Ese Hombre

Mikayla let out a light laugh in spite of the tears that fell down her face at Hector’s reassurance that crying in front of him was okay. She’d been so strong for so long that she hadn’t realized just how much she’d been holding back until that moment. At the very least, anybody who was looking on could assume she was crying over Anna, not the heavy conversation at hand. She listened as he spoke, taking the handkerchief from him when he offered it and using it to wipe her cheeks clean of the tears that fell. “I don’t think I could ever turn my back on her after everything she did. I’m just… frustrated. And I know when I’m mad I can get incredibly mean, so I walked out before I could say anything that would change our relationship forever. I’ll talk to her again, I’m just not sure what I would say, especially if she doesn’t see how what she did hurt me. And then if I tell her everything…” The only person who knew the extend of everything she had been through was Manny, and it had been difficult for even him to digest. “I guess we’ll see.” Sniffling some, she leaned into his embrace some. “Thank you, Hector. It really means a lot to me that you’ve been so accepting of me. I know I haven’t gotten your sister’s approval yet, but I’m working on it.”

“Eh Araceli doesn’t like anyone, she don’t even like me half of the time,” he joked, “ My mom is the important one but you already have points with her cause you speak Spanish and I think Arianna had taken up most of her shady energy,” he joked and gave her shoulder one more squeeze. “Come on, lets go check on our girl, see if she needs anything. Thanks again for being here, it means a lot.”

          “Thanks…” Jessica said awkwardly, “and I’m sorry again—” it took her a few more steps and almost a dog attack for her to recognize Hector and sighed a breath of relief. Of course, she didn’t mean to harm him with her phone, but, it wasn’t just about the flat tire. Ever since she had consciously diminished her drinking in an effort to keep her job, Jessica had been on edge about every other time she wasn’t either drinking or working. Already irritated with the cold weather and the fact that she still needed to find a window of time when her father was not home to pick up her things, aligned with the other fact that the man had been texting her and asking her why she hadn’t been home in a while, she was about to lose her mind and it wasn’t going to be pretty. Walking over to him and beware of the dogs she settled between his knees and grabbed his face to examine the small swell that was already forming. “That’s gonna bruise a bit, I’m really sorry again about it, kinda didn’t see ya,” her nose wrinkled before a knowing smirk appeared on her face. “Hey— we’ve been in this position before, haven’t we?”

“Didn’t see me? I’m pretty noticeable, I’m a little insulted now,” he replied with a soft laugh, leaning into her touch. “Damn right we have, is this your idea of foreplay cause I don’t know how down I am with that.” It was his turn to smirk as he looked her over, trying to ignore the throbbing in his head. “Does this mean you gonna patch me up again? Cause I really enjoyed that last time. Like a lot.” He laughed softly and stood up a little straighter. “How does it look though, am I still handsome?”

“As adorable as you both are, I can do without it.” The brunette said, chuckling lightly. The worst part of being on and off with someone, it was sometimes the heart didn’t realize that they were off. The smallest things would have her heart skipping a beat or swoon. Physical touch was the hardest. As he entwined their fingers, her brown eyes locked with his. Was it so bad to want to be in his arms just one more time? To feel his warm touch. Arianna kicked all her bad habits to the curve, but when it came Hector, she didn’t know to let go. She didn’t want to. It was impossible. Not only did they have a child together, they had years of history. The love that she had for that man was unlike anything that she had ever felt for anyone else. As he spoke, she nodded her head in agreement. Of course he was right. Feeling his hands on her cheek, the brunette licked her lips, body moving just a little closer. He was right, they needed to be closer -much, much closer. All the warning alarms were going off in her head, but without a second though, she ignored them. Ari leaned in, ready to burn herself in the process, when the microwave saved or ruined whatever was going to happen. The brunette ran a hand through her long hair as she straightened herself a bit. “Mhm,” she bit her lip, eyes following him as he went to retrieve their food. Why did she ask for it again? Fuck. “Thanks.” she said as she took the bowl. Arianna couldn’t look him in his eyes. Not yet. She didn’t trust herself. Not while her heart was beating this fast and her lips were aching for his.“–You can’t talk to me right now, Hector. I’m trying really hard to not do something we might regret later.” she said, when her heart was really saying ‘take me’. The woman glanced down at her plate for a couple of seconds then looked at him. “Is –um, is Anna coming back anytime soon?”

“It’s my law.” Kate said smugly, before she took a bite of one of her cheese fries. Kate could throw a party, and that was something that she could say with confidence. “The weekend after, and yes. A suds party. It will be the best party you’ve ever been too. Did I tell you I have a keg guy?” It was true. She met the guy in college, and he had been her keg supplier ever since. “Oh don’t even worry about it. I will take care of everything. It’s like my calling. It’s what I did in college. God, I really miss fucking college. I never went to class.” 

“A keg guy? Look at you, having people on speed dial and shit. You know I’m gonna be honest, I’m just like slightly concerned cause I know you’re a little crazy but I say that with love, I promise. Yeah closest I got to college was visiting my brother David when he was in school. Shit I barely graduated high school.” Hector leaned back and reached into his wallet, pulling out three hundred dollar bills before handing it to her, “For the party, you need more you let me know, okay? Least I can do.”

“No thanks, I refuse to have Coco playing in my house all day everyday. Those days are over, let me enjoy it. Rice and chicken sounds bomb though, get to it.” she ordered in a teasing manner and simply rolled her eyes when he flipped her off. That part of their relationship never faded, she doubted that one day it will. “Mi amor, I’m Latina. You’ll never see a grey hair on this head.” she retorted as grabbed the water, taking a small sip before placing it on the coffee table. Her instinct was to move closer when he joined her on the couch and she almost did. But she quickly remembered and leaned back on the couch more comfortably. “That’s true, I’ll be there with a present and everything then.” she said, chuckling lightly as she looked at him. He truly only got better with age. She couldn’t help but wonder who’s made a move since their breakup. “Oh really? That’s bound to get crazy.” Arianna sat up straight and this time moved closer to him, resting her hand on top of his. “I know, Hector. Créeme, I felt at fault and like a shitty friend, but the only person at fault in all of this was Jared. And he got what he deserved and she’s alive. Gracias a dios esta viva and we have to be happy about that. Not keep blaming ourselves.” Forgiving herself in all of this had been the hardest thing for her. Unlike most of their friends, Arianna wasn’t constantly telling Anna to leave her husband. She didn’t wanna pressure her so she offered emotional support instead…..She wondered these days if things could’ve been differently had she just voiced her opinion like the others, had she just been strong for her best friend. But that what if had her go down a dark rabbit hole she was too scared to step into again. 

“What you don’t want him to sing ‘Remember Me’ again and again? You don’t like my singing voice?” Hector rarely if ever changed his tone or his character around people, you got what you saw but with Ari it was hard to train himself to not be her boyfriend anymore. Whether it was having to physically pull himself away or curb just how much he flirted. Like he had to put a wall up even though he felt himself melt whenever she called him amor. He felt like they were teenagers again, skipping class while she sat on the back of his bike and they drove around town. So when she took his hand he moved closer, his fingers entwining with hers for a moment. “You know it really makes you think, you know? How precious life is, how much the people we love can just get hurt like that. It’s..fucking crazy. Makes you think you gotta keep people closer...” he trailed off as he reached out to brush some of her hair out of her face, his fingertips brushing across her cheek. “You know..Leo should be asleep for a little while..” he swallowed thickly, knowing he was playing with fire but he met her eyes for a moment, leaning in to kiss her before the timer on the microwave went off and he jumped a bit, sighing as he hung his head. “Let me uh..let me get that.” He was a little embarrassed, not wanting to come off as desperate as he got to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck before he served the both. “Here you go,” he told her and handed her a bowl of rice and chicken before he sat down with his own. “So...”

“It may not be sunshine and rainbows, but at least he has you both, right? And you do your best to support him. That’s what matters. I didn’t really have that while Mami was sick. My grandparents… They’ve hardly been supportive of me a day in my life. They’re always criticizing everything, always did the same to Mami, especially after she came home pregnant at such a young age, and the reason she never tried accepting his help is because of them. Because they’d convinced her he was a bad influence on her, but they were kids, y’know? You do stupid shit when you’re a kid, but that’s when you should be allowed to make mistakes, when your parents are there to help you through it.” Realistically, she knew she didn’t need to have Max in her life to be who she was; she didn’t need him to work her hardest and be the second in her graduating class, she didn’t need to have him in her life to have gone to a really good school with scholarships that would have covered the majority of the costs, either. But she could have used him when she had to put all of those dreams on hold to take care of the woman who had taken care of her her whole life, could have used the extra support so she didn’t feel like her whole world was falling apart and she didn’t have a firm foundation to stand on as she carried the weight of it all at 16 years old. “I’ve been living in an almost constant state of stress trying to make sure we would be okay and maybe having Max in our lives wouldn’t have fixed everything, but at least I wouldn’t have had to do it alone. And I know she thought it was best, but… she doesn’t know everything – what I did to help. I can’t fault her for that because I know it’d break her heart if she knew. But it still hurts. A lot. I don’t know if that hurt’s going to go away anytime soon or if things can go back to the way they were before without me having to tell her why I’m as upset as I am about all of it… But I don’t want her to see me differently.” She wiped her hand across her cheek to catch the few tears that slipped out of the corner of her eyes, looking away to blink back the tears. “I don’t want to lose her, but knowing how my grandparents have poisoned her mind already, I’m scared she wouldn’t accept me if I told her.”

Hector nodded along as he listened to her, knowing better than anything how complicated family could be, especially when it came to mothers. His relationship with Fatima was complicated but built on mutual respect and love. He thought the world of his mother but he didn’t always agree with her decisions or the way she chose to move forward. But she was his mother, the woman who had given him life, nurtured him, allowed him to grow up with a life despite the family business. He had tried to let go of his resentment and realize that just because this was his life it didn’t mean he had to be miserable and release all control. He still had a say. As her tears started to fall, he moved his seat so that he could be right next to her and slid his arm around her shoulders, giving them a slight squeeze. “It’s okay to cry, mama, don’t be ashamed of tears in front of me. You ask Anna i’m a fucking cry baby,” he told her with a soft laugh. “Even I can tell that no one is more ride and die for you than your moms, alright? So getting to know her daughter for who she is, all that she is, I’m willing to put my money on her still loving you and accepting you for all of it. If you can’t be real with her than who can you be real with? Because you gotta accept her for who she is too. A woman who made a mistake. But a woman who loves you with all her heart. You get to be angry, you get to be sad. You get to be upset with her and tell her she’s wrong. But you can’t turn your back on her because we both know she won’t do that to you, despite all those fucking fears you got. So you dance on a pole, so what? You fucking kill it up there, like JLO Hustlers status and I mean who didn’t love Hustlers, you know? It’s not something to be ashamed of, we all do shit to survive, it’s part of the game.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out his handkerchief, holding it up for her to wipe her face. “And like it or not, you’re part of our family now, and we look out for ours, so no matter what, you got familia, okay? You hear me? Your big brother Hector is here for you always, so don’t worry, mamita. We got you. You and your mom, and not just cause I think she’s sexy,” he added with his own laugh, leaning in to press a soft kiss to her temple. “You’re gonna be alright, Mik. I promise you.”

          “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready, but I just wanna get it done, there are things I can’t just leave there,” she explained. The idea of going back to that house again rang as anything but good to her. She didn’t know what kind of emotions that would stir up and if it would stir up any kind of emotion at all. Her therapist warned her about the possibility of her not having digested what happened with her at all, she said that she might feel like dying when it does, and anything could trigger it. Anna hoped that being inside the house didn’t, at least not when she had Hector there. She could see that he was kind of apprehensive about it, too. He didn’t want her to go, but he knew she needed. It was the one last thing she needed to do before closing down that chapter of her life for good. Before she could leave Jared to be a part of her sour memories and do something good, something better with what she had now. “No Kenny, though, I’m gonna get my things and then I plan on calling a cleaning service team before I pass the house onto her, now that police cleared, I just want to get rid of it,” she grinned. “Come on, I need to make it as quick as I can make it.”

“You need a cleaning team I got one,” he told her with a nod, “Best in the game,” he added as he slowly got to his feet. Granted they were the people his mother usually hired to clean up a mess which only mean they knew how to do a good job, especially when it came to getting blood out of the carpet. “Alright, alright but it’s a shame we have to carry a bunch of shit cause we could’ve taken my new bike,” he added with a soft laugh, still cheesing about the birthday gift she got him. It was a major flex and he was too happy to benefit from it . He grabbed his keys and followed her out to his truck, taking a deep breath before peeling out towards Amber Valley, reaching over to give her hand a quick squeeze. “Does this mean I get to house hunt with you because I love walking around new houses and making up stories. We gotta get you a big backyard though, I’ll put on my Leo vision goggles so we can think about all the places he’ll run around in.” When they finally pulled up to her old house, he start to slow down, his own nerves riling up as they pulled into the driveway and he had to remind himself that Jared was gone. “You ready?”

Chase: If you didn't I'd have to question where your head was at

Chase: If only I had the connect... But I don't know any of these celebs in town so you're shit outta luck

Chase: Actually Levi's chatting up one of them so maybe he could make it happen

Chase: Should let me know what you want before we get wasted

Chase: Better to use a tattoo gun when you're sober!

Hec: Oh shit now that you say it, Art's been smashin THalia Nasri, that may be our in

Hec: Oh shit forreal? Yo how are our baby brothers getting all these celebs? Obviously they haven't met us

Manny: Half the town I'd imagine, Edens is generous

Manny: Damn, sounds like you like her more than me. Course I'm going to second guess that. Family comes home, if any of you had an issue with her, I'd want to know. Your opinions are all that matter to me

Manny: Anyway, hope your gift got there this morning

Hec: I mean....

Hec: 😂😂😂🙊🙊🙊

JAY: i mean, you're not wrong

JAY: but i mean if i could be younger again

JAY: i'd also do that cause i'm just gettin closer to death over here

Hec: you're not 90, chill out

Mags: Anna may or may have not drop by and given me a cake to take with me later so we can all sing happy b-day properly

Mags: you say that, i like being young

Mags: yes please, im pretty sure she misses him and i do too!

Hec: Of course she did, she spoils me

Hec: hey more power to you, i think oldness fits me well

Kit: at least they ain't reminiscing about Bebo and MySpace

Kit: so you know the word zaddy but you don't know what a tik tok is????

Kit: yeah by date i meant sex 😜😜😘

Hec: Yeah because someone called me zaddy the other day

Hec: u were texting during sex??? 😕😕😕😷😷

JAY: im counting it as splashing out for a dash of lime to go with that corona to make it DRINKABLE

JAY: but happy birthday you're still older than me 😉

KENZIE: that makes me feel like i'm spending too much damn time in tappin boots huh

KENZIE: i mean, i'm taking that SOLELY on the basis that grump cat is also fucking adorable so sure

KENZIE: y'all just need to give him some time he's just private

Hec: lmfaaooo private??? nah girl but that's ur man so i'll leave it at that

Chase: You know I'm whiskey or bust

Chase: Just gotta wrap up at the shop then I'll be there to love on my favorite birthday boy

Chase: And I have to emphasize boy because Oprah's birthday is also today and we both know she'd win out in that competition 😏

Hec: This is the kind of energy I'm talking about!!!

Hec: Bro imagine if oprah showed up on my bday? I would 100% smash, deadass