Hearing Charlee squeal about the cold air brought Felix back to thoughts of tonight, and he looked up at Hector. “Do Ella and her friend know how to get there?”
“I dunno,” Hector said, rubbing Charlee’s arms as a cold breeze swept by.
“Go ahead,” Felix said, motioning to Charlee, who was obviously cold. “I’ll wait for them. This way you can get the order in already.”
Hector double-checked what toppings Felix wanted and what kind of beer and took off with Charlee and Drew. Felix glanced into the gym and saw Ella and her friend approaching. His insides did this weird thing they’d done when they’d walked into her class earlier, and Felix touched his stomach, confused by it. No way was he getting any ideas of doing anything remotely social with Ella or anyone else who worked at 5th Street.
Tonight was all business. Technically, Drew had beaten him to the punch, but he had been ready to ask Ella if she wanted to join them for pizza.
Not socially.
Like Drew, he, too, thought it might be a good chance to get to know her better. Nellie had offered her a full-time position after all. She could very well be 5th Street’s newest employee. He did plan on spending more time at the gym, getting reacquainting with the staff and members. He’d been too detached from the place. It might remind him of why he’d worked so hard to get to where he’d gotten only to lose it all.
He also was truly interested in hearing more about Ella’s plans for the breast-cancer awareness program. From the sound of it, Nellie would be giving Ella free rein. He still couldn’t believe how young Ella was. She seemed so put together. Doing this at a pizza place with others around just seemed safer. She might feel more comfortable and speak more openly if she thought they were on neutral ground. Having Hector and the girls there would leave no room for her to misinterpret his intentions about wanting to get better acquainted.
Ella walked out the front doors with her friend. “Are we still waiting for Hector and them?”
“No.” Felix shook his head. “They went ahead of us to get the order in.”
“Oh, okay,” she said, crossing her arms tightly as the wind picked up again. “What place is this?”
“Barros on third. You know where that is?”
Carmen laughed and Ella smiled, nodding. “Yeah, we go there . . . a lot.” She took a step toward the parking lot. “So we’ll meet you there, then?”
“You two can jump in with me. No sense in taking two cars.”
His insides did that stupid thing again as Ella glanced at her friend. “I’m her ride,” she explained. “She came here with Sonia, so I’ll be taking her home tonight.”
“That’s fine,” Felix said, beginning to get annoyed about the weirdness in his stomach each time his and Ella’s eyes met. “I can bring you both back to get your car.”
The girls exchanged glances then shrugged, and now the weirdness was accompanied by a strange relief. What the hell was wrong with him?
For a moment, it dawned on him that the girls might think he was being a showoff when they saw his car. It was something that had never concerned him before, but he got this feeling that Ella wouldn’t be quite as impressed by his car as most girls. In fact, she might be turned off by its extravagance. To his surprise, she whistled as the car turned on before they even reached it.
“Wow,” her friend said, and for the life of him, he couldn’t remember her name. “This is amazing. What is it?”
“A Bentley,” he said, opening both side doors for them.
Thankfully, her friend got in the back, not that it should matter really. But even though he didn’t know either of the girls very well, he felt as if he knew Ella a little better.
The girls seemed to hush as he came around and got in the car. He knew they were likely talking about how insanely fancy the car was. For some reason, he couldn’t shake the fact that maybe flaunting his wealth in front of Ella wasn’t the greatest idea. Maybe it was what Hector said the other day. She was too humble for him.
Another not so good idea was inviting her friend to join them. But then Felix wasn’t the one who invited her. Just a few blocks into the drive, Ella referred to Carmen by her name so he at least knew the name of the person doing all the talking.
The whole fucking way there.
When they turned the corner and the parking lot of Barros came into view, Felix immediately realized what had seemed like a good idea earlier may’ve completely backfired. Hector’s calling ahead of time to let Barros know he was coming and they needed the back room, had apparently been leaked. The place could get crowded on the weekends, but it was the middle of the week, and the crowd in the parking lot was ridiculous.
Another dead giveaway that his showing up here had been leaked was Clive. Felix recognized his truck parked out front immediately. Clive was a reporter for one of the most notorious celebrity gossip shows in Hollywood. Clive, it seemed, had been assigned to follow Felix exclusively.
The camera phones were clicking the moment they drove into the parking lot. One glance at Ella and Felix could see she was already uncomfortable. “We don’t have to eat here if you’d rather not,” he offered. “I can call Hector and have him meet us somewhere else.”
“I’m okay with eating here.” Carmen piped up from the backseat.
Ella shrugged, still looking around guardedly as the camera phones were already flashing. “They’re not all gonna walk in with us, right?”
A guy wearing the restaurant’s shirt and an apron ran up to the window on Felix’s side, and Felix rolled the window down. “Mr. Sanchez, on behalf of Barros, I wanna apologize for this. We have no idea how the word got out that you’d be here, but we’re honored that you’d choose our establishment to dine at tonight, and we’d like to make your time here as pleasant as possible. If you come around the back, we’ve saved a parking spot for you. I can personally assure you as the owner that no one but your party will be allowed in the back room and you’ll have full access to the employee restrooms. Even the employees have been instructed to use the public restrooms while you’re here.”
Felix laughed. “No need for all that, but I would appreciate you letting me park in the back.” He glanced around. “I don’t think there’s any parking left out here.”
“Absolutely.” The owner nodded profusely. “Just go around and someone will be waiting for you by the back door.”
In the few minutes it took Felix to talk to the owner, the vultures had surrounded his car and the cameras were snapping. Felix glanced at Ella again, trying not to lose his temper. Normally he didn’t have a problem with the overzealous fans and paparazzi, but he was afraid this, too, would be a turn off. Not everyone could deal with this. Gio and Abel were perfect examples. They hated it.
This was something so new to him. The need to apologize about his lifestyle was as foreign a feeling to him as the weirdness he was still feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Going around the back didn’t deter the paparazzi. Felix could see Clive wasn’t the only one there either. Only unlike Clive, the others didn’t keep their mouths shut. The moment Felix and the girls were out of the car, the cameras began flashing and the questions started flying.
“Is it true you turned down a rematch with Grecco?”
“Mr. Sanchez, are you in town to train?”
“Will you be training at 5th Street or Big Bear?”
“Will you have the 5th Street dream team training you?”
The owner who’d come out the front rushed out the back door and began demanding the paparazzi leave his property. He ushered Felix and the girls in the back door and closed it behind them.
“Again, I can’t apologize enough for this.” The owner began his spiel again.
“No worries. No worries,” Felix assured him before he’d go on and on.
The moment he walked into the back room, Hector looked up at him and laughed. “Can’t take you anywhere!”
“That is crazy!” Drew said after taking a sip of her beer. “How did a
ll those people get here so fast?”
“And all those reporters,” Carmen said, taking a seat next to Charlee.
“Reporters?” Hector asked, his brows jumping up. “There weren’t any reporters when we got here. Just way more people than normal.”
“People ready to snap photos the moment they recognized Hector,” Charlee said, shaking her head.
“Yeah,” Hector pecked Charlee. “That’s when I knew something was up.”
The manager walked in with a tray of cheesy bread and mozzarella sticks and a glass of iced tea, which he placed next to Charlee’s half empty glass. “The owner sends these as compliments of the house,” he explained as he set down the tray too. “So are those.” He pointed at the two extra pitchers of beer being set down on the table by another server.
“Thank you,” Felix said quickly, “but that’s not necessary. Really.”
The manager shook his head. “We insist. Your pizza and wings should be out shortly as well. If there’s anything at all you need, just wave us down. I’ll come back in a bit to check on you.”
So much for Felix’s original idea of getting better acquainted with Ella on neutral ground—somewhere she’d feel more comfortable. The night kept getting worse, and they’d barely gotten there. First, her friend barely let Ella get in a word the whole way there, so he still knew little about her other than the work she did at 5th Street. Now this. For the first time in years, he actually wished his life was a little more normal.
At least with the appetizers there the subject of the crowd outside was forgotten—for the moment. Hector asked the girls if they wanted a glass of beer or something else to drink. They each said they’d be fine with beer. He started to pour a glass, and Felix hurried to pour one too so he could get Ella’s.
Why was he acting like such a schmuck all of a sudden?
To his relief Hector, handed the one he poured to Carmen, and Felix handed the one in his hand to Ella. At least the seating worked out. Since Carmen had sat next to Charlee, Ella sat across from them, leaving the seat next to her open. Felix snagged it. Carmen was now caught up talking Charlee and Drew’s ear off about the self-defense class, and Felix finally had a moment to chat somewhat privately with Ella.
“So you come here often?”
The words shot out before he could even think them through. That was not how it was supposed to sound. He’d meant to take her somewhat playful comment back at the gym about coming here a lot and use it to start a safe conversation. One that wasn’t too personal. Instead, he immediately felt like a douche using a cheesy pickup line on someone at a pizza place!
She smiled, and his eyes were instantly on her mouth. He’d been right about her having great teeth, but this close he could see it wasn’t just her teeth that made for that nice smile. Her lips were perfect too. Almost sensual. Most people didn’t have such perfectly shaped lips.
“Yes,” she admitted, continuing to smile, and he had to force himself to look up at her eyes. “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid, and then in high school, this was one of the places where everyone hung out.”
“Really? Did you go to Garfield?”
“I did.” She nodded then added quickly. “And, of course, I knew you went there too. How couldn’t I? The huge mural on the back wall of the gym was a dead giveaway.”
“That was kind of embarrassing,” he admitted. “I didn’t even graduate from there. Halfway through my junior year I had to pull out because I began training to go semi-pro and started getting homeschooled.”
“It still counts according to the administration there. They’re very proud of their most famous and successful alumnus. If you hadn’t left to be homeschooled, we would’ve attended school there at least one year together.”
He looked at her skeptically. “No way. You’re too young.”
She shook her head. “I’m an early December baby, so I started school a little early. Just made the cutoff.” With a sudden bashfulness, she added. “It was disappointing to say the least. One more year. I would’ve been a freshman your senior year.”
Her smile went even more playful before sipping her beer. Felix couldn’t get over how at ease she was talking to him despite the fact that she’d just admitted looking into what year he attended there then did the math. He’d gotten used to being amused that girls could be such total wrecks when they talked to him. Sometimes, just like her friend, they’d overdo it and talk way too fast because they were nervous. Ella had even asked Carmen very casually to slow down in the car. Meanwhile, just like now, Ella had been the essence of composed.
“Sometimes I regret missing out on high school,” he admitted, taking a sip of his beer.
“Really?” She tilted her head.
With every movement she made, Felix noticed something new about her, like now. Hector was right. Nothing about her popped out at you. She probably wouldn’t make your head turn at first glance, but he’d hardly call her plain. She had the kind of delicate features you had to study closely to appreciate. Like her lashes. They weren’t big and thick like the ones on the models and television personalities he was used to dating. But they were long and curved and appeared to be all natural, nothing fake. Everything about her was like that. But Hector was right about one thing. She wasn’t the type of girl he’d normally date. Ella was something else and then it hit him. That’s what it was. She was what he’d heard so much about and had never gotten it. Ella had natural beauty.
Felix stared at her for a moment, a little stunned. That’s exactly what she had. He’d noticed her flawless complexion earlier when Nellie had first introduced them. Ella tilting her head the way she did now had his eyes immediately on her neck. They followed her delicate neckline all the way down. It was just as soft, just as flawless, perfect for—
“But surely your worldly lifestyle made up for missing out on prom and homecoming, right?”
Ella’s comment pulled him out of his thoughts and thankfully so. Felix straightened out and focused on what she’d just said like he should’ve been doing the whole time.
“Yeah, but most of the stuff I’ve done I can do over and over or anytime. You only get to do prom once.” He stopped just before taking another sip of his beer, suddenly curious. “Did you go to prom?”
“Twice,” she said, smiling so playfully her eyes shined.
Felix couldn’t tell if she was teasing or being honest, but his insides were doing that thing again. “Did you really?”
“Um huh.” She nodded and sipped her beer again. “I was asked to go my sophomore year, and then I went again my senior year.”
“Touché,” he said with a smile. Of course she’d be asked more than once. To think if things had gone differently she might’ve gone with him. “You have a very sweet smile.” Once again, the words flew out before he even had a chance to think about them.
Not that he wanted it to but he sort of expected her smile to flat line in reaction to the compliment. It was what most girls did when he said something like that to them. But he was pleasantly surprised to see how poised she remained, simply raising an eyebrow and taking another sip of her beer. She never once broke eye contact—eye contact that Felix knew had gotten heavier and heavier each time. Yet he’d been powerless to back the hell off.
“Thank you,” she said when she was done swallowing the sip of beer. She glanced at Carmen, who was in the middle of telling Charlee and Drew something they were laughing about. “I need to go to the ladies’ room. Do you have to go?”
Carmen nodded, immediately standing up. Ella got up too and they excused themselves. It was only then that Felix saw Hector smirking and peering at him as he chewed on some cheesy bread.
“What?” Felix asked, reaching for a piece of bread.
“You hitting on Ella?”
“No,” Felix said, sounding more annoyed than he cared to admit that implication made him. “Can’t I say she has a nice smile without it having to mean anything else?”
Hector chuckled as the s
ervers brought out the pizzas they’d ordered. He shook his head, reaching for a slice of pizza. “I don’t care if you are, you know. That’s Abel, not me, and I won’t say shit to him either if you don’t want me to.” He shrugged. “It’s none of my business if you’re planning on taking her back to your place or anything.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not,” Felix said, feeling a little panicked that Hector would just put it out there like that.
Had it been just the smile comment Hector had overheard, or had Felix really been that obvious? So she’d impressed him. She wouldn’t be the first girl to have done so. And this was a different kind of impressed. This was business, serious business because of the nature of why Ella was working at the gym: her brother’s girl being raped and the cancer thing in homage of her dead mother. This was nothing to be taken lightly and certainly not anything he’d undermine by using it as a means to get in her pants.
“I was gonna say you’ve been hogging her while I’m supposed to be interviewing her.” Drew smirked as she chewed her pizza happily.
“I know,” Charlee added with a playful smile. “And they were talking all low almost as if they didn’t want us to hear what they were saying.”
Hector smiled big. “I heard.”
His smug friend stuck the rest of his pizza slice in his mouth, grinning big, and Felix felt like shoving another one or two in that mouth to shut him up.
“I wasn’t”—he turned again to make sure Ella and Carmen weren’t on their way back—“hogging her okay?”
Charlee laughed. “Are we embarrassing you, Felix?”
“No!”
Hector laughed now too. “How cute,” he said in the most annoying coddling voice. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your face get all red.”
“Shut up.” Felix refilled his beer mug. “I don’t get red.”
“Okay, your face is pink. Your ears . . .” Hector laughed again as Felix looked up at him. “Now those are red.”
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