“Everything okay, Sadie?” Luke asked and my eyes flew to him.
“Fine, great, wonderful,” I lied, nabbed my beer and took a long swallow.
I felt Hector’s eyes on me but I turned my attention to tracing the label on my bottle with my thumb and trying not to let my hand shake.
“Mamita, look at me.”
My eyes lifted to Hector.
His brows went together.
“You’re not fine,” he said.
From my peripheral vision I saw Ava and Luke look at each other but I was too busy lying again to Hector to take much notice. “I think painting the living room just hit me, what with all the food and beer. All of a sudden, I’m tired.”
“I’m going to the bathroom. Sadie, do you need to go to the bathroom?” Ava asked suddenly.
I shook my head, too freaked out to catch her hint.
Hector’s hand went to the back pocket of his jeans.
“We’ll get you home,” he said.
My head jerked to him.
“No!” I cried, his narrowed eyes came to me and I made an effort to calm down. “No. You’re having fun, everyone’s having fun. I just got more beer. We’ll drink them and go.”
Ava looked at Luke, slid off her stool and headed to the bathroom. Hector pulled out his wallet and came of his stool too.
“I’ll pay the tab so we’ll be ready to roll.”
He walked to the bar, I watched him stop and I realized my happy glow was long gone and my heart actually hurt.
“Natalie was before you, Sadie,” Luke said.
I tore my eyes from Hector and looked at Luke to find he was watching me.
“What?” I asked.
“Don’t know what she said to freak you out but I got a fair guess and you gotta know, Natalie was before you.”
I pulled in my lips. I was not talking about this with Luke Stark. Ralphie, yes. Daisy, yes. Any Rock Chick, yes. Luke Stark, absolutely not.
I took another sip from my beer and looked anywhere but at Luke.
“Hector didn’t share what happened when he was workin’ with your Dad. We all figure, with the way things are now, you two had a thing. Whatever that thing was, the way you were in the offices that day, it wasn’t on which means it wasn’t on when he was with Natalie.”
I nodded to Luke, knowing, for whatever reason, this didn’t make me feel even a little bit better but, unfortunately, he wasn’t done.
“You know I was there that night,” he told me softly.
My heart tripped, I swallowed then said, “Please, Luke –”
“Never seen a man like that. Felt like it, with Ava, never seen it. He was not happy when you went unconscious and he was less happy when they wouldn’t allow him to stay in your exam bay until you regained consciousness. That’s all he asked, they refused. He lost it, got physical and me and a security guard had to take him out. I figure, after seein’ that, whatever he had with Natalie is shit compared to what he feels for you.”
Somehow, I didn’t know why and I didn’t want to process it at that very moment (especially not with Luke), what he said made my heart hurt more.
“I think I was wrong about finishing the beer. I’m really tired. I’m going to ask Hector to take me home,” I told Luke.
“Sadie –” he started but I slid off the barstool and walked to Hector.
He had his back to me and he was talking to someone I couldn’t see. I got close, lifted my hand to touch his shoulder but I stilled when I heard what the man was saying.
“… a fuckin’ certificate for nailin’ Townsend’s piece.”
Somewhere at the edges of my mind I realized belatedly Hector wasn’t just standing at the bar. He was standing straight, his body rock solid, at the bar.
The man I couldn’t see went on and it also hit the edges of my mind he sounded more than a little inebriated.
The man hooted and practically shouted, “You’re tappin’ Ice Princess ass! Shit! Any time surveillance photos came in of her, we’d fight at the chance to make copies. She was the most jacked off on piece in history. And you’re nailin’ her. Chavez, that makes you a legend.”
Both my hands went to my forehead, my fingers sliding into my hair but I’d barely finished this maneuver when Hector’s fist flashed out, connected and the man went down at Hector’s feet.
Hector didn’t like him down. He bent over, picked him up by his shirt and hustled him backwards until the man slammed against the doorframe to the other room. Hector pulled him away from the frame only to slam him brutally into it again, so brutally, his head cracked against the frame.
“What the fuck!” the man shouted, I came unstuck and ran forward to Hector’s left side. I saw Luke materialize on his right and a man wearing a black, Lincoln’s long-sleeved tee was behind Luke.