10. Hector

CHAPTER 10

HECTOR

I was sick.

More than obsessed, I was fucking crazed.

I'd never understood men whose life revolved around a woman. I didn't remember my dad enough to have had any kind of example, but I sure as fuck had quietly watched some of my teammates and even my coaches. Hell, even the fucking recruiter who had been bugging me to join the draft had fallen. Hard and fast and almost manic if the rumors around the athletics department were true.

Each one differently, but in the end, it hadn't mattered. All that had mattered to these men were the woman their heart and mind wanted.

Just like I felt with Libby.

I thought after claiming my princess, making her mine in every way possible, the need inside of me would have ebbed. But it didn't. Instead, it felt like it tripled. She made focusing on easy things so damn difficult. I wanted to do nothing but breathe, eat, and sleep Libby Irwin.

I didn't stop crossing the lines I'd blurred before we got together. I still went into her place when I knew she was safe and sound in the library. I was slowly taking things from her room and making sure they were at mine. I purchased the toiletries she liked to use at my dorm. Not only for her to use when she showered there but for me to smell while I fucked my hand on those off nights that she didn't stay with me. My mouth watered at the thought of her smell. Not just of her perfume of shampoo or body wash, but the sweet smell of her pussy when she was nice and juicy and just about to squirt. Something we had discovered she could do three days after I'd popped her cherry.

Two weeks.

Two weeks of us being an official thing, and I knew I was going to fuck everything up. I didn't know how, but I knew it would happen.

I sat on the edge of her bed, stroking the soft blue sheets she'd put on after her laundry day. One I had spent right next to her. Sheets I'd helped put on with her. There wasn't a thing we didn't do together. She had put the blue ones on after she'd noticed the soft pink ones had been marred with the proof of her virginity.

For some reason, she had been embarrassed about the stain and had tossed the sheet out. Or so she thought.

Late that night, I had left her sleeping soundly in her bed and went to the trash where she'd tossed it. Thankfully, nothing else had been tossed over it. When I had snuck back in, I shoved the proof of my claim into my backpack. I'd washed it and kept it under my bed at my own place like some kind of sick fuck.

The door started to jostle, and I sat still.

Calmer than I could have imagined.

I couldn't hide my crazy any longer. The longer I tried, the worse it would get. Libby needed to know exactly how far gone I was. How fucking much I loved her. There was no way we could start the school year, and me the new football season, trying to hide my obsession.

I had purposely stayed in her dorm longer than normal.

I was about to get caught exactly like I had wanted to. The door opened and shut. I watched her take a step inside, lock the door behind her, and freeze in place when her gaze caught mine.

"Hector?" My heart started to pound against my rib cage. Would this be the last time she said my name with that much affection? Was staying here to get caught a big fucking mistake? Her head tilted, and her pretty brows bunched together. Libby blinked slowly behind her dark frames. "What are you doing here?"

"Come here, princess." I patted the mattress next to me, and without thinking about her safety, still so fucking trusting, mi vida came right over, doing exactly like she was told and sat down.

"How did you get in?" she asked, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. I took them and cleaned them with the inside of my shirt before putting them back on her face. Not once did she look away from me. "Hector?" I loved the sound of my name on her tongue. I prayed I wasn't making a colossal mistake.

I couldn't keep living this weird double life.

Not when I was supposed to take a full load of classes and training and football practices were going to start and take up way too much of my time. I'd ruin everything the two of us worked too hard for. I needed to be honest with her. She needed to know the good about me as well as the very bad and ugly.

"We gotta talk," I muttered, taking her hand in mine. My gaze dropped to it. Her skin was so damn fair and soft. The contrast of my darker skin against hers made the back of my teeth ache. Her thin fingers tangled with mine and squeezed, reminding me of just how much smaller she was than me.

"Okay," she said slowly, and I felt her shift on the bed as she sat straighter.

"I need to tell you some shit, and you might not like it."

"Okay," she said, hardly above a whisper. I opened my mouth, but she beat me to it. "Is there someone else?" My head jerked like I'd been hit, and I scowled.

"No! God no!" Relief filled her worried eyes, but I could still see the apprehension in her gaze.

"Okay. Not someone else. Are you having second thoughts? About us? Is this too much?" she asked, all too quickly. The pulse point at her neck was bouncing almost erratically.

"Baby, will you let me talk?" Jesus Christ. Her imagination was running wild. Into areas I didn't want her to even think about.

"I have a copy of your key," I admitted, scared to blink while I watched her closely.

"You have a copy," she repeated. "Of my key?" I jerked my head with a stiff nod.

"I come in here when you're at the library," I added, and because that wasn't it, I kept talking.

Confessing my sins, one after another.

"We work every shift together because I made sure Greg scheduled us together because there was no way in hell I would let you work an overnight shift alone."

"You..." She tried to pull her hand away from mine, but I simply held it tighter.

"I followed you around. That's how we kept bumping into one another."

"I knew it!" Her wide eyes flared. "I knew I wasn't just imagining it. Why would you do that?"

"I needed to make sure you were okay. Safe."

"Safe? In the dining room?"

"You weren't eating enough."

"How would you… You watched me before we bumped into each other," she guessed, and even though she didn't need me to, I confirmed it.

"I did. After that first night,"—I swallowed hard—"when I went to the diner for the first time?" She simply stared at me. I hated that I couldn't read her. "I couldn't stay away. I can't explain it…."

"Try." she said softly, and I knew this was it. Do or die.

"I wanted you."

"So, this is about sex?" she asked all too calmly.

"No. Yes and no."

"Crank––"

"Hector," I corrected and pulled her onto my lap. "You don't call me Crank. No matter how pissed you get at me."

"You've been following me."

"I have. But I'm still yours, and you, mi vida, are mine."

"Hector."

"I fell for you. Hard. That first time I saw you––"

"What the hell are you talking about!" Her eyes shined with unshed tears. "That wasn't the first time you saw me! You've known me for years!"

"I know," I groaned. "And you have no idea how much that's killed me! Knowing you were right under my nose, in my childhood home, alone and unprotected!"

"I wasn't alone."

"I know. Thankfully, my mom and sisters were there. Fucking hell, Libby! You think I deserve you? I don't."

"Hector—"

"I love you, Libby, and I fucking knew it. You are different than anyone I have ever met."

"Hect—"

"I love you. I know it's a lot and I'm laying this out now, but?—"

"You wanted to get caught," she surmised, and everything inside of me stilled. Her eyes stared back at me intensely, almost daring me to lie.

But I wasn't going to.

I'd never lie to her.

"I don't want to hide this side of me." She glanced away. "I can't keep it up. I don't like keeping things from you. For my own sanity and yours, especially as the summer ends and the course load we are both taking this semester and football…" I paused. "I needed you to know."

"That's how you figured out the shampoo and conditioner I use?" The tips of her fingers drew random doodles on my chest.

"Yes," I rasped. She pressed her lips together.

"You followed me to the dining hall? On purpose?" I nodded.

"Yes."

"Were the machines really broken in the building and free at the one in yours?"

"No and no. I put credits in each one to make sure whatever one you used would work," I confessed.

"You made Greg hire you and schedule us together."

"Yes."

"How?" My jaw clenched.

"I promised him great seats to the games this season."

"The ones you used to give?—"

"My abuelo," I interrupted and cleared my throat. "My mom and Gris and Blanca won't go. They went unused last year."

"He just agreed, just like that? For some tickets?"

"No." I swallowed, having to admit to yet another transgression. "I had to promise him that no matter what, I wouldn't hurt you."

"Hurt me? Why? Why would he care about that?" Her eyes widened, and if I weren't so fucking nervous about losing her, I would have thought it was adorable.

"Babe, he had a crush on you. But he sat on his ass waiting to make a move, and thank fuck he did. I told him he needed to keep his hands to himself because you were mine."

"Just like that? Without us going on a date or?—"

"Just like that," I confirmed. "I told you," I rasped. "I saw you that day at the end of the school year. I got there pissed my mom was trying to play matchmaker and meddling in my business. But when I saw you? And our eyes connected?" I took her hand and made it rest right over my heart. "I felt it right here." My cock chose that very moment to twitch against her, and she rolled her eyes.

"I bet you did."

"I'm serious." That's when I noticed it. Libby's cheeks were a pretty shade of pink and there was a slight hint of guilt in her eyes.

"You knew?" I guessed, and she shrugged.

"I kinda guessed," she answered softly. My body started to slowly relax.

"How?" Maybe I hadn't been as stealthy as I'd thought I'd been.

"Your cologne." I stilled. "My room always smells like you when I get back from the library. I thought I imagined it at first, but then it was more obvious." That made sense, considering. "Then you call me like a second after I get inside, and you're here always less than two minutes after we hang up."

"So?"

"So?" She giggled. "It takes like five with that elevator. And that's if you're already down at the lobby." Her body relaxed and her hands wrapped around my neck, her finger toying with hair at the back of my neck.

"You're not pushing me away," I noted. I'd been ready for her to do exactly that.

"Are you still going to keep doing weird stuff?"

"Weird?" I asked. Libby's brow rose, silently challenging me to call it something else. "Yes," I admitted. I couldn't lie to her. My heart stopped and lungs seized for a moment. Her face was expressionless until her lips twitched and her eyes sparkled. "Yes," I repeated with confidence. "I don't think I could stop, Lib."

"Is it bad if I say I don't want you to stop?" she whispered, and I knew it was going to be okay. I didn't need to worry because she was made for me and all my weird shit.

"Fucking hell," I groaned, resting my forehead against hers, holding her face in my hands. "I don't deserve you. I have no idea what I did to get lucky enough that you're okay with this side of me. I didn't even know I had a side like this." She exhaled slowly.

"Your freak matches my freak," she whispered, and I laughed roughly. Opening my eyes, I stared into hers. Eyes I couldn't wait to see every day of my life until my last breath.

"It's not going to be easy," I warned, not that I'd give her a choice of whether she was stuck with me in her life or not.

"What isn't?" Her eyes searched mine.

"This. Us. This year…" I licked my lips and swallowed hard. "Football season is starting and––"

"Shh," she hushed, pressing her lips against mine and kissing me slowly. Sweetly. "It's going to be okay."

"It is," I vowed, "But you need to know. Practices and trainings and away games, it can be a lot." She pulled back and looked at me.

"I know." This time when she blushed, the pink tinge hit the tips of her ears.

"You know?"

"Hector, I came to school here last year. I know what a time commitment football season is, not to mention the classes you're taking."

"And the classes you're taking," I reminded her, and she nodded.

"We're going to graduate at the same time." I nodded. "We both want to go to med school," she added. Where I wanted to be a surgeon, my girl wanted to be an anesthesiologist.

"We will make it work," I growled. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I can be kind of a demanding asshole."

"You give yourself too much credit." She laughed, and I wrapped my arms around her tightly, breathing in the scent of the top of her hair.

It was like a breath of fresh air.

The first full breath I'd taken since I decided to let her catch me today so I could lay it all out. "I love you, Libby. I love you so fucking much."

"I love you, too, Hector. All of you," Her fingertips stroked my jaw. "The funny easy-going side and the darker one that's a little…"

"Stalkery?"

"I was going to say weird, but stalkery works."

"But I only stalk you, mi vida."

"Good," she giggled. I flipped her around, covering her body with mine. My princess didn't try to push me away. If anything, her limbs wrapped around me like she had my insides wrapped around her little finger.

"You're mine," I growled.

She was still with me.

She knew everything about me. The deepest darkest shit, things I'd done that would have sent any other woman running, and she was still with me. The monster inside of me grinned cockily. Mine.

"I've been yours," she whispered with so much love and understanding in her eyes, I had to blink away the emotion in mine.

I didn't know what I'd done in a past life, but I would work tooth and nail to do anything to keep my girl happy and safe. She was my world, my life, my everything.