This, Hector also didn’t seem surprised about but his mouth got tight and his face went dark, likely, Buddy figured, with guilt.
A night where she talked about having no friends and living her life as an Ice Princess.
This, Hector took in without giving anything away but still, the air in the room changed, almost like it had gone electric.
A night where she described, in detail, what had happened with Ricky Balducci.
After what little Buddy shared (but clearly it was enough), Hector’s entire body got visibly tight, his face went scary dark and Ralphie cautiously removed all bottles from his reach.
“Hold it together, Hector,” Buddy warned. “She’s in the next room.”
Hector jerked his head in what was supposed to be a nod while a muscle jumped in his cheek. He looked away and threw back a shot of Jack, pouring himself another the minute he was done and he threw that back too.
Buddy looked at Ralphie.
Ralphie bugged his eyes out at Buddy.
Buddy finished on the part of the night where Sadie shared about Sadie. The part she shared at the end of the night. The part they both figured she didn’t remember sharing.
It was who she thought she was, who she wanted to be, how she didn’t know how to be that and what she thought that Hector thought she was after what happened “that night in my father’s study”.
Hector stared at him.
“She thinks I think she’s a society slut out slumming?” he asked, looking angry.
“She says you said that,” Buddy corrected him.
Hector looked away and threw back another shot of Jack.
“Jesus,” he muttered after he swallowed. “I never called her a slut. I told her I was glad she went slumming. She had to know I wanted her, fuck, I had her against the wall with her skirt around her waist, my hands in her pants, for fuck’s sake.”
This was way more information than they needed but Buddy figured it was Jack Daniels Magic. As good (if not better) than lemon drops.
Hector kept talking as if to himself, “She knew who I was. She’d been feeding me information on her father for months. And I knew what kind of woman she was, she knew I knew. What’s in her fuckin’ head?”
“That episode didn’t, um… end well, did it?” Ralphie asked carefully and Hector’s eyes sliced to him.
“No,” Hector replied tersely then his teeth clenched, the muscle leaped in his cheek again and he looked away. “Fucking hell,” he hissed (again, to himself), sounding even angrier. “Fucking hell,” he repeated, looking up at Buddy, something dawning on him. “She didn’t know. We talked about it the other night. I told her I knew she was my informant and she didn’t know I knew. Fucking hell, I’ve been so wrapped up in all her shit, I didn’t put it together. I said something to her that night when she walked away and it wasn’t nice. I was pissed as hell, I figured she’d get that, understand why and get over it, like I did, because I thought she went cold on me, walked away, because she had to, to protect both of us. Jesus, if she didn’t know –”
“She’s confused,” Ralphie said quietly. “She thinks she’s marked by her father, less of a person because of who he is. She spent years enduring a life of fear, playing a role, hating every minute of it without a single person to turn to, to trust. She had a chance to become someone else but instead she was stalked by four crazy brothers and then interrupted in the effort of finding herself when she was raped by one of them. She doesn’t think like normal people, she’s never had a normal life. But now, she’s on the edge, Hector, she’s holding it together but she’s teetering. We can’t let her fall off.”
Buddy took over. “What’s happening with you two, it isn’t your normal boy meets girl, boy asks girl out –”
“I fuckin’ know that,” Hector clipped, interrupting Buddy, eyes narrowed and angry and clearly having had his fill of sharing.
Buddy pushed it. “I know you do, what I wanted to say was, in a normal relationship, it would be too early to ask this question but we have to know your intentions.”
“What are you sayin’?” Hector’s voice was still clipped.
Buddy kept at it. “I’m asking you your intentions. Far as we can see, Ralphie and I are the only ones she trusts. We’re taking that seriously. We figure you’re not in it for a casual –”
Hector leaned forward and, at his threatening posture and drawn brows, Buddy stopped talking.
“I’m gonna say this once, out of respect for what you’ve done for her, and then we’re done here. There’s nothin’ casual about this. Got me?”
Okay, it was safe to say, Hector Chavez was done sharing.
And Hector Chavez’s feelings were far from casual when they came to Sadie.
Buddy thought that was good to know.
“Got you,” Buddy assured him.
“I got you too.” Ralphie smiled happily then turned to Buddy. “I told you. I told Sadie too. Double H is –”