Taming The Wild CEO novel Chapter 54

C H A P T E R 5 2 : C O U L D A W O M A N A N D A M A N B E C O M E F R I E N D S ?

E L L A S T A N F O R D

“Piers?” Her eyes widened as he approached her and stopped only a few feet from her. “What are you doing here?”

“Ouch.” Piers winced, pretending as if she had just thrown a stick at him. “That hurts. There is no how are you, Joseph or it is good to see you, Joseph?”

“I am sorry.” Ella shook her head, sighing. “Of course I am happy to see you. How are you? When did you get back here?”

“Last night, actually. I thought I will come here and surprise Jav and maybe take him to lunch.”

“Well, you missed him. He went to a meeting since ten A.M. and he has not returned. Perhaps next time you should give me a call so I can check his schedule for you.”

Piers pulled his phone out of the pocket of his suit and handed it to her. “Then how about you giving me your number so I can do that next time?”

“Okay.” Ella keyed in her number and handed the phone back to him. “Here.”

“Are you going somewhere?” Piers pointed at his opened car door. “Are you going for lunch?”

“No, actually I am not feeling well. I want to go home.”

“Are you okay?” He frowned as he gave her a once-over as if he was looking for any sign of injury.

“Yeah.” Ella’s cheeks felt hot under his scrutinizing gaze. “I am okay. Do not worry about it.”

“You have not answered my question though. Have you had lunch?” Piers tilted his head, a charming smile forming on his face.

“Um.” She had not had lunch but she knew that going to lunch with him might not be a good idea. “I, um—”

“You have not but you do not want to have lunch with me so you do not know how to answer my simple question. I get it.” His lips curled into an understanding smile, his eyes were kind. “You do not have to, Ella. Do not feel bad for saying what you feel. The last thing I want is to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“I am sorry. It is not that I do not want to. I just do not think that it is a good idea,” she answered truthfully and shrugged one shoulder.

“Okay.” His smile disappeared completely and was replaced by a grimace. “So you figured out that I like you, huh?”

“What?” She blinked twice.

Piers gave her a sappy smile which mirrored the sadness in his eyes. “Yeah. I like you the first time I met you on that beach but I know that you and Javier are involved. You should know that I am not going to pursue you knowing that you are with him. I will never cross that border ever again so there is no need for you to be afraid, Ella.”

She eyed him anxiously. With what had just happened this afternoon with Maria and her threats, she was not sure whether she wanted to go with Piers or not. He was a Summers, he was Javier’s big brother. Obviously, she could not tell him but keeping things from Javier did not feel right too. Perhaps she could tell Piers so that Piers could warn Javier about Maria.

While her mind was busy weighing about the pros and cons, Piers stared at her curiously and asked, “Is there something that bothers your mind?” When she looked up and met his eyes, he put both palms up. “I am sorry. Pardon the intrusion but you look like you have a lot on your mind. Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Piers, would you mind getting in the car?” asked her as she finally made up her mind. She figured that Maria might not know Piers so it should be fine if she went for lunch with him but there was a chance that she might. If turned out that Maria knew about Piers and the person she might be hired to tail on Ella saw her with Piers, it could be trouble. Here, however, at the basement of the Summers building where only permanent employees with access could enter might be a safe place. Furthermore, Maria was still a temp since she was still being in training thus she had no access to the parking lot.

“That is an odd request,” he commented but he walked over the hood and got into the passenger seat.

Ella got inside the car and sat behind the wheels. “I have a problem.”

“What is it?” The frown lines on his forehead deepened as he turned to face her. His face was full of worry. “Is there anything I can help with?”

“Are you sure you are okay to be alone? I could get you to the hospital if you need to.”

The last thing she wanted was to break down in front of her best friend and caused him to panic. “No. It is fine. I am fine,” she said as she opened the bathroom door.

“Well, Honey, frankly, I do not believe you. I have known you for fifteen years and you are a terrible liar, Ella Darling.” He took a glass out of the drawer and poured the water out of the sink then handed the glass of water to her. “Now you can tell me what is wrong so we can work out the solution together. That is what we always do.”

Ella felt like a kid again. Alone and helpless. She had worked so hard never to feel those two things again, and here it was back. A sob racked her chest and fear started to creep into her head. Two months. It had only been two months since she and Javier had gotten involved, and her life had changed so drastically, it felt longer. She felt like a different person. Stronger. Confident. More sure of herself. With him, even with the uncertainty on whether he truly loved her or not, she got a taste of happiness. She had finally found someone who made her happy.

Two months to have gained so much, only to lose it all. Such a short time to fall completely and totally in love, only to lose him, too. And it was ironic as hell, really. She had always known that their relationship was not going to be easy. That it would end someday. That it would hit her hard and shake up her life. Yet she thought that it would be because of him not believing in love and call her crazy but she thought that she could somehow, eventually, convince him otherwise. That she would be able to teach him about love. And perhaps he would come to love her back.

“Earth to Ella?”

Damon’s voice finally brought her back to reality and she blinked, shooing her wandering thoughts away. “Yes?”

“Tell me what is wrong?” Her best friend lifted one brow, his face looked more worried than it had been five minutes ago.

“I—I love him. But I can not be with him, Dee. There is a lot of shit going on.” Ella covered her face with both hands and took a deep, calming breath.

“I know you love him, Ella Darling. It is hard to miss the obvious.” He threw his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. “Did he hurt you, Ella Bella? What did he do? He may look handsome but I do not mind messing up that pretty face of him.”

“No, Dee.” She shook her head helplessly. “He did not do anything.”

“Then what is the matter?”

No longer sure that she could hide this from her best friend, she finally let it all pour out. Whether she had made the right decision by telling him or not was a mystery and only time would be able to tell.