Hector glanced back at the window near the far side of the porch and winced, remembering they were visible from the kitchen. Turning back to Charlee, he saw she was already bright red. “Don’t worry about it. If she saw the whole thing, she knows that was all me.”
“Yeah, no shit.” Abel took the dish from Hector and smiled at Charlee. “Hi, Charlee.”
Charlee barely nodded, smiling through her redness. “Hi,” she said softly.
Stepping back to let them in, Abel chuckled. “She’s been waiting, dude, asking me all kinds of questions like just how serious you are, and then you put on that little show—nice.”
Hector went straight to the kitchen to get it over with. The second they walked in, his mom gave him a scolding look, but it immediately disappeared when she turned to Charlee and brought her hands to her mouth, smiling. “Ay, que linda!” She held her arms open to her, and Charlee glanced at him cautiously before stepping forward and accepting his mother’s overly zealous hug.
“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 5th 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.