Page 117 of What if I Told You

My brows pinch. “He’s not?”

Griffin shakes his head.

“What the fuck? How did that happen? Why not? I beat the shit out of him right there on the rink for everyone to see. I’m certain it’s on social media. There’s no way I’m getting away with this.”

Griffin stares me down and then cocks his head and softly says, “Because Ella got to him last night after you left apparently.”

Ella.

All the blood drains from my face.

“Ella. How do you know this? What’s going on?”

He gestures out the door. “Scarlett got here a few minutes ago with lunch. She’ll tell you everything.”

“Scarlett? What does she know about it?”

“Just get dressed and meet us in the living room.”

As quickly as I can I towel off and throw on the clean clothes that Griffin left for me, rolling my eyes at the gray pajama pants with a finger pointing up my chest that says “THE MAN” and a finger pointing to my dick that says “THE LEGEND.”

“Really Griffin?” I mutter to myself as I pull on the Anaheim t-shirt he left me as well.

Whatever.

They’re clothes.

Ella is more important right now.

I throw open the bathroom door and head down his short hallway back to the living room finally feeling refreshed and a little more focused.

“Hey who has my phone?” I ask to the group of guys seated around the room. But the moment they all look my way they burst out laughing.

“Nice pants Blackstone,” Bear says with a glint of humor in his eye.

“Nice? Those are fucking amazing!” Ledger laughs, pointing. “I think I need those for myself.”

“You could only be so lucky, Dayne,” Griffin says to Ledger. “Besides Blackstone’s had a rough twenty-four hours. He deserves to feel good about himself for a little bit.”

“Scarlett, what’s going on with Ella?” I ask, trying to ignore the snide comments from my teammates about my apparel. “Is she alright? Did she go home? Is that where she is now? Please tell me she didn’t take her stuff and leave.”

Scarlett shakes her head. “I’m sorry, August. I don’t have all the answers for you. I only know what I heard last night because I found her sobbing in the physical therapy room.”

I plop down on the couch, my hands in my wet hair. “Fuck.”

“She was pretty shaken for sure,” she says. “Upset about what happened, obviously, but for what it’s worth, she heard the medics trying to help this Jeff guy and heard him shouting about suing you and the entire franchise.”

Fucking Christ, if that happens, I’m done for.

“But then she confronted him and put him in his place. Gave him hell and then threatened to take him for everything he has over those photos he took and for slandering you over the years. And then she slapped him.”

“That’s our girl,” Ledger says with a smile. “She’s bad ass sometimes.”

Yeah. She is.

Not that this makes me feel any better about this mess. Ella should never have had to come to my defense. She shouldn’t have been made to feel the need to fix things because I shouldn’t have let it go as far as it did. I knew better and I reacted with my fists anyway.

I hang my head, holding it in my hands, and sigh not knowing what I’m supposed to say or do now, but Scarlett kneels down in front of me and places a comforting hand on my knee.

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