Grayson turned to Ella now, his face a darker shade of red. “He’s just gonna fuck you and—”

Felix grabbed him by the throat, and the chaos ensued.

“It’s fucking over, you asshole!” Felix yelled.

Ella was pulled out of the now-moving crowd by her father as she brought her hand to her mouth. Miraculously, Abel and Hector were able to pull Felix and Grayson apart. But Grayson continued to taunt Felix about it not being over and continued shouting obscenities as Felix nearly broke away from Abel and Hector.

Ella begged Felix to ignore him and for them to just leave before the cops arrived.

“You’re nothing but a thug with money!” Grayson’s face was almost purple as Drake and his cousin held him back now. “She’ll see it soon enough, and then she’ll be right here”—he motioned to his side—“right where she belongs!”

Ella spun around, infuriated. “It’s over, Grayson! I want you completely out of my life. Do you understand? I’ll get a restraining order if I have to, but it’s over!”

Grayson shook his head as if he didn’t believe her. Her startling rant, however, seemed to calm Felix. When she turned back to him, he wasn’t trying to fight his way out of Abel and Hector’s hold anymore. He smiled at her, making her heart swell, and the emotion overwhelmed her once again. Abel asked Felix something in a lowered voice and Felix nodded.

“You promise?” Hector asked.

“Yeah, I’m cool,” Felix said, pushing Hector’s hand off him then rushed to Ella and hugged her. “You’d really get a restraining order on his ass?” he whispered against her ear.

She nodded, smiling, and then noticed all the people still taking pictures. Wiping her eyes, she looked around as the flashes on people’s phones blatantly went off again and again. “Let’s get out of here.”

They made a hasty exit, and she felt bad about not saying more to Margie or even Abel and Hector, but under the circumstances, she figured they’d understand why they couldn’t stand around and chat much longer.

Ella told her dad she’d meet him at home, and that’s when she remembered. Amidst all the chaos, she’d completely forgotten. “We have to hurry,” she said to Felix, walking faster alongside him.

“Why?” Felix squeezed her hand. “What’s wrong?”

“We have to beat my dad home. It’s a long story. I’ll explain on the way.”

Luckily, although it scared the heck out of her and she had to close her eyes a few times, Felix had quite the lead foot. Ella explained to Felix about her dad’s hoarding and how bad it’d gotten over the years. “He’s not dirty like some of those hoarders you see on TV. I know it’s what most people automatically assume when they think of hoarders, but my dad isn’t like that. It’s weird. His stuff is actually very clean and organized. He’s more of a collector of things like the tools he’d buy at yard sales and small appliances and actual collectables like Coca-Cola memorabilia. It was just boxes and boxes and totes piled high.”

Ella could feel herself doing the Carmen thing as the speed of her talking began to increase. So she tried slowing it down a little.

“I know I should’ve done something about it sooner, but it was like his therapy. It got worse with everything bad that happened: my sister’s death, my mom being diagnosed with cancer and then losing her, and then my brother’s ordeal. I just couldn’t force him to stop the one thing that I knew helped him escape. He kept saying he was gonna stop, but it kept getting worse. I did try. I really did—”

“Ella.” Felix’s grip went a little tighter on her hand. “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain to me. Hoarding is not an easy fix.”

She nodded, looking down at her hands. “It’s why Grayson had showed up so quickly after the earthquake. He knew about my dad’s issues and had warned me on more than one occasion that our living conditions were boarding on the hazardous. When Memo moved into his school dorm, we were able to open up some space in the front room by moving a lot of it into Memo’s bedroom, but within a few months the front room was down to one little pathway from the kitchen to the front door. I’d told Grayson about the previous earthquake that had been so much smaller making such a huge mess. And that’s how the idea came about to get my dad out of the house this weekend and clean out the house. The night we were at the emergency room my dad said he wanted to clean everything out but didn’t think he could, so I’m praying he won’t be too upset.” She glanced out the window. “Shit!”

“It should be okay, babe,” Felix said, letting go of her hand and squeezing her leg. “He probably realizes he was putting you and anyone who walks in that house in danger too.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I completely forgot I told Grayson I didn’t want my dad to be too upset that we threw all his stuff out, so I wanted to just store most of it somewhere. He offered to let me store it in his backyard, and then my dad and I could go over, and he could choose just the things that would fit in the small storage shed we have in the back.”

Felix’s eyes were back on the road, but Ella could see his jaw work. “Your brother could go with him instead, right?”

“Yes,” she said, running her hand over his thigh. “Unless Grayson’s gonna be a jerk about this too.”

Felix turned to her. “What? You mean like hold your dad’s stuff for ransom? He can’t do that.”