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.He kept hoping he’d see Leticia and Miriam walk out and leave, preferably with guys so they mightnot be too pissed at him.Not that he cared one way or another if they were, he just didn’t want to deal with any drama in case they’d gone in and kept drinking, which he knew was probably the case.His new chess buddies busted his balls about being quite the ladies’ man.Hector laughed mostlybecause he thought only people over fifty used that term anymore.They were all under the impressionthat Hector would be leaving with two girls that night, and for some reason, this delighted them.Apparently, Walter had filled them in on last weekend when he’d seen Hector actually leave withthem.Not wanting to disappoint them, he neither confirmed nor denied it would be happening again thatnight.Obviously, a topic of that nature was not one any of those guys had ever had the pleasure ofdiscussing.Usually, he would’ve cut it short.He wasn’t one to kiss and tell.But that night he stoodout there and let them have their fun, bouncing their brows, making stupid faces, and coming to theirown conclusions about what Hector would be doing with the two girls that night.Hector cringed the few times Walter made reference to what a lucky guy he was to be able to haveany girl he wanted.By the time they finally left, he’d been out there with them for nearly an hour.His plan hadworked.When he got back to the party, Leticia and Miriam were both on the dance floor with twodifferent guys.And judging by the way they were dancing, they’d had plenty more to drink.Hectortook advantage of their distraction and snuck out.The next morning, he went into 5th Street to cover for Gio since he’d be at that marathon—justanother thing that brought continual thoughts of Charlee.He’d actually been tempted to ask Abel totake over the youth-training class so that Hector might take a little drive to Long Beach.He was still kicking himself about forgetting to ask for her number.He’d been that close to doing it too, and hewas sure Abel wouldn’t have minded, but then Walter walked in.He was there to work out and allgung ho about it.Walter hadn’t actually discussed a schedule for his workouts.Hector just assumed they’d start outslow—a few days a week, especially after that brutal first workout Hector had given him.Butapparently Walter was going to work out daily.He told Hector he’d be back again on Sunday, and he seemed pretty damned determined.Another thing Walter let Hector know he was also more determined now to do was whatever ittook to impress and get to know Charlee better.He said after seeing how beautiful she looked at theparty Friday night he was even more motivated now.Annoyed, Hector reminded him what a contradiction that statement was to how hard Walteractually tried at the party.With the most pathetic expression Hector had seen on Walter, and he’dseen quite a few on him already, he told Hector all about the insecurity issues he’d faced all his life.As if that weren’t enough of a guilt grenade, he then added how being harassed all through schoolonly made things worse.Sunday, Hector had to once again hear about Charlee the whole time Walter worked out.She wasthe typical main topic of conversation for Walter, but after what happened Friday night, Hector couldhardly stand it anymore.A few times he told Walter to shut up and concentrate on his workout.It waskilling him.How the hell was Hector supposed to do anything more with Charlee when she was allWalter talked about? He felt like a total asshole all over again for not having been able to hold backkissing her.It was still hands down totally worth it, even if he was drowning in guilt all over again.He justhad no idea how this was going to work.Walter was going to hate him again and for good reason.He’d trusted Hector.When Walter was finished with his workout, he approached Hector before he left.“You have aminute? I wanna show you something.”Hector looked at him curiously.“Sure.What is it?”“It’s in my car.I don’t want to bring it in here.”They walked out into the parking lot where it was already getting dark.Beverly, a girl he’d hungout with in the past, walked in and smiled at Hector knowingly.Walter smirked as she walked past them, shaking his head.When she was far enough away,Walter glanced back.“I can’t even imagine what it must be like to be you.”Gritting his teeth because he already felt like a big enough dick, Hector pushed the thoughts ofbeing with Charlee on Friday away.“It’s not as glamorous as you may think.”“Shit!” Walter laughed.“Glamorous or not, I’d trade places with you any day.” He stopped andpointed his finger in the air just as they reached his trunk.“But only for a day at most.I think I’mfinally gonna start liking my life.”He opened the trunk, and Hector froze, feeling every hair on his body stand.Staring at it for amoment, he wasn’t sure what to say or why Walter would bring it to him now.Could he possiblyknow about Friday? Had he maybe talked to Charlee?Finally able to put a few words together, Hector began to speak.“Is that.”Walter picked up the robot and held it with a smile.“Can you believe Charlee read about thisthing before she even knew me? She had no idea it was me who built it but said she rememberedreading about it online.” Walter slugged Hector’s arm with the biggest goofiest smile.“I fuckingimpressed her, man!” The laugh he let out next was too happy, too genuine for him to know anythingabout Friday night.“And get this; she said she’d love to see it.So I brought it down from my garagethis week for the first time since.”Walter paused, meeting Hector’s eyes, his expression falling but only momentarily before he wassmiling again [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]