“I forgot to ask her. Do you know if she was able to get her car smogged the other day?”
Her father’s answer had left Felix almost winded. “Her car doesn’t need to be smogged,” he’d said cheerfully. “I took it into my friend’s shop up the street a couple of months ago like I do every year, and he does it for a twelve-pack.”
Blindsided.
It was how he felt all over again. Felix had stopped short of asking her dad what she’d worn to meet her friend, but his insides had instantly ignited. There was no question about it. This was no misunderstanding. Ella had been feeding him bald-faced lies. Her unease with him touching her and her avoiding sex hadn’t been all in his head after all.
All the memories of what he’d felt when Bianca had blindsided him assaulted him. Then the memories of Shelley reconnecting with her ex the whole time Felix had been going out to spend time with her inundated him. She’d said it was because she thought she and Felix’s lives were too different for things to work out. It was such a familiar feeling, only this time it hurt like hell.
Had he really been that blind about Ella being okay with all the tabloid shit—waking up to news vans parked up her street? The tabloids had even taken a few infuriating jabs at his understated new girlfriend being so unlike any of the glamorous girls he’d dated in the past. Had Grayson managed to finally talk sense into her? Felix wanted to fucking roar at the top of his lungs, but at the same time, the pain was brutal. Was his Ella maybe still in love with that asshole?
Felix played back the last two days then the last several weeks of her strange behavior. He sent her one text before stalking back into the training room.
We need to talk. I know you’ve been lying to me.
It took everything in him not to say anything he’d later regret. His heart was still holding on to the tiny sliver of hope that this might not be what everything was fucking pointing at. When the guys asked if he’d gotten a hold of Ella, his only response had been, “No, get my gloves on.”
The moment his gloves were back on he nearly clobbered the guy he was sparring with.
“What the fuck, Felix?” Noah said, jumping in to separate them.
He’d seen the exchanged glances between Noah and Gio. Gio seemed more worried while Noah looked instantly annoyed.
“I don’t know what’s going on with you and Ella, man,” Noah had said as he waved the guy Felix had nearly clobbered out of the ring.
Felix paced around the ring, his chest heaving; he was so worked up but didn’t say a word.
“All right,” Noah said, realizing this wasn’t something Felix was going to just snap out of anytime soon—or ever. “He can’t be in here sparring like this,” he said to Gio. “He’s gonna kill someone. Let’s get him on the big bag. You can punch that thing as much and as hard as you want.”
Another training rule Felix had broken in light of the news he got from Ella’s dad was he brought his phone in the training room with him in case she called. He wanted to hear her explanation ASAP. He figured good or bad news it was better he got the news sooner than later. So when his phone rang, he froze first then walked over to it.
“Answer that,” he said to Noah then rushed to Gio already pulling on the strings of his gloves off with his teeth.
He glanced back at Noah, his heart already pounding again as Gio continued to undo the strings, and he heard Noah ask her if she was okay. After a moment, Noah looked up at Felix and smiled. “She’s fine. Just lost track of time. She’s already called Nel—”
“With who?” Felix demanded. Noah gave him a strange look. “Ask her who the fuck she was with.” Gio finished and Felix pulled his hands free. “Give me that. I’ll ask her myself.” The second the phone was at his ear he did. “Who were you with?”
“Felix, we need to talk.”
As expected she sounded upset—remorseful—guilty.
“So talk. Why did you lie to me not just about today but the other day?” His voice got louder with every word he spat out. “You didn’t get your car smogged.”
“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you weeks ago, but—”
“Weeks ago!”
He fucking knew it! He had to walk away from the mirrored wall before he punched it. It was only then that he noticed the training room had cleared. Noah had likely cleared everyone out.
“Yes,” she practically whispered. “But I want to do this in person.”
Felix remembered how full of compassion she’d been when he’d explained so angrily that Shelley had dumped his ass in an email.
“No! I wanna know now!” He jabbed his finger in the air, feeling his aching heart nearly explode. “Whatever it is, you already waited weeks to tell me. So do it now!”
All he could think of was that the motherfucker had gotten to her. Grayson had convinced her Felix was no good for her. As mad as that made him, he already knew he’d be willing to beg her if he had to. He was too far gone to let his pride win out and not even fight for her. He wouldn’t even think about everything she might’ve been doing with Grayson these last three days or past few weeks. If he did, he’d be sick.
He heard what sounded like soft crying, and his pacing slowed. It was really this bad. “Ella.” His voice was strained now too. “Just say it.”
“You need to be strong, Felix,” she said, and she was definitely crying, “because I don’t know that I can this time.”