Page 9 of Crossing the Red Line (Vancouver Dominators)

Ella - One Week Later

I sat across from Aurora and Lorelai, sipping on my coffee while they sat there talking about some upcoming announcement at work. I was sure I’d read something in my email about earlier in the week about it but really had paid little attention.

It had probably been one of the worst weeks I’d had since I’d started working with the team.

I’d called in sick for two days, and the days I was there I’d hidden in my office, refusing to see anyone.

I’d monitored all my calls, weeding out any calls that came from Lucas.

He’d even tried to come by and see me, but I told my assistant to tell him I was in another meeting.

“You alright, Ella?”

I looked up to see Aurora staring my way with concern.

“Yeah, just got another one of those headaches again,” I lied.

I’d told them I’d been getting super odd headaches and that was why I’d been off work for two days. I wasn’t sure they’d believe it, but they hadn’t pushed for any more information. They’d both just wished me well.

“Maybe you should come and see one of us. Perhaps you’ve slept on your neck wrong,” Lorelai offered.

“No, it’s okay. I’m sure it will go away.”

“Well, maybe just pop in and see the team doc. I mean, maybe he can give you something. You look like you are going to be sick,” Aurora added.

Did I really look that bad? I was certain I’d put on enough makeup to hide the puffy eyes and dark circles.

“Anyway, Dylan and I were talking last night and he’s hoping it’s an announcement of some new players to replace a couple that are on the verge of leaving.”

“Yeah, Knox said the same thing. He said anything would be an improvement from Johnson.” Lorelai laughed.

“Hard not to be. Dylan doesn’t even know how Johnson got to where he is,” Aurora agreed. “He makes me laugh.”

“Sounds like something he’d say,” Lorelai added.

I placed my coffee mug down and picked up my muffin, shoving almost half of it in my mouth at once.

It was the first thing I’d eaten in two days; I was starving now that I was around food, and my stomach let out a grumble, thanking me for feeding it, even if it was only flour and sugar.

It was then I noticed both girls looking at me.

“What?” I asked, after I’d swallowed everything in my mouth.

“You sure you’re alright? You’re acting as if you haven’t eaten in days,” Lorelai said, taking a small bite of the chocolate-covered croissant in front of her.

“Sorry, ate really early this morning,” I lied.

“We asked you if you knew what the secret announcement is. I’m sure your father has mentioned something to you.”

I hadn’t spoken to my father since before I’d gone away with Lucas. I had no clue what the announcement was.

“Nope, not a clue. My father tells me nothing,” I muttered. “And I don’t really want to talk about my father.”

Lorelai and Aurora looked at one another and then back to me.

“What?” I questioned, knowing they both had something on their minds.

“Ella, we are worried about you.”

“Why? There is nothing wrong.”

“Ella, you haven’t been yourself all week, and Dylan said that you approached him about the hospital campaign to see if he would mind taking part, even though he said he was taken off the project and that your father designated Lucas as the spokesperson instead because of his knee injury.”

I swallowed hard.

“Yeah, Knox mentioned something about this as well. He said that you followed him out to his car to see if he’d step back in. Does Lucas not want to take part?”

I’d panicked after I’d returned from Vegas.

It had happened on Monday when I’d called in sick and then decided I’d work from home.

I’d opened my email to see that the photoshoot had been rescheduled and was now set to take place at the beginning of next week instead of the weekend.

Instead of emailing Lucas the details, I’d taken matters into my own hands, went against my father’s instruction, and tried to get either Dylan or Knox to take part instead.

They were demanding I be there for the photoshoot, and the last person I wanted to see or spend time with was Lucas.

“What’s going on, Ella? We all thought Lucas was the one to get the spotlight on this? I can’t imagine he’d not want to do it. After all, this sort of thing looks great for the guys,” Aurora said as both girls looked at me.

I bit my bottom lip, wondering just how much I should divulge.

“We both know he can be difficult with these things,” Lorelai said.

“Maybe we can help,” Aurora said. “We can always talk to the boys and have them talk to him.”

“It’s not that. He’s more than happy to do it,” I muttered, my finger tracing the rim of my mug.

“We don’t understand. Why are you asking the others to do it if he isn’t refusing?”

I sighed and then looked at the girls with defeat. “Look, I’ve not mentioned this to many people. Actually, I haven’t mentioned this to anyone at work, but Lucas and I…”

“Oh my god, are you guys dating?” Aurora questioned, almost ready to jump out of her seat with excitement.

“Oh gosh, how did I not see this?” Lorelai exclaimed.

“No…” I almost screamed, putting an end to that before it could even start.

“Then what is it?” Lorelai questioned.

I let out a sigh. “We dated years ago. It’s just an uncomfortable situation.”

“What? How did we not know this?” Aurora questioned.

“Because I said nothing.”

“Well, I knew there had to be something between the pair of you,” Lorelai added. “Especially after the night in the locker room.”

“You did?” I questioned.

“Yeah, we figured you were secretly dating, especially when Knox and Dylan saw the two of you at the airport together last Friday,” Lorelai said.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, when we didn’t go out last weekend and we mentioned you weren’t feeling well, that was when Dylan said he saw the pair of you at the airport,” Aurora said, sipping her coffee.

“Yeah, we figured you didn’t want us to know, so we didn’t press the issue. Thought we’d back off and you could tell us when you were ready,” Lorelai added.

I was about to deny it when my phone vibrated against the table, and I looked down to see Lucas’s name on the screen. He hadn’t given up; he was still trying to get a hold of me. When I looked up, I knew both of them had seen it as well.

“It’s not what you think,” I said, sending his call to voicemail.

“Uh-huh, sneaking away to be together. We know exactly how it is.” Lorelai giggled.

“No, honestly, it wasn’t like that. I did him a favor, helped him with a family problem,” I answered.

“Let me guess, the girlfriend issue?” Aurora asked.

I looked over at her in shock. “How did you know that?”

“He’d been complaining to the boys about it one night when I was working on his knee.

From what he was saying, his mother can be quite persistent, and while he’d been able to avoid going to see his mother since she moved to Vegas, once he got injured, he couldn’t avoid it any longer.

He even begged both Dylan and Knox to borrow one of us just to shut her up. ”

“Yeah, Knox loved that.” Lorelai giggled. “He basically told Lucas if he ever asked him that question again, he’d take him out on the ice during a game.”

“Funny, Dylan said the same thing.” Aurora laughed. “It was nice of you to help him out. Did it go okay?”

I smiled for the first time in a week, thinking about how the weekend had started, but that quickly faded when I remembered how it had ended.

“Yeah, I mean, I think we made his mother happy. She invited me for Christmas.”

“So now what happens?

“What do you mean?”

“Well, obviously, his mother thinks the two of you are together. What’s going to happen now? Is Lucas just going to tell her you guys split?”

I shrugged. “I’m guessing at some point he is going to tell her we got divorced before the holidays.”

“Divorced?” Lorelai questioned. “Why would he tell her that?”

“Well, his sisters and mother wouldn’t let up on either of us, so somehow we ended up taking part in a fake ceremony at one of those wedding chapels on the strip.”

Aurora and Lorelai looked at one another then back over at me with wide eyes.

“Why are you two looking at me like that?” I questioned, shoving the rest of my muffin into my mouth.

“Uh, Ella, you know those places aren’t fake, right?” Lorelai questioned.

“Yes, they are.”

They both glanced at one another, a worried look on their face and then turned back to me.

“What do you mean?” I said, panic filling me.

“They are real.”

“No, they aren’t,” I said, swallowing hard. “Please stop trying to make me panic.” I laughed nervously.

“Sorry to break it to you but they are…thousands of people run off to Vegas every year to get married. How do you not know this?”

“Yeah, I know that, but not at the one we went to. I mean, there were so many pictures of celebrity weddings that I recognized from movies. Plus, it was so commercialized there was no way it could have been real.”

“What was the name of the place?” Aurora asked.

“Um, gosh, Moments at Midnight, or something like that,” I said, playing with the muffin wrapper.

“Midnight Moments?” Aurora corrected. “Is that the one?”

“Yeah, that is it!”

“It’s real. Dylan and I looked at sneaking off to Vegas one night just to take all the pressure off. With him trying to repair his relationship with his father and, well, the relationship between my mother and Dylan’s dad, things haven’t been easy.”

“We wouldn’t blame you, you know. Not with lil baby dominator on the way,” Lorelai said, reaching over and rubbing Aurora’s belly.

“No, there is no way. It’s not real,” I said, panic filling me.

It was then I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard his voice. “It’s real, Ella.”

I whipped around as both the girls looked up and saw Lucas standing behind me.

“Hey, Lucas,” Aurora and Lorelai said in unison.

“Hey, ladies, do you mind if I have a chat with Ella?”

“No, not at all. We were just leaving,” they both said, scooting out of the bench seat on the other side of the booth.