“Really?” Hector did his best to sound as calm as he could. “The redhead you were talking to out there?”

Nestor’s smiled. “Yeah, Charlee.”

Just hearing him say her name made Hector want to punch him in the throat. “Charlee is my friend which means she’s off limits to you.” He turned to the other guys who were listening also and raised his voice a notch. “To all of you.” Nestor began to frown, pushing Hector’s agitation to another level. Speaking louder and more demanding, he took a step closer to Nestor. “You have a problem with that, Nestor?”

Abel, Noah, and Gio were now looking at them too, and the training room got quiet.

“Nah, man,” Nestor said, glancing around as if he’d just realized who he was talking to. “I just didn’t know—”

“Well, now you do. And stay away from her friend while you’re at it.” Hector wasn’t even sure why he added that last part, but Drew was Charlee’s friend, and for that reason alone, he didn’t want this ass**le taking advantage of her either.

Nestor stared at him for a little too long without saying anything. The tension in the room was so thick it was a living thing, and at the moment, it held its breath. Hector saw Abel making a move. No one knew Hector better than Abel. If Nestor so much as said the wrong thing right now, shit was going down because Hector’s patience was spent. This guy either agreed right now or Hector would make him.

Nestor gave him a very stiff nod before turning to Santos then back to Hector. “You got it.”

Hector stared at him hard. He didn’t trust Nestor as far as he could throw him, and the way Hector felt right then he could probably heave Nestor clear across the room. Without saying another word to Nestor, he continued on his way out. He needed to find Charlee and Drew now and warn them about this party Nestor had invited them to.

Chapter 18

“You don’t have to do this, you know?” Drew said as they pulled up to the stop light.

“I want to.” Charlee looked up from her phone’s navigation screen. “According to this, we’re a block away.”

“Do you even know what a keg party is?”

“Hello!” Charlee tried desperately to sound chipper. “A party involving many or one keg of beer. Everyone pays at the door per cup or for a bracelet.

Drew smirked. “You had to look it up, didn’t you?”

Charlee couldn’t help but smirk. Damn. Did she have to memorize verbatim? “It was pretty self-explanatory, but, okay, I looked it up just to confirm.

“You don’t even like beer, Charlee.”

“I never said I didn’t like it. I prefer wine coolers, but I can do beer just fine.”

“I was wrong, okay. I admit it. He’s a sweet-talking jerk, who obviously can’t get his fill of girls.” Drew said as they slowed because of all the cars cruising by the party. “But you don’t have to go to one of these stupid parties if you’re not feeling it. You have nothing to prove.”

Suddenly Charlee felt bad. If anyone wasn’t feeling it, it was Drew. She sounded just awful. “I’m not trying to prove anything.” She reached over and touched Drew’s leg. “But if you’re not feeling well, let’s just go home.”

Drew turned to her. “I’m fine, Charlee. I just want to make sure you are too.” Drew pulled into a parking space at the end of the block, several homes away from the one where the party was. “I would like nothing more than for you to go into that party and enjoy yourself. Dance a little. Maybe even exchange numbers with someone, but I know you. You’re holding it all in. It’s okay to be disappointed.”

Charlee frowned, glancing out her window at some of the people walking toward the party. As much as she’d been playing it off that she didn’t buy Drew’s sixth-sense crap about Hector, of course, she was secretly hoping Drew had been right. Of course, she was once again completely disheartened when she’d seen him with yet another pair of girls. But she was really done this time. She was only happy that Drew had witnessed the whole thing with her: his eyeballing the girl before he reached her then hugging her before escorting her and her friend to sit with him in the front row.

There was no way Drew could argue with her now. The guy’s wasn’t changing his colors for any one girl, not even Charlee, who Drew seemed convinced Hector looked at so differently than all the others. As mad as she wanted to be at herself for beginning to believe it too, she wouldn’t be. It was true Hector was a sweet talker. It wasn’t just what he said but how he went about it. He didn’t have to apologize yesterday. What had happened between them was water under the bridge now—or should’ve been anyway. Yet he’d gone out of his way to tell her that he really meant it when he’d told her she was different. There was such sweetness about the way he spoke to her—looked at her—when he said it too not just yesterday but the first time he’d told her that. Obviously she wasn’t different enough.

Now she was determined to wash her mind of him. This would be a good start. She could go to this party, let her hair down, maybe meet someone, and possibly even let someone new kiss her so she could finally stop obsessing about the only guy who ever had. Maybe that’s why she couldn’t stop. She’d come to that conclusion earlier. Maybe that’s why it was so easy for people like Hector, who had so many experiences to compare, to easily move on to their next conquest.