Page 35 of The Heartbreak Hotel

Ella’s face said it all, but she continued to scowl.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?” Riley huffed, the rain continuing to pound the ground around them. “I could shake you.”

“Well, I could shake you too,” Ella grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. “Do you have any idea how frustrating you are?”

“I can’t be half as bad as you.”

Their gazes locked, more electricity flowing between them than was racing across the night sky. The wet, earthy smell filled Riley’s nostrils, as another booming thunderclap surrounded them.

Riley broke contact first, walking past Ella and into the stone structure. Most of the roof had fallen away, but branches of a nearby tree hovered over the top, providing a little bit of shelter. She stood under it and sighed, feeling a brief respite from the pelting raindrops.

Ella followed her in and rested her hands on her hips. “What are you doing?”

“Waiting.” This woman’s naivety started to grate on Riley’s nerves.

“I agree this place has its quirks, but I don’t fancy staying here all night.”

“Ella.” Riley ground her teeth. “If you haven’t noticed, there’s a storm going on above our heads right now. We have to wait it out.”

“Can we make a fire?”

“Everything is wet.”

“So what are we supposed to do?”

“Wait,” Riley snapped.

Rain pattered on the leaves above them, branches twisting and wailing in the wind. They didn’t speak for a few minutes. Riley’s body started to ache, the cold seeping into her bones. Ella wandered around the space, peering at the crumbling walls. In the streaks of moonlight dappling through the cracks, there wasn’t much to see.

“Well, I’m so thrilled you came to rescue me. The conversational wizard herself.” She stopped walking and turned to face Riley.

“You could be more grateful.” Riley pushed off from the wall where she’d been leaning. “Do you have any idea what I’m risking for you? If Senhor Arenoso knew we were here?”

To her surprise—and absolute outrage—Ella scoffed.

“This isn’t a joke to me, Ella.”

“This isn’t a joke to me either, Riley.” Ella’s voice quietened, and she stepped towards her. The moonlight glinted on the hair plastered to her face, but the look in her brown eyes made Riley pause. “This is not what I thought I’d be doing with my life at thirty-three. I lost my job, my ex-girlfriend/ex-boss got engaged to the woman she cheated on me with, and then, to top it off, a goat ransacked my cabin, stealing my knickers.”

A goat stole her underwear?

The detail seemed less important when Ella took another step towards her, close enough now that they could reach out and touch. Her gaze held Riley’s, and it was impossible to look away.

“It’s hard to believe in myself,” she continued, “when my mum and best friend both think my life is in such a state that I need this…intervention. It’s even harder to realise everything they were saying is absolutely true. And then there’s you.”

Riley swallowed, suddenly aware of her breathing. She was hanging on Ella’s every word.

“My heart has been stabbed, stomped on, squished and sawn into teeny tiny pathetic pieces more times than I can remember. All my life, I’ve been too stubborn, too loud, too little, too much, and this time I wonder if they’re right. If everything they say is true and needs fixing. Why else would I be here, stuck in the middle of this storm, cold and pissed off at the world, with yet another person who thinks I’m all of those things?” Her eyes became glassy, teeth snagging on her wobbly bottom lip as she looked away. “But when I see you…it’s like all that bad stuff is forgotten for a second. When I see you, my heart still reacts. I can’t help it. Maybe that’s stupid, or naïve—or both—whatever. But it reminds me that maybe I’m not so broken after all.” She flicked her attention back to Riley, pinning her in place. “Maybe I am some of those things, and that’s okay. I’m not afraid to admit I’m not perfect. I’m just me.”

Riley’s cheeks burned as Ella moved closer, the air fizzing with energy.

“So I’ll ask you the same question, Riley. Do you have any idea what I’m risking for you?”

Riley couldn’t speak. Or find any cohesive thoughts other than taking Ella in her arms and kissing her. She hated that anyone had made Ella feel small. She hated even more that she’d added to that. Or that she could ever think she was too much. Ella was an all-powerful lifeforce of energy, so strong and so bright that most people probably didn’t know how to compete with it. She wore her heart on her sleeve, her struggles, her desires. She was human. Real. Beautiful and flawed in the ways humans should be.

But Ella mistook her silence for something else, and she shook her head. “That’s what I thought.” She turned away, her footsteps soft on the mulch underfoot as she put distance between them.

Distance that Riley didn’t want.