Ever growing 2

Chapter 39 Ryan's POV

Having dinner with my friends feels nice. Ella and Maddy are talking about some concert they'd like to go to while Sam and I talk about football. Ella decided to wear jeans and a grey turtleneck sweater. I'm also in jeans with a tight fitted black sweater that I know she loves on me. The way she licks her fingers while eating her wings is distracting me. "She's so sexy!" Sam pulls me out of my thoughts asking to go to the loo.

"I wanted to talk to you for a minute," he says before we enter. His eyes are scanning my face, making me nervous.

"What's up?"

"I told Ella that Robert isn't your biological dad." He looks apprehensive about my reaction.

"What? What else did you tell her? Does she know what he did?" I get anxious.

"No! I said she could ask you one day. I just told her that your dad was a drunk which led to me specifying that Robert isn't your real dad. I'm sorry man, I just... She looked so sad at Christmas, I could tell she was blaming herself. I didn't want to get into your business but..." he trails off.

"It's alright, I'm not mad. I will talk to her. I just don't know when but thanks for spending Christmas with her, I'm glad she wasn't alone." I open the door needing to take a piss now.

Later back at the table, I can't stop thinking about what Sam said about Ella at Christmas. The holidays were definitely hard on me while being at the center but a part of me pictured her being able to enjoy them with her family and friends, I didn't want to face the reality of her not being in the holiday spirit. Sam is still talking about some sports events he wants us to go to but I'm only half listening. Ella turns to me briefly looking into my eyes. Her hand automatically goes to my thigh rubbing. She can see that something is bothering me even if I keep a smile on my lips for my friend's sake. My hand reaches for hers lacing our fingers together. A warm feeling wraps around me knowing she's here, loving me, making me snap out of it.

Once dinner is over, I see the way Sam is looking at Maddy, my friend is so in love with her. It's clear that he wants to be alone with his girlfriend now and to be honest, I also want to spend more time with Ella. Calling it a night after some hugs and kisses, Ella and I go back to the hotel. Her hand is in mine again, her eyes closed. I wonder if she's been working a lot, that's what she did last time I was at the center. She told me it helped with her sanity while I was gone but I still didn't like her overdoing it. "Jake better not be messing with her again!" My jaw is clenched thinking about it. I wake her up when we get to the hotel.

As soon as she walks in, she takes off her coat and boots as well as her sweater, jeans, underwear. "Will you have a bath with me?" She asks, I nod. She goes into the bathroom getting the bath ready while I undress. She's already sitting in there motioning for me to sit in front of her before pulling me to lay against her. I'm usually the one holding her but it feels nice to be wrapped in her arms tonight. She seems to be waiting for me to talk, I'm sure she has questions and I owe it to her to open up. I start telling her about my stay at the center, what I did daily, people I've met there, what I talked about. I still can't talk about dad and Mindy to anyone I'm just not ready yet. Her arms stay around my body as her fingers are gently caressing my chest, her lips laying kisses here and there on my neck. It's very soothing helping me open up.

"Why were you sad at the restaurant?" she asks after I go quiet.

"Sam told me you were feeling down at Christmas and I felt guilty, I don't like it when you're unhappy."

"I missed you but I'm glad I wasn't alone, I spent New Year's Eve with my mother and family. I did feel guilty about you being alone too you know." She kisses my cheek.

"Well next holidays we'll be together, I promise!" I bring her right hand to my lips kissing it.

I ask her how she's been dealing with everything. As suspected she says work has been busy keeping her distracted. But then she says something that makes me very happy.

"Jake got fired,"

"Really? What happened?" I turn around only to see a frown on her beautiful face. "Ella? What happened?"

"Can we get out of the tub first?"

I put on my grey sweats and a white tee while she slips on a black shirt and black pajama pants. She sits on the couch and I sit next to her. I see her trying to find the words and taking a deep breath. "I had to switch hotels in Calgary," she says looking down, I put my hand under her chin to make her look at me. "Jake came to my room to tell me he loves me," She adds. "What the fuck? Did he touch you? I'm going to..." Her hands reach for me sliding on my lap before hugging me. "No! He didn't but I got really scared. I yelled at him to leave so he wouldn't know I was frightened and it worked, he left," she explains with a small voice. "How the fuck did he find you? You never told anyone where you stayed at right?" I'm livid. "He said he found my mother's last name in our database at work. I was an idiot for using it I guess. I switched hotels using a fake name right after he left," she looks down. I put my fingers under her chin again to comfort her and tell her she didn't know he would think of looking for her mother's name. "I still want to punch him!" "When I got to work the next day, I had flowers on my desk with a card from him. I threw away the card and gave the flowers to our receptionist," Her voice is so small. I feel bad that I wasn't there when it happened but then again I know I would have confronted him and punched him. She tells me about her conversation with her boss, he noticed the tension at the restaurant between all of us. I wanted to remind him to leave Ella alone that night but I didn't think it'd be appropriate since it was a work dinner. Of course, we know how I fucked up drinking the glass of wine. I rub her back as she tells me how it got better now that he's gone. My heart is still racing thinking about Jake being in her room with her. "If he had put his hands on her..." I can't go there or I'm going to lose it. I'm picturing him telling her he loves her and my blood boils. I vaguely hear her telling me about Maddy and Emma but I can't snap out of it.