Page 76 of Look What You Made Me Do

“Jake.” Trish shook her head.

Much to his surprise, Ella backed him. “I agree with Jake.” Her gaze briefly flicked to his, her ponytail swishing. “There’s no need. I understand why Jake quit and I have no desire to draw attention to what happened to you. You’ve been through enough. Pete’s good with the boys and they’re really motivated.”

In the face of Trish’s steely determination, Jake could have kissed Ella for siding with him. But he could hear more bravado than conviction in her statement.

“Nonsense.” Trish stood this time, her brow beetled as she stared him down. “There are some things bigger and more important than me and this is one of them. I’ve brought Miranda up to believe in fighting for what’s right, sticking up for the underdog. And that’s us. Deluca. It’s time to fight and I’m not going to be the one responsible for Deluca not putting its best foot forward which” – she bugged her eyes at him – “is you.”

Jake sighed. It was all very idealistic but Trish and Miranda were more important than any team. Even Ella’s and he was, God help him, falling hopelessly in love with her.

“What will happen, will happen, Jake, but you can’t walk out on those boys. Not now. You’ve got them this far – you need to take them the rest of the way. And I won’t let you use me as an excuse to hide away and lick your wounds anymore. You fading into obscurity means those assholes have won. Especially when this is exactly what you should be doing with your life.”

Trish had been very vocal this past year about him wasting his talent and pushing him to coach. It was the first time she’d essentially called him a coward, however.

Was it true? Had he been hiding away, licking his wounds?

“I have to go.” Trish picked up her wine glass and downed it in three swallows. Turning to Ella she said, “Convince him for me,” then she left.

16

Ella stared after Trish for several beats. The other woman may be diminutive, but she’d been as tall and straight and fierce as a freaking Amazonian right now. She glanced at Jake, her head spinning from this afternoon’s revelations, to find him inspecting her with brooding eyes.

“Well, I don’t know about you,” he said, “but I need another drink.” He picked up her half-finished wine glass from the table. “I’ll top you up.”

Ella followed him into the kitchen and stood quietly while he busied himself. Passing her the refilled glass, he popped the top on a Corona, pushed a wedge of lime into the throat and took a swig. Cocking a hip to rest against the granite bench top a couple of feet from her position, his gaze finally met hers.

“Bet that was more than you were expecting, huh?”

The bitter edge to his voice pricked like a Brillo pad on her skin. Did he think she was going to judge him about what had happened all those years ago? Because it was clear he was still beating himself up over it.

“Do you hate me?” he asked, his gaze anguished.

Ella sucked in a breath at the surprising question. “Of course not.”

Hate him?

Nothing could be further from the truth. She’d heard too much good stuff about him just now. Hell, she suspected she loved him. Not that she was about to blurt that out. Their situation was complicated enough without half-baked declarations in emotionally intense settings.

“I think you found yourself in a situation a long time ago that made you feel angry and powerless. I think it still does.”

He threw his bottle cap into the bin on the other side of the kitchen with the precision of a trained athlete. “Damn right about that.”

“That’s fair enough. But…” Ella hesitated as she took a tiny step closer. She was new to all this information and it was hardly her business, so she had to tread carefully. “If Trish is determined to relegate it to her past, perhaps you should too? Maybe it’s time to stop hating yourself, Jake?”

He nodded but she could see the whiteness of his knuckles as his hand tightened around his beer and Ella wanted to reach out, remove his hand, press his palm to her racing heart. Drag him back from the past, ground him in the here and now.

“Do you think it’s true what she said? About you hiding away?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.”

Ella watched the bob of his whiskery throat as he took a drink. The bottle tink’ed as he set it down again on the marble top, seeming very loud in the silence between them. The last time they’d been alone like this – six days ago – they’d danced and kissed and even though it was stupidly inappropriate to be thinking about that now, it was all she could think about.

Every cell in her body hummed with the memory. And the way his gaze lingered on her mouth, she wondered if he was thinking the same.

“So… knowing all that you do now you still want me to coach the team?” he asked, finally breaking the silence in a low rumble that sent warm air currents spilling over her skin.

She nodded because she didn’t quite trust her voice for a beat. “They need you, Jake.” In more ways than one.

A team of impressionable young men could do worse than Jake as a role model.

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