I thought my best move at this juncture was to “get my shit” and pronto. Which I did.
I grabbed my purse and waved good-bye to Ava and, a bit more hesitantly, Luke. Hector was bent over, nabbing the helmets out from under the table as I saw Natalie walk by, her face pale, her eyes on me. I could swear she mouthed the words, with the barest whisper of sound, “I’m sorry, I was wrong,” and then she hurried away when Hector straightened.
I didn’t have a chance to process this. Hector tossed me my helmet, I caught it, he moved in, his arm curled around my neck and he guided me firmly out to the bike.
“Maybe you should calm down before we get on the bike,” I suggested when we stopped by his motorcycle and he took his arm away.
Hector’s eyes sliced to me. “Next time we go out, I’m not bein’ the nice guy and backin’ down. You’re gonna put on the fuckin’ tank.”
My eyes bugged out.
How did this get to be about me?
“Now this is about me?” I asked.
“You came up behind me, I smelled your perfume. You heard him talkin’ about you. So yeah, it’s about you. This whole fuckin’ thing proves my fuckin’ point,” he shot back.
“That’s very bizarre logic, Hector Chavez.”
“It makes perfect sense to me.”
“Well, perhaps you shouldn’t be seeing me then,” I returned. “Perhaps you should be seeing someone else that people won’t talk about. How about Natalie? I met her tonight at the bar. She seems like a nice girl. No, wait, you’ve already fucked her!” I yelled.
Hector got close, I could feel his fury, I didn’t have to see it and I retreated until I felt bike.
“Dios mio,” he hissed. “Natalie. That’s why you looked like someone ran over your puppy when you came back to the table.”
“Heck yes!”
“What the fuck did she say?”
“To be careful of you, you were a dawg and that your dawg-ness was not ancient history, like I tried to tell her it was, since you nailed her six weeks ago.”
His hand went up, he tore his fingers through his hair then his hand dropped again to his side.
“And this pisses you off?” he asked, sounding now both furious and perplexed.
I opened and closed my mouth twice before shouting, “Yes!”
“I hate to break this to you, mamita, but I wasn’t a virgin our first time,” he told me sarcastically.
“Count back, Hector. Six weeks. Six weeks!” I yelled.
“Yeah? So?”
“Six weeks ago, tonight, I was raped!”
His body went completely still.
Mine couldn’t go still, I was breathing too heavily.
When he spoke, his voice was a lot quieter but I could still hear the edge of anger.
“Sadie, I wasn’t fuckin’ Natalie while you were bein’ raped.”
“The night before?” I snapped.
He shook his head but did it jerkily, still angry but now his voice had a thread of impatience. “I don’t fuckin’ remember.”
“She says you nailed half the women in there.”
“She’s probably right.”
I leaned away from him and breathed, “Oh my God.”
He got closer, taking away the minute space I’d gained. “Sadie, we got two choices. You can list for me all the men who got in your pants, which I don’t wanna fuckin’ know, and I can return the favor, which, trust me, mamita, you don’t wanna know. Or we can go on from here, you and me, the past is fuckin’ history. Choose. Now. I’m not livin’ under the threat of this fuckin’ time bomb either.”
I turned away. “Take me to Ralphie and Buddy’s.”
His fingers curled around my bicep and he pulled me back to facing him.
“No fuckin’ way. You sleep in my bed.”
“Take me to Ralphie and Buddy’s!” I yelled.
“No,” he bit off.
I jerked my arm from his hand.
“Fine,” I snapped. “Let’s go home.”
He leaned to the side and hooked his helmet on the hand grip of his bike. Then both his hands came to my neck.
I tipped my head back and glared at him.
“I said, let’s go home,” I repeated.
“You don’t even hear what’s comin’ out of your own mouth.”
“Yes?” I asked, saccharin-sweet. “Enlighten me. What’s coming out of my own mouth?”
“You said, ‘take me back to Ralphie and Buddy’s’ then you called my place ‘home’.”
At this canny, scary and life-altering observation, I took in an audible, very shocked breath but he kept talking.
“How long’s it gonna take for this shit to sink in for you?”
I decided my best bet was to keep quiet and simply glare and this was exactly what I did.
Hector’s hands went away from my neck; he angled to the side again and grabbed his helmet.
“Helmet up,” he ordered, his voice sharp and still way beyond ticked off. “Don’t give a fuck if you’re hot, wet and panting or pissed as hell, you’re sleepin’ by me, in my bed, at home.”