Hector (9 page)

As Hector reached his truck, Leticia, who’d already been rubbing
up against him even as they walked through the parking lot, wasted no time. She
leaned her body into his, pushing him up against the truck. Smiling, he looked
down at her, and she kissed him long and deep, her very skillful tongue already
awakening parts of him that had sat still for too long that day. She pulled
away, licking her lips with a coy smile. “That’s to congratulate you for your
awesome accomplishment today.”

Before he could thank her right back in the same way for her
graciousness, Miriam tugged at his other hand. He turned to Miriam as she
tilted her head and bit her bottom lip. “I wanna congratulate you too.”

Hector smiled even bigger. He thought he’d picked up on where
this night be heading earlier. Walking through the parking lot holding both
their hands had been an even bigger indicator that this might happen, but now Miriam
was confirming it.

Without saying a word, he licked his lips, pulling Miriam to him.
Leticia scooted over a bit to make room for her against Hector’s body. His lips
were on Miriam’s as soon as she was close enough. Bringing her hand behind his
head and running her fingers through his hair, Miriam’s equally skilled tongue and
the fact that he’d have them both naked soon enough, made him practically growl
against her lips. Thank God his mom was away for the weekend. It was times like
this Hector knew he needed to get his own place soon.

Miriam finally pulled away from his lips and stared at him for a
moment before looking around the darkened parking lot, saying exactly what he
was thinking. “Maybe we should all go
celebrate
somewhere a little more private.”

“Definitely,” he agreed quickly, motioning them to get in his
truck.

Yep, he was better off sticking to what he knew. Being with two
girls like Leticia and Miriam at once was something he was more familiar with
than being with just one like Charlee.

He was treated to another crotch-tightening kiss by both girls as
he helped them each in one by one into the passenger-side door of his truck. As
he walked around the truck, he turned on his phone. He’d turned it off when he
registered and was instructed his phone was to remain completely turned off and
out of sight for the duration of the tournament or he’d be disqualified.

Still not knowing why Sam never showed up, he felt a twinge of
nervousness as the phone powered on and he heard it ping several times. He’d
been completely out of reach to anyone for over four hours now.

The second he climbed into the truck and sat down, Leticia kissed
him a bit more frantically than she had earlier. Pulling away as he heard his
phone ping several more times, he held his phone up, “Let me check my phone
real quick, sweetheart,” he said against her lips.

She pulled away from him but only a few inches, and she ran her
hand up his thigh, stopping just before his crotch. With the anticipation
building, he checked his texts first. He had several, but he could deal with
the ones from girls later. He clicked on the two from his brother Abel. The
first one he’d sent hours ago, around the time the tournament started.

Dude where are you? Sam’s been trying to get a hold of
you. He was in a wreck, but he says he’s okay and wanted me to tell you he’ll
be late but he’ll be there. Where’s there? He wouldn’t tell me.

Leticia’s hand had worked his way a little higher, and he glanced
at her when she rubbed him over his pants. She smiled, leaning in to kiss him
again, but he held his phone up again. The fact that Sam hadn’t made it worried
him now, even though Abel’s text said he was okay, so he read the next text
quickly, ignoring Leticia. The second one was sent hours later.

Sam’s got a concussion. But don’t worry. He sounds fine
to me. He’s giving them hell over at the Veterans’ hospital. He wants to leave,
but they’re not letting him. Where the hell are you and how come you’re not
answering your phone? That old crank still won’t tell me where you are!

Hector frowned. Being a boxer, he knew all too well that a
concussion could be nothing but it could also feel like nothing and turn into
something
bad
. He’d been telling Sam
for years now that old VW van of his was a deathtrap. He’d seen them look like
accordions after a wreck. No telling how bad the wreck had really been. Sam was
too old to be dealing with that shit.

He listened to his voicemail next: the first from Sam telling him
he’d be late and arguing with someone else in the background then two from Abel
saying basically the same thing he’d said in the texts. The last one was from
Abel again just a few minutes earlier. In it, he wasn’t as calm as in the first
two.

“Sam’s pissing me off. Nobody’s heard from you in hours, and he’s
the only one that knows where you are, but he ain’t talking. Call me
now,
Hector, or I swear to God,
concussion or not, I’ll go down to that hospital and beat it out of that old
man.”

“Damn it.” He hung up and hit speed dial.

“Something wrong?”
Leticia asked,
pulling away just slightly.

“Yeah, there is. Do you two have a car here?”

They both shook their heads. “No, we were dropped off and were
gonna call and get a ride until . . .”

Abel answered just then. “Where the hell are
you!
”

Hector motioned to Leticia to give him a second. He explained
quickly about the tournament and having to turn off his phone then asked about
Sam.

“How’s he doing?”

“Good enough. You know him. He’s probably driving everyone crazy
at that hospital. I guess he’s got some hemorrhaging in his brain, but he ain’t
saying much more.” Abel chuckled. “He says they’re full of shit. He feels just
fine.”

Hector was still focused on the words that scared the hell out of
him.
He’s got some hemorrhaging in his
brain.

As soon as he was off the phone with Abel, he asked the girls
where they wanted to be dropped off and apologized for having to postpone their
night together. He skidded out of the parking lot, his heart racing in fear. He
should’ve known something was wrong when Sam never showed up. The only thing
that would’ve kept Sam from being here today was death itself or being held
against his will. Hector was only grateful it was the latter.

Chapter 5

Between dealing with Sam who was released the day after
the tournament and his training for the fight that Friday, Hector hadn’t been
able to make it to either of the chess teams meetings yet. To say his brother
had been ecstatic about Hector making the U.S team was the understatement of
the century. Abel said he’d always known Hector was good but he’d never
imagined he was U.S. team good. The guy was telling everyone that would listen,
and even though Hector would roll his eyes and pretend to be annoyed by Abel’s
bragging, he secretly loved how proud he’d made his big brother.

Sam had been adamantly warned that he needed to take it easy—no
overexerting himself, just rest. But he was moving that week to Florida, and,
of course, his stubborn ass wasn’t putting that off for anything, no matter
what the “quacks” said.

So Hector and Abel had done most of the work, helping Sam load up
the huge moving truck for the last few days, and then Hector hit the gym every
evening. Sam and his brother would be driving cross-country for the next week.
Hector had already downloaded and setup the video message app on the old crank’s
phone so they could stay in touch about anything Hector needed to ask him about
chess. The chess team would have to wait until the end of week at the earliest.
But he was getting antsy, wondering if he’d have to prove himself still.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait until the end of the week to find
out. To his surprise, Walter showed up on Wednesday at the gym. Hector spotted
him just as he was finishing up his training with Abel in the ring. He walked
over to the side of the ring and leaned on the ropes. “Hey, what are
you
doing here?”

Walter shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. He glanced
around the gym. “I’ve been, you know, thinking about joining a gym. You’re
right: I need to get in shape.”

Hector laughed. “But I thought you were up to lifting thirty-five
pounds.” He climbed over the ropes and jumped off the ring, landing next to
Walter. He jabbed the big guy against the arm to show him he was only messing
with him. “Well, you’ve come to the right place, my friend. And I just finished
my workout, so I can show you around and get you started if you want.”

Walter smiled. “Yeah, that’s what I was hoping for.” His eyes
went a little sheepish. “You did say you owed me one, so I thought maybe you
could show me what the best workout for me is. Just this once,” he added
quickly. “After that, I’ll just do whatever you showed me on my own.”

Hector smiled as they both made their way to the locker room.
Walter certainly hadn’t wasted any time cashing in the favor. Hector hadn’t
even remembered saying it until Walter brought it up. Of course, he agreed, not
so much because he owed him for his help at the tournament but because he was still
feeling that annoying twinge of remorse.

“First thing,” he said as he took a seat on a bench in the locker
room. He started to work on taking the wrap off his hands but stopped and
looked up. “What your wearing is not gonna fly. It will for today, but next
time you need to wear shorts.”

Walter looked down at his baggy sweats and ridiculous long-sleeved
oversized Adidas shirt then looked up. “What’s wrong with this?”

Hector looked back down at his hands. “You’ll see just a few
minutes after you start working out.”

The guy would be sweating like a pig in no time. Had he
never
worked out in his life? That’s the
only way he couldn’t know this.

“And next time?” Walter asked. Hector looked up just in time to
see Walter rub his neck with his hand. “I don’t wanna take up too much of your
time because, uh . . .” his eyes met Hector’s for a second then darted away
again. “I was hoping maybe you could help me with something else too.”

Hector refrained from frowning, but was this guy kidding? Instead
of frowning, he stared at him without saying a word and waited. What could he
possibly want now? After watching Walter
rub
his neck
a few more times without saying anything, Hector lost his patience.

“Just spit it out already. What is it?”

Walter hesitated again until Hector stopped refraining and unleashed
an all-out scowl.

“It has to do with Charlee,” Walter finally said.

Curiosity replaced his irritation, but the irritation was quickly
back when he remembered her total lack of enthusiasm about her newest teammate.
“What about her?”

“Well,” Walter started with the neck rubbing again, but Hector gave
him a look again and he stopped. “I was thinking now that you’re on the team
maybe you could help me . . .” A few guys walked by and Walter shut up until
they were far enough away. “You know, help me get her attention or something.”

Hector looked up at him, surprised at just how irritated he felt,
remembering
Charlee’s
indifference and the impression
he must’ve made on her, smiling all stupid like he had. Growing up in a
neighborhood where it was predominantly
Hispanic
, Hector
had always gotten the feeling that white people sort of looked down on them. It
never bothered him, and it wasn’t his reason for preferring Latina girls over
white girls. He just thought he personally wasn’t attracted to them—they
weren’t his type. Now he was beginning to think maybe that wasn’t the case. So
maybe his reasons for never even considering being with one ran deeper.

Walter must’ve mistaken Hector’s irritation about Charlee for
irritation about his request, because he sat down, looking very frustrated and
started pleading his case. “I really like her, man, and I know I need to get in
shape. That’s why I’m here, but I’m no good at talking to girls. I get all
choked up and nervous, and then something stupid always happens.”

Hector scoffed, throwing the final piece of wrap from his hands
in the trash and stood up. As if he would know the first thing about impressing
white girls. Obviously, he didn’t. Then he remembered her friend Drew. She was
white and she’d flirted with him. Okay, maybe he
was
being stupid about judging girls by their race. He’d never had
a racist thought in his life, and he wasn’t going to start now.

“Yeah, I guess I can give you a few tips.” He pulled his t-shirt
off and pulled out a clean one from his locker.
“First things
first.”
He punched his own abs lightly. “You don’t have to get this hard,
but you
have
to work on that gut. No
tip I give you is gonna work as long as you’re hauling all that weight around.”
He pulled the clean t-shirt over his head and almost didn’t say his next
statement, but he had to. If Walter wanted his help, he was going to hear the
truth even if it hurt. “And you gotta do something about the unibrow and that
hair.
C‘mon
.” He threw a towel at Walter and started
out the locker room.

Walter touched his unibrow and frowned but said nothing then touched
his hair. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

“Dude,” Hector glanced back at him. “The shaggy look wasn’t even
cool when it was in, and that was like five years ago. Cut that shit off
already.”

Saying Walter was sporting the shag look was putting it nicely.
The shag had actually been a style once upon a time. Hector didn’t know
what
to call that curly mess on Walter’s
head. Hector had his work cut out for him.
Great
.
All he’d wanted was to
ease a little of the guilt he felt about Walter. Now the guy had become his
project.

~*~

He was a pig. Charlee reminded herself again as her
heart pounded faster with every step she got closer to her school’s chess lab.
She knew Hector was too good to be true Saturday—knew there had to be
something
wrong with him. Walter had
already mentioned he was popular with the ladies.
That
had come as no surprise, but to behave the way he had in the
parking lot with those two girls was just disgusting.