dropped open and closed several times throughout
his explanation. “But she doesn’t like him that way. And I’ve been around them.
He can hardly speak to her without stuttering or acting really weird.”

Hector shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Either way she’s all
he ever talks about, and he’s working on the weird thing.” Hector frowned,
remembering the stupid muted confidence bobbing-head thing. “He’s a shy guy, is
all.”

Drew stared at the ground, shaking her head then glanced up at
him looking completely bewildered. “I
knew
I saw something in the way you looked at Charlee. I saw it that very first time
at the tournament. I saw it last night. What if she’s the one, Hector? Are you
really willing to take the chance of missing out on that for Walter? He’s never
going to get her anyway. Why should all three of you be miserable?”

Hector took a deep breath and glanced at his watch. “Have you
eaten?”

Her brows pinched.
“Not since breakfast, why?”

“I mentioned it was a long story.” It was a gamble, and it wasn’t
a story he was proud of or cared to relive, but he knew she’d never understand
otherwise. Maybe someday she could explain it to Charlee. “You wanna grab
something to eat, and I can tell you all about it.
Might make
it easier to understand.”

With a lift of her eyebrow, Drew nodded, and they made their way
to his truck.

***

Since Drew wasn’t from around the area, Hector chose
where they ate, keeping it simple: a deli near 5
^th
Street where many
of the boxers and trainers ate. Even though it was lunchtime and they’d be busy,
there’d be plenty of room to sit and still have some privacy because the place
was huge.

Drew ate silently, listening to Hector tell her all about his
bully friends in high school. He tried to read her, make out what she might be
thinking as he told her everything: the continual harassment of Walter, the
robot, and Walter dropping out of school.

It wasn’t until he told about all the times he spent searching
for anything about Walter on the internet, even after he’d graduated, that he
realized just how obsessed he’d been about the whole thing. Looking back now,
seeing three guys beat up on one guy was enough to make Hector jump to try and
help out. But realizing who it was on the ground was what really made Hector
deliver that knockout punch the way he had. Not only had it been an enormous
relief to know Walter wasn’t dead but not having punched A.J or Theo out the
day they took his robot or at least forced them to give it back was now one of his
biggest regrets. That punch had a lot of weight on it. It had months and months
of Hector lying awake late at night, wondering if he could’ve possibly played a
part in Walter’s demise.

He’d even begun to wonder, since he hadn’t found anything on the
web about Walter’s suicide, if maybe one day Walter would turn into one of
those crazy dudes. Because of all the shit he’d been put through in high school,
maybe one day he’d snap the way they did and do something crazy like shoot up a
mall or school or something. Hector heard these stories on the news all the
time. These guys were fucked up in the head to do stuff like that.

Hector remembered how, for a second, Walter had snapped and gone
off on him then suddenly came back to reality and appeared stunned that he’d
told Hector off. So many times when Hector had watched the news of these kinds
of tragedies, he wondered what had driven them to it. Where had the anger all
begun? And every single time, he had the nagging reminder in his head that
maybe one day he’d be responsible or partially anyway for another bitter and
tortured soul doing something similar.

As often as Hector had gotten lost in his thoughts while he explained
to Drew just why he felt so strongly about not betraying Walter yet again, he
noticed she’d repeatedly looked as if she were lost in her own thoughts.

By the time he was done, she was chewing on the corner of her lip
and appeared to be trying to put it all together.

“So if Walter were out of the picture, you’d have no reservations
about giving up all your little girlfriends to try something
different
with Charlee?”

Hector wiped his mouth with his napkin and sat back in his seat.
Of all the things Drew could’ve said about everything he’d just laid on her,
this was the only thing she got from it? From her expression, he could tell she
had an idea, but he didn’t like it already. He’d gone over all the
possibilities, and the main reason he couldn’t tell Charlee his real grounds
for not being able to offer her more was this: the last thing he needed was for
Charlee or Drew to tell Walter that Hector was the reason he didn’t have a
chance with Charlee.

If either of them thought that’s how easy it would be, they were
wrong on so many levels. There was no way Hector would chance Walter dropping
out of the chess team or even school again to spare himself having to see
Hector and Charlee together. Hector had enough on his conscience already. And
keeping his relationship with Charlee a secret was out of the question too. If
Charlee were ever to become his girl, Hector would make sure everybody, including
that asshole on campus that was still trying to talk to her, knew it.

“What do you mean if Walter were out of the picture? How do you
propose that would happen?”

She lifted her chin. “You answer the question first. Would you be
willing to depart from your swinging bachelor life to try something a little
more profound with Charlee?”

Hector stared at Drew now. She also had blue eyes, and while he
supposed some might think them pretty, they were nowhere near as breathtaking
as
Charlee’s
. Most importantly, with what he felt
when he looked into
Charlee’s
eyes, they may as well
be transparent. It wasn’t even about the color or how big her eyes were anymore.
It was about what they did to him. He had to close his eyes for a moment. Hell,
yeah, he’d be willing to give it all up for a chance with her, but . . . He
opened his eyes and frowned.

“It’s impossible, but,” he shrugged, “sure, I’d be willing. I
just don’t see how—”

She waved her hand in the air before he could finish. “Where
there’s a will there’s a way. I have an idea already,” she leaned forward,
lifting her brow and gave him a heavy dose of that hairy eyeball she’d brought
out earlier, “if you promise me that you’re serious about this and you won’t dare
break her heart or toy with her, Hector. I mean it. So help me you’ll have me
to deal with, and trust me you don’t want that.” Drew paused, apparently
waiting for him to respond to that before going on.

Hector almost smiled at the determination in her eyes. As
delicate and small as this little girl was compared to him, he had no doubt
she’d come after him with a vengeance if he ever hurt her friend—
again
. “I need to hear what this idea is
before I agree to anything.”

He couldn’t even imagine what it could be. He’d had weeks to
ponder this, and there was no way, not without Walter feeling betrayed again.

Drew suddenly stood up, and for a moment, he thought she might
leave. So he sat up ready to go after her in case she misunderstood and thought
he wasn’t willing to agree to not breaking
Charlee’s
heart. Instead, she began to pace, tapping her finger against her mouth. He
watched for a moment then had to ask. “What are you doing?”