“We can trade rooms, Dad,” Memo offered. “All the rooms in this house are the same size anyway. And you’ll have more room for your, uh . . . totes in there since my bed’s a twin.”

“I won’t be refilling this house up again,” her dad said with a weak smile. “But I will take you up on that offer.”

Her dad stood up, wiping what was left of his tears away. “Let’s go check out the rest of this place.”

After thoroughly inspecting everything, they all sat down and had some spaghetti. Her father had been a good sport about it all, though she could tell he was trying real hard not to show any anxiety about his things being gone. She continually assured him that they hadn’t been thrown out and as soon as they could he and Memo could go down to Grayson’s and look through them.

Having Felix as a dinner guest definitely helped to liven up her dad’s spirits quickly. He seemed fascinated with all the stories Felix shared with him and very pleased to hear Felix’s story of how he and Ella met and how he fell in love with her. Felix’s account of how things went down and everything that had impressed him about the “Mighty Little Ms. Ella” made her blush and laugh at the same time.

It helped her escape the images of seeing her father so emotionally tormented, images she feared would be seared in her head forever. Felix kept squeezing her hand and rubbing her back.

When they were done eating, Ella offered to clean the kitchen since Sonia and Memo had cooked dinner. Felix immediately offered to help, but her dad wouldn’t have it.

“No, no! I’ll clean. It’s the least I can do. You go on and do whatever you had planned tonight. From what you tell me, it must’ve been tough being away from each other over a week.”

She told her dad not to wait up because she had a feeling she wouldn’t be coming home tonight. They drove to Felix’s house, and the drive was a bit somber. Ella was sure Felix was still thinking about the scene at the port. Add that to what happened at her house, and Ella was still raw with emotion.

Ella didn’t realize just how emotional she was still feeling until they got to Felix’s house and he came around the car to meet her.

“You okay?” he asked, searching in her eyes.

She nodded, but she could already feel the lump in her throat, and trying to keep her lips from trembling was useless. The moment she felt his arms around her she let it out and cried against his chest. “I didn’t know he was still hurting so much.”

“You never get over a loss like that, baby. It’s good that he let it out like he did tonight.”

He held her there for a while as he stroked her back and head, kissing her every now and again on the head. Felix was right. It did feel good to let it out. Being in his strong arms only made it feel better.

Chapter 22

Felix

The weeks after the cruise as the fight hype began to gain momentum were nerve-wracking but not as bad as Felix thought they might be. He thought once the paparazzi got wind of his new girl they’d go to town making up stories and trying to link him with other women. He was worried that, like when he was with Bianca, he’d have his hands full trying to calm Ella and explain every bullshit story.

Thankfully, it never happened. Ella insisted she trusted him completely every time there was a new infuriating story out. The fucking paparazzi were relentless. The moment they got wind about him dumping Adelina, they were quick to come up with their elaborate version of the truth. Photos of him and Adelina arriving at hotels together or of him leaving Adelina’s place late at night or in the very early hours of the morning were suddenly everywhere. And, of course, they were recent, from his time here in Los Angeles just before he met Ella. Felix wanted to punch a hole through something every time he heard of another because he kept having flashbacks about how things went down with him and Bianca.

Fortunately, Ella handled it all as she did everything else with the utmost self-assurance. If she ever commented on the stories at all, she said the sincerity she felt from him when he told her he loved her and wouldn’t hurt her was all she needed. That didn’t surprise him since he’d never in his life felt so crazy over any girl—ever. What he was feeling for Ella now was almost scary. He never imagined someone having such a hold on him like she did. Ella owned him body, mind, and soul, but as scary as that was, he’d never been so happy in his life.

Ironically, the scene at the port the day she and Grayson arrived back from their cruise put a damper on some of those stories. The video some of the bystanders took went viral. In the following weeks, it was all the tabloid shows could talk about. It was nonstop because it seemed each day someone else would have a different angle on the scuffle or a better recording of the actual words exchanged.

Clearly, Felix had gone there to tell Grayson to stay the fuck away from his girl and was even being praised for having stayed cool for as long as he did. Grayson had come across as the asshole he was. The video was remixed and songs were added. The ones in which they stopped and gave a close-up of Felix grabbing Grayson’s neck and Grayson’s eyes bugging out were fucking hilarious.

To Felix’s and his lawyer’s surprise, Grayson hadn’t tried to sue him. They said it was likely because, being a cop, he knew the video had enough evidence that Felix attempted to handle the situation calmly without violence and that it was Grayson’s taunting that had ultimately caused the argument to erupt. Felix’s previous lawsuit where he’d ended up coughing up so much money was a lesson well learned. It was why he hadn’t punched Grayson but had gone for his throat instead. His lawyers said that likely had to do with why Grayson hadn’t sued. If Felix had punched him, there would’ve been much more damage than what he’d done to the guy at the club. The rage that had been building from the moment Felix found out about Grayson being on that cruise was like nothing he’d ever experienced. It only got worse when he heard Grayson continue to insist that Felix wasn’t taking Ella as seriously as he was. Then it finally erupted when he’d heard Grayson disrespect her. There was no doubt in Felix’s mind that Grayson would’ve been seriously hurt.