Sal scanned the restaurant. “That was weeks ago. So, you wanna tell me what happened last night that made you come back and yell at poor little Julie?”
Alex shook his head. He knew what Sal would think if he told him the whole truth. But he hadn’t told anyone about it and at this point the situation was so desperate he could use some sound advice.
Sal knew he’d hung out with Valerie in the past, but had no idea how bad Alex had it for her. Hell, Alex hadn’t figured that out until just recently.
“Valerie was there last night.”
Sal stared at him blankly. “And?”
“With her boyfriend.”
Sal nodded knowingly. “Ah, what happened?”
“Nothing, I left.”
“What? You didn’t blow up?”
Alex frowned as if Sal was being ridiculous, but he knew damn well, Sal had hit it on the nose. Only reason he hadn’t was because he’d already let some steam out on the first guy. If he’d hung around for even a while longer, who knew what might’ve happened.
“I thought you two stopped going out a long time ago?”
“We did.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
Alex leaned his fists against the counter. “I don’t know. I guess this past year with everything that happened and the restaurant keeping me busy, I was too preoccupied to notice I missed her. Then I saw her at the shower and…I just can’t stop thinking about her now.”
That was an understatement. The woman invaded his every thought. Alex stared at Sal who looked at him weird. He wasn’t use to this kind of guy talk but it felt good to finally talk to someone about this.
“So, did you tell her?”
Alex shook his head, pulling a glass down from the overhead cupboard. “She didn’t give me a chance. Worst thing is it’s too late.”
Sal pinched his brows. “What do you mean too late?”
“She’s with someone else now.” Saying it aloud was just another blow to his gut.
“That doesn’t mean anything. If she still has feelings for you, you can change that.”
“That’s the thing, Sal. I really screwed things up with her. I don’t think she wants anything to do with me anymore.”
Sal gave him that look he’d always given him when they were growing up. The same look he got when Alex had blown up and beat someone’s ass. The What did you do now? look.
“I never told you this, because it was embarrassing. I’m not like you when it comes to school. I had a hell of time keeping up with all the classes and that scholarship meant everything to Mom and Pop. There was no way I was gonna blow it over my grades.”
He hesitated to continue. Even now, he wasn’t sure he wanted Sal to know.
“So?”
Alex stared at the drink he’d poured himself, not wanting to look at Sal. “So, I hired a tutor… Not just one, several.”
“So, what?”
Alex rolled his eyes and took a hard swallow of his drink. “It was humiliating. No way did I want Valerie to know about that. She breezed through school, finished before everyone else.”
“She’s a real estate agent, Alex.”
Alex glared at his brother. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Relax, I’m just saying it’s not law school. She didn’t even need to go to school to become an agent. All she had to do is pass the state exam. Besides, what does that have to do with you screwing things up?”
“Whenever I had the tutor over, I made sure Valerie wasn’t coming around that week. I’d have to ignore her calls or text her I was too busy to talk her. I couldn’t even risk calling her before the tutor would show up because she’d know something was up if I didn’t ask to see her. She assumed I was with other girls.” Alex glanced at Sal, embarrassed to admit it. “And I let her.”
Sal stared at him revolted. “God, you’re stupid. So, why not just tell her now.”
“I actually did tell her.”
“What did she say?”
Alex took another swig of his drink, eyeballing Sal. “I wasn’t planning on it, but she came over one night and my tutor was there.”
Humor brightened Sal’s eyes. “Don’t tell me your tutor was a chick?”
Alex didn’t see the humor. Here he was pouring out his heart and Sal was getting a kick out of it. “Yeah, and of course she thought the worse. I tried explaining, but she was hysterical. I thought she was gonna spit in my face when I told her the girl was a tutor.”
Sal really laughed now. Alex felt like flattening him. If he wanted this kind of reaction, he may as well, have told Romero and Eric. Angel was the only one who knew. He’d heard about it from Sarah, and they both believed the same thing Valerie did. That she’d caught him with another girl and he’d try to pass her off as his tutor.
He never told them the truth, of course. As upset as Sarah had been with him, he’d preferred they all believed he’d used the lame excuse than the humiliating truth.
Alex scowled at Sal. “Are you done laughing?”
Sal nodded but couldn’t quite wipe the smile from his face. Alex poured himself another drink.
“Take it easy on that.” Sal warned. “That’s not going to solve anything.”
“Yeah, well, it’ll help me sleep.”
“But you still have to drive home.” Sal watched Alex pour the liquor. “That’s enough, dude.”