“Alex, what did you do?” Sofia frowned.
“Took some guy’s lights out!” Romero laughed behind him.
Sofia’s eyes opened wide. “You did?”
Alex attempted to smirk but he still reeled with thoughts of Valerie and the other men in her life now. He glanced at Romero. “So, what happened with him?”
Romero walked around the pool table. The girls sat down at the table, but Alex stayed at the entrance of the room.
“The bartender is going through that guy’s phone. If they can’t get someone to pick him up they’re gonna call him a cab. He almost went out again at the bar. That guy’s gonna have a shiner of all shiners.”
Eric laughed. “What happened? Why’d you clock ‘em?”
Alex shrugged. “He pissed me off.”
“Obviously, but why?”
Alex and Valerie exchanged glances. “Valerie can tell you about it. I gotta get going.”
“What!” Both Romero and Eric asked in unison.
“Yeah, I forgot about some paperwork that needs to be turned in by tonight.”
Romero was looking at him, disgusted. Eric had a more understanding, almost sympathetic expression. Alex finished his goodbyes and waved at the girls, taking one last look at Valerie. Her expression was blank. Probably embarrassed about what Bruce had said.
“You’re leaving?” Sofia asked.
He nodded and walked away without explaining. Just outside the door, his heart feeling heavier than ever, he heard someone call out his name.
He turned to see Valerie walking to him. She stopped in front of him. “I wanted to thank you.”
Alex detected a bit of anguish in her eyes. “Don’t worry about it. You sure you’re okay?”
She nodded putting her hands together in front of her. Alex couldn’t stand it. He had to tell her how he felt. Even if she was with someone else, she had to know. It was killing him.
“Valerie, I…”
Valerie’s eyes looked past him, and she smiled. “Hey, Luke.”
Alex turned around. A guy in a suit, with a huge smile, walked toward them. He nodded at Alex as he reached for Valerie’s hand.
Valerie introduced them and Alex instantly excused himself. He knew it was rude and Luke looked at him funny, but there was no way he could take another moment of her with someone else.
He was fuming by the time he reached his car. The one night he decides to get out and relax a little and it turned into this. The need to have Valerie back in his life was even more implacable now than it had ever been. Great. Fucking great.
*
Alex drove uncharacteristically slow. He was still trying to shake yesterdays blow. He tossed and turned the entire night with images of Luke holding Valerie. It was torture. Even now he couldn’t help wondering how she’d be spending her day. He remembered spending what Valerie called “lazy Sundays.” They’d spend entire day making love, stopping only to eat and nap. He hated to even think it, but she may very well, have done that today.
He banged his steering wheel hard and gnashed his teeth. The visual alone turned his stomach.
Eric called first thing in the morning to ask if he wanted to go work out. He was so exhausted from the lack of sleep and the emotional turmoil, he’d said no. But after slamming a few doors and nearly punching a hole in the wall, he decided a hard work out to let off some steam would do him some good.
Eric was spotting Romero when he got there. “You didn’t tell me this crumb was gonna be here. I wouldn’t have come.”
Romero looked up from the bench. “Two days in row you make it out of the restaurant? What’s the world coming to?” Then Romero frowned. “But I guess last night doesn’t count since you went back.”
Alex rolled his neck around getting the cracks out. “I took care of what I had to.”
He really had gone to the restaurant in hopes of staying busy. After snapping at a couple of employees for no good reason, he decided he was in no mood to be around anyone and headed back to his place. He’d be doing some apologizing later.
“You missed out.” Eric said.
“I did?”
Romero suddenly laughed. “First let me tell him about that guy’s eye!”
Eric brought his fist to his mouth and started laughing himself. “Dude, you should’ve seen that guy you cracked.”
Alex smiled, feeling a tiny bit of satisfaction drown out a little of his turmoil. “What about him?”
“The cab they called him took a while to get there.” Romero continued chuckling. “I saw him still sittin’ at the bar a half hour later. His eye was black and swelled shut. It was too fucking funny!”
Alex laughed, wiggling the fingers on his right hand. With all that had happened last night, he hadn’t even really felt it until he went to bed and even now his hand was a little sore. A lot of the frustration he’d been feeling for weeks had gone into that punch. Besides seeing Valerie again, which was bittersweet, knocking out Bruce had been the only good thing about last night.
“Yeah, well, that prick had it coming.”
Romero and Eric continued chuckling. Alex dropped his keys and his towel on the floor. He took a seat on the bench next to Romero but waited before starting to work out. He had a few questions first.
“So,why were you there with Valerie and Isabel?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know you were seeing Isabel.” Eric added.
“You’re seeing her?” Alex was even more surprised than when he saw her last night. He had a feeling Romero was there with her but he thought maybe it was a one night thing or they were just hanging out. As far as he knew Romero had never been in any kind of serious relationship.
“I told you,” Romero said.
“No you didn’t.”
Romero thought about it. “Oh yeah, that was Angel. Well dude, maybe if you’d come out of your cave more often. Yeah, it’s been a couple weeks.”
“Seeing her. Like seeing her?” Alex still couldn’t believe it.
“Yeah, why not?” Romero frowned.
“I thought you said she wasn’t your type?” Eric stood over him ready to spot him.
“I didn’t know anything about her then, turns out she’s pretty cool.”
“Whatcha do to her?” Alex pinched his eyebrows curiously. “She looked different last night.”
Romero sat up. “What do you mean?”
“She looked hot,” Eric added.
Romero turned and glared at Eric. “You were checking her out?”
“Kind of hard not to notice, Romero,” Alex smirked.
Romero turned back to Alex. “You too?”
Alex laughed. “I’m not the one who said she was hot. I said different.” He threw a towel at Romero. “I just remember her being so damn conservative. That’s all. Don’t get your panties all in a bunch.”
“Well, I didn’t do anything to her, and I don’t remember her looking any different.” Romero scowled at him then at Eric. “I didn’t realize you two were paying so much attention.”
Alex laughed. “Shut up. So,what else did I miss?”
“Valerie’s new man’s a high roller.” Romero seemed to dig that one in. “At least, he was acting like it last night.”
Just like that, Alex jolted out of his laughing mood. He pretended not to be bothered but squeezed the bar on the bench. “Yeah, how?”
“He was buying rounds all night,” Romero continued. “He must think we’re real tight with Val, ‘cause it seemed like he was trying to impress us, even invited us to his place some time. Probably has some big pad he wants to show off. But he’s too…” Romero tried to find the word.
“Too what?” Alex asked. Romero had spiked his interest.
“He tries too hard.” Eric said.
“There you go.” Romero nodded. “Even his jokes felt forced.”
“He had jokes?” Alex rolled his eyes.
“A couple.” Romero said. “He got some pity laughs and even Valerie seemed put off by them. I don’t know if she
’s just not that into him or if she was still worked up about that guy you knocked out, but she didn’t really seem to have a good time last night.”
“So,what was up with that?” Eric asked. “Valerie didn’t say much especially after lover boy showed up. He seemed interested when he heard you’d knocked someone out because of her, but she cut the conversation short.”
Alex shrugged, trying to act as indifferent about the use of lover boy to describe her boyfriend as any. “She dumped his ass a while back and the asshole is still harassing her.” Even as he snarled the words out, the reality of Valerie having really moved on dug into him like a razor sharp blade.
“I wonder if he’s the reason she put a pepper spray bottle on her keychain.”
Alex stared at him. “Last night?”
“No, Friday. We stopped by the apartment to pick something up and Valerie was there trying to get the pepper spray on her keychain. She didn’t really wanna say why but admitted to being spooked.”
That didn’t sit well with Alex. He’d thought maybe she’d just run into Bruce at the bar. The idea of that asshole stalking her was a whole other story.
“Has Isabel said anything about it?”
“She seemed worried about it, but then Izzy worries about everything.”
It surprised Alex that Romero already had a pet name for Isabel but he didn’t comment. Instead, his mind went back to Valerie and her possible stalker.
Romero didn’t say much more. After working out for about an hour, Alex went back to his house and showered.
The thought of heading to Valerie’s place crossed his mind as he got in his car. He remembered her warning about him showing up unannounced. Enraged, he gripped the steering wheel and took a deep breath. This was only going to get worse with every passing day. He skidded out of his parking spot and headed back out to the restaurant.
CHAPTER 7
Sal sat at the bar in the restaurant talking to Julie, one of the waitresses, when Alex walked in, adding guilt to Alex’s growing list of unwelcome emotions. Julie had been one of the ones he snapped at the night before.
“Hey, man.” Alex clapped Sal on the shoulder.
“Heard you finally took a night off…and then didn’t,” Sal smirked.
Alex frowned. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
Julie gave him a timid smile and turned to walk away, but Alex stopped her.
“C’mere.” He put his arms around her and hugged her hard rubbing her back, then pulled away. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
She smiled, then giggled. “That’s okay. I should’ve known better than to ask why you were back.”
Damn, he felt like a jerk. She walked away with a smile. Alex felt a little bit better until he turned his attention back to Sal who looked disgusted. “What the hell was that about?”
“I snapped at her yesterday. I felt bad.”
Sal stared at him with that hardened expression Alex rarely saw on him.
“Well, you know, she’s so sof-spoken and sweet, and I raised my voice at her just ‘cause I was in a hell of a mood.”
Sal glanced in Julie’s direction then back at Alex. “Yeah, well, I hope you don’t make it a habit of hugging your employees like that. Ever heard of sexual harassment?”
Alex lifted a shoulder and walked behind the bar. “Why you here, anyway? I thought you’d be with Mom and Pop.”
“I hadn’t been here in a while. Pop said you’ve made some changes. I just wanted to check it out.”
Alex brought out a glass and made himself a drink. Sal already had one in front of him. Alex peered at him. “Weren’t you just here not too long ago?”
Sal scanned the restaurant. “That was weeks ago. So, you wanna tell me what happened last night that made you come back and yell at poor little Julie?”
Alex shook his head. He knew what Sal would think if he told him the whole truth. But he hadn’t told anyone about it and at this point the situation was so desperate he could use some sound advice.
Sal knew he’d hung out with Valerie in the past, but had no idea how bad Alex had it for her. Hell, Alex hadn’t figured that out until just recently.
“Valerie was there last night.”
Sal stared at him blankly. “And?”
“With her boyfriend.”
Sal nodded knowingly. “Ah, what happened?”
“Nothing, I left.”
“What? You didn’t blow up?”
Alex frowned as if Sal was being ridiculous, but he knew damn well, Sal had hit it on the nose. Only reason he hadn’t was because he’d already let some steam out on the first guy. If he’d hung around for even a while longer, who knew what might’ve happened.
“I thought you two stopped going out a long time ago?”
“We did.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
Alex leaned his fists against the counter. “I don’t know. I guess this past year with everything that happened and the restaurant keeping me busy, I was too preoccupied to notice I missed her. Then I saw her at the shower and…I just can’t stop thinking about her now.”
That was an understatement. The woman invaded his every thought. Alex stared at Sal who looked at him weird. He wasn’t use to this kind of guy talk but it felt good to finally talk to someone about this.
“So, did you tell her?”
Alex shook his head, pulling a glass down from the overhead cupboard. “She didn’t give me a chance. Worst thing is it’s too late.”
Sal pinched his brows. “What do you mean too late?”
“She’s with someone else now.” Saying it aloud was just another blow to his gut.
“That doesn’t mean anything. If she still has feelings for you, you can change that.”
“That’s the thing, Sal. I really screwed things up with her. I don’t think she wants anything to do with me anymore.”
Sal gave him that look he’d always given him when they were growing up. The same look he got when Alex had blown up and beat someone’s ass. The What did you do now? look.
“I never told you this, because it was embarrassing. I’m not like you when it comes to school. I had a hell of time keeping up with all the classes and that scholarship meant everything to Mom and Pop. There was no way I was gonna blow it over my grades.”
He hesitated to continue. Even now, he wasn’t sure he wanted Sal to know.
“So?”
Alex stared at the drink he’d poured himself, not wanting to look at Sal. “So, I hired a tutor… Not just one, several.”
“So, what?”
Alex rolled his eyes and took a hard swallow of his drink. “It was humiliating. No way did I want Valerie to know about that. She breezed through school, finished before everyone else.”
“She’s a real estate agent, Alex.”
Alex glared at his brother. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Relax, I’m just saying it’s not law school. She didn’t even need to go to school to become an agent. All she had to do is pass the state exam. Besides, what does that have to do with you screwing things up?”
“Whenever I had the tutor over, I made sure Valerie wasn’t coming around that week. I’d have to ignore her calls or text her I was too busy to talk her. I couldn’t even risk calling her before the tutor would show up because she’d know something was up if I didn’t ask to see her. She assumed I was with other girls.” Alex glanced at Sal, embarrassed to admit it. “And I let her.”
Sal stared at him revolted. “God, you’re stupid. So, why not just tell her now.”
“I actually did tell her.”
“What did she say?”
Alex took another swig of his drink, eyeballing Sal. “I wasn’t planning on it, but she came over one night and my tutor was there.”
Humor brightened Sal’s eyes. “Don’t tell me your tutor was a chick?”
Alex didn’t see the humor. Here he was pouring out his heart and Sal was getting a kick out of i
t. “Yeah, and of course she thought the worse. I tried explaining, but she was hysterical. I thought she was gonna spit in my face when I told her the girl was a tutor.”
Sal really laughed now. Alex felt like flattening him. If he wanted this kind of reaction, he may as well, have told Romero and Eric. Angel was the only one who knew. He’d heard about it from Sarah, and they both believed the same thing Valerie did. That she’d caught him with another girl and he’d try to pass her off as his tutor.
He never told them the truth, of course. As upset as Sarah had been with him, he’d preferred they all believed he’d used the lame excuse than the humiliating truth.
Alex scowled at Sal. “Are you done laughing?”
Sal nodded but couldn’t quite wipe the smile from his face. Alex poured himself another drink.
“Take it easy on that.” Sal warned. “That’s not going to solve anything.”
“Yeah, well, it’ll help me sleep.”
“But you still have to drive home.” Sal watched Alex pour the liquor. “That’s enough, dude.”
Alex stopped and poured in some soda. “Hell, I’ll sleep in the back if I have to. That bed’s still back there.”
“Is that why you’re here on your day off? To get drunk and pass out in the back?”
Alex stared at his drink. “No, I’m here because if I were home, all I’d be doing is thinking about her.”
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