Falling Star (Combustible Book 2) (24 page)

Ella smirked. “Movie night. Though we didn’t really watch many movies.”

“Just tell me the curtains were closed this time.”

Laughing, Ella nodded. “Yeah. Trent thought this out before he joined me in the tub after our date.”

“So he put that basket to work?”

“Oh, he did. That man… damn, I’ve never experienced anything like him.”

“Aren’t you glad you window-shopped?” Mila teased.

“Yes, now come on, let’s get to Mon Armoire. I already called Trent, emailed Ryan, and my brother. Maybe I can forget about everything and focus on what needs to be done. I may send you to answer the door if any media show up, though.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be with you.”

Chapter 29

About noon, the media started gathering outside the boutique. By four in the afternoon, Ella’s anxiety was through the roof, but she was trying to push her way through it. She needed air but certainly couldn’t step outside.

“I’m not leaving,” Ella whispered. “I’ll hide out here until they all leave.” She slid down the wall in her office and buried her face in her hands. “Go home. No reason to make Kyle or your little girl worry. Don’t make Dee keep Valor all night.”

“I don’t want to leave you.” Mila sat down across from Ella. “Dee would understand.”

She couldn’t look at her oldest friend, see the sadness and hear the pain in her voice. “Go. You belong with your family. Trent will probably come after he gets off shift anyway.” Not that he was much better. Ella wanted to hide until everyone went away.

“I’m sure he will. He’ll likely drag Kyle and some others with him to clear out the media.”

Ella’s head jerked side to side. “That’s only going to cause suspicion. Go. It won’t last,” she pleaded, chancing a glance. Mila sat there, a vigil of support she didn’t want at the moment.

Mila shook her head. “Until someone gets here to be with you, I’m not leaving. You can’t make me. I want to be sure you’re okay, and I can’t do that if you’re here all alone.”

“Call Dee, at least.”

Ella’s heart stopped when the echo of sirens blasted, heading their direction. “What’s going on?” she practically shrieked, pressing back against the wall.

Mila checked her phone and laughed softly. “Trent talked the guys into coming out here. They’re going to get you out of here one way or another, without the media seeing.”

“What?” Ella shook her head, her heart thumping as the sirens drew closer. The truck stopped right outside the shop.

Ella covered her ears and tried to shut out the blaring noise as the edges of her vision grew dark. No matter how deep she breathed, she couldn’t fill her lungs. “Bad idea,” she managed to get the words out.

Mila’s hands curled around Ella’s shoulders. “Look at me, Ella.”

She shook her head. “I can’t.” The sound of the sirens had become almost routine during the last few weeks in her new home. She’d gotten used to them, or so she thought. For some reason, with the fire engine parked right outside the, she wanted to crawl into a hole and hide from everything.

“They’re here to help.”

Yeah, she knew that. Didn’t make a damned bit of difference. Her brain was on overload.

Flashes of memory long suppressed pulled her down, threatening to drown her.
Ella’s hands had been bound above her head, but she lay on her side. His body curled around hers from behind. His scarred hands caressed thighs and stomach as he ground his erection against her ass.

“Ella, my love.” Lips grazed her neck. “You’ll beg for me. You’ll see. You’ll beg me to forgive you for not accepting my love.” He groaned, gripping her tighter as his hips rocked harder.

Her stomach rolled, but she made no move, hoping he believed she was unconscious.

“Ella,” Mila shouted, “I need you to come back to me.”

The flashback wouldn’t let go. She rolled to her hands and knees and crawled near the wastebasket, throwing up.

“Ella,” Mila tried again, but Ella hugged the can and wished Mila would leave.

Finally, Mila’s footsteps moved away. Then, she heard the door. Maybe she’d given up and they’d all leave her alone.

Thundering footsteps echoed down the hall. Too many of them. Ella scooted under the desk and curled into a ball, trying to hide.

“Where is she?” Trent demanded.

“She was just here,” Mila answered.

Ella couldn’t move, couldn’t think. The noise echoed in her head, lights dancing through the black of her lids though she knew she couldn’t see them from the back of the shop.

A warm touch made her flinch away. All she could see in her imagination was the way Logan, or whoever, held her, his head on her breast as he stared up at her.

“When did she get like this?” Trent asked.

“When she heard the sirens,” Mila answered.

“Shit. Isandro, tell Metcalf to cut the sirens, then have him come here, please.”

“Sure, man.” More thundering footsteps as Trent attempted to pull her out. On reflex, she flung his hands away and huddled tighter.

The sirens stopped. Her pounding heart echoed in her head, blood rushing in her ears.

Trent’s voice pushed at the creeping darkness. “Ella, the reporters and cameramen are gone.” When she didn’t respond, he continued, “Look at me, Ella. Please.”

He lifted her chin and peeked through her hair. His pale blue eyes locked on hers. Reaching out, he cupped his hand around her knee. “I’m right here with you.”

Ella shook her head and closed her eyes again.

“Tell me what to do,” he pleaded.

“Trent, want me to try?” Metcalf asked from the hall.

“Please, I have no clue how to get through to her.” The worry in his voice pulled at Ella, but she couldn’t find the strength to do more than burrow tighter into the corner under her desk.

“Isandro’s standing guard at the door. No one is getting back here,” Metcalf explained as he came around the desk and knelt. Trent was halfway under the desk with Ella.

“Hey, Ella,” Dave Metcalf said in a smooth voice. He gave her a sad smile. “I’ve been there. I know, it’s like you can’t think for the paralyzing fear gripping you. Memories are bubbling up. You don’t know what’s real and what’s your imagination.”

She nodded and closed her eyes again. “Not just that. Now it’s more details I couldn’t remember before.”

Metcalf looked to Trent, who shrugged. He focused on Ella again. “Don’t think about that right now. We need to get you out of here. Mila’s going to lock up once we get you on the truck. Isandro’s bringing you a suit. It’s going to be big, but you’re getting on the truck and we’ll take you home.”

She shook her head.

“As long as they don’t come back, I won’t turn on the siren. I get it. The sound freaked me out for a while after the fire that broke me. Thing is, you live down the road from the firehouse. Unless you move and break Trent’s heart, you’re stuck with the racket from time to time.”

“N-not go-going anywhere,” she stammered.

Another big fireman stepped around the desk. He crouched down. “Hey, Ella, I’m Isandro. Marissa’s brother. Come on out here. We’ll help you into the suit. No one could possibly recognize you once you’re dressed in this thing.”

“A-all of y-you?” she asked in a whisper.

Metcalf shoved Isandro. “No. Just Trent. That okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Come on, Bulldog.” Metcalf stood and pulled Isandro with him. “We’ll be right outside waiting.”

The door shut and Trent climbed out from under the desk and stretched his hand toward her. “Come on, darling. I’m right here, just you and me. You know me. I’ve tasted every last inch of your body. You have nothing to fear.”

She flinched, memories flashing through her head again. Logan’s mouth on her shoulder, on her neck.

“What is it?” Trent asked, snapping her mind back to reality.

“Ne-need to call Dr. Ei-eisman.”

* * * *

Trent paused, thinking over what he’d said. Ella mentioned she had flashbacks. Maybe that son of a bitch had put his hands and mouth on Ella.

“Ella, I want to get you out of here. Before the crowd and reporters come back and figure out we’re sneaking someone away.”

She crawled out from under the desk, and he took her hand, pulling her upright. “Okay,” she whispered. The fear in her tear-stained eyes unnerved him.

A lump formed in his throat, and he barely got the words out “Would it help if Mila came back and I left?”

Gripping an arm, she placed his hand over her racing heart and shook her head. “No. But maybe you should come with me to Dr. Eisman’s. I think you need to hear what I tell her. I don’t want to say it twice.”

“Okay.” He leaned down and brushed his lips over her forehead. “Tell me what I can do to help.”

“You’re doing it.”

“Okay. Let’s get you dressed and out of here. We got the press hounds to move away from the building, but that doesn’t mean someone isn’t still watching.”

“Wouldn’t doubt it.” Her lips curved slightly as he held out the pants. “I would have stayed here until they left,” Ella admitted.

“I wouldn’t have let you. I had to tell Isandro, Metcalf, and Gavin the truth, but I trust all three of them.”

“It’s okay. I knew it wouldn’t stay a secret forever.”

He brushed his thumbs across her cheeks. “Gavin called Rene, convinced her to take down the post, but it was too late.”

“Not surprising.” Ella let Trent help her into the suit. Within a few minutes, he put the helmet on her small head.

He shrugged, trying not to laugh. “The suit is heavy, so it might be hard to walk, but I’m sure you’ve done stranger things in films. Come on, let’s get you to the truck.”

* * * *

Ella followed Trent without touching him. She was afraid how it might look if she was clinging to a fireman and the crews were close enough to take pictures, or worse… video. She climbed into the back seat.

Isandro turned in the front passenger seat to give her a nod. He was tall and broad, but his kind eyes set her at ease. “Doing better now?”

“Sorry, sometimes the sirens trigger a panic attack.” Ella shrugged and took in the surroundings. The media crews were still down the street. She winced slightly. “Dare I ask what you told them?”

Isandro smirked. “Told them to move their asses, there wasn’t anything newsworthy happening in a shop that was being remodeled.”

Ella nodded at the vans. “Doesn’t look like they bought it.” They weren’t coming closer though, so she started to relax in the fire truck.

“Not much we can do about that. Hopefully, they don’t follow us back to the firehouse, but even if they do, one of us can get you home,” Isandro answered. “Gavin has a minivan. He’ll take you and Trent home. You can sit down low where no one will see you.”

Ella blinked back tears. “Thank you.”

Mila climbed onto the truck.

“Least I can do,” Gavin chimed in. “Look, I’m sorry about my sister. She hadn’t even considered what could happen. Never dawned on her she was right. I told her you get that, ‘OMG, she looks just like Raven Star,’ all the time and that’s how you wound up with a stalker. She pulled the post and photo as soon as I called and explained. Hell, she didn’t even give me shit when I asked her to delete the post. She said to tell you she’s sorry.”

“I appreciate that. To be fair, my alter ego was going to come out sooner or later. Later would have been better, maybe after more people in town got to know me, but that post wasn’t meant to harm anyone. Don’t go too hard on her.”

“I didn’t though I was tempted when I saw how stressed out Trent was when we told him about the post. And for the record, I thought Rene was crazy when I saw it.”

A smile lit her face and she took Trent’s hand. “Not what you expected of a movie star?”

“Not at all, and I mean that in the best way possible,” Gavin admitted.

Isandro snorted. “Can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Gavin chuckled. “True enough.”

Their easy banter went a long way to calming her racing heart. “We aren’t all divas and assholes. Most of us are the same as everyone else inside. It’s why I couldn’t handle all the stuff that came with acting.”

“You did, for a long time,” Mila pointed out.

Ella shrugged. “I coped. It wasn’t really living.” She sucked in a breath. “You happen to get my phone?”

“And your purse,” Mila answered.

“Thanks. Sorry I—”

“Don’t apologize,” Metcalf interrupted. “None of us mind. And there’s no need to thank any of us.”

“He’s right,” Mila answered.

Unsure what else to say, Ella sucked in a breath as they drove into the firehouse garage.

Trent pulled her close and removed the helmet before whispering in her ear. “Wait until Isandro gives us the all clear, then we can figure out how to get you home without anyone noticing.”

“Have a hoodie?” Ella asked.

“Give me one minute and I’ll grab one.” Trent waited for her nod before getting out of the truck.

Mila handed over Ella’s purse before climbing down with Kyle. Gavin hopped out, and then Isandro tipped his head and jumped to the ground.

Metcalf turned in his seat and met her gaze. “These guys all saw me at my lowest. You’re nowhere near where I was when I finally went to get help. Trent and Isandro dragged me kicking and screaming because they knew something was seriously wrong.”

She sucked in a breath and shrugged. “I hate knowing this asshole has any power over me. He’s not even here and certain events trigger a slew of memories and dreams that freak me out. Then I have trouble figuring out where I am and what’s going on. I don’t want to be like this forever. I need to be past it.”

“I still have issues sometimes, but I know how to deal with it better. And I still call Dr. Eisman from time to time too. She’s great.”

Ella winced as she forced a smile. “I don’t expect to be over it right away. Especially with him out there. But if he finds me, I need to at least be dealing better than I did tonight. I’m not even sure what triggered the attack because it started before I even heard the sirens.”