Leon got them a room at the hotel at the amusement park and used the elevator to get upstairs to their room.

"You really didn't need to get the most expensive room here, you know?" Ella sighed as she looked around their luxury suite. It would probably leave most people in awe, but she was used to working in the penthouse suite already."We're only staying for tonight."

"I like using these... and besides, it's good to check out how other hotels are."

"That still doesn't mean using the luxury suite."

"How about you don't worry about it and enjoy the drinks?" He opened up the bar fridge. "We can also order something." He pointed at the wine menu sitting near the phone.

Ella thought for a moment. "Sure."

Leon picked up the phone, and she took it from him along with the menu. "I thought..." he trailed off when she smiled.

"Let me; this is one of the things I trained in."

"You're a wine connoisseur?"

"I'm not sure I'd call myself an expert, but I know a thing or two."

"Order anything you want." He stepped away, giving her a bit of space as he checked out the suite. "Good view of the amusement park from here."

"We'll have our wine in a moment." She hung up the phone and moved over to the mini-fridge.

"What are you doing? I thought we were having wine?"

"We are, but I'm starting before that." She pulled out a small bottle and downed it in one go. "Ah..." It burned the whole way down. I'll need a lot more than he needs to make it through this conversation. He snatched the second bottle she pulled out. "What are you doing?"

"I figured you needed a little liquid courage, but if you down these things so quickly, you'll pass out drunk before we even start talking."

"But these are so tiny, and I didn't feel any buzz from the first one."

Leon sighed and took a sip of her second bottle. He coughed a bit and looked at the label. "Are you trying to go for the strongest ones in there?"

"I didn't actually read the label..."

"Can we just relax and start talking while we wait for the wine?"

Ella thought for a moment. "Nope." She pulled out a new bottle and downed it. "Whoa, that went down easy." She laughed, a slight tint of pink on her cheeks.

"Please don't tell me you're drunk already."

"Nope."

"Do you normally drink this much? You drank quite a bit that night, too."

"Ha ha... No... I was struggling with the situation then, that's why I drank so much. But you probably already know that much with how much I blabbed that night." She sighed.

"You mean with... Nathan, was it? The most recent ex?"

"Yes, that's who I had broken up with..." It still hasn't been that long. "One more drink." She reached for the mini-fridge again and he took her hand.

"These don't have a low alcohol content, so quit chugging them down."

"I'll sip this one..." she pouted.

He froze, finding her expression to be cute. "F-fine..." he huffed and looked away. "But that's the last one for right now."

"Thank you." She kissed him on the cheek and rushed to sit on the couch as she gripped the little bottle.

Leon touched his cheek and smiled. "Worth the drink," he said to himself before sitting on the couch beside her, leaving a little bit of room as he worried about making her more nervous. The moment he was about to speak, someone knocked on the door. "I'll get it." He answered the door, got their wine in an ice bucket along with glasses, and tipped the attendant before taking it. "Thank you."

"Thank you." Their eyes widened at the bill he gave them. "Let me know if you need anything else." They smiled and walked away.

"Geez, what'd you give him? His eyes were sparkling as he left..."

"Don't worry about it." He set up their wine glasses and handed her one.

"Thank you."

Both sitting on the couch sipping on their drinks, Ella finally spoke. "I met Sebastian in high school. He claimed he fell for me at first sight and asked me out right away. We dated, and he was sweet, caring, and attentive... at first. Even before we left high school, he seemed to get upset whenever he saw me talking with someone."

"A jealous boyfriend?"

"Part of it was that, but even if they were my girl friends, he didn't want me talking to them for too long. He was always asking me on dates and tried to stay by my side as much as possible. He even changed his schedule to match mine."

"Attached at the hip..." he mumbled.

"He'd get so angry sometimes and we'd argue... but then later on he'd apologize and say how much he loved me, and beg me not to leave him."

"I have to ask because of how this guy sounds... did he hit you?"

She bit her lip and took a sip of wine to steady herself. "He did once, but... again, he apologized repeatedly until I forgave him. He had a habit of grabbing me, though."

"What do you mean?"

"Like grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me around... or things like trapping me in a spot so I can't move." She shuddered. "We went to the same college too, and after a few college parties we both went to, he ended up proposing to me... while I was working at that amusement park." Never mind the other one...

"The one we went to? We could've gone to a different one if you wanted to—"

She held her hand up. "I thought I was over everything; it was so long ago now."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"I should've researched more and found a better place to go."

"Researched more?" She tilted her head to the side. "How in the world would you manage to find out about my link to that place?"

"You said you worked there; that alone could've been enough to make me steer clear of it. If you had social media pictures—"

"I don't even bother to list that job anymore, and I've since deleted photos from back then. I barely even use social media now. I'm not Alice..."

"There are ways to find things that were deleted from social media."

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Please don't do anything illegal; I don't want any link to that kind of thing."

"Noted..." He couldn't help but still think he'd do it if it were an emergency.

"Where was I?" She took a big swig of her wine and poured more into her glass.

"He proposed to you."

"Ah, right... He proposed to me, and for some reason, I agreed, thinking he'd be his sweeter self again because that's how I knew him to be. And if he didn't seem attached enough..." She let out an exhausted laugh. "He started controlling even more of my life. What I ate... any activities... And he used the excuse that we were engaged, and I'd be his wife someday, so I should do as he says without complaining." I can't believe how much of a pushover I used to be.

Without her noticing, Leon had inched closer to her on the couch and gripped her hand in her lap. "I understand how things were with him, so you don't have to continue."

"Thanks, but I'm okay to keep going. There's only one main thing left to mention about him, anyway. One day, while working at the amusement park, I saw him boarding the Ferris wheel with another girl. They were holding hands, and he was acting sweet with her..."

"I'm going to assume there's no chance she was a family member or something, right?"

"Ha... No... I could see them making out on the Ferris wheel. He controlled my every move by that point, but it still wasn't enough; he cheated on me." She downed another glass. "I couldn't help but wonder why I wasn't good enough, and I ran away after that. I... moved out while he wasn't there, quit college, and went back to live with my mom. He contacted me quite a bit, or rather tried to. He called and called. He left both sweet and terrifying messages for me. I ended up changing my phone number, since blocking his number wasn't enough. And I got lucky he didn't know where my mom lived." Ella shuddered.

"Wow... I'm so sorry you had to deal with a toxic prick like him..."

Thinking about him now, I'm surprised I even had it in me to get into relationships after that. Then again, I've run away from each of them, even though I don't think the others deserved to be treated like that.

"I know I probably shouldn't ask this, but did he ever give a reason? Not that there'd be any valid excuse."

Ella cringed. "Because... I didn't give him enough." She looked away, gripping the skirt of her dress.

"Give him enough? Sounds like you gave him your whole life."

She sighed and took another drink. "Because I wouldn't have sex with him as often as he'd like, and something about being a bit... vanilla."

His eyes widened and he nearly spat out his wine. "Are you... serious?"

"You think I'd lie about something like that?"

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant. I'm just... flabbergasted... What a moron."

"Trust me, I have a few choice words for him, and moron doesn't even cover the tip of it." She sighed and leant back on the couch, staring at the ceiling. Probably better off not telling him Sebastian was my first boyfriend... and the first man I slept with... "I think that about covers it for him. Now... if you want to talk about my father, there isn't much to say."

"I think you've said enough for today."

"This'll be quick. He left my mom and me on my fifth birthday. He just left during my birthday party and never came back. I don't remember much about him, but anyone who can abandon their family like that should never have made a family in the first place."

Leon hesitated, still processing the new information and worried about saying the wrong thing.

"For years, whenever someone was at the door, my mom would rush to it expecting her husband to be there, finally coming back to us. She's the one who suffered because of him... She waited and waited, but he never came. Wherever we went, I could tell she was looking for him with that slight glimmer of hope in her eyes..." Ella sighed, almost in tears, thinking about her mother. "After five years, we moved to a new house. More like we couldn't afford the old one anymore, and didn't want to be in that area where everyone knew that we were abandoned. And I'd say it took another... decade, I guess, for her to stop looking for him everywhere."

"If I could find him, would you want to meet him?"

She looked into his eyes. "Why would I ever want to meet that prick again? There's no good reason to abandon us short of his death, so no; meeting him wouldn't help any." Feeling the tears wanting to release, she covered her eyes with her hand and swallowed hard.

"Okay; I won't bring him up again." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug. "You can cry if you want to... but know this, I'm not going anywhere. I won't cheat on you, and I won't walk away."

Ugh, I hate crying, especially in front of other people. She tried to keep it in, but the tears forced their way out. Yet... how much have I cried lately? Geez... I'm such a wimp.

"You're okay now." He kissed the top of her head.

She rubbed her face against his chest a bit, wetting his shirt, but he didn't care one bit. "How can you be so sure you won't do those things?"

"Because I'm different from those men, which I hope you can see by now." His grip on her tightened.

Maybe... just maybe... he really isn't like the others.

"What about the fact that I'm such a hot mess and a flight risk?" Ella asked.

"You're not a mess; you're just working through a lot of trauma. And I can deal with the flight risk part by always coming to find you."

She pulled back and wiped her tears away, his hand still resting on her shoulder. She took another drink and could feel heat flushing through her, but it wasn't because of the alcohol. Ella looked up at him. "How can you say I'm not a mess?" She smirked, pointing at her face.

"Because you're simply beautiful to me." He kissed her forehead.

How is this man real? She stared into his pale blue eyes for a moment before kissing him on the lips.

His eyes widened, caught by surprise, before he put a hand behind her head and pulled her in for a deeper kiss.

She pulled back a bit and glanced over at the bedrooms.

"Are you sure?" he asked, cursing himself.

"You don't want to?" Am I mistaken about this? Does he only want to be together on paper? No... he's already proven otherwise.

"It's not that. Trust me, it's not that. But... do you only want this because you're drunk and sad right now?"

"I'm not that drunk; I know what I'm asking. And if part of it is because I'm sad, would you turn me away?" Her hands on him trembled.

"No; I'm just wondering where I stand with you right now. There's no way I'd—"

Ella cut him off with another kiss. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and got up from the couch. She wrapped her legs around him and they made their way over to the bedroom, kissing. He kicked the door open and dropped her on the bed before nearly ripping his shirt off.

He hesitated again, looking at how flushed her cheeks were. She grabbed onto his belt and pulled him forward onto the bed with her.

The last of his resistance left him as they kissed and rid each other of their clothes. He ran his hands around her body, remembering every sensitive spot he found during their first night together.

"Mmm..." She dug her fingers into his back and curled her toes.

"You're so hot right now." He whispered into her ear and kissed her neck. The heat radiating from her only served to turn him on more. "And I'll always want you..."

Always... Ella couldn't think much, too mesmerized by his hands on her.

They gave in to their desires and had their way with one another until they were exhausted. Ella passed out, her head resting on his arm.

"Gosh... I love you," Leon mumbled as he kissed the top of her head. He knew he'd scare her if he said it directly to her, so telling her while she was asleep had to suffice for now.

He stayed awake, enjoying her presence for as long as he could, fearing things would be back to normal come the morning.