Irresistible Love

Chapter Thirteen// Knight & Damsel In Distress

Ethan Suave~

I didn't trust Devon the slightest bit. So when he said that he was going to a "friend's house," I speculated that he had a different destination in mind, possibly straight into Elle's pants. All jokes aside, I knew he was headed to wherever she was.

After breakfast, which I quickly consumed to give myself time, I rushed out of the house. As I unlocked my car and waited for it to warm up, I called Elle, hoping to find out where she was. But, alas, I was constantly sent to her voicemail. The amount of times I heard the voice recording recite Elle's cell phone number allowed for me to conclude that she was still mad at me. Figures, I thought. I didn't expect anything less from the one and only stubbornly beautiful Elle.

So this must be what it's like to care for someone. To want to protect someone else aside from myself. To want to be someone else's support. Thoughts like these swam through my mind as I tried my best to maintain the speed limit although I wished I could simply teleport to where Elle was.

She still hates me. She doesn't want anything to do with me. She has seen me for what I really am which is an "idiot man whore" that gets the sex he needs to satisfy who? Himself? I pulled into her driveway and rushed to her porch.

Elle is a feisty girl, and she's exactly what I need in my life...a girl who will argue against me until she is satisfied with herself. Once she has acknowledged her victory, she will flash me her I-won-and-you-lost look and hold my defeat against me forever. And she's exactly what I need in my life. I had been in such a rush that I did not realize that Devon's vehicle was no where to be seen. I felt a bit relieved to know that Devon's presence was far from Elle's vicinity.

Dana, Elle's mother, creaked open the door so that only her face was visible. "Oh, Ethan," she gasped. From the looks of the wrinkled forehead and dilated eyeballs, she did not expect to see me. But there was something a bit off about her body language, like the way she didn't fully open the door to welcome me into her house like she usually did.

"Good morning, Dana," I began. "Sorry to bother you, but is Elle home by any chance?"

"Um," Dana gulped, intensifying the wrinkles on her forehead, "I'm afraid she's not here right now."

"Do you know where I can find her?"

It was at this point when Dana opened the front door all the way. "Listen, Ethan, just tell me straight up, alright? What are you trying to get at with Elle?"

I would be lying if I said I wasn't stunned at Dana's sudden motherly attitude. She usually had been so calm and collective about me trying to pursue Elle since it was pretty obvious that I wasn't trying to be just a "friend" with her. Something drastic must have occurred for Dana to act so cold towards me.

I stuttered to find a response, and I didn't want to beat around the bush. Therefore, I settled on being direct with her. "I really like Elle, Dana--"

"Mrs. Summerall," she interrupted. 

"Sorry, Mrs. Summerall. But your daughter means a lot to me, and I don't just throw that statement around carelessly."

Dana sighed. "Elle doesn't have time for a boyfriend right now, especially one who has a reputation such as yours, Ethan. Trust me, she's told me all about you, including your frog-like manner at hopping from one girl to another. I was once your age, and I've seen your type."

Her attitude shifted into the friendly Dana that once welcomed me into her household with open arms. "But I have also seen how you changed my daughter for the better. She's been more open to me, and I know it's because of you. She told me how you're the one who persuaded her to talk to me. And I want to thank you for that."

"I'm not the one to thank, Mrs. Summerall. I just pushed Elle to do it. She's always wanted to do it," I replied.

"But I'm sorry Ethan," she said, disregarding my response. "Now is not a good time for you to reach out to Elle with romantic gestures. Our family is going through a lot right now, and we could really use some privacy right, alright? So please, go home. You're wasting your time."

Her family is going through a lot? I respected Dana's request, I really did, but I couldn't just abandon Elle when she most likely needed someone to comfort her with whatever was happening to her.

With this new information I was given, my quest to find Elle was no longer about trying to convince her that I was made of boyfriend material. It no longer became about me trying to sweep her off her feet.

It became a goal of mine to be Elle's shoulder to cry on. All I wanted was for Elle to look at me with those glassy aquamarine eyes of hers and see a man she could trust herself with, not the man whore she claimed I was.