He heard Hector chuckle. “No. You don’t?”
“I’ve never had to pick her up. We always just take off from 5th Street.”
Saying it out loud now, it did sound odd. But so far it’d always just worked out that way. She always said she’d just meet him there. And like tonight she’d insist there was no need for her to go home and drop her car off first. They could just come back to the gym and pick it up afterward from where ever it was that they’d gone.
“So why don’t you just ask her?” Hector asked.
“She’s not answering,” he explained, and before Hector could ask anything else, he added, “I just dropped her off at the gym parking lot so she could pick up her car. She left something in my car, so I thought I’d go drop it off before heading back to my place. I might not see her tomorrow.”
“You guys know where Ella lives?” he heard Hector ask.
Shit! He hadn’t even considered he might still be at Abel’s. Felix heard them saying something then Hector telling them she wasn’t answering then Abel’s stern tone. “Why? What did he do?”
“Ha!” Hector laughed. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” he said, feeling the irritation mount. “I don’t know why she’s not answering, but I just want her address or at least a cross street before I get too far from here.”
“Nah, no one here knows,” Hector said quickly. “Nellie says she’s got all her info but it’s at her office at 5th Street. Hey, so how was that earthquake? Anything break at your place?”
Since Hector was obviously not going to be any help with Ella’s address, Felix jumped on the highway. He was pissed at himself that, unless she answered tonight, he may have to wait until tomorrow night to talk to her. “Earthquake? When?”
“What? You didn’t feel it? It was a good one! Scared the crap outta the kids. And Gio,” he added then laughed.
Felix heard the guys talking in the background and the girls laugh. “Nope. We didn’t feel anything. What time was this?”
The first thing that came to mind was maybe it’d hit when he and Ella had knocked out. He’d never slept so soundly in his life. Then he’d woken up and jumped off the chaise on a mission to find her because he could hardly wait to have his lips on her again and for what? So he could snap like a little bitch and basically throw her out.
Hector explained that the first one had hit just a couple of hours prior. “We’ve had a few aftershocks but nothing as big as the first one. Haven’t you heard the news? It was a 5.3 on the Richter scale.”
That was a good one, and he remembered several things, photos and books, that must’ve fallen over. It’d never even occurred to him that it might’ve been an earthquake that knocked them over. He’d just thought maybe his cleaning lady had knocked some things over and forgotten to pick them up.
Felix got the rest of the scoop on the earthquake. Hector told him Noah had already checked on the late crew at 5th Street and there had been no major damage other than a few small things falling off shelves and walls.
He called his mom first thing when he got off with Hector. He hadn’t even noticed the two missed calls he had from her until she mentioned it. She and his sister had been rattled, but there’d been no major damage at their place either. He tried Ella again, and again it rang until it went to voicemail. She wasn’t going to be taking his calls tonight, and he couldn’t blame her.
Once home, he noticed a few more things that had obviously shifted out of place. Apparently, he’d been so consumed with thoughts of Ella and what she might be thinking of his place earlier he’d missed quite a few things actually. Then he walked to the mantel and picked up the photos Ella had been looking at. Ella had shared some pretty deep shit with him about her past. But this was different than just deep.
Aside from the pain, Felix was still dealing with abysmal guilt. He knew he’d never shake it and that was why he didn’t like to even talk about this. That he would eventually have to tell Ella about it was inevitable, but tonight he’d just snapped when he’d seen her holding the photo.
His phone buzzed on the mantel where he’d set it down and he glanced at it. The second he saw it was a text from Ella he immediately set the photo down and picked up his phone.
I didn’t want you to think I wasn’t answering your calls because I’m upset. I just can’t talk right now. I’ll explain later, but I want you to know I understand why you’d be mad at me. I’m sorry I intruded on something obviously so very private to you. Again. I’m SO sorry. =(
Tempted to hit call instead of texting back, he decided he’d already been inconsiderate enough tonight. She’d just told him she couldn’t talk. But it pissed him off that she was still apologizing to him when it should be the other way around.
Ella, don’t worry about it and PLEASE stop apologizing. There’s no need to. I overreacted and I’m really feeling like an asshole right now. I wish I could talk to you so I can tell you just how sorry I am. Why can’t you talk? Is everything okay?
Thought of the earthquake immediately worried him. He waited anxiously for her to respond. She didn’t immediately, and he was already upstairs in his bedroom when he finally got her response. The first two sentences alone nearly stopped his heart.
The earthquake. I’m at the hospital. My dad was injured but nothing too serious. It was just a little scary. They’ll be releasing him soon, but the house is a mess now. We’ll be busy cleaning things up for a few hours. And don’t you dare apologize. I’ll call you tomorrow.
He hadn’t even finished reading it when he was already headed out of his bedroom. He texted her back quickly asking for her address because he wanted to help out. Hector had said the earthquake was pretty bad. Felix didn’t know yet where the epicenter was, but if her father had been injured, he assumed it was closer to her place.
Again she didn’t respond immediately, so when he got in his car he waited. When more than ten minutes went by with still no response, he sent her another text with a question mark. This time she was quicker to respond.
Thank you but we got this. My brother is already at the house with a few of his friends cleaning up. There’s no need for you to come down. My phone is dying and we’re still here at the hospital. So I’m gonna shut it down. We’ll talk tomorrow.
He banged down on the center divider with a groan, turning off his car. At least she didn’t seem too upset with his stupid ass. She’d probably already turned off her phone, but he send her a text anyway so it’d be the first she’d read when she turned it back on.
I am apologizing and I will again when I see you. It was a real shitty way to react period but especially on a night like tonight. The photos. I wanna tell you all about them. I was going to talk to you about that anyway. I just didn’t expect for the subject to come up the way it did. It completely caught me off guard. I hate that I ruined what should’ve been a perfect night for us. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.
He sent it and got out of the car, fully expecting that he wouldn’t hear from her again until the next day. To his surprise, his phone buzzed on his way upstairs. It was her again, and it was a long text, considering her battery was dying.
Maybe we were both a little wrong tonight. Me for going through your photos without being invited to do so regardless of where they were placed. And you for your reaction. But I get it, okay? If you wanna tell me about it, that’s fine, but if you’d rather not or you’d rather wait, I can understand that as well. We all have things in our lives that are harder to share or discuss. Trust me. I get it. So please don’t beat yourself up about it. K? I understand. I really do. And I’m not upset or mad at you AT ALL.
He responded immediately, hoping she hadn’t shut her phone off just yet.
I want to talk to you about it. I really do. It’s a very significant part of my life, but then so are you now. I want you to know everything even the painful stuff.
Taking in a long and deep breath, Felix tried to shake off the irritation that he hadn’t even kissed her good
night. He’d give anything to be able to do so now, and then he thought of something and began texting again rapidly.
I know this is a long shot and you’re gonna think I have a lot of nerve, but I hate that I didn’t kiss you goodnight. Any chance I can come by and fix that? I’ll make it quick, I promise.
This time he waited, refusing to take any clothes off or get in bed for over a half hour before giving up on her responding. For a long time, he lay there in bed, contemplating everything that had happened that night.
He’d screwed up, but, as usual, Ella had been perfect about it and had forgiven him. Was there anything about her that wouldn’t continue to impress him—make him that more fascinated by her? At this point, he didn’t think so. Even when he’d been such a jerk to her tonight, he expected her to do one of two things most girls would’ve done: been a blubbering mess and apologize profusely only making things worse, or told him off then tell him where he could shove his apology.
She’d done neither. It was like she knew him already. He just needed time to cool off, and on top of it all, she’d assured him she understood why he had reacted the way he had. She wasn’t holding it against him just like she hadn’t held anything about his past against him either.
Shaking his head, he slipped under his covers and exhaled harshly. There was no doubt about it now. Ella was going to make him fall hard—or maybe he already had. One thing was for sure. He definitely needed to make this up to her.
~*~
Ella
Ella squeezed the phone as she reread Felix’s last text. How she wished she could’ve responded as she’d wanted to. Yes! Yes! Please come kiss me goodnight!
“You know there are companies that can come out and clean this, Ella.”
Ella looked up at Grayson, who stopped and leaned against his truck now. She shook her head. “No, my brother and I can do the rest. I don’t need to hire anyone.”
“I’m not talking about the earthquake mess, babe. I’m talking about cleaning it all out. He got lucky this time; it was only a gash. He could’ve been seriously injured in there. You could have been.” He stared at her very seriously. “I worry about you, you know? It’s why I rushed down here the moment after it hit. It’s not safe in there, and we live in southern California. These earthquakes are gonna keep happening.”
She nodded. “I know and I appreciate your coming down here tonight when you did. If you hadn’t . . .” The thought made her shudder and she shook her head.
“You know I always will if I’m around and able to, but I may not always be available.” He smiled and she knew he was going to let it go—for now. “Okay, you’ve had a rough night already. I’ll drop it, but I really hope you’ll consider it. These same companies come out and clean up crime scenes. I know a guy who owns one of them. I can hook you up. They can get this done in a day. Two tops.”
She smiled, thanking him again, and then let him hug her goodbye. He’d squeezed her a little tighter than she’d expected, but it was strangely comforting. After the night she’d had, it felt good to finally breathe easily and exhale in his arms.
Afterward, she thought maybe she shouldn’t have let him hold her those extra couple of seconds. But under the circumstances, she figured it was the least she could do. Not only had he rushed her and her dad to the emergency room in his squad car, but he’d gone back, closed out his shift, and picked them up at the emergency room in his own truck. Then he came back and helped them clean up. It was embarrassing to say the least, but it wasn’t as if he didn’t already know. Though she did see the shock he attempted to hide when he’d seen how bad things had gotten since the last time he’d been in her place.
On her way back inside, Ella glanced down at her phone. She considered calling Felix now, but it was way too late. She was pooped. Grayson didn’t know the half of it when he’d said she had a rough night. After Felix had dropped her off at the gym, she’d finally let it out and cried most of the way home until she saw the squad car out front. Then sheer panic set in. Any and all thoughts of Felix and the photos she’d seen were gone.
It wasn’t even until after they’d stitched up her dad’s head gash that she noticed the missed calls from Felix. The relief was enormous. If he was calling her—more than once—obviously he’d calmed down. His apologetic text had eased the huge knot she hadn’t even realized still sat heavily in her belly.
Once in bed she thought about what Grayson had said. She and her dad had a talk in the emergency room while they waited. Bottom line was, like the first earthquake when they were left with a mess to clean, they’d been lucky no one had gotten seriously hurt, but too many piled-high things had fallen. It was only by the grace of God that the extra microwave that had hit her dad this time on the head hadn’t done more damage.
“It could’ve been Memo or me,” she’d whispered as she held her dad’s hand in the emergency room.
Ella wasn’t trying to guilt him into changing, but this was getting serious now.
“I know,” he’d whispered back. “I promise I’ll work on it. I just . . . I just don’t know that I can.”
“Memo and I can do it for you,” she offered.
He hadn’t said yes or no yet when the emergency room attendant had come in and had begun stitching him. Neither had mentioned it again, but Ella was certain that he just needed a little push. She’d seen it in his remorseful eyes. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to her or Memo because of this.
She’d talk to her brother, but she already knew what he’d say. Do it. The trick was going to be getting her dad out of there long enough, though Grayson had said it should only take a day or two. Maybe she could even get this done before Felix was witness to it.
She’d never been ashamed of her father, but she knew people’s perception of her dad’s issues were typically not positive. Most didn’t understand and assumed the worst. If she was thinking of doing this anyway, maybe she could hold off having Felix over to her place just a little longer. She could tell him about it afterward, but she could spare him the shock and awkwardness of having to see it firsthand.
~~~
The next morning Grayson stopped by in his squad car to check on them again. Ella walked him out, needing to talk him alone. She didn’t want her dad to hear.
“I’m gonna talk to my brother today about what you mentioned last night. But I’ll need a ballpark figure on how much this is gonna cost me and how long you really think it’ll take, because we’re gonna have to get my dad out of here while it gets done. He’ll never let it happen otherwise.”
Grayson was already shaking his head. “Don’t worry about the cost. I’ll handle that and—”
“No, wait, wait! You can’t pay for this. I’m sure it’s not cheap.”
“Nope. The guy owes me. I won’t have to pay anything. And I got the perfect idea on how to get your dad out of the house for a few days too.”
She listened without interrupting about the Cold Duck cruise he’d mentioned to her a long time ago. It was coming up in a week, and his cousins had booked it over a year ago. “They have extra tickets they’re trying to get rid of.” He made a face. “My cousin knows I’m not into that band nor am I big on cruises, but he remembered me asking about the tickets for your dad a while back. So I was gonna tell you about it anyway. Your dad likes Cold Duck, and he did want to go, right? This would be perfect.”
“But that’s such short notice.”
“It’s totally casual,” Grayson explained. “He doesn’t have to buy anything special for it. Just have him take clothes to kick back and relax in and maybe one dressier outfit for the night of the party, but my cousin’s gone the last two years in a row and says that’s what he likes most about it. It’s a completely relaxed atmosphere.”
Ella thought about it. Her dad would probably be all for it. When she’d mentioned it once before, he said it sounded cool and even asked her to look into maybe doing it next year since Grayson had said at the time this year’s was sold out.
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“I’m working full-time at the gym now. I don’t know if I’d be able to go with him, and I don’t think he’d want to go alone. Maybe my brother—”
She stopped talking when she saw the look he was giving her. “Ella, even if you are full-time now, don’t you usually get two days off anyway? This would only be one extra day. I’m sure Carmen and Sonia could handle your being gone an extra day especially when you tell them why you’re doing it.”
It was all happening so much faster than she’d expected. What if her dad really freaked out about this? She needed to think it over a little more. Ella knew perfectly well what Memo would say, but she needed an excuse. “I’ll talk to my brother and let you know.”
“Let me know soon. Like by tonight, babe. This thing is next week, and my cousin is selling them to whoever pays him first so he doesn’t get stuck with the tickets.”
Ella nodded, ignoring the fact that he was still calling her babe. She hadn’t said anything last night because she thought that under the circumstances he was just trying to be extra nice and sweet to her. It felt inappropriate now, but she felt bad saying so especially since he was being so helpful with this. “I will. But if I do this, I’ll be paying for the tickets.”
He smirked, opening the car door. “Sure,” he said as he got in.
His response wasn’t at all convincing, and she bent over into the open passenger side window. “I’m serious, Grayson. I won’t let you pay for this.”
“And I said okay.” He laughed. “Just let me know ASAP.”
On her way back into the house, her phone rang. It was Felix, and though just seeing his name on the screen made her all giddy, it also made her nervous. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to get into what felt like a very heavy subject. But ready or not she answered.
The first thing he asked about was her dad. She explained about the gash and that she’d been afraid he might have a concussion but thankfully he hadn’t. “But he did need seven stitches,” she added.
She was only glad he didn’t ask why there’d been a microwave on top of the refrigerator. Then he started apologizing again.