Ella folded her arms and glared at him. "Someone told the reporters about a tribunal. Didn't say who was involved." For several seconds, David was held by the glints that sparked in her eyes. Fury made her beautiful face, entrancing.
"Well, that is good news. No names. No details...."
Ella snapped and interrupted. "Think about it!"
His head snapped up at her tone.
Ella shook her head in exasperation. "Given none of the other rugby teams' managers didn't have daughters or have daughters of school-ages," David started to understand her pique and Ella continued "it didn't take much to figure out it was the under 21 team manager. My dad!" David looked up at the sky, sighed as he realised the reporters worked out exactly who. Seeing his eyes registered the impact, Ella's tone was more moderate. "My old sister was studying at a university in Australia, my young sister was still at primary school, so it didn't take much time to figure out which daughter, and which school."
He closed his eyes, open his eyes and rub his palm over his face. "I am so sorry Gabriella. I just assumed you went back to school. I was so caught up with my situation, what with the tribunal, and the impact on my career, and how my parents would be stressed about the whole thing." David frowned, "Why didn't the parents, or the school, why didn't they support you? I mean, if the newspaper reported that a player harassed you, surely the school, the parents at the school, would defend you."
She shrugged, feigned calm. "Probably because on your tribunal date, the newspaper took a different slant."
"A different slant?"
Feeling far from happy with her slide into depressive thoughts, she said, "Seemingly the player didn't harassed the manager's daughter, she harassed players!" Her gaze flicked up, her eyes met his. "Apparently I came to the rugby camps for years, and slept with players!"
"Oh fuck!" David muttered.
Her eyes blazed with fury, while her voice remained cool, "I knew the leak wasn't me or my dad, and I doubt that Henry would tell the newspaper, so that just left you and your mates."
"I didn't tell anyone. Not even Jack!" He rifled his fingers through his hair. "Your dad was direct, upfront, he explained why they needed the tribunal. Otherwise people might think they swept any difficult matters under the carpet. I understood that. My parents understood that. They would be a tribunal, and your dad said he would stand up for me at the tribunal." Two deep lines furrowed his forehead as he frowned at her.
"Well, perhaps your mates thought the tribunal would not be fair." Ella said quietly.
"But the team knew that your dad stood up for me at the tribunal."
Ella gave him a steely look, "When?"
"What do you mean, when?" David tried to hold onto his self-control and his temper. "When did they learn that?"
"After the tribunal, I told them." He stared at her. Just looked. For several seconds he didn't move as he processed what he had heard. His brows drew together as he tried to work through her latest perplexing question. She decided it wasn't worth the hassle to explain it to him.
Ella decided it wasn't worth the hassle to explain it to him. She needed time to deal with this Catch-22, tell him or not tell him. And she needed to find a way to stop her tears from spilling. She really needed time to erect barriers and adopt a nonchalant expression.
When she didn't say anything, David prompted, "Gabriella, does it matter?" She said nothing. David studied her for several long seconds before he spoke, knowing that he was taking a chance. "Gabriella, you needed to stop running away whenever things get hard!" Not surprising, her demeanour hardened. He snapped in a calm voice that clearly showed he'd reached the end of his patience. "Gabriella, stop pissing me off!" She glared at him. David decided he'd better take control of his temper and this conversation before she really annoyed him. "You started this conversation, but you don't tell me everything. Just pieces." He stated in a tone that suggested that she was being a headstrong, difficult, defiant child and. "You asked me, when I told the other players, remember? Then you went back to your reserved self!" His frown deepened as he peered down at her, and something in her eyes made him rethink and it reined his frustration. "I am really not trying to upset you." She muttered something beneath her breath, and David ignored her huff. "I just do not know what to do. Honestly, I was not trying to upset you." He told her flatly, "I just want you to be honest." For a few seconds David just stood and waited. "Please tell me why it matters to you, why the time matters to you?"
She uttered sarcastically, ignoring his reasonable tone, "Too late." She added insolently as she unconsciously pushed a few strands of hair off her face, "The story was already in the public arena."
David thought she sounded crushed. "So what?" He asked gently. He hadn't raised his voice, but his determination was loud and clear in that question.
She found the courage to look at him. "Very little." He could feel the effort she was making to sound confident. She straightened up and braced herself to push off the guardrail. "But, while you were at the tribunal," she took a few steps away, and David stayed with her and matched her pace, "you had a chance to defend your reputation."
"Yes. I know. I had a chance at the tribunal. And in any case I didn't have to. "
She pushed more hair off her face, tucking errant locks behind her ear. "Exactly, but you could have! You had an opportunity, you had a chance to defend your reputation."
He nodded.
Ella said, "I was tried in the public-court of a newspaper." She flicked him a look and added, "With no chance of defending my reputation." Neither broke eye contact. The fall out of that misconstruction, the fact that the reporters deliberately misread the situation was clearly evident in her almost eyes. "If I spoke to the newspaper, it would make things worse. But because I didn't speak to the newspaper, they embellished the story." And she tripped, not looking at where she was. David automatically held out a hand, and grabbed her hand, steadying her.
"You ok?" He kept her hand in his palm.
She nodded. Her heart beat skyrocketed resulting in an irregular pulse when his fingers wrapped around her hand and fingers. Trying to describe that feeling was beyond her. She was sure her heart did a cartwheel. "Thank you." She broke contact, disengaged and moved forward. "My fault. I wasn't paying enough attention."
David understood her predicament. And he could understand why she tripped: Her mind was elsewhere.
When was the last time he had felt this stupid? He wished he had stopped to see how this incident affected her. He realized just how badly he'd misjudged the situation ten years ago. "So they appeared at the school." He picked up the conversation again.
"Yes." She looked over her shoulder at him and said, "On the third day, the school suggested I revised for my mock exams at home. So I did."
"I get the impression that it was not the end."
She looked over at David, and she had to stifle her rueful smile, "It was the start of the ending!"