Page 12 of Crossing the Red Line (Vancouver Dominators)

Ella - Sunday Night

I stared at my phone, the email from my father causing my stomach to roll. He’d put it in writing and had sent a copy to Human Resources, notifying them he refused to accept my resignation. Anger flooded me as I stared at my screen.

“Can I help you?” I heard and looked up to see the girl behind the counter at Sip and Stir staring back at me.

“Coffee, black please,” I demanded.

“Size?”

Ignoring her, I hit reply to the email.

“Miss, what size would you like?”

“Large,” I said, letting out a huff.

I’d been in a mood the entire weekend, ever since running out of the arena on Friday. I’d left my father and Lucas standing there in the hallway staring at one another and had locked myself in my apartment, ignoring all calls and messages the entire weekend.

I tapped my card and then moved down the counter and grabbed my coffee from another girl, making my way out of the shop and heading back home. I stopped at the corner, glancing at the text messages that had come in over the weekend.

Aurora, Lorelai, and Layla had all messaged a couple of times, but Lucas had blown up my messages ever since Friday night. It had been so bad I’d had to shut my volume off.

I shook my head as I stared at his name. Seventeen messages over the course of the weekend. You’d have thought that when a few of them hadn’t been read he’d stop sending them. The man was persistent if not anything else.

The moment the light changed, I shoved my phone in my pocket and made my way across the street, stopping in at the small grocery store for some things.

I’d lived on cold pizza for the past two days and needed something a little healthier for dinner tonight, and something for lunches for the week because, apparently, I had to go to work.

I gathered a few things, paid for them, and then left, making my way around the corner to the condo.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone standing at the front door of the building, but since I didn’t want to be bothered, I didn’t make eye contact.

Instead, I dug my hand into my pocket and pulled out my keys, opening the front door.

“Ella…” I heard a familiar voice say from behind me.

I stopped, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then glanced over my shoulder. Lucas stood there, dressed in his grey sweatpants and his Dominators sweatshirt he always wore when returning from an away game. He looked tired, even stressed.

“What do you want?” I asked.

I was angry he’d not come to me after I’d left. It just went to prove exactly what I thought. I’d peeked at the messages he’d left, not one of them telling me what date he’d set for our annulment, which had led me to believe he’d not really booked one.

“Can we go inside?” he asked, grabbing the door and opening it for me.

With my hands full, struggling to hold onto the two full bags of groceries I’d picked up, I couldn’t argue.

“Fine,” I said, moving through the door and quickly pressing the elevator button.

Neither one of us said anything until we were both inside the condo. He’d held that door open for me too, letting me inside first, and I’d immediately gone to the kitchen and shoved things into the fridge, then turned to find him standing in the doorway watching me.

“I tried messaging you over the weekend,” he said, his eyes meeting mine.

I let out a sigh. “I know, I saw.”

“Did you read them?” he questioned, leaning up against the doorframe.

I shook my head. Hell, why did he have to always look so good when he came back from a game? Those sexy ass messy curls, t-shirt stretched in all the right places, and those grey sweatpants that hung off his hips, had always made my mouth water.

“Why not?”

I got up from the table. There was no way I could sit here staring at him any longer. I began pulling out bowls and measuring cups, then started pulling out ingredients to make some muffins.

“I wanted to be alone for the weekend,” I muttered, concentrating on what I was doing as I added two cups of flour to the bowl.

“What does reading my messages have to do with that? You could have read them; I wasn’t asking for a response.”

“Why? So, I could hear all about you and my father having it out, then about you losing your position and knowing that it was my fault. My father already thinks he knows that my wanting to quit has to do with you, which he is wrong about that. The last thing I need to hear is that all your hard work has been thrown down the drain because of me. My father can be the biggest asshole when he wants to teach me a lesson.”

“Do you honestly think your father could get rid of me that easy?”

“I do, he’s the boss.”

“I see. Well, I have lawyers, you know. They seem to have more of a final say than your father. He may not want me on the team, but I can assure you he’s the one who would have to suck it up.”

“Trust me when I say he’d get the final word. He always does,” I muttered, still irritated from the email he’d sent earlier.

Lucas was quiet, almost like he wasn’t even here. I added some sugar to the bowl and went to grab the milk when I felt his hands on my arms. I stopped, afraid to move, knowing if I backed up an inch I’d feel his body behind mine. I could already feel the heat from his body as I stood there.

“Why didn’t you read my messages?” he whispered.

I closed my eyes. He already knew how I felt. It was almost as if he wanted to torture me, by making me answer this question.

“Lucas, I…”

My eyes were burning as I stopped speaking and swallowed hard. I felt like I could cry and be sick all at the same time.

“Open my messages,” he said, quietly, nothing more than a whisper as he picked up my phone and placed it in front of me. “Just read what I had to say to you.”

He didn’t step back to give me space, the heat from his body was enveloping me now, making me warmer than what I already was as anxiousness filled me.

I took a deep breath and, with a shaking hand, picked up my phone, opening the messages from Lucas.

It took me a minute to find the first one he’d sent.

I read through the first sixteen, they’d all been the same, asking me to message, or call when I got the message. It was the seventeenth that caught my attention just as I was going to stop reading them.

Lucas: Ella, I’m sorry about everything.

Everything has blown way out of control.

First, I really did think you knew that all weddings that take place in Vegas were real.

I did abide by your wishes and line up someone to annul our marriage, so there is no need to worry.

Before that, though, there are things I want to say.

I stood there Friday, outside your father’s office, wishing I could just tell you how I felt.

Just like I wanted to the night after the ceremony, but you were drunk, and you were too inside your own head to listen.

I know that because I see you. The real you, the one you hide from everyone.

It was the same on Friday. I knew if I started to tell you how I felt, you’d shut me out, so instead I took matters into my own hands.

That was why I said nothing while your father stood behind you and I allowed you to question me.

I figured it was the only way you’d know I was serious, by taking my life into my own hands, otherwise you’d never believe me.

Your father can be one scary guy, and this is coming from a six-foot, 208 lbs.

guy. I told your father everything, and you need to know that I’m in love with you and have been for as long as I can remember.

It just took reconnecting to make me realize it, and while I know you want to annul this marriage, I beg of you to take a minute, stop, step outside of your own head and remember what we had.

Msg me when you get this, please, don’t make me wait.

I stood there, staring at the message on my phone.

I could still feel the warmth of his body behind mine, which let me know he hadn’t moved away from me.

I swallowed hard as the message blurred, tears filling my eyes.

I had to remind myself to breathe and placed my phone on the counter. Everything I’d thought was wrong.

“Say something,” he whispered. “Don’t make me wait any longer.”

I inhaled deeply, trying to do as he asked, which was get out of my own head, even for a moment.

That had always been something I’d struggled with.

I’d always come to my own conclusions, no matter what others said, and I always jumped into everything without thinking of the consequences.

Perhaps this time, I should take his advice and shut off that inner voice for a moment.

“I’m still in love with you. Did you read that?” he whispered.

I leaned back against him, allowing the heat from him to envelop me, thinking back to the first night in Vegas, remembering everything.

I’d not seen it, even though the morning after we’d been together, he’d clearly been trying to tell me how he felt.

He just didn’t know how to get the words out, but he’d still tried.

I just figured he was saying the words I wanted to hear, so I didn’t start regretting what had happened that night.

I closed my eyes and turned to face him, and slowly looked up at him, almost immediately crashing into him.

“I’m so sorry,” I cried. “I couldn’t see it.”

“It’s okay,” he said, his voice low as he wrapped his arms around me.

“No, it’s not. I pushed you away because I thought I knew it all.”

“You have to shove harder than that to push me away, Ella.”

I snuggled against his chest, my heart finally feeling at peace for the first time in a long time.

“How did my father take it?” I questioned, looking up at Lucas.

The sexy, shit-eating grin Lucas always wore whenever I’d mention my father appeared on his lips.

“Let’s just say he gave us his blessing.”

He lowered his head, bringing his lips to mine, wrapping his arms around me tighter as he deepened the kiss.

My fingers ran through his hair as his tongue washed through my mouth. My body heated as his hands ran over my body, his hands gripping my ass and pulling me closer to him.

“I want you…I want all of you.” I moaned between kisses. In one swift motion, he placed his hands under my legs, picked me up, and carried me down to my bedroom.

Kissing me, he gently lowered me to the floor, gripped the hem of my shirt, and lifted it over my head, dropping it to the floor.

Pulling at the button on my jeans, he pushed those to my feet and knelt down in front of me, my fingers running through his hair as he placed a kiss on my lower abdomen and looked up at me.

“I can’t wait to take you and make you mine,” he whispered as he looked up at me.

I stared into his eyes, heat coursing through my body as his fingers danced gently up the back of my legs.

“Make me yours,” I moaned as I closed my eyes and dropped my head back at the feeling of his fingers as they slid between my legs, sliding through my center.

“Turn around, bend over, support yourself with your arms.”

A wave of excitement ran through me as I did as he asked. I felt him tap my inner leg, and I parted my legs, feeling him run his tongue through my slit as he grabbed my ass.

“This pussy…all of it…is mine,” he growled, lightly tapping my right cheek.

Excitement filled me, making it hard for me to breathe as I felt him line himself up at my entrance and bury himself inside of me. I closed my eyes, a loud moan escaping my lips as he began thrusting as he held onto my hips, pushing me over the edge.