“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 f**king 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?”