Page 42 of Fighting for Ella

While he hadn't known Ella long, he was protective of her, he liked her, they’d bonded, and if he wasn’t afraid of what might happen to him in the future if he could no longer control his inner demons then he might even have been tempted to throw away his usual one and done policy and ask her out on a real date.

Just because he couldn’t do that didn't mean he couldn’t give her this. Make sure her friends knew how badly they’d messedup. It wasn’t much, but at least Ella would know she wasn’t alone in this.

“Do you think we can fix it?” Scarlett asked him, and he knew then that they really got how badly their unwillingness to extend Ella the benefit of the doubt until they knew more had damaged their relationship with her. They were the ones who knew her, they should know whether or not they had a shot at repairing things, yet they were looking to him.

Miguel couldn’t deny that gave him a little caveman kind of rush because it almost made it seem like Ella was his. He knew she wasn’t and knew she never could be. Yet there was something between them, and it had only grown in the hours they’d spent together in Mexico, and in the hours it had taken to get back home when Ella had been unwilling to allow him out of her sight, needing his presence to reassure herself she was safe.

Not that he’d been complaining.

He’d needed her close to reassure himself that she was safe.

But the facts right now were that Ella was hurting, she felt alone, the people who should have had her back hadn't and he honestly had no idea if they’d be able to mend fences enough to get their friendships back to what they’d been before.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“Can you talk to her for us?” Cassie asked. “She seems to trust you and you're the one who saved her. I think she’d listen to you. If you just tell her how sorry we are and how much we’d like to tell her that in person then she might listen.”

Honestly, if it wasn’t what Ella one hundred percent wanted, then he wouldn't do it. She was his priority. She was the one who had been wronged, and if she wasn’t ready to talk to her friends then he wouldn't try to pressure her. Ella deserved to have someone putting her first and that’s what he intended to do.

“I’m sorry I can't agree to that,” he replied. “I don’t mean to be harsh, but you guys made your bed and now you have to liein it. I hope for all your sakes, that you can work things out, Ella loves her job, and she loves you guys, and I don’t want her to lose that. But right now, she’s traumatized and she’s hurting, and she needs someone in her corner.”

“That someone is you?” Luis asked, his gaze a whole lot more probing than Miguel would have liked because he knew he could never hide anything from his big brother.

Aiming for nonchalance, Miguel shrugged. “For now. Yeah. Ella needs a friend and has me. When she’s ready I’ll encourage her to reach out, but I'm not making any promises. Ella lost her control when her family was threatened, I won't take it from her again.”

With that, he turned and headed for the lifts, refusing to allow himself to consider the whispering thought at the back of his mind, that he wanted to be more than Ella’s friend.

There was no way he could risk hurting her by being more.

CHAPTER TWELVE

February 8th

5:44 P.M.

Empty.

Her house felt too empty.

Ella gazed around at the airy, open space. It was a huge family room that had sealed the deal when she’d been looking at properties to buy. There was a kitchen on one side with a big table then the other side of the room had an enormous fireplace and enough space for three big, comfortable sofas. Doors led out onto an enormous deck and into a pretty yard, a nice mix of trees, plants, flowers, and a grassy lawn.

When she’d bought the house, it was with a family in mind. She’d been able to picture kids running in and out through those doors on a warm summer’s day, and a husband grilling on the deck.

Slowly, over time, those dreams had drifted into the background, and now there she was, almost thirty, alone, not even a boyfriend, not even a prospect of a boyfriend. If thatwasn’t bad enough, now she felt like she might lose the job she loved and the team she considered family.

Going back to Prey, working every day with Scarlett, Lucy, and Cassie, with Fox and the rest of the guys seemed impossible. How could she face them knowing what they'd thought of her? How could she ever trust them again? How could she have ever believed with the actions she’d chosen that they would ever think anything but that she was guilty?

Maybe that was the real problem. She was as frustrated with herself for being so naïve as she was with everybody else.

Loneliness was like an ache in her chest, and as she wandered aimlessly through the living room and flopped down onto one of the sofas, she wished she’d taken Miguel up on his offer to drive her home.

Out of everyone, he seemed to be the only person who believed in her. Well, Miguel and Eagle. It did mean a lot to her that her boss had believed in her innocence, especially given that there had been a mole at Prey before and all the evidence pointed to her, but it wasn’t enough to ease the hurt of knowing her friends had thought the worst of her.

It wasn’t that she didn't understand why they’d thought it. She got it, she truly did. Evidence suggested it was her and she’d had to make it look believable if she didn't want to get her family blown up, but they hadn't even given her the benefit of the doubt.

She had to get over it, Ella knew that, too.

But how?

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