Hector (41 page)

“This is Charlee, Mom.” Hector said in an effort to end the
suffocating hug. “Charlee, in case there was any doubt, that’s my mom.”

His mom pulled away to look at Charlee, and instantly, her hands
were on
Charlee’s
hair.
“So pretty.
No wonder this boy is acting so crazy. He does have manners. I promise you.”
She lifted that eyebrow at Hector again then brought her attention to the next
most important thing about Charlee—her food. “What is this you brought?”

Abel caught Hector’s attention and motioned for him to follow him
out back. Hector shook his head. He didn’t want to leave Charlee to fend for
herself with his mom, but his mother noticed and waved Hector off. “Go on.
She’ll be fine in here with me.” Charlee gave him a wide-eyed smile, but,
otherwise, she seemed fine.

“I’ll be back,” he said in as reassuringly as he could.

He walked out, following Abel. Doña Benitez, the older lady that
lived in the back house and her daughter and grandkids were already out there,
setting up the serving table. He greeted them all as he followed Abel to the
grill. “Dude, mom’s gonna be all over your ass the moment she gets you alone.”

“It was just a kiss,” Hector rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, one that had you moaning.” Abel laughed flipping over the
carne
asada
.

If it were anyone else but his mom who’d seen, Hector might be
laughing too. “Did
she
hear me?”

“I don’t know, but I sure as hell did.” Abel frowned when of the
smaller pieces of meat fell in the grill. “Damn it,” he adjusted the other
pieces. “Listen, I’m supposed to be having that talk with you.”

“
Again
?”
Hector plopped down on the patio chair next to the grill. Now he could laugh.
“What? Does she think this is my first time?”

Abel gave him that knowing look. “No, but she does have a point.
You haven’t been in any trouble or fights outside the ring in a long time. I
saw you at the party the night of your fight. You had that ready-to-murder look
on your face when she was dancing with that other guy. Don’t even get me
started on your flagrant broadcast to the entire gym that she was off limits.
Are you sure you’re ready to handle being this hung up on a girl?”

Hector frowned. “That was just Nestor, and, of course, I can handle
it.”

Abel turned to him, staring at him for a moment. “First of all,
you
did
pick a nice one. I’ll give
you that. I never would’ve made you out to be into redheads, but she’s
beautiful, and that little body of hers,” Abel whistled, flipping over the meat
on the grill as he swayed his hips.
“
Dayum
!”

The thought of Abel checking Charlee out so closely and what
might be going through his head as he swayed those damn hips pissed Hector off.
“Is there a point to this shit?” He squeezed the arm of his chair, glaring at
his brother.

Instead of Abel smirking like Hector thought he would, his
brother turned to him now, looking anything but amused. “My point is she’s a
head turner. Get used to it. You’re gonna need to
handle
your reaction to it better than you have so far.” Flipping
the meat one last time, Abel closed the lid on the grill. He turned back to
Hector, who was now feeling a little stupid that he’d walked right into that
one. “You’re not a minor anymore, little brother. Those fists of yours are
lethal, but you can’t go around unloading them like you always have in the
past. The shit’s real now. You can get your ass thrown in jail. And just now,
doing what you did out there, knowing mom’s just inside, already you’re not
thinking straight when you’re with this girl.”

“That’s not true,” Hector said, feeling annoyed that Abel would
blame anything on Charlee. But he hated to admit Abel was right about one thing:
Hector hadn’t even slept with Charlee yet, and already he’d felt
ready to murder
for her more than once.

Abel shook his head. “Whatever, dude. Just the fact that you
actually brought her home to mom speaks volumes about what this girl’s doing to
you already. You know me. I’m usually with you about mom worrying too much. But
I gotta tell you this makes me nervous. You’re
a loose
cannon as it is when you snap, and something tells me you’ll snap for this girl
in a heartbeat.” Abel looked at him very seriously now. “I need you to promise
me that you’re gonna stop and think before reacting, no matter what the situation
is. There’s only so much I can do for you. You snap
bad
enough, no amount of money is gonna get you off.”

Hector stared at him for a moment, thinking about that, then
looked away. He
did
think before
reacting. The night of the keg party he’d gone for that asshole’s throat
instead of using his fists. When he’d knocked the guy out for Walter, his only
thoughts were to get him off Walter. He’d been in save mode—not attack mode. The
night at the party, his thinking was different. He wanted nothing more than to
hurt the guy—
bad
. If Hector had used
his fists, he would’ve done some serious damage, and yet he had the presence of
mind not to.

Standing when he saw Noah, Gio, and the gang arrive through the
side gate, Hector was relieved he could end this conversation.

“Hey,” Abel said before the guys got too close. Hector looked at
him but didn’t say anything. “Promise me.”

He nodded, knowing full well that would be one tough promise to
keep.
“Yeah, all right.”

Glad for the interruption, he walked over to meet the guys. He
was glad they both brought their girls. Roni even brought her best friend,
Nellie. “I thought you were bringing the baby.” Hector asked Noah and Roni.

“My mom begged them to leave him with her,” Gio explained. “She
has my little cousins for the day, and they
love
helping her watch him.”

Roni didn’t seem thrilled. She even pouted. “I miss him already,
but Noah said I could use the break.”

“You could,” Nellie said, taking a seat next to her around the
patio table. “It’s only for a few hours. You haven’t had a drink with me in
ages.” She squeezed
Roni’s
arm, teasing playfully.
“Cut the cord every now and again.”

“That’s why Gio’s mom is keeping him when we take that cruise,”
Noah said, taking the seat on the other side of Roni.

“Oh my God,” Roni gasped, “don’t remind me: a whole four days
away from him. I don’t know how I’ll survive.”

Noah rubbed her leg. “You’ll be fine, babe. It’ll be fun, and
we’ll be back before you know it.”

“So is everyone in?” Gio turned to Nellie, who was the
coordinator of all things 5
^th
Street now, including trips.

“Everyone but Abel,” she said, mouthing the words
thank you
to Hector when he handed her a
cold beer then continued to pass the rest around.

Abel glanced back at her for a second before going back to his
grilling. “I’m waiting on a call from my publicist to make sure I don’t have
anything lined up that week. I’ll let you know.”

“Just make it fast,” Nellie said, taking a sip of her beer, “because
the tickets are selling out.”

Hector finished passing out the beers and started back to the
house to get Charlee.

“Speaking of the cruise,” Gio’s fiancée, Bianca asked, “did you
decide to invite that guy to the cruise after all?”

Slowing down, Hector glanced back at Abel for a reaction, his
brother continued to grill, not even flinching.

“No,” Nellie shook her head. “I’m still on the fence about him.
I’m not sure I wanna be stuck on a
date
with him for four days. He might get the idea that I’m getting serious, and the
only reason I even considered inviting him was so I won’t be the third wheel to
you guys all weekend.”

Other than Abel reaching for his phone there was still no
reaction from his brother.
Interesting
.
Hector thought about it as he walked toward the
back door. Like Hector, Abel had never been one for serious relationships, but
Hector could’ve sworn he picked up on something from his brother ever since
Nellie had been signed on as the gym’s event coordinator. Maybe he’d been wrong.

His thoughts were switched over to Charlee the instant he heard
her voice. Already, he could hardly wait to be near her again.

Chapter 25

The time Charlee got to spend alone with Carolina,
Hector’s mom, who insisted Charlee call her Caro, wasn’t nearly as nerve-racking
as Charlee had expected. She did ask a lot of questions about
Charlee’s
family, her plans for the future, and, most
awkwardly, her feelings for Hector. But all in all, things had gone well.
Charlee had decided yesterday, when she agreed to no holding back or guessing
games, she would be completely honest about her feelings. And since this would
likely get back to him, she kept her response as true and uncomplicated as she
could without sounding too sappy.

Trying to keep herself from blushing, she chewed the corner of
her lip and smiled at Caro. “Your son is very sweet, and I’m very glad I met
him. I like him a lot.”

Apparently that wasn’t enough for Caro. She stared at Charlee
with a smirk so mischievous it made Charlee nervous. “What about love? Have you
ever been in love, Charlee?”

“All right, Mom,” Hector said, walking in the back door, once
again saving Charlee when she’d needed him most. “I should’ve known better than
to leave her with you so long.”

“What?” Caro spun around to face him, her hand quickly on her
hips. “I’m just making conversation.”

“Yeah, yeah,” He walked up to Charlee, immediately taking her
hand in his, and kissed his mom on the forehead, almost as if to mollify her as
he whisked Charlee away with him toward the back door. “That’s enough alone
time for you two. I have some more friends who want to meet her.”

Charlee smiled at his mom with a look of regret that their
conversation had been cut short, but that couldn’t have been further from the
truth. She’d never been so relieved in her life. If she was really going to
stick to the being honest and upfront thing and Hector hadn’t walked in at that
moment, she may’ve had to admit the truth. With every kiss, every touch, every
deep breath she was forced to take from just being near him, she was falling
harder and more profoundly than she ever imagined was possible for Hector
already.

This was something she wasn’t ready to admit out loud yet. It was
almost embarrassing, but the truth was they’d become official yesterday, and
already he’d brought her to meet his mom today. The frightening speed in which
this “relationship” was getting serious was coming from both sides. She’d have
to keep that in mind as her wary heart feared her feelings for him were light-years
ahead of where they should be.

“So did she grill you good?” Hector asked as they stepped out
into the yard.

“It wasn’t too bad.” Charlee smiled then laughed at the astounded
look on his face. “It
wasn’t
.” she
insisted. “But your timing was, as usual, perfect.”

He slowed down and peered at her now.
“Really?
You know you’re still gonna have to answer that question eventually.” He stopped,
leaning in and kissing her softly. “Only
I’ll
be the one doing the asking,” lowering his voice to a whisper, he pulled her
close to him, “because I really want to know.”

“Get a room!”

Both Charlee and Hector turned to a smug-looking Gio as the rest
of the gang laughed. Charlee glanced back at Hector, who wasn’t laughing. “I
usually use that one on him and Bianca.” He smirked now. “I’m sure he’s been dying
for a chance to use it on me.”

They started toward the patio table where all his friends sat
except for Abel and Noah, who were over by the grill. Ironically, seeing the
women with Gio at the table, knowing these were the people closest to Hector—the
very ones she’d been reading about all this time online and now it appeared she
may be joining their group—made her even more nervous than meeting his mom.

After meeting them all, Charlee sat and chatted with the girls
who picked both her and Hector’s brain about the U.S. chess team. They all
seemed genuinely sweet and very curious about her relationship with Hector.

“Okay, you have to tell us how this happened, because there is no
way Hector would be bringing a girl to meet his mom unless he was serious,”
Roni said, leaning on her arms against the table as soon as Hector walked away
when the guys called him over to the grill.

“Yeah,” Nellie sat back, taking a sip of her beer. “I wasn’t
aware either of the Ayala brothers
did
serious.”

All three women stared at her. Roni and Bianca’s eyes were full
of anxious curiosity while Nellie seemed a little on the skeptical side.

As usual, hating to be the center of attention, Charlee felt her
face warm. “Well, it was and it wasn’t sudden.” She had to smile at the
confusion in their faces.

Explaining quickly and briefly how they’d known each other for
over a month now and how things had been a bit complicated, she told them how
she, too, hadn’t thought he did the exclusive thing. “In fact, he sort of made
that clear early on, and then, I don’t know. He called me yesterday out of the
blue and said he wanted to talk to me.”

She gave them a very brief rundown of the agreement they’d come
to
yesterday then smiled. “And here we are.”

“Well, good for you,” Bianca said. “You stuck to your guns and
forced him to give into things your way.” She turned to Roni and Nellie. “For
all his talk of never inviting any girls to a friendly gathering or even the
Friday Night fights because they might get the wrong idea, I knew he’d give in
eventually.”

Charlee wasn’t sure she liked the use of the word
forced
. Clearly, Hector had made up his
own mind. She’d forced nothing on him. But she focused on Bianca’s last
statement now. Hector told her about the girl at the fight the night of the keg
party, the girl he said had been the only other girl he’d ever even come close
to having a relationship with. He’d been concerned that Charlee might not be
over Danny—someone that as far as he knew she hadn’t been in touch with in over
a year. It never even occurred to her to ask if maybe he still had feelings for
this girl. The fight he’d invited her to, after all, had only been a few weeks
ago. And according to Bianca, unless he wasn’t concerned about girls jumping to
conclusions, he’d never invite any of them to even a fight. Not only had he
invited this girl but he had her sit up front with him.