“Okay, it’s true!”
He threw his glass of beer in the trashcan so hard it shattered loudly and made her cringe. Ella stared at him, stunned, as he brought his hands to his head, pacing in front of her, and ran them roughly through his hair.
“I did plan it, damn it! But not the way you’re thinking. It wasn’t an elaborate scheme I had planned a long time ago. When my cousin told me about still having extra tickets, I mentioned the tickets to Drake. I’d opened up to him before about you and me, and I told him about having gotten you tickets too. He’s the one who suggested I come and use this weekend to try and talk some sense into you. When I told him about your dad coming on the cruise with you too, his wife was the one who came up with the suggestion that they bring her single sister. It really did all just come together at the last minute, but I did it because I’m genuinely worried about you.”
He walked over to the rail and looked out into the moonlit sky that reflected brightly off the ocean water. In another situation, the view and this night—everything about this—might actually be incredibly romantic.
“I love you, Ella.” He turned back to look at her. “I really think that if we try we can have something great, and I’m sorry, but I just don’t think things are gonna work out for you and Felix. I think, deep inside, you know that’s true also. He’s just gotten to you. I could stand around silently and wait for it to fall apart, but it kills me to know you’re gonna get hurt.”
Ella’s phone buzzed in her hand. It almost hurt to send Felix’s call to voicemail. She hadn’t realized their conversation had gone on this long.
She swallowed back the emotion that Grayson’s logic made her feel. Despite his shortcomings, she’d always thought him a very sensible guy. “I appreciate your concern, Grayson. I really do. And I appreciate everything that you’ve done for my family, but I’ve made up my mind about this. I’m taking my chances with Felix. You shouldn’t wait around either because even if things don’t work out between him and me, I already know things between you and me would never work either.”
“But—”
“I gotta go,” she said, walking away before he could say anything else that might rattle her.
“I’ll be here for you, Ella, and I won’t say I told you so either. Just know that I’ll be here for you.”
Ella kept walking without looking back or even slowing. She didn’t wait until she was in the comfort of her room to call Felix. She couldn’t. He’d already called twice and texted her to ask if they were skipping tonight’s call as if she weren’t dying to hear his voice already.
Only tonight she knew the call wouldn’t be quite as warm and fuzzy as they usually were because there was no way she could keep this from him anymore.
“Hey, baby,” he answered in his usual cheery voice. “I hope I didn’t keep you from anything. We can keep this short if you’re busy with your dad.”
“No,” she said, her voice a bit strained. “I didn’t realize it was this late already, and”—she took a deep breath, clutching the phone—“I got caught up in, uh, a bit of an argument.”
“Argument?” Felix’s cheery mood instantly deflected to concerned. “With who? Your dad?”
“No. With Grayson.” She stared out at the ocean, her heart racing at Felix’s momentary deafening silence.
“Grayson? He called just to argue with you?”
“No, he’s here”—she closed her eyes—“on the cruise.”
Chapter 20
Felix
Noah walked into the kitchen where Felix was standing holding the bottled water he’d just taken out of the refrigerator. Normally, Felix would’ve waited until he was out of the room, but at the moment, he didn’t give a shit who was around. He set his bottled water down on the counter before it busted in his hand. She already sounded upset, so he did his best to stay calm and not explode.
“Your ex-boyfriend is on the cruise with you? Why didn’t you tell me he was going?”
“I didn’t know he’d be here until we’d already boarded,” she explained quickly. “He told me it was a last-minute thing, that he was helping his cousin who’d gotten stuck with extra tickets, and that his room being right next to ours was a complete coincidence—”
“And you bought that shit?”
“No! Not for a minute. That's what the argument was about.”
Noah had left the room, obviously wanting to give Felix some privacy. Felix didn’t think it mattered what part of the house Gio, Noah, or the other trainers were in; this was about to get loud.
“What have you been doing with him?”
“Felix, this was supposed to be about my dad. Grayson sold tickets to people from his work. A married couple showed up with the wife’s sister, a woman my dad’s age. My dad hit it off with her right off, and we’ve all been hanging out as a group.”
It took Felix but a few seconds to understand what she’d just explained. “So you’ve been hanging out as three couples? And he planned it this way?”
“Yes, but—”
“What have you been doing with him, Ella?” Felix asked again, struggling to keep his calm.
“Nothing! Today I spent most of the day with just my dad and part of it alone sunbathing, but when we got back from Ensenada, we met up again with all of them on deck for drinks. We did some dancing in groups, but that’s it.” She inhaled and exhaled as Felix also took deep breaths, walking around his kitchen slowly in an effort to calm himself. “I left early like I did last night so I could take your call, but he caught up to me. He said he wanted to talk, so I agreed to listen as we walked, and it turned into an argument.”
“Why?”
She was quiet for a moment. “He keeps trying to convince me that things between you and me aren’t gonna work. That our worlds are too different.” There was a strange catch in her voice. “And that I’m fooling myself for thinking you could ever settle for one girl.”
Somehow Felix was able to remain calm and not roar like he wanted to, but it wasn’t so much the effort he made as the sudden unease that eclipsed his anger.
“And you believe that?”
“No,” she said softly.
Her response was nowhere near as convincing as he’d hoped. He swallowed hard, trying not to compare this to Shelley and her ex.
“What else did he say?” She didn’t say anything again for too long, and Felix’s mind was already going wild just imagining what else Grayson had tried to convince her of. “Baby, what else did he say? You can tell me.”
“He admitted he did set this up so he could have some time alone with me. But he said he did so because he loves me and he’s just sincerely worried and he was hoping to talk some sense into me.”
Felix’s heart pounded now, but not out of anger like it did earlier. Her tone was terrifying him. “Did he?”
“Did he what?”
“Talk sense into you?”
“No!”
“Really?” He gripped the phone, the anger mixing in now along with the terror, and he raised his voice. “Because it’s sounds to me like maybe he did get to you. Maybe he’s got you thinking. Does he?”
“Are you seriously asking me this?”
“Yes!”
“Felix, you know better than anyone that I would’ve never agreed to anything with you if I didn’t believe you were sincere about your feelings for me. I believe you when you say you love me.”
“I want him out of your life.” The words flew out even though his terrified heart knew the risk. But she had to know that was coming the moment she realized Grayson had gone to these lengths to talk sense to her.
Felix waited, his heart beating harder with every moment that passed and she didn’t answer. He knew what Ella was like and that becoming a pushing or demanding boyfriend the way Grayson had been was a risk. But this was different. Given the circumstances, she had to be reasonable about this. There was no fucking way she could expect him to be okay with this guy in her life anymore.
“It�
�s not that easy,” she finally said, sounding a little calmer.
“Why not?”
He’d managed to stay calm before, but he was about to lose it now. After everything she’d just told him, she was still going to want to keep things amicable with this asshole?
“He’s friends with my brother and my dad, Felix. I can’t just tell him I won’t speak to him anymore. He’s done so much for my family. And it doesn’t matter to me what he thinks or that he still has feeling for me—”
“It matters to me!”
“If you trust me, it shouldn’t. I trusted you when you said I had nothing to worry about your publicist spending the night at your place. There would be nothing of the sort going on with Grayson and me. I’d simply be cordial to him if I ever ran into him.”
Now Felix was really getting fired up. “How are you gonna compare the two? She’s a business acquaintance—my publicist. This is your ex-boyfriend we’re talking about, one who’s still in love with you and pulling stunts like this one and—”
“Have you slept with your publicist?”
That brought a screeching halt to Felix’s argument. He stood there frozen, blinking his eyes, his mouth going dry. There was no right way to answer this. He could try to lie, but something told him she already knew. He hadn’t even realized just how fired up he’d gotten, but his chest was heaving.
“Have you?”
“Way before I met you.”
Not really but he didn’t see the need to be specific about it. It had been before her and that’s all that mattered.
“I know the timing of when you acquired your new publicist in correlation to when we met, Felix.”
His heart thudded sharply. “Ella, it was still before—”
“It doesn’t matter to me. My point is I had a feeling you might have and I still trusted you. I may not be too comfortable being around her from here on, but as long as you tell me I can trust you, I’ll do my best to be as understanding about your relationship with her as I’d ask you to be of mine and Grayson’s.” She sighed. “I’m not saying we’ll be carrying on a warm friendship if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m just saying I’m not going to cut him off completely or in a mean way. He patrols the area I live in. He keeps a closer eye out for our place and my brother’s girlfriend’s area. I hesitate to give that up, not with the history our family’s had. He will know that I told you about everything he and I talked about tonight, so I doubt he’ll be stupid enough to think he can just show up at 5th Street still and everything will be hunky-dory.”
She was damn right about that. Felix hated that he didn’t have a fucking leg to stand on, not with a publicist Ella now knew he’d slept with. It wasn’t even a relationship she could presume was over in its entirety because they’d broken things off. Felix was still working with her, and the tabloids were still speculating. The last thing he wanted was for Ella to have any doubt about how crazy he was about her and how serious he was about making this work.
Felix didn’t care what Ella said. As strongly as she’d fired back when he questioned the doubt he knew he’d heard in her voice, Grayson had managed to unnerve her with all his sincere concern bullshit.
Adelina was going to have to go, and if Ella wanted added security at her place, Felix could arrange that. But mostly he wanted that fucker to know that if he pulled another stunt like this one Felix was coming after him. Maybe Ella couldn’t cut this guy off completely. He wouldn’t insist on putting her in that position. He knew how obliged she felt about staying gracious to the guy. Felix could admit maybe she did have good reason for feeling that way.
But Felix owed the asshole nothing. Most importantly, while Felix had promised Ella he’d trust her, he didn’t trust Grayson for shit, especially not after this weekend.
As usual, Ella had managed to calm him even after dropping this bomb on him. He refused to be angry at her about this. His blood pressure had spiked for a few dangerous moments when he thought he might go off on her. But it was over now, and he was glad he hadn’t. Ella didn’t deserve for him to unleash on her what he still felt simmering inside him.
She’d be home tomorrow, and he planned on their reunion being as amazing as he’d been daydreaming it would be all week. Grayson wouldn’t ruin that for them, but Felix would be damned if he’d be letting this go just like that. There might be a bump or two before they got to their reunion, and he’d agreed to everything Ella asked him to about trusting her and accepting that Grayson would continue to be in her life.
This could get ugly before it was all over, but there’d be no compromising on one thing. Felix would make himself loud and clear to Grayson and sooner than Ella thought. This kind of shit would not be happening again.
~~~
In spite of the fact that by the end of their conversation last night Felix had calmed considerably, he’d still had a hard time falling asleep afterward. Even as late as it’d been when they’d hung up, he’d tossed and turned for a long time. If Grayson would go to these lengths to try and convince her Felix was no good for her and he was a better man for the job, what more would he have up his sleeve? But worse, the tiny doubt he’d heard in Ella’s voice plagued him. What if anything happened that might have Ella second-guessing this relationship? With the paparazzi, that could easily be done.
Talking to her would be the only thing that’d calm Felix until he got a chance to get things clear with Grayson. He’d already decided he wouldn’t be waiting either.
Felix had gotten up early. The moment he’d woken and remembered, he was pissed all over again. It’d been too early to call Ella, so he’d showered and gotten dressed then called his assistant to get Gio and Noah a car to pick them up and take them back home today. Felix wasn’t sticking around to wait for them. He had a couple of things he needed to do today, both equally important, but one far more satisfying than other. In fact, the first thing he needed to take care of he wasn’t looking forward to—at all. But it was absolutely necessary.
The more he’d thought about it last night, the more he could kick himself for not having done it sooner. He hated that Ella knew he’d slept with Adelina now. Anything that might confirm what Grayson was trying so hard to convince her of—that Felix was only going to hurt her—he needed to do away with. And this was one of them.
“You’re up early,” Noah said as he walked into the kitchen, eyeing Felix a bit suspiciously. “Going somewhere?”
“Yeah, I gotta cancel today’s training.”
The exasperation was immediately on Noah’s face. “Are you serious?”
“Yep,” Felix said, pouring himself some orange juice. “Something’s come up, and I got a couple of places I have to be today. Tell them they’ll still get paid for the whole weekend and I’ll fly them back out again if you want me to.”
“What could be more important than this?” Noah asked, the frustration heavy in his voice. “This is huge, Felix. You said you were going to focus on this training no matter—”
“And I am. I fully intend to, but I gotta take care of this stuff today. It can’t wait.”
Noah crossed his arms in front of him and peered at Felix again. “Is this about that meltdown you nearly had last night on the phone?”
“Meltdown?” Felix frowned.
Felix thought he’d handled it pretty well, considering everything.
“Yeah, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but you got pretty loud for a moment there.”
He downed his juice, staring at Noah over the glass then set it down in the sink. “Her ex-boyfriend, that fucking cop who comes to the gym to see her . . . Well, he did—he won’t after today.” Felix ground his teeth as the reality of what this guy had pulled hit him again. “His ass made her think that cruise he got her tickets for would be for just her and her dad, and then he fuck—” Felix stopped and took a deep breath. He was getting worked up again, only this time Ella wasn’t anywhere around to help him deal with the rage. “He weaseled his way on the cruise, even brought a bro
ad Ella’s dad’s age with him to keep her dad busy so he could spend time with Ella.”
The more he thought about it, the more it infuriated him. Last night, just hearing Ella’s voice had been enough to help steady the slow boil that’d begun the moment she’d told him Grayson was on the cruise with her. But now he was having a hard time dealing with it, and he knew better because he was determined to show Ella how far he’d come since his days of knocking guys on their ass when they pissed him off.
Noah straightened out a bit from where he’d been leaning against the counter. “So what do you plan on doing?”
“I’m gonna talk to the guy,” Felix said with a shrug, knowing full well that Noah wouldn’t buy for a second that that was all he was doing.
“You can’t be serious,” Noah said, his eyes going a little wider. “The guy’s a cop, Felix. You have any idea what’ll happen if you assault a cop?”
“Who said anything about assaulting?”
Gio walked in, looking confused. “Why are you guys up?” He turned to Noah. “I thought you said we were gonna let those guys sleep in a little because they have such a long flight today?” Then he turned back to Felix. “And who’s assaulting someone?”
“This guy,” Noah said, pointing at Felix.
“What are you talking about?” Felix asked, attempting to look amused by that, but he was still too worked up from thoughts of Grayson.
“We both know what’s gonna happen, Felix, if you go talk to his ass and he says something stupid. You go from zero to ten like that.” Noah snapped his fingers. “I say cool off first. The last thing you wanna do is have something happen that’ll mess up this rematch. You have too much riding on the line here, man. Think about it.”
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