Kingmaker (Ace of Queens #5)

Pt.25 If the shoe fits

Chapter 25

After Ella changed out of her dress, Maksim helped her settle into her new room. Together they sat on the floor of her empty closet and carefully arranged whatever clothes Ella had grabbed while leaving home.

"That's all," Ella said as she hung up the last shirt.

Maksim got off the floor and stretched his arms. He followed Ella out of the closet and moved towards the door.

"Good night," he said as he gave her a small smile.

"Good night," Ella returned the gesture. She watched him leave and close the door behind him. A part of her heart fluttered for a second as she felt a calm come over her.

She could do this. There was hope and she would cling to it desperately.

Ella sighed and was about to climb into bed when there was a quick knock on her door. She looked over her shoulder and wondered who it could be as she patted bare feet across the floor.

Crack the door open slightly, Ella poked out and found Maksim standing outside.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Hi," Maksim looked nervous.

"Did you forget something?"

"No, I have everything...."

Ella waited for him to continue. She widened the door a bit more and looked out at him as she leaned against the frame.

"Do you want to go on a date.....with me..... tomorrow?" Maksim finally asked.

"A date?"

"Yeah," Maksim pushed his hands into his pocket. "We can go watch a movie or something. Maybe dinner?"

"Movie and a dinner?"

"Yeah," Maksim nodded his head. He waited for Ella to answer as her eyes observed him silently. As the seconds passed he started to fear he was moving too fast again.

"Or maybe just a walk. We can get ice cream or sit at the park. Or maybe get coffee. I don't know, do you like coffee?" Maksim stated to blabber.

"I'm not the biggest fan of coffee," Ella confessed. "But movie and dinner sound good."

Maksim smiled in relief, "Okay. That sounds good. Yeah, let's have dinner together."

"Okay," Ella nodded.

"Okay," Maksim took a step back. "Good night, Ell."

"Good night," Ella waited for him to walk away before shutting the door and leaning against it. The calm feeling in her chest solidified as she shook her head smiling and climbed into bed.

Even with the hope blossoming in Ella's chest, she still felt a horrible dread run through her system. Her mind tried to replay Mia's and her father's terrible words as she hid beneath the blankets and shielded herself from the outside world. But no matter how many walls she built to keep their attacks out she was still left wounded at the end of the day.

Ella wished there was a way to clean them out of her head. She imagined how relieving it might feel to scrape off the memories of the past few months from her soul like dried paint. But Ella knew she couldn't forget them. No matter how painful it was, she needed to remember all of their words and screams to drown out the longing that tried to pull at her heart for them. She scolded herself for the way her heart ached whenever she saw Maksim with his parents. She missed her family. Despite everything they had done to her, there was still a part of her that missed them.