Page 53 of Swamp Princess

“Brinley, trust me. Do. Not. Go. With. Him.” He stares into my eyes with the pleading look on his face, and normally, I would listen to what he'd said but after what he did to me today, there's no way that I'm gonna let him take this little bit of happiness from me.

It saddens me for a second that this is how Blaise and my relationship is turning out to be. Not too long ago, I would have put off going with Hector just to listen to the reason of why Blaise wanted me to stay here with him.

“I don’t trust much of what comes out of your mouth right now, Blaise.” I yank away from him, just as Hector steps forward. I inwardly cringe at the look Blaise is giving me, trying to push it all back.

“Mi hermosa mujer,” Hector whispers as he reaches forward and pulls me closer to his body. I smile up at him. Hector is a Latino Adonis. His strong jaw lightly covered in neatly trimmed beard, his plump lips always so bitable and the two dimples that graces his cheeks whenever he smiles.

“Hey, handsome.” I don’t give him even time to smile before I slam my mouth over his. I need him right now. Everything is spiraling and with my heart in pieces and the constant bullying I am going through, Hector is my one shining light now.

I feel his smile against my lips as the rush from the kiss calms. “God, I missed you,” he whispers, and I smile back.

“I missed you. Are you ready?”

“Brinley, don’t go with him.” A much harder and firmer voice behind me and I sigh. Kingston is standing there, his hand raised as if to touch me.

“Kingston, back the fuck up.” I snap at him. How dare he try to tell me what I can and can’t do, especially since he is one of the largest root causes of my stress.

“Get away from her,” Hector says almost silently, but even I shiver at his words. His tone is like a sharp knife slicing through the tension, and its deadly. Kingston pulls back and I look at him. Not surprised that Remington and Loyal have moved to flank him.

“Just leave me alone.” I am all out of fight and I just need to reset before going back to school, and the longer I stand here, the more of my day is wasted. “I’m getting in the car.” I turn to open the door when I am again, yanked away.

“No.” This time Blaise has me. “Stay.”

“No.” I yank away, and just in time as well. I watch Hector’s fist fly and it connects to the side of Blaise’s face and hitting his nose. Blood pours from his face and I have to resist the urge to want to help him. I get in the car and wait for Hector to get in as well.

I don’t look back as the car moves forward.

Chapter Twenty-One

The ride to Hector’s has me on edge. Hector knows something is wrong because he keeps putting his hand on my thigh as he drives. He calms me and makes me nervous at the same time.

“Abuela is excited to see you.” Hector comments. “I think she already has food cooking.”

“Already.” I smile. The thought of seeing his grandmother makes me happy. I feel a sense of family when I am with the two of them. I haven’t experienced it ever in my life before.

“What are you thinking about?” Hector asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“How lucky you are.”

“What do you mean?” He glances at me for a moment. His brown eyes are curious.

“Your abuela. She loves you. You still have her.”

He stays silent for a moment before he says, “now she is your family, too.” He falls silent for the rest of the drive and when we pull up in front of the house, my stomach calms. “Come on, beautiful.”

He parks the car and helps me out and together, we walk to the house. The moment we walk in, the smells hit me. I can smell Spanish rice and empanadas.

“It smells amazing.” I sigh, squeezing his hand and start pulling him toward the kitchen.

“Is that Brinley I hear?” I see Hector’s abuela right before we hit the kitchen, and the smile on her face warms my face. “Brinley, I am so happy to see you, my dear.” She opens her arms and I rush into her arms, hugging her softly.

“Thank you for having me here.” I release her and move into the kitchen. Hector sits on one of the stools and I sit next to him as abuela places some plates in front of us. We dig into the food and silence falls over us.

After a while, I break it up by asking how she is doing and what Hector has been doing during the week. I know they have a family business, and that Hector runs it with his grandmother right now. The small talk is nice, and yet, they don’t mention anything about what they actually do.

I don’t bother asking because honestly, I don’t want to ruin this time with them. I know in the back of my head it is going to be something that I don’t like, and I have to prepare myself to make a decision on what I want to do.

“Want to come walk with me?” Hector asks, taking me out of my musings in my head.

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