“Bullshit? You’ve been hanging out with him! You stayed in the same hotel!”

She pushed him hard with both hands in the chest and he fell back into his beanbag. “We had separate rooms!” She was screaming now. “How can you believe them? How could you do this to me? Do you have any idea what I’ve been going through this week? Do you know what it was like to be told at the hospital that you didn’t want to see me? To know this whole time you’d believe that I would do something like this? Why? Why would you believe it? I told you I love you.”

The pent up anger and hurt he’d felt all week kicked in and he stood up suddenly making her take a step back. “Yeah, well, you said the same thing to him and then you cheated on him with me, remember?”

Her mouth fell open and she stared at him for a moment, her big stunned eyes searching his face for something. With her chest still heaving she shook her head blinking a couple of times. More tears leaked out of her eyes and down her cheeks before she turned around and walked away without saying another word.

Drawing a blank about what to do or say to her now, he watched her walk away. As much as his heart begged him to go after her, he knew there was nothing more to say. He stood there immobile as the minutes passed. He wasn’t even sure how long he’d been standing there but it was long enough to rewind everything he’d been through with Bianca since the day he’d first gone up to Felix’s cabin.

Relentless hope flew out from the grave, suddenly pounding questions in his head. Why would she come down here just to lie to him? Why would she be so hysterical about it? He’d let his clobbered ego strangle those two questions down when she’d stood there before him and unleashed what the blinding anger would only let him believe. What he’d obsessed about all week—she’d had regrets.

The only thing that kept the whispering hope from increasing into a roar was Felix. Gio hadn’t been able to hold back from hearing Abel’s version of Felix’s answer to his inquiry at the hospital. Gio had expected nothing less from Abel. He’d been far less careful about hurting Gio’s feeling; telling him straight out, it sure as shit appeared that they were back together and to him Felix had confirmed it.

Gio wasn’t dead yet but he may as well be because that’s how he felt. Hope beat out pride and he pulled out his phone. Plopping down into his beanbag he scrolled down his contacts. He could hardly believe what he was about to do but he hit send.

It rang a couple of times before Felix answered. “Hey, G.”

Felix’s tone worried Gio. He sounded too laid back for someone who’d been so mad at him just a few weeks ago. Sure, he’d been civil at the services but that was to be expected. His tone now sounded almost pleasant. Gio didn’t even know where to begin.

“Felix, I uh—”

“I’m glad you called,” Felix interrupted him.“I was just waiting for all this laying Jack to rest business to be over. I don’t want you or anyone to think that because of the beef between me and you I’m turning my back on 5th Street. Now more than ever I want that place to represent what Jack always dreamed it would. Hope for the youth of East LA. It’s what he lived for. I don’t want the dream dying with him. I promised him I’d help. I wanted to be part of that dream to give back to him what he gave to me—to all of us.”

Gio was getting choked up thinking about Jack. The reason for this call now felt so selfish, so petty. “Thanks man. I don’t even know what to say. We couldn’t do it without you that’s for sure.”

“It’s my pleasure broth—”

The line went silent for a moment and Gio squeezed his eyes shut, feeling like the biggest dick on the planet.

Felix cleared his throat and continued. “It’s my pleasure, G. It’s the least I could do for a place that did so much for me.”

“Well, it will be extremely appreciated by so many for years to come. I can guarantee you that.” Gio took a deep breath. “You’re a good guy, Felix. I only hope some day you can forgive me for what happened.”

“That’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

Gio’s breath caught. Was this it? A final warning that he stay away from Bianca? This would definitely be the nail in the coffin because no matter how much he loved her there was no way he’d be that selfish to ruin this second chance for the rest of the guys.

“It sucks the way everything went down.” Felix spoke with a little less conviction than when he spoke about Jack. “But I got to thinking long and hard. I knew there was something different about Bianca from the moment I ran into her again last summer—different than any other girl I’d ever met.” Gio brought his hand over his eyes. God he didn’t want to hear this, Felix didn’t have to tell him how special Bianca was. “I just didn’t figure it out soon enough. She deserved better than how I treated her, than what I did to her and it cost me in the end.”

The end? Gio’s hand came down slowly from his face and he sat up a little straighter. He dare not interrupt.

Felix continued. “The night we left the hospital Bianca nearly had a panic attack in the car. At first she didn’t want to admit to me, of all people, that it was you she was so upset about. She did admit it later when she was calmer but said she’d be okay.”

Felix paused, prompting Gio to ask what he’d been dying to know all week. “What did you mean when you told Abel at the hospital it was complicated and they wouldn’t understand?”