24. Ella

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

ELLA

I 'm utterly and completely stunned.

Burying my face in my hands, I sob uncontrollably. "How did this even happen? How did we get here?"

I slide down the wall of the room Griffin and Barrett and I are still standing in not knowing what I should do next. My best friend in the entire world, the love of my life, just walked out on me and I'm not so sure there's any coming back from that.

"Ella," Griffin says softly, kneeling down in front of me. "Ella, I want to help. I want to be able to talk through this with you because Jeff Furbling was on his case the entire game. He just thought it was a drunk fan. He's pissed off right now. I know. I get it. He's also my best friend and he's already gotten into so much trouble tonight. I need to…" I open my blurred eyes and see him gesture out the door and I nod.

"Yeah. Of course. Please, he needs you, Griffin."

"I'll talk to you soon. I promise."

I simply nod and wipe my eyes with the backs of my hands. Barrett still stands in the doorway unsure of what he should do. I can see the compassion in his eyes for what I just went through, but also the loyalty for his teammates. He wants to be there for August too.

"It's okay, Bear," I murmur. "He needs you more than I do."

Though I'm not sure he'll let you get anywhere near him.

Because that's what August does when he's angry.

I've known that for years.

Because I know him better than anyone.

But clearly he doesn't know me.

Bear heads down the hall too, leaving me alone in the physical therapy room. I allow myself a few solid minutes to cry before I pick myself up and step out of my costume. There's chatter outside in the hallway that I try my best to ignore until one of those voices is close enough to be recognizable. I step out of the room just as she appears outside.

"Scarlett."

Her eyes bulge and her brows furrow at the sight of my tears. "Oh, my God! Ella! What is going on? There's a man down the hall screaming about assault charges and he looks pretty messed up. What is happening and oh, my God, are you okay?" She cups my face in her hands and looks me over assuming I was a part of whatever kind of brawl took place on the ice.

"I'm fine. I'm not hurt," I tell her. "Well, not physically."

More tears stream down my face before I can finally say aloud, "I think August just broke up with me."

She gasps and wraps an arm around me, pulling me into her for a comforting embrace. "Noooo. There's no way. He loves you, Ella."

"I don't think he does anymore."

"That can't be true," she says, leading me out of the room and down the hall. "Come on, let's get your stuff to your dressing room and we can talk there."

As we trudge down the hall I try to tell her about what happened. I tell her about the history between Jeff and August and the fight that took place tonight and how Jeff baited him during the entire game. Of course, August was going to be set off like a rocket with whatever Jeff had to say, but then I told Scarlett about him using me as his bombshell and that in the end, that news is what hurt August the most.

"He'll never forgive me for this, Scarlett. We didn't even sleep together but he thinks we did and he won't hear anything other than what he thinks he knows."

She stops as we reach the door to my dressing room, her arm still draped with mine. "Wait, so you didn't sleep together?"

I shake my head. "No. He was so drunk he couldn't uh…he couldn't…"

"He couldn't get hard?"

"He couldn't stay hard." I nod. "He asked me to give him a minute and in that time I had fallen asleep because I was drunk too." I cry. "I'm not proud of it. That's why I never said anything to August." Sniffle. "What was I supposed to say, ‘Hey, I almost slept with him but I didn't so just pretend I didn't say anything in the first place'?" Sniffle. "Why upset him? I had forgotten all about it because it was a stupid mistake so many years ago. August and I were never a couple. We were never like that with each other." Sniffle. "What happened with Jeff and me was so inconsequential, I never gave it another thought. I woke up the next morning and…" Sniffle. "He was gone so…" I shrug. "What more was there to do, you know?"

"I get it," Scarlett says, patting my arm. "This wasn't your fault."

"But he thinks it's all my fault, Scarlett. And now I've lost him."

"You haven't lost him," she assures me. "That man loves you and I know he's still in there somewhere. He's just blinded by hurt and rage right now."

"HE FUCKING ASSAULTED ME! OF COURSE I'LL SUE THE SHIT OUT OF HIM. AND THIS ENTIRE FRANCHISE!" The angry words come from just down the hall. The timbre of his voice sends chills down my spine. I want to cower in my room and cry my eyes out until I have no tears left to cry, but at the same time, I love August. He can hate me all he wants, but I'll be damned if I stand by and let this sorry excuse of a man continue to ruin August's life. I grab Scarlett's hand and give it a squeeze.

"Excuse me a moment. There's something I have to do."

Leaving her standing in my dressing room, I step down the hall and into one of the team's medical exam rooms where one of our medical staff members is cleaning up Jeff's face. He sees me in the doorway and smirks. "Guess you made your choice, eh Ella?"

With my head held high I walk into the room and come to a stop right in front of him.

"Yeah, I did."

"Thought you would."

"And I choose August."

His face falls.

"I will always choose August. Even when he hates my guts because he thinks we slept together, I will choose him. And one day soon, when he has calmed down enough from what went on here tonight, I will tell him how your shriveled up little dick wouldn't work for you enough to even get it up for sex in the first place and that nothing ever happened between us. And as for you pressing assault charges against him or anyone in this franchise…" I sneer as I lean closer to his face. "You do that and I will take you for everything you have for not only taking nude pictures of me without my knowledge or consent but for circulating those pictures of me to the public. You are a sad pathetic waste of a man." I shake my head with pity. "You could've been somebody even though you were injured. You could've worked harder. You could've taken any other path to greatness regardless of any disability you may have had but you didn't. You've done nothing but blame August for your shortcomings for years." I give him a disgusted once over and tell him, "Your father should have pulled out and shot you against the wall or let your mother swallow you down the back of her throat." The other adults in the room chuckle at my poignant comment. "You are done here! Do you hear me? You're fucking done! You will not step foot back in this arena ever again. I'll make sure of that and you will not say one word online or in person to or about August Blackstone. Grow the fuck up and get out of our lives for good or I will come after you so fucking hard you'll spend eternity wishing you had."

And for good measure, because I can and because the medical staff in this room know me, I slap Jeff's face so hard my palm stings and then walk out of the room hoping that I will never see or hear from Jeff Furbling again.