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 to 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?”
“She’s working all weekend,” she said then yawned. “Twelve-hour shifts and then sleeping. Besides I don’t think I’ll have time.”
That seemed odd. Here Charlee had mentioned she hadn’t been back once since she’d moved out here, and now she’d be less than an hour from home, and she didn’t want to stop in and visit? Frowning, he figured she wasn’t anxious to revisit all the shit she’d been through or to run into any of those assholes in her small town that labeled her a freak. Squeezing his hand into a fist, he kissed the top of her head.
She didn’t say anything else for a while, and when he looked down he saw she’d dozed off. He must’ve dozed off soon after that, because the next thing he knew, he woke up to the usual erection he always woke to, only this time Charlee’s hand was wrapped around it, stroking him under a towel she’d thrown over him.
With her free hand, she covered his mouth as his eyes flew open, and she smiled that wicked smile that turned him on so much. For a moment, he considered protesting but instead let his head fall back as the pleasure of it was just too much. He did glance over at Walter, who was fast asleep next to Charlee. Charlee lifted her finger to her mouth with that same smile that drove him nuts and continued to stroke him. Okay, maybe she was a little freaky, but he certainly wasn’t going to complain.
The cabin lights were all off and it was dim enough, but he wasn’t sure how he’d get through this without making a sound. Already he was beginning to squirm, feeling the buildup. Not able to stand it, he brought his hand around the back of Charlee’s neck and kissed her long and hard then froze when he thought he felt Walter move.
Looking over Charlee’s shoulder, he could see Walter was still fast asleep. Charlee hadn’t even flinched, continuing to stroke him until his toes were practically curling. He was too close now, and he didn’t want to make a mess. “Do you have tissue?” he whispered, panicking because he could already tell this was going to be a messier than usual.
“Use the towel,” she whispered in his ear, and as if he needed her to, she sped up the stroking.
Clasping the towel around himself, he held in the groan he wanted so badly to let out as he came epically in the towel. He squeezed his eyes shut, pushing his head back into the back of his seat, feeling any strength in his legs drain completely. Charlee leaned her head against his chest as her finger grazed the tip of the very tender area then pulled her hand out from under the towel.
Hector opened his eyes and smiled at her, his heart pounding so hard he was sure she could hear it and gave her the most pleading look he could. He couldn’t take her touching it again even for another second. With that smile that was going to be the death of him, she brought the finger to her lips and licked it clean.
Immediately, he squeezed his eyes shut again, and she fell into his chest, muffling her giggling. “Shhh,” he urged, putting his free arm around her.
Walter shifted in his seat but didn’t wake. “Did I mention today how much I love you?” he whispered in her ear. Charlee nodded but didn’t pull away from his chest. “Well, let me just say it again,” he whispered even lower this time. “I love my freaky little girlfriend.”
Charlee giggled even louder this time, and he hugged her harder, muffling her laughter. Hector should’ve been trying to figure out how to clean the mess up as fast as possible before Walter woke. Instead, all he could think of was he had entire weekend of this to look forward to.
~*~
Arriving at their hotel at nearly three in the morning last night should’ve meant they’d be too exhausted for any funny business, but apparently not having slept together for over two days, Hector had a lot of making up for lost time planned. They’d been up for hours last night and were now paying the price. The meeting was purposely scheduled at ten to accommodate travelers like them who arrived so late by giving them some extra sleep time. Unfortunately, even early that morning as they both began to stir, they’d put their extra sleep time to better use.
Charlee couldn’t help smiling, thinking of their night last night even as she yawned; it was completely worth the exhaustion as far as she was concerned. The speaker’s monotonous tone as he explained this weekend’s workshops didn’t help either. She couldn’t help but giggle when Hector was startled out of nearly dozing off when they introduced him to everyone as the newest member of the team.
The surprised expressions on everyone when he stood as he was asked and said a few things about himself, his love of the game, and how he felt about being on the team, didn’t surprise her. Though catching the way two of the girls eyed him then whispered something to one another smiling silly wiped the smile off Charlee’s face.
None of them had been aware this was going to be a workshop with scheduled tournaments between the team members. Hector had been scheduled early that afternoon while hers wasn’t until later, which meant they’d be separated most of the day. The only good thing about it was that Charlee was now having visions of heading back to their room and taking a much needed nap while poor Hector had to go straight to his tournament.
Halfway through the briefing, Charlee’s phone buzzed. She clicked on the envelope, holding it under the table so she wouldn’t be caught reading her texts. It was from Gwen—her mom.
I know you said you might not have time to visit, but I just wanted you to know Ted is not here this weekend. I’d love to see you if you get a chance, honey. I could even meet you somewhere if you’d prefer.
Her step-dad Ted was the reason Charlee hadn’t made any effort to plan something with Gwen this weekend. Gwen had obviously read through her excuses about the visit being a busy one. Charlee was still angry at Ted because of the way he’d all but abandoned her step-brother Ryan.
Charlee really missed Gwen, and now that she’d be free of both chess and Hector for the morning, maybe meeting her for lunch wasn’t such a bad idea.
I’m free for lunch, but I don’t have a car. Can you come here?
She glanced up as Hector took his seat again and looked at her curiously. Just then her phone buzzed again.
Yes!!! =) I’ll leave now and should be there by noon. <3
Feeling bad now that she’d even considered blowing Gwen off, when obviously she was anxious to see her, she texted her back with her hotel information and then reminded Gwen how much she’d missed her and loved her. Bad daughter.
When the briefing was over, Charlee walked Hector to the convention room where he was expected to be at A.S.A.P and explained to him about her change in plans.
“That was her texting me. We’re gonna meet for lunch. She’ll pick me up around noon, and then I gotta be back here later for my tournament.”
Hector frowned, playing with her hair. “I guess I won’t see you until tonight.”
“Yeah, but it looks like tomorrow we get to sleep in again.” She smiled, biting her lower lip.
He leaned in and licked her lower lip. “I vote we stay in tonight and order room service.”
Her body was still spent from the night and morning they’d had, but already it came alive just thinking about getting back to the room with him.
She’d fallen asleep in the room when her phone pinged loudly. Charlee had purposely set the ringtone to loud because she had a feeling she’d doze off waiting for Gwen to arrive. Sitting up, she read the text from her. She was downstairs, waiting for her.
Surprised that she actually felt a little choked up when she saw her, Charlee hugged Gwen tightly. Gwen pulled away to look at her, her own eyes a bit watery. “Oh, honey, you look so good. I’ve always loved your curly hair, but this looks so pretty too.”
Charlee smiled, nodding. Her full transformation hadn’t been made until she’d moved out to California, so Gwen hadn’t been privy to fully the new and improved Charlee until now.
They ate lunch at the restaurant right there in the hotel. The entire time their conversation had been pleasant enough with Charlee catching her mom up on everything about school and the chess thing. Her mom was noticeably surprised to hear about Hector.
Charlee showed Gwen the picture on her phone’s screen saver. Charlee and Hector had taken a ton of cutesy pictures with both their phones of the two of them kissing and hugging, but she especially liked this one she’d taken accidently before either them were ready to pose. She’d been holding the camera up above them and didn’t even realize she’s snapped the picture of them staring into each other’s eyes. It was the same one he chose to use as his own background picture for his phone.
“Very cute,” Gwen said smiling as she stared at the photo. “So when do I get to meet him?”
“Not this weekend,” Charlee took her phone as Gwen handed it back.
Explaining quickly, Charlee tried changing the subject. She knew it was as easy as bringing her mom back to the hotel and having them meet quickly, but it would be a fast hello and goodbye in the lobby, and Charlee wanted their meeting to be a little longer.
Moving on to other things, their conversation had already veered on the tense side when Gwen told her about Ted making more of an effort to see her step-brother, Ryan. Was that supposed to impress Charlee that the man was making an “effort” to spend time with his son, when nothing or no one was stopping him except himself?
But nothing brought the conversation to a faster screeching halt than Gwen’s sudden and very blunt account. “I ran into Danny this week at the Chili House.”
Charlee stared at Gwen, not sure why she felt the need share this with her now. Then Gwen reached into the paper bag she’d walked in with and pulled out an envelope with Charlee’s name written on it.
“When I ran into him, I mentioned you would be in town this weekend and that I was keeping my fingers crossed I’d get to see you.” She held the envelope out to Charlee. “He came by last night and asked me to please give this to you if I saw you.”
Staring at the envelope, Charlee gulped hard, refusing to reach out for it. “I don’t want it.”
“Charlee, honey, he said he still feels terrible and that he really needs you to read this. I saw it in his eyes. He really is sorry. I haven’t read it, but I think maybe if you could understand why things happened the way they did it might give you some closure.”
“I have closure.” Charlee said almost through her teeth. “I’ve had it since I left, and I do even more now that I have Hector. I don’t need to relive that part of my life again.”
She really didn’t, especially not after having just relived the whole damn thing just this past week when she told Hector about it. She was so over it now. The last thing she needed was to hear why Danny had chosen her to invite to that party. She knew why. He’d be a sure win if he brought the freak. But she wasn’t that person anymore. Even with all her faults and weaknesses, Hector loved her unconditionally. That’s all she needed.
“I really think—”
“I said no.”
Gwen lifted her hands in the air. “Okay, okay.” she conceded. “Have it your way.” Slipping the envelope back in the bag, her mom pulled out what looked like a scrap book instead. “I haven’t had the heart to change anything in your bedroom since you left. But I did go through some of the old poems and photos you had on your corkboard, and I put this together for you.” She smiled, handing the scrapbook over to Charlee.
This Charlee took happily. She opened it to the first page to a picture of her and her late nana—the woman responsible for introducing Charlee to the world of chess. Immediately, she felt overwhelmed with emotion.
“I was gonna say,” Gwen said as Charlee glanced up at her and saw that her eyes were just as dampened with tears as Charlee’s felt. “You might wanna wait until you’re home to go through that. You’re gonna need a box of tissues and a little privacy. I know I did as I put it together.”
Deciding her mom was right, she glanced back at the photo one last time before closing the scrap book. With no room for it on the table, Gwen placed it back in the bag until they were done with lunch.
She walked her mom back to her car and hugged her tight. “Will you be home for Thanksgiving?”
Charlee shook her head. She’d warned her mother when she left she may not come back for a very long time. And even though she’d been ready to run home more than once, it was only to hide away from the entire world in her room like a hermit again, not because it was a place she yearned to return to. For now, she’d keep the thought to herself, but Charlee had no desire to step foot in the town of Heron’s Nest ever again unless she wasn’t forced to. “But maybe you could come out to California,” Charlee offered, “if not for Thanksgiving maybe Christmas. You can meet Hector then.”
Her mom smiled, understanding, and handed Charlee the bag with the scrapbook. They said their final goodbyes, and Charlee walked away with a strange lump in her throat. Knowing she’d be seeing Hector soon, she forced herself to snap out of her weird mood.
The rest of the weekend was as amazing as she imagined it would be. Their night and the next morning were as passionate as always. They did finally sleep soundly for a several hours Saturday night, and it was probably the best night’s sleep Charlee had ever had.
Sunday afternoon, when they were packing up their things, Charlee pulled the scrapbook out. “What’s that?” Hector looked at it curiously.
“A scrap book Gwen made me.” He looked at her strangely. “My mom,” she explained. “She was a single teen mom when I was born and still lived at home. We lived with my grandparents for the first eight years of my life. Everyone around me addressed her by her name, so I did too, and no one ever corrected me.” Charlee turned back to the scrapbook. “Anyway, she said I should wait ’til I’m home with a box of tissues and some privacy to look through it. But I think I’ll be okay,” she sat on the bed.
“You want some privacy? I can go check us out while you look through it.”
Shaking her head quickly, she patted the bed. “No, I’ve no secrets, and there’s nothing in my past I’m hiding from you. Besides,” she smiled as he sat down next to her, “I doubt she’d put anything bad in here.”
“You sure? There might be some naked baby pictures in there.” He smirked.
Charlee couldn’t help laughing, even as she opened it to the same page that had choked her up yesterday. “I doubt there’s any part of my body you haven’t already seen or touched.”
“Or kissed,” he said, leaning in, and nibbled her ear, making her giggle even more. “Is that you?” He stopped nibbling and focused on the photo of her and her nana.
Nearly cringing at her nappy hair and big toothless smile, she nodded. She wouldn’t say it because it was in the past and she was over it, but, geez, no wonder the neighborhood kids thought her such an oddball. She was only five, and already she was holding up the king from her very first win against her grandmother. Looking back now, her grandmother had probably gone easy on her, but Charlee remembered that while all the other kids were out playing tag or dressing up and having tea parties with their stuffed animals, Charlee spent her days studying her homeschool materials then trying to figure out how to master the game of chess.
“See what I mean by me being a little odd?” she said.
“You were a kid, Charlee. We were all a little odd at that age. I lost my front teeth around that age too. Is that your grandma?”
“Yep,” she smiled. “Her uncle was a grandmaster, and she was one of the very first women to make the U.S. chess team. She taught me everything I know.”
He smiled, staring at the picture a little closer. “Nice.”
They flipped through the pages as she explained every poem or ticket stub her mom had included, but then she froze when she turned the page and saw the envelope from Danny. Staring at it, her heart thudded when Hector picked it up. He flipped it over. “It’s sealed,” he said.
“Yeah, um, Gwen said she wrote me a letter.” Taking it from him as he handed it to her, her hand nearly shook. “I think I’ll read this one in private. She can get pretty sappy.”
Sticking it in her jeans pocket, she continued to look through the scrapbook with Hector though she could barely concentrate now. She didn’t think Gwen had done it on purpose. Charlee had watched her as she’d placed the envelope back in the same bag. It was an honest mistake. Obviously, even Charlee hadn’t thought twice about it when she took the bag from Gwen. She too had forgotten about the envelope being in there still.
As tempted as she was to just rip it up and throw it away, she was suddenly overwhelmed with curiosity. Curiosity killed the cat. Her grandmother’s words suddenly sprang in her head. It’s what she’d say every time she caught Charlee staring out the window at the neighbor kids playing jump rope. Any thoughts of getting the nerve up to go out there and play with them were squashed. The only neighbor kid she ever played with was Drew, Gwen’s best friend’s rambunctious platinum blond daughter.
Gwen and Drew’s mom had gotten knocked up the same year. The only difference was Drew’s dad stuck around and eventually married her mom. Luckily for Charlee, Drew’s parents couldn’t afford to live on their own, so they continued to live next door for years. Then when Drew’s grandparents passed, her parents inherited the house and stayed there for good. That is until they divorced.
Going against her better judgment, Charlee left the envelope in her pocket. She’d let it simmer there for a little and decide what to do with it later.
As the day passed, the contents of her front pocket weighed heavier and heavier. What could Danny possibly have to say now that would make a difference? Why would he want to rehash something that was long over? It made no sense. While her head said she should just dump the envelope in one of the airport trash cans and be done with it, a part of her needed to know why he did it. Drew had been so sure his feelings for her were sincere. The conversations they’d shared as she sat in her closet on the phone with him for hours felt so real. Maybe Gwen was right. Maybe having some closure would finally let her leave it behind her once and for all.
Their flight was another late one, but at least with the time difference, they wouldn’t arrive too late in California. Hector dozed off, and as tempted as she was to pull out the letter and just read it already, she couldn’t chance Hector waking and possibly seeing who it was really from.
Unable to stand it anymore, she got up and headed for the bathroom. She’d read it and rip it up and be done with it. She didn’t expect there’d to be anything new that she and Drew hadn’t already discussed in length, but, still, it was burning a hole in her pocket, and she had to know now.
After locking the bathroom door, she pulled the envelope out, ripped the side off, pulling the sheet of paper out, and braced herself.