Felix
They finally broke from the spontaneous photo shoot. Hector had happened to come around to ask Abel something, and having all three there in one place had almost caused a frenzy with the fans asking them to pose together. Nellie had already told the crowd they’d be taking a ten-minute break and be back, but she’d disappeared during the frenzy of cameras flashing.
“The kids from the high school paper are asking if they can do a quick interview,” Hector said, leaning into Felix.
“Right now?” Felix asked.
Abel shook his head. “He can’t now. Nellie’s setting up a meeting with him and Ella.”
“Ella?” Hector asked, confused. “For what?”
“Because I’ve never met her. She’s the one who got the self-defense thing going, right?”
Hector’s brows shot up. “You haven’t met her yet?”
“Nope.”
“Dude, she’s been doing this for like almost two years now. Where’ve you been?”
Felix laughed. “I haven’t been away that long, ass. It’s just that every time I’ve come down she hasn’t been here.” He turned to Abel. “Nellie said something about her wanting to start a breast-cancer awareness thing. Like a run we’d do annually or something. I think that’s cool. We should’ve had something like that going on a long time ago.”
“We do all kinds of stuff outside the gym for it,” Abel reminded him. “But I agree this would be directly associated with 5th Street and something that could get bigger every year. Could be a real good thing. And you know Nellie. She’s already all over it.”
Hector laughed. “Yeah, I heard her talking about a carnival with a mini concert and contacting some celebrities to do appearances. She’s nuts!”
Abel gave him a look and Felix had to laugh. Hector then turned to Felix. “I’m surprised this chick hasn’t made more of an effort to meet you yet. Two years. Damn.”
“Ella doesn’t seem that type,” Abel said, frowning. “She’s a real nice girl. It doesn’t surprise me meeting Felix hasn’t been high on her list of priorities.”
Felix smirked, wanting nothing more than to piss off his already irritable-looking friend. He knew these kinds of events running too long made Abel grumpier than a toddler in need of a nap.
“So is she cute?”
As expected, Abel’s face soured immediately. “Don’t start with that shit. This is business and—”
“I’m just asking a question.” Felix laughed, holding his hands up in front of him. “Geez! Kill me!”
“I will if you come in here messing with the trainers and staff.”
One glance at Hector and Felix had his answer. He was shaking his head.
“Not a looker, huh?”
Abel turned to Hector with that ever-present scowl. “She’s not ugly.”
“I didn’t say she was ugly,” Hector said. “But she’s way too humble-looking for this guy’s taste.”
“What are you talking about?” Felix laughed. “I grew up in East L.A.”
“Let me put to you this way,” Hector explained. “She’s no Athena or runway model like you’re used to now. She’s not ugly but just . . . kind of . . .”—Hector glanced around—“on the plain side. She’s a typical Hispanic girl, no different from anything you see around here on any given day.”
Felix glanced around, remembering he’d seen a face or two just tonight he might consider his type.
“Well, none of that matters anyway, all right?” Abel’s tone warned. “She’s a hard worker, and Nellie said she has a lot of passion. She’s exactly the kind of person we want involved with the gym. Don’t go fucking things up by messing with her.”
“Whoa!” Felix said, attempting to sound offended. “Ease up there, big guy. I was just asking.” He smirked in Hector’s direction. “Kind of plain-looking nice girl with a lot of passion. Probably has a real nice personality too.” He winked at Hector. “Gotcha. So far it sounds like you got nothing to worry about with this one.”
Abel rolled his eyes as Nellie walked up to them. “Do you have a moment now, Felix?”
“For you? Always, sweetheart.”
“Good, because Ella is here, but she doesn’t have a lot of time,” Nellie’s tone warned.
Hector laughed and Nellie turned to look at him, curiously. When he offered no explanation for his laughter, she went on. They started in the direction of the rooms in the back, leaving Abel and Hector behind.
“She’s had finals this week, so I didn’t think she’d be here today or I would’ve—”
The building jolted suddenly. Nellie stopped midstride and reached for Felix’s arm, squeezing it. There were gasps in the room, and then everyone around seemed to hold their breath for a moment as the wave of movement subsided.
“Was that an—?” Nellie started to ask, looking back at Abel who’d suddenly caught up to them as the building rumbled again but not as hard as the first time.
Felix looked around and waited with baited breath as he knew everyone else was doing to see if there’d be more, but it settled into a slow wave until everything was back to normal. That’s when all the buzzing and talking started, and the gym suddenly went from eerily silent to a loud drone with everyone talking all at once.
“Are you calling my mom?” Abel asked as Nellie brought the phone to her ear and nodded.
As Southern California natives, they’d all experienced worse tremblers than this one, but Felix knew these two had a toddler and an infant they were overly protective about. Felix looked around as Hector approached him with a smirk.
“You okay, buddy?” Hector asked as he brought an arm around Felix’s shoulder playfully. “Need a change of pants?”
“Shit.” Felix laughed as he waited on Nellie to get off the phone. “I don’t, but you better check with your brother over here.”
Hector turned to Abel, who was listening intently to Nellie, who was still on the phone. The look on Hector’s face went from playful to mildly concerned. “The kids and mom okay?”
Nellie nodded in response, giving him the thumbs up, and Abel seemed to let out a slow breath. As soon as she was off the phone, she kissed Abel, saying something to him in a hushed voice. Abel walked away with Hector, patting Felix on the shoulder. Before turning away completely, Abel gave Felix the lifted brow warning look, at which Felix laughed.
Nellie looked at Felix weirdly then shook her head and smiled. “I’m not even gonna ask,” she said, rolling her eyes playfully.
“Thank you.” Felix chuckled.
“Well,” Nellie said as they started toward the back rooms, “now that the unexpected excitement is over, let’s go meet Ella. You have had a chance to sit in and watch some of the self-defense classes, right?”
“I have. The last time I was here I peeked in for a few minutes. I think it’s awesome that we offer this here now, and I’m gonna try and get my mom and sister to take a class.”
“Yes, we get a lot of that—mothers and daughters enrolling together.” They took the escalators up then walked down the corridor, walking past a few kickboxing classes and some of the private training rooms. “I like that it creates some good mother-daughter bonding time while at the same time giving them some invaluable tools to empower themselves. And Ella—well, both her and Sonia, but Ella has really been the driving force behind all this—her passion is incredible, especially for someone so young. It’s what caught my attention when I was following the story about her brother beating that guy to death a couple of years ago. So when I saw them interview her about putting together the classes at the local high school and trying to raise money—because she was determined that everyone would have the opportunity even if they couldn’t afford them—that’s when I knew I had to meet her and bring her here.”
Felix tried to remember the details of Ella’s brother’s ordeal. He remembered hearing about it back then, but he’d had so much going on in the past two years there was no way he’d remember everything. He knew someone had been raped—Sonia. That much Nellie had refreshed him on just before he met Sonia. And that Ella had been someone in Sonia’s life who went on a mission to help give young girls like Sonia a fighting chance against a predator. He’d forgotten someone had actually died. And for some reason, when Nellie had mentioned one of Sonia’s relatives or close friends being on a mission to get the self-defense classes going, all this time he’d imagined it was an aunt or mom or something. Given Sonia’s age, he’d been expecting someone a lot older to be behind all this. But now Nellie was referring to her as so young.
“How old is she?”
“Gosh,” she said, opening the door to the room where the classes were taking place. “I’m not real sure, but I believe twenty or twenty-one.”
“Oh wow.” That was something he wasn’t expecting. “She’s just a kid then.”
Nellie nodded wide-eyed as if to say I told you so. It dawned on Felix in that instant that, when this first happened, Ella couldn’t have been more than eighteen or nineteen. He had to admit that was impressive. And now the girl wanted to start a huge breast-cancer awareness campaign and event. Okay, his curiosity about this girl was growing with everything new he learned about her.
They walked into the room where the current class appeared to be wrapping it up. Nellie looked around for a bit then walked up to the girl he remembered as Sonia standing with another girl. “Where did Ella go?”
Sonia and the girl with her turned to look at Felix. Sonia smiled timidly, and the starry-eyed look on the other girl’s face was one he was all too familiar with. So he smiled, nodding at both of them.
“She had to go,” Sonia said, glancing at Nellie then back at him.
“Go?” Nellie asked. “I told her I was bringing Felix in to meet her.”
“Yeah,” Sonia said, looking a bit regretful now. “I don’t know. She just said she had to go and that she’d text you.”
Nellie pulled her phone out of the holster and frowned. “Hmm.” She turned to Felix when she finished reading the text and exhaled, continuing to frown. “I don’t know what happened. She was here a few minutes ago when I told her I’d be bringing you over, and she said she’d wait. Her text didn’t say much else other than something came up. But you’ll be back again tomorrow, right?”
“Day after tomorrow,” Felix said, feeling a little disappointed, but he shrugged it off. “I’ll meet her eventually.”
They walked around the room as Nellie showed him some of the photos taken from previous classes. They’d apparently had a radio station broadcast from there because there were photos of a D.J. booth from one of the local radio stations.
Nellie pointed at the photos with the D.J. “That’s when we first announced the classes being offered. We offered the classes for free that first weekend, and man did we have a full house.”
They continued to take the small tour of the room, and then Nellie pointed at a photo of two girls on either side of a guy in a padded suit, the kind worn so all the women in the class could kick and punch him in the nuts. “That’s her.” She frowned, looking around at the other photos. “You’d think we’d have more of her up here.”
Felix moved in for a closer look. The first thing he noticed was she was small. The guy next to her in the huge padded suit likely dwarfed her, but the girl on the other side didn’t look as small. The second was what a nice smile she had. “That tiny thing put all this together?”
Nellie laughed. “That tiny thing has a lot to say, and she says it all with conviction.”
Felix took the moment Nellie looked away to sneak in another quick examination of “Mighty Little Ms. Ella.” Judging by the photo alone, Hector was right. There was nothing extraordinary about her looks, but there was something familiar about her. From what he was hearing, Felix hadn’t been too far off when he teased that she likely had a good personality or a strong and determined one according to Nellie. He found himself looking for more photos of her, strangely intrigued, though he was quickly distracted by a text from Adelina. He’d nearly forgotten that he’d told her he’d be in town for a few days.
Since he hadn’t known for sure what time he’d be done tonight, he hadn’t made any plans for the night. But since he’d arrived, Abel had invited him to come over to his place afterward and meet his month-old son.
Felix figured he’d kill a couple of hours at Abel’s, so he texted Adelina back quickly.
I’m busy until around 11pm tonight.
This could go either way and he really didn’t care. Truth was he was tired. If he ended up at home alone tonight, that was fine by him. He had some annoying meetings tomorrow morning and a call he had to take to discuss possibly presenting at the ESPY’s, one of the last things Preston had lined up for him before he quit or Felix fired him. That was a moot point and one he was done debating with Rene. Bottom line was he could use a night off from the extracurricular activities. His phone beeped just as he and Nellie started back to the signing area. He clicked on the text, curious as to whether or not he’d be having a quiet night tonight or not.
I can wait up if you wanna come by. I’ve been thinking about you ALL day.
Felix smiled, texting back only that he’d see her later. Maybe a not-so-quiet night would do him some good too. Then he smirked. Who was he kidding? Knowing Adelina, his night would be anything but quiet.
~~~
The next two days were interesting. For starters, Rene had already given Felix the heads up that, as he predicted, Grecco’s people were feeling the heat of the media and sports broadcasters all over who continued to insist that his taking the title from Felix had been a total fluke. It didn’t help that Grecco refused a rematch and went on to fight nothing but bums. The ratings and sales for his last pay-per-view fight were at an all-time low for a championship fight. Felix didn’t get it. Even if his knocking out Felix in the first round had been a fluke, Grecco had a pretty impressive record. The guys he’d been fighting lately were near amateurs.
Felix had long ago told Rene to stop any negotiations for a rematch. It pissed him off to be the one begging to fight Grecco when it should be the other way around. Well, now Grecco’s team had come to them, wanting to negotiate. Rene had met with them alone because Felix told him he wouldn’t bother meeting with them until they had a decent offer on the table. So far they hadn’t, but this was a start.
One of the annoying meetings he’d had lined up for the day was a meeting with the lawyers of the asshole whose face he’d broken the last time he’d been arrested for assault at a bar—the reason Preston had given him the ultimatum.
Technically, Felix had broken a few bones in the guy’s face anyway. His lawyer had given him the medical terminology of which bones exactly, but all Felix took away from the anatomy lesson was that he’d fucked the guy up pretty badly.
They’d decided to settle out of court, and now this guy who’d taunted Felix at a club was going to walk away with a hefty sum. It burned Felix that it had to work out this way, but he knew it was his own damn fault. His lawyers and Rene had long ago warned him to expect this and that many were willing to take a hit from a former champ just to collect. Felix was fine with the taunts and could ignore the assholes. That is, until he was drinking, and that night he had been.
“You have to remember, Felix, your fists are lethal. You’re lucky you didn’t kill the guy.”
That was Cortez’s consolation to Felix when he delivered the news of just how much they’d be settling for. It was either that or go to trial where he’d likely end up doing time and shelling out money to this guy anyway. It was the same thing the guys at 5th Street had reminded Felix of. That he was lucky to have gotten off just having to financially compensate the guy. This could’ve been so much worse.
The bigger consolation had been seeing the guy at the private hearing. It’d been almost two months since the incident, and the swelling and bruising were gone. But there was no hiding the permanent dents. His lawyers argued their client would need extensive reconstructive surgery to fix the damage Felix had done. They could say it until they were blue in the face that it would cost a lot of money to fix their client’s face, but Felix knew just by looking at the guy that no amount of surgery would be fixing the mess he’d made. Maybe they could get it so the guy didn’t resemble Quasimodo so closely, but he’d definitely be living with the scars of what his big mouth had cost him forever. That alone was worth every penny Felix would have to cough up.
The day had ended on a more positive note. He was in to present at the ESPY awards that summer. Rene said it was a step in the right direction. Getting on some of those kinds of respected sports shows was better than the cameo he did on Family Guy a few weeks ago against Rene’s wishes. The only scene he was in he punched a heckling Peter Griffin in the face at a bar. The very next scene Peter was in a convertible, looking like the elephant man in dark shades. But it was funny as shit!
The following day was even more memorable. When he arrived at 5th Street late that afternoon, the first thing he noticed was the cop car parked out in front. It could mean anything. Maybe they’d had some trouble and the police had been dispatched, or it could be a friendly visit as they often got from the L.A.P.D.
What Felix loved most about being in Los Angeles was he could use one of his many cars he kept at his home base. The house he owned in L.A. wasn’t the only one he had, but it was the only one he considered his home. His mother and sister lived just down the hill from him, and though he spent more time at his mom’s place than his own, it was still home. He’d bought both homes just after winning his second title fight. So whenever he was in town, instead of having to rely on a driver to get him around, he had the comfort of driving himself.
He pulled into one of the staff-only parking spaces just near the front entrance of 5th Street. At that point, he was close enough to see the cop walk out the front entrance with a girl. Immediately, he could see it wasn’t any type of situation. She wasn’t handcuffed nor did she seem upset. They stopped at the squad car, and the cop even turned and leaned against it. He smiled as he continued to talk to her. She crossed her arms in front of her and sort of swayed back and forth, talking to the guy with no concern at all.
Felix shoved his keys in his pants’ pocket, smirking. Evidently, the cop was making a social call while still on duty.
Bringing his mind back to today’s schedule, he took a deep breath. It always felt good to be at his old stomping grounds, but this time it felt even better. He’d been through so much shit the past couple of years that he’d been thinking of staying here near family and friends for a while—slow things down like he should’ve done sooner.
It almost felt like cheating. No, it was cheating. Part of his mandated probation included putting in so many hours of volunteer time at any of the approved locations. 5th Street wasn’t exactly on the list since he was part owner, but thanks to his well-paid lawyers, they managed to make some calls and file the necessary paperwork on behalf of 5th Street so that it met the criteria. Now he’d be spending weeks hanging out with his old pals at one of his favorite places ever as “punishment.”
He smirked, feeling a little devious as he walked into the gym. It was almost as busy as it’d been two nights ago when he’d been there signing autographs. The guys had mentioned the last few times he’d been here how the place was always busy nowadays. It didn’t matter what time of day it was.
Nellie was at the front desk, holding a few packages, and looked ready to walk away when she spotted him. “Oh hey,” she said, smiling big. “I was beginning to think you wouldn’t make it in today. This is perfect timing.”
Stopping and leaning at the counter where the young receptionist stared at him wide-eyed and chewed her gum in slow motion, he smiled at her then glanced back at Nellie. “Yeah, what for?”
“To meet Ella. She just stepped outside, but she’ll be right back in.”
Felix nodded, turning toward the front door where Nellie motioned, when it suddenly hit him. “Was that her with the cop?”
“Yes, did you see her?” Felix nodded and Nellie laughed. “She’s not in trouble or anything. He’s just a friend who comes by from time to time to see her.”
Glancing back out the door, Felix could see the girl with the cop was on her way in now. She wasn’t nearly as tiny as she appeared in the photo. Maybe the guy in the padded suit had dwarfed her after all, but she was still petite.
Nellie called out for Ella before she could head in another direction, and she walked over to them. “If you have a moment, I’d like you to meet the other owner of 5th Street, Felix Sanchez.”
Ella smiled pleasantly flashing a bright smile, reminding him of one of the first things he noticed even in her photo—what a nice smile she had. Now he knew why. She had great teeth. Up close, they looked even better, the kind he was used to seeing on supermodels and actresses. The difference was hers weren’t blindingly fake white. And then . . . That’swhat had been familiar about her photo the other night. She was the girl he’d seen earlier the night of the earthquake. Ironically, she was the very girl who had popped in his head when Hector made his comment about Ella looking like any of the typical girls you saw at the gym on any given day.
Without hesitation, she held out her hand. “It’s an honor to finally meet you, Mr. Sanchez.” For such a small hand, she had a hardy handshake. “I’m Rafaela Castellano, but everyone calls me Ella.”
“Nice to meet you too, Ella, and please, call me Felix.” She nodded, smiling pleasantly and very confidently once again. “Nellie’s told me all about the self-defense classes you coordinated, and I understand you’re interested in getting something going for breast-cancer awareness.” He wasn’t sure why he was suddenly using his grown-up professional voice, but he continued. “I think that’s a great idea.”
“So do I,” Nellie interjected, looking at him enthusiastically. “I’m already looking into getting things going.” She turned to Ella. “As a matter of fact, and I don’t mean to put you on the spot or anything, but since Felix brought it up . . .” Nellie glanced back at Felix. “I’ve only talked to Abel about this, but he thinks it’s a good idea as well. Ella,” she said, turning back to smile at Ella momentarily then turned back to Felix. “Well, she does so much work here and half the time refuses to get paid for it.” Nellie gave him a look of frustration then went on. “She also works at Starbucks and goes to school part-time. Getting this cancer-awareness program going will take a lot of work, so we were thinking, Abel and I that is, but I’ve no doubt everyone else will agree, that . . .” Now she turned to Ella, who was looking at her as intently as Felix was. Nellie didn’t seem too sure of herself suddenly. “Since I know this program is important to you, and you don’t have to tell me I can count on you to do a good job because I know I can. With the new baby and all, I’d have to look into hiring someone to do most of the work. I just can’t do it all so . . .”
She hesitated and Felix had to laugh. “Will you just spit it out already?”
Laughing nervously, Nellie turned back to Ella with a deep breath. “You don’t have to answer me now. I want you to take a few days to think about it, okay?”
Ella nodded, her expression full of as much anticipation as Felix was suddenly feeling too. Nellie continued, “I’d like you to consider working for 5th Street full-time.”
Without giving Ella a chance to even react, Nellie went on to describe what Ella would be in charge of and all the reasons she’d be so good for the job. Among them were her passion and commitment, her ability to work with others, and most notably, how well liked she was by the rest of the staff and all the people who took the self-defense class. She then mentioned the benefits package and free membership all employees got along with a few other perks. It was like a backwards interview. Ella didn’t have to do anything to sell herself. Nellie was the one doing all the selling.
Ella shook her head when Nellie was finally done, apparently dazed by everything Nellie had just dumped on her. She brought her hand to her chest in what appeared to be a loss for words. She glanced at Felix as if maybe just looking at him might help her think of something to say. Felix had nothing for her but a smile. Her eyes were back on Nellie, and for a moment, she looked as if she might become emotional. Then she cleared her throat, lifted her chin, and straightened up. The rapid change of emotions happened in a matter of moments, and Felix couldn’t help but smile even bigger. He’d never seen anything like it.
“I’m so flattered,” she finally said. “I, um . . .” She pressed her lips together, bringing two fingers to them. “I like my job. I do.” She turned to Felix as if trying to convince him too.
Felix nodded in response, surprised how much he was enjoying being witness to this unexpected exchange.
One of her brows lifted, slowly, perfectly as if she’d been doing it her entire life and she had it down pat. “I will think about it for sure. The one thing I don’t like about my job now is how many different places I have to be all the time: here, there, school, home. Then there are”—she caught herself, and Felix didn’t miss the quick side glance she gave him then went on—“well, other non-work or school-related things.”
“Yes, of course,” Nellie agreed quickly. “You’re so young. I’m sure you’d like to have time for your social life.”
That had Ella clearing her throat again. “Yes,” she said softly. “So it would be nice to have one less place to be.”
Nellie smiled, looking very pleased, but Felix could tell she was toning her response down a bit. “So no worries.” Nellie shrugged. “Like I said you don’t have to answer now. Take your time to think about it. Talk to your family about it and, you know”—she motioned to the entrance of the gym—“whoever else and get back to me whenever you can. No rush.”
It took a moment for Felix to figure out what Nellie meant when she motioned at the door; then he realized she was referring to Ella’s cop friend.
“I will.” Ella smiled. “And I truly am flattered about the offer. Thank you.” She turned to Felix. “I have to get back to the class now, but it was very nice to meet you, Mr., uh”—she smiled and for the first time gave way to a timid side—“I mean Felix.”
Felix smiled at her, for some reason suddenly compelled to share something with her. “Nellie mentioned to me when she told me about you wanting to start this breast-cancer awareness program that your mother had lost the battle to the disease.”
Just like earlier when she looked as if she might become emotional then quickly snapped out of it, she did it again. For an instant, Felix regretted bringing it up until the quick series of emotions flashed in her eyes. Surprise, sorrow, and then . . . determination? She nodded, lifting her chin again as she’d done earlier. “Yes, my mom passed when I was seventeen.”
“My aunt—my dad’s sister,” he said, just as professionally and seriously as he had earlier, “was recently diagnosed with it, and even though technically they’re not blood related, it still prompted my mom and sister to get checked as well. It’s very scary.” She stared at him hard but not angrily. The determination was palpable, but determination for what? “Awareness is the key to early detection,” he said. “So it’s very important to get it out there. I admire your efforts.”
He wasn’t just talking about her efforts on this. He’d since given more thought to what she’d done even at such a young age. Meeting her now and this close, he could see just how young she was, and the fact that Nellie sought her out when she was two years younger was insane.
Felix could see now why Hector might think her plain. There was nothing done up about her or anything that really stood out. Her hair was brown and looked about medium length with a slight wave in the ponytail she wore it in. She wore no makeup, but then this was the gym, and a lot, not all but a lot, of girls didn’t wear any when working out. Her eyes were dark like most of the Hispanic girls he knew, and she was a petite girl who could easily blend in fast in a crowd. He’d met plenty like her. Yet just like the other night when he’d first laid eyes on her, there was something refreshingly different about her. Now he had more to add to just the physical aspect of her being refreshingly different. He’d assumed she was shy and withdrawn the other night when he’d smiled at her and she’d quickly turned away.
He’d been completely wrong.
Even after he told her he admired her, she didn’t turn bright pink or avoid eye contact unable to look at him anymore like he thought she might, like most girls did. Instead, she smiled proudly and thanked him, agreeing that awareness was crucial before excusing herself to get back to her class.
“I’ll let you know soon,” she assured Nellie before walking away. “I promise.”
Felix was still a little lost in thought about the young girl who’d surprisingly made such an impression on him, even without having said or done much, when Nellie suddenly gasped.
“Do you think I laid it on too thick? Gads!” She turned to look in the direction Ella was walking, giving Felix a good excuse to follow Ella with his eyes as she made her way through the gym. She may not stand out too much, but looking at her from behind, he thought she did have some nice curves. “If she’d just let us pay her for the work she does around here, I wouldn’t have had to try so hard.”
“You don’t pay her at all?”
“Very little. I mean it’s piddly money, but she won’t take more. She’s afraid if we pay her we’ll have to raise the price on the self-defense classes, which will deter some of the women who would most benefit from taking the classes. Every time I’ve seen how late she’s been here and I try to offer a little overtime, she refuses. Says she’s not in this for the money. She has a job for that.” Nellie sighed. “I really do need her and think she’d be great for handling this project, but I also figure if she takes it I determine her pay and she can’t argue with me.”
Felix still had his eyes fixed on the impressive “Mighty Little Ms. Ella.” He remembered something else Hector had said the other day, aside from noting that Ella was plain-looking. Ella was right around the age group of his most fervent female fans. They were an eager bunch at times, bordering on the annoying because some were young enough to land his ass in jail if he gave into them. Yet that seemed to be the furthest thing on Ella’s mind.
For someone Hector considered typical, she hadn’t done even one of the flirtatious things he was so used to from girls: the fluttering lashes, nervous laughs, or even the twirling of her hair in her fingers. She’d looked Felix square in the eyes without losing her poise even for a second. Well, there was that moment he’d brought up her mother dying, but he was sure that had nothing to do with him, more so the unexpected reminder of the harsh reality.
Still, another reality, after meeting her now and being so completely impressed, was really sinking in. Even two years ago when he imagined she was far less mature, she hadn’t bothered to try and meet him. Just like two days ago when she’d ducked out, knowing Nellie was bringing him over to meet her. Abel had been right. Clearly, she had more important things on her list of priorities. Felix frowned, remembering her cop friend. Maybe the answer was that simple. A respectable girl like Ella seemed to be wouldn’t be going out of her way to meet another guy—famous or not—if she was already in a relationship.
Felix continued to watch her until she disappeared into the ladies’ room. Regardless of what the reason had been that it took him this long to meet her, she was a different one. That was for sure.