Hinder • {Bill Skarsgård}

||Chapter Twenty-One||

Bill heard the set of persistent knocks. He closed his eyes tightly with a quiet sigh before making his way toward the door. He knew Ella would show up; he knew she was going to be livid. But he wasn't expecting Ella to come looking for a fight so soon. He was under the impression that Dean was still in Santa Monica. He had no idea that Dean had taken a red eye flight in only two hours after his phone call.

"Open the fucking door now!" Ella yelled, continuing to pound away at the door.

Bill stood just on the other side, mentally preparing himself for the confrontation. He wasn't sure what to expect—he had dumped all of Ella's alcohol, but that didn't mean she hadn't bought more. He was worried that she was still drunk. The last thing he wanted to do was to argue with a drunk—it was senseless to do so.

"Bill, I swear to God- open the goddamn door!" Ella yelled once more, continuing on with her endless knocking.

Bill pursed his lips, bracing his weight into the doorframe as he thought about ignoring her. She needed to calm down. But he worried that someone from another room would call security. If Ella was drunk like he feared, he was sure she'd be taken to jail. Bill couldn't let that happen; he had already done so much.

Bill opened the door. Without given a moment of greetings, Ella barged into the suite, pushing Bill back with the heels of her palms. "You told him! You fucking told him!" Ella screamed; her hands still pushing him back. Although she was giving him everything she had, Bill barely budged under the weight of her pushes. "Why? You had no right... no fucking right!"

"You need to calm down." Bill insisted. He closed the door behind her, making sure that if someone heard the commotion, they wouldn't be able to tell which room it was coming from.

"Calm down? Are you fucking kidding me? Dean... he-he showed up. He... he left me! Because of you! Because you couldn't just wait until Friday when I was going to tell him myself. You just made things worse!" Ella pushed off on Bill's chest again.

He raised his arms in defeat, showing that he was defenseless. She was hitting someone that was not about to hit her back—her violence was uncalled for.

"Calm down."

"I hate you. I fucking hate you."

"You don't mean that." Bill spoke bored.

"I hate what you did. You ruined my relationship with Dean. It's over now... if you just would've let me handle it, he would've stayed, I know he would've. Instead, he heard it from you. He had to hear it from you-"

Bill's voice broke through her screams. "You gave me no choice!" He grabbed the tops of Ella's arms, forcing her to keep her hands to herself—making her unable to push off on his chest. It didn't hurt, but it was becoming annoying. "You weren't gonna tell him. I know you, Ella... I know how your mind works! You were gonna make up an excuse to leave him, then divorce me when you were ready, probably after filming wrapped. Or probably never." Bill scoffed; a small sarcastic chuckle leaving his throat.

Ella stood in his grasp with horror filled eyes. She had planned on telling Dean when he came back from Santa Monica. But after hearing what Bill presumed she was going to do, perhaps he was right. Perhaps he knew her better than she knew herself.

"No... no, I was gonna tell Dean the truth, but... I was gonna tell him when he got back."

"Were you? Look me in the eyes when you answer me." Bill demanded. Ella's lips parted, but no words seemed to be coming out. A smug smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, "That's what I thought. You weren't gonna tell Dean. You were gonna leave him, just like you left me."