Page 85 of Bound By My Father's Best Friend

My eyes welled up with tears, a weight on my chest almost suffocating me. I squeezed the phone even tighter in my grip and forced it down by my side. Hector shifted beside me to face me and reached for my phone.

“Heather,” he murmured, “you can’t keep torturing yourself like this.”

“I just … I need to hear from him.”

Gaze softening, he pulled the phone out of my grasp and set it on his nightstand. Then, he lay back down and cupped my cheek with his hand. “I know how much this means to you, but give him time to process this. Sending him texts won’t help.”

My lips quivered. “He’ll never be proud of me. How did this even happen?”

Hector swiped away a tear that had escaped down my cheek with his thumb, his touch gentle. “We made choices, Heather. And now, we have to face the consequences. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t proud of you.”

“Oh, come on,” I said. “He has never been proud of me. And he never will now.”

“Is he not proud of you, or are you not proud of you?” he asked.

“Stop,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around myself. “I …”

I didn’t like how he always called me out on my bullshit. He didn’t have to force me to face … how I truly felt. How I didn’t feel good enough because I had followed my brother’s footsteps in order to please Dad.

Light continued to seep into the room, and my eyes became heavy. I sank back into the pillows and closed my eyes, still upset but so exhausted over everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

Once Hector adjusted the blankets around me, he rose from the bed. “Get some rest, Heather. We’ll talk about …thistomorrow.” He crossed the room and drew the curtains closed so it was dark.

While I didn’t want him to leave the bed without me, I really needed the sleep. My phone buzzed on the nightstand, and I snapped my gaze to it. Hector scooped up my phone and walked toward the door.

“Hector, wait,” I said. “Is that him?”

“I know you’re hurting, Heather, but constantly checking for his messages won’t make things better,” he whispered, tilting the screen upward and peering at it. “But if it’ll help you sleep, it’s not him.”

“Will you wake me if he responds?”

“No.”

“But—”

Hector walked to me and placed a kiss on my forehead. “Sleep, hon. You need it.”

CHAPTERFIFTY

HECTOR

When I steppedinto the office, a current of hushed conversations and curious glances charged the atmosphere. I sucked in a low breath and continued to my office, ignoring the stares because it wasn’t any of my business.

Well, it was my business. But I didn’t care what they thought.

Heather needed me to be strong, and I didn’t have remorse for falling in love with her.

After Heather had slept through the morning, I’d cooked her breakfast and made sure she was all set with everything that she needed for today. She wasn’t going into classes, and I didn’t blame her.

I dumped my bag off at my desk and walked back into the main workspace, spotting Evelyn. She sat at her desk with papers in front of her, but her gaze was on me. When she noticed me staring back, she stood.

Once she made it to me, her face scrunched into a mix of concern and uncertainty. “Hector, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Of course. What’s going on?”

Evelyn sighed, her gaze troubled as she met my eyes. “Jacob has been in his office since this morning, with the door locked and the curtains drawn. I’ve never seen him like this, Hector. He’s devastated about what happened.”

Guilt ate away at my heart because while I wasn’t remorseful about my relationship with Heather, I still respected him … just not the way he had been treating her at the club, pointing fingers and raising his voice.

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