Hector

  If he’d told her the truth and she felt the same way, which he’d been certain she would, he was afraid she might take matters in her own hands and break Walter’s heart. Hector had no doubt that the poor sap would be disappointed in the end anyway, but he’d be damned if he was going to play a part in it.

  Her reaction however had baffled him. Though he didn’t buy it completely, she’d basically told him she felt just the opposite. Not only had their time in that room together that night been forgettable, according to her “exhausting weekend” comment, he was also supposed to believe she’d gone out and done the same or more with someone else already. As much as he refused to believe that, it was fucking galling.

  She’d stopped in the middle of what they were doing that night to specifically point out that she was different, damn it! And she didn’t even have to. He already knew it. She wasn’t the kind of girl who would do that with him then go out and do the same thing with someone else the next day.

  Hector knew it was pointless to over analyze it now, because it didn’t make a difference. Whether or not it was true, it’s what she wanted him to believe for whatever reason: that she had no qualms about pretending that night never happened.

  Curious and because he needed to stop grinding his teeth before he broke one, Hector asked Walter about something else that shouldn’t matter. “Did you mention her hanging out for a movie after?”

  It shouldn’t matter, but Hector wanted to know now if Charlee was not only going out tonight but again tomorrow night like she’d apparently done last week.

  Walter frowned. “No, not yet. I’ll wait until tomorrow.” With a frustrated shrug, he added. “I’ll probably chicken out.”

  The irritation was more than Hector could bear. He knew it wasn’t Walter’s fault, but that’s where he channeled his frustration. As ridiculous as it sounded, if Walter could grow a pair, he may just keep Charlee from going out tomorrow and stay there with him where Hector knew nothing would be happening. Walter couldn’t even get the nerve up to ask her to watch a movie with him. There was no way the guy would be making any kind of move.

  “Dude, when are you gonna man up already?” Hector sat up a little and pointed at him. “You blew chance after chance last week. Now tomorrow, she’ll be there at your place, and your pansy ass is gonna blow that too?”

  Immediately, Hector felt bad. Walter sat back in his chair, looking wounded, but before Hector could take it back or at least rephrase what he’d said, toning it down a little, Walter smiled brightly, sitting up again. “I hadn’t had the chance to tell you. I saw that guy again, and I went right up to him and Charlee.”

  “What guy?”

  Walter’s smile waned a little. “You know the one you knocked out on campus? He and his friends—”

  “Yeah, Yeah, I know.” Now Hector did the sitting up a little. “When?”

  Walter thought about it for a moment. “Monday, first thing in the morning, I saw Charlee sitting and talking with him right here on campus, and I walked right up to them,” he said proudly.

  Hector didn’t think that he could feel any more irritated tonight than he already was, but he literally felt his body heat go up a few degrees. “She was sitting with him: the guy that nearly broke your ribs because you were defending her?”

  Walter rolled his eyes a little. “Yeah, well, she said something about him not actually wanting to harm her or anything. That he’s just,” Walter lifted his fingers, air quoting Charlee, “‘pursuing her,’ but she did say he’s intimidating.”

  “Intimidating? Like how?”

  Hector had been called intimidating by girls before, but it was more of a compliment than anything negative. This guy wasn’t intimidating; he was a disrespectful little bitch, who didn’t fight fair.

  “She didn’t really say, but when it started to sound like she might be taking up for the guy or making excuses for him, I told her the guy was a jerk, and she agreed.”

  “Taking up for him?” There was no hiding Hector’s exasperation now. Walter had told him about the guy completely disrespecting her. He tried to put his hands on her even after she made it clear she didn’t want to be touched. “How’d she take up for him? What excuses did she make?”

  Walter was beginning to seem frazzled. Hector got that he was trying to tell him about manning up and going right up to them even after the guy had beat on him once. They’d get back to that soon enough, but first Hector wanted to get this part straight.

  “I don’t know, man. She just . . .”

  Walter paused as if to try and recall exactly what she said, and Hector gave him all the time he needed, because he couldn’t imagine what excuses she could’ve been making for the idiot. Maybe Hector did have her all wrong. Maybe she was a stupid girl that made out with guys randomly and then flaunted it shamelessly.

  “Oh, I remember now,” Walter finally said. “She didn’t exactly make excuses, but she said she didn’t think he was so bad—cruel! That’s the word she used. She said she didn’t think he was being cruel or something.” He shrugged, looking a little irritated himself now. “It just sounded almost as if she were saying that if the guy weren’t so aggressive or intimidating, he wouldn’t be so bad.”

  Unbelievable. Hector couldn’t get past this. “So what? Now she’s gonna sit and chat with him like they’re buddies or something?”

  “No, I don’t think so. She said he asked her to have coffee with him, and she did thank me for saving her again.”

  Finally, Walter shed some relief on the situation. Hector didn’t even know why he cared. If what she said to him was true, she wasn’t anyone he’d ever take seriously, and maybe Walter shouldn’t either. He thought about maybe telling Walter what she’d said—warn him. But then he’d have to tell him how the subject even came up.

  He let Walter tell him the rest of the story about how he so bravely walked up to her and asked her if she was ready. Hector held back rolling his eyes. If it had been him, Hector would’ve asked straight out and in the guy’s face if she needed him to kick his ass again, not walked up with some vague excuse to get her away from him without hurting the guy’s feelings.

  Unaware that today would have taken so much out of him, Hector lay in bed that night, feeling completely drained. It was his own fault. He should’ve just done it first thing that week, not wait and let the anxiety of getting it over with build all week. Somehow he thought doing this would bring closure to the angst he’d been feeling and he could go back to feeling like he did before he’d met her—held her—kissed those sweet lips. Instead, all he could do was lie there and wonder who the fuck she was with tonight and what exactly she was doing with him.

  Chapter 14

  This didn’t prove shit. So it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and Hector could be anywhere, with anyone, doing something fun. So what? Walter had invited him more than once to accompany him to his grandfather’s assisted living facility to play some of the old guys there. Walt had told him he’d be surprised how good it felt to make their day.

  “Just don’t purposely let them win,” Walter warned as they walked into the old folk’s home. “They’ll know and be mad. One guy called me an arrogant asshole for not only assuming he wouldn’t be able to win but for thinking he wouldn’t notice me going easy on him.”

  Hector laughed. “Got it.”

  Hector had never been to an old folk’s home, and he hadn’t exactly looked forward to it. Already just walking in, he noticed the smell wasn’t the most pleasant. He frowned, still unwilling to admit why he was really here. Yesterday morning, Walter had come in to work out and let Hector know he wouldn’t be coming in today because of his visit to see his grandpa and some other stuff he had to do.

  After deciding he wouldn’t be torturing himself by going into the chess lab more than he absolutely had to, Hector didn’t plan on going in until at least Wednesday. The soonest he’d probably see Walter would be Monday night when he came into work out. He didn’t want to wait that long to hear ab
out Walter’s afternoon with Charlee. Most importantly, he was anxious to hear if she’d hung out with Walter after or if she mentioned having more plans that evening. Hector had also offered up some tips on small-talk topics like asking her what she did on her free time or maybe asking how her night out Friday had gone.

  All right, so it was a little underhanded, but Hector needed something. He thought maybe if he could confirm she really was that kind of girl it would make it easier for him to take her off that damn pedestal he’d placed her ass on the week before. It’d be easier to scrape her out from under his skin.

  Hector didn’t waste time. He started in on Walter as soon as they started walking down the depressing hallway of the place. “So how’d it go yesterday with Charlee?”

  Walter smiled instantly. “Good. She seemed genuinely impressed and excited about the demonstrations I showed her.”

  They’d been asked to wait in a small waiting room while they finished changing his gramps, so Walter had gone on longer than Hector cared to hear about the robot. As soon as he got a chance, he asked about what he really wanted to hear.

  “So did she stay and watch a movie with you?”

  Walters’s excited expression fell, and Hector was already beginning to frown, irritated because he had a feeling Walter would chicken out. “You didn’t even ask her to. Did you?”

  “I was going to. I really was,” Walter insisted. “But before I could, she started talking about some play she was going to later that night. I figured it was pointless since she already had plans.” Walter was smiling again. “But we did have pizza.”

  Hector was still focused on the first part of what Walter said. “Was it a date?” He pretended his interest was for Walter’s sake. “The play thing. Did she say she was going with a dude?”

  Walter shook his head. “No, she didn’t.”

  “And you didn’t ask?” God dealing with Walter was the most exasperating thing ever. That’s the first thing Hector would’ve asked. When Walter frowned, shaking his head again, Hector let out a sharp breath. “Well, did you at least ask about what she did Friday night? You gotta ask these things, Walt. What if she’s seeing someone else? All this effort to impress her could be a waste of time.”

  “I know,” Walter said with a pathetic expression, “and, no, I didn’t ask, but she did yawn a few times and said she was really tired because she’d had a long night.”

  Hector stared at Walter, the frustration reaching another level. She makes a comment like that and still the guy doesn’t think to ask what or who kept her up so late? Fuck! Hector was going to break a tooth or two if he didn’t stop grinding them as he did when he thought of someone wearing Charlee into exhaustion.

  “Hi, Walter.” A young girl in scrubs with little teddy bears on them walked into the small waiting room and smiled brightly at him. She glanced at Hector for a second then looked back at Walter. “You look different.” She smiled. “Your hair is shorter,” she studied his face a little longer, and then it seemed to dawn on her. “Your eyebrows . . . You cleaned them up.”

  Walter smiled, running his fingers across his brows. “Yeah,” he glanced at Hector and laughed. “After a friend told me I should name it, I decided to do something about it.”

  She frowned at that, and Hector was glad now that Walter didn’t mention it was Hector, who told him he should name his unibrow. “I didn’t think it was so bad, but it does look much better.”

  Walter shrugged but didn’t say anything, not even thank you. The guy was clueless.

  “Your grandpa is excited about your visit today. He said he has a few new tricks for you. Says he just might even beat you this time.”

  Walter smiled, standing up. Hector stood with him. “We’ll see about that.” He turned to Hector. “Hector, this is Natalie. She’s the nurse assigned exclusively to my grandpa.” Hector smiled, nodding at her. “This is Hector. He plays chess too.”

  Natalie smiled at Hector now. “You on the U.S. team too?”

  Hector nodded with a smile. “Yep, just made the team actually.”

  “Wow. You must be really good. And smart.” She turned to Walter, smiling timidly. “I know Walter is super smart. He’s tried teaching me how to play.” She shook her head, waving her hand in front of her. “Forget about it. I’m hopeless.”

  They started walking out the waiting room. “Nah, you’re getting better every time we play.” Walter said as they walked behind her. “You’ll get it. You just have to practice.”

  They walked into a room where an elderly frail-looking man sat in a wheelchair, wearing a robe by the window. He was reading the paper and didn’t notice them immediately. “Roberto,” Natalie’s cheery voice called out, “look who’s here.”

  The old man looked up, his dreary eyes cheered up at the sight of them.

  “Hey, Grandpa,” Walter walked over and hugged him.

  After the introductions, Natalie excused herself, saying she had to go get started on Roberto’s lunch. She offered to bring Walter and Hector sandwiches, said she’d make them herself. While Hector passed, Walter said he’d take one. She was short and a little on the chunky side, but she was full of energy with a smile that seemed to brighten even that depressing place.

  “Isn’t she a little young to be a nurse?” Hector asked once she was gone.

  “She’s not actually a nurse yet,” Walter explained. “She just got her L.V.N.’s certification. And as soon as she did, this guy,” Walter waved his in his gramps’ direction. “He insisted my dad hire her as his exclusive nurse. She’s been working here for what seems like forever now. Did her high school R.O.P. program here and was assigned to my gramps a lot.”

  “She’s better than any nurse I’ve had so far,” Roberto said with conviction. “She’s got spunk too. That girl; as young as she is, she don’t take shit from the other older nurses. She’s always on time; she’s never in a bad mood.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Walter teased. “She’s perfect. I’ve heard that a million times.”

  “She is. I tell her all the time, and,” his grandpa lifted a finger, “she’s the only one that makes my soup the way I like it—with extra Tapatio. None of the other nurses do that.”

  Walter smiled, shaking his head. “That’s ’cause you’re not supposed to have any, Grandpa. It’s not good for you.”

  His grandpa waved his hand at him. “There are few things in this life left for me to enjoy. That’s one of them and she knows it. Another one is playing you, boy. I just might get you this time.”

  They wheeled him out into the community room where there were a lot of other old folks hanging out as well. Walter introduced Hector to a few of them, and the day of playing chess with the oldies started.

  Hector had to admit it did feel good to be able to provide these guys with some much-needed entertainment, though he felt bad about beating them. After a few quick games, Natalie came over and started setting up Roberto’s lunch. Hector took advantage of the distraction to try and get a little more info on Charlee.

  “So did you at least try to talk to Charlee about something other than the robot?” He tried to sound as casual as possible. “I mean she stayed over at your place long enough to eat. I’m sure you guys had time to talk about something else.”

  If he had to go by Walter’s expression, as usual, it didn’t look too promising. But Hector waited, making an effort to not show his exasperation again. “She asked about some of the photos in my room.”

  Hector smirked. “At least you got her to go to your room.”

  “It’s where I’d set up the demonstrations,” Walter said with a small smile. “But we did stay in my room the whole time. And we ate on my bed.”

  “Nice move,” Hector pretended to be impressed and winked. “Setting up the demos in your bedroom.”

  “Mija, that’s too much.” Walter’s grandpa held his hand out, waving it above his soup.

  From where Hector sat, he could see that there was more red in the bowl from the Tapatio than the
re was soup. Walter glanced over and laughed. “You trying to kill my grandpa, Natalie?”

  Her face was bright red as she hurried to put the top back on the small bottle of chili sauce. “No. I just . . .” She picked up the bowl. “I just got distracted. I’ll bring you another one.”

  She hurried away, glancing back at Walter with a regretful smile. Walter laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Nat. You can’t always be perfect.”

  “You leave her alone,” his grandpa said.

  She eventually came back with another bowl of soup for the old guy, this time getting it right as Walter continued to tease her.

  Hector hung around and played a few more games with the old guys, including one against Walter’s grandpa. As expected, none were able to beat Hector or Walter. Hector might’ve gotten out of there earlier, but he agreed to play Walter, and they had quite the audience by the time Hector beat him more than an hour after they started.

  Spending the afternoon with Walter at the old folk’s home had served as somewhat of a distraction. But by the time he got back home, he was back to thinking about Charlee nonstop again. It was irritating as hell. Spending the day with Walter and watching the way he genuinely enjoyed spending time with his gramps and the other old guys only served to demonstrate further evidence of one thing: Walter was a real good guy, too good for Hector to even consider backstabbing.

  ~*~

  It had been impossible. After sobbing in her car for as long as she had Friday night, Charlee had finally sucked it up, wiped her face clean, and insisted she was done crying. No guy was worth this amount of grieving, not this time and certainly not the first time.

  She’d been fine up until she got home and tried smiling cheerfully for Drew. Her friend had seen right through her. All it took was one pout and the million dollar question. “You saw him, didn’t you?”