Chapter 51 Ellie
FIFTY-ONE
Ellie
I was sitting on the back of an ambulance, an itchy gray blanket draped around my shoulders, when I saw him.
His car screeched to a stop just beyond the police barricade. The second he stepped out, I let out a relieved breath. I hadn’t realized how tense I was, how locked down everything inside me had been, until that moment.
Sawyer’s car door slammed shut, and he barreled out of the car before being stopped, getting in an argument with one of the officers. Panic was clear in his eyes, and he was soaked from the rain. His shoulders looked so tight, I could feel the tension from thirty feet away.
I stood, blanket slipping off my shoulders, but an EMT reached out to stop me. “Ma’am, you need to stay seated until we’ve completed a full—”
“I’m fine,” I said, brushing past him without looking back.
I didn’t care if I wasn’t cleared. It didn’t matter that my wrists still burned, that my legs were unsteady. The flashing lights closed in from every direction, but the only thing that mattered was getting to him.
I reached the barricade as one of the officers tried to block Sawyer again.
“He’s with me,” I said quickly.
“Ma’am—”
“Oh my God, just let him through. He’s my boyfriend.”
The officer blinked at me and reluctantly stepped aside.
Sawyer didn’t wait. He was in front of me in an instant, his arms around me.
“Ellie, baby,” he breathed, his voice breaking.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, clutching him like it was the only thing keeping me upright. “I’m okay.”
He pulled back, his hands framing my face. “Are you—did they—fuck, are you hurt? What happened? Why weren’t you at the game? I don’t understand. I kept looking for you, and then Rachel called and—” His voice hitched. “God, I was so fucking scared.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t have my phone. Everything happened so fast.”
He kissed my forehead like it was instinct, like his body had to touch me to confirm I was here.
“I thought maybe…” His voice dropped. “I thought you changed your mind. Didn’t want to come. I didn’t want to believe it, but I kept wondering if I messed everything up.”
“No,” I blurted out. “God, no. I wanted to be there. I was on my way when everything happened.”
He exhaled and looked up at the sky, blinking.
“I need to call Rachel,” I said. “She must be freaking out.”
“I’ll text her.”
“What about the game? Did you…win?”
He looked at me like he didn’t understand the question. “What?”
“The Super Bowl. Did you win?”
He let out a short laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, we won.”
“You won the Super Bowl and you’re here with me?”
“Ellie,” he said, like my name was a full sentence. “You disappeared. You think I was gonna pop bottles and take selfies while you were missing?”
I swallowed the knot rising in my throat.
“I left the field before the press conference,” he added. “Didn't even shower. I probably smell like ass.”
“You didn't have to—”
“Yes, I did,” he said firmly.
I cupped his jaw, grounding myself in the rough stubble under my palm, the warmth of his skin. My throat tightened with everything I couldn't say—how much it meant that he chose this, chose me, over the one thing he'd worked his entire life for.
“You won the Super Bowl,” I whispered, “and you left to find me.”
His hand covered mine, pressing it closer to his face. His eyes were dark, intense, like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.
“I’d leave a thousand Super Bowls for you. Do you get it yet?” His voice was rough, raw. “None of it means anything if you're not there.”
“I’ll throw you a celebration party to make up for it.”
He chuckled. “Sounds like a plan.”
A long silence settled between us, heavier than the rain that started to fall again. This time, it was a drizzle, and neither of us moved.
“Come sit,” he said finally. “You look like you need to stop standing.”
I let out a small giggle, and we found a bench under the awning of an empty building. It smelled like wet pavement and cheap metal, and I’d never been more grateful for a seat in my life.
Then I told him everything.
Ben. Lauren. The letters. How I figured out pieces, which led them to take me here. How close it came to going wrong.
He didn’t speak, didn’t interrupt, keeping his hand wrapped around mine the whole time. His other hand kept clenching and unclenching.
“They arrested them about half an hour ago,” I said. “The police are still collecting evidence, but it’s done. It’s over.”
Sawyer shook his head slowly, like he still couldn’t wrap his mind around it. “Jesus.”
“Yeah,” I said, leaning back against the bench. “It was a lot.”
He looked down, nodded once, and went quiet.
“So…” His eyes lifted to meet mine.
“So…”
“I heard your song.”
I winced and covered my face with both hands. “God, of course you did.”
“Mhm.”
I peeked through my fingers. “You did?”
He gently pulled my hands away from my face. “Ellie. I loved it.”
“I didn’t know if you’d hear it.”
“I did. Well, not at first, but then Dorian told me about it.”
I smiled, my heart pounding in that way it only ever did around him. “Well. This is embarrassing.”
He watched me closely, like he was building up to something. “So…what do you say we ditch the script? You, me, no more fake anything.”
“You want to be my real boyfriend?”
“I mean…yeah.” He laughed nervously. “If that’s something you want.”
“I do,” I said, the answer rushing out before I thought about it. “I really, really do.”
His whole face softened. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’ve been thinking a lot. About the life I’ve built, the goals I’ve chased. I’m proud of what I’ve done, but I’ve spent a long time chasing stuff I don’t even want anymore.”
“Okay…”
“I’m tired. Not of the music. Not of the fans. Just…of the pressure. The constant chase. I want to slow down. To write what I want, share it when I want, live without everything being a headline.”
“Sounds nice.”
“I want to figure out what it looks like to be a whole person again. Not the version of Ellie who sells out arenas—I want to be just me. And I want to do that with you.”
He looked stunned. “With…me?”
“Yeah. If you’ll have me.”
“If I’ll have you?” His eyes widened. “I think I’ve been in love with you since before you even liked me.”
I laughed, a little breathless. “I liked you more than I let on.”
He smirked. “I knew it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Also, I was thinking…maybe I could do that figuring-out-my-life thing in Woodstone. If you’ll let me crash at your place.”
He blinked. “You’re serious?”
“Dead serious.”
He looked like he didn’t know whether to cry or kiss me. Instead of doing either, he asked, “Wait, you’re really okay? You’re not hurt?”
“My wrists are a little sore. That’s it.”
“Good,” he said, standing and pulling me with him.
He picked me up and spun me around, laughing like he’d been given the world. The rain came down harder, soaking us both, but neither of us cared.
When he finally set me down, my cheeks were flushed and my heart was racing.
“Ellie?” he said, his hands still around my waist.
“Yeah?”
“I’m gonna kiss you now.”
“As your real girlfriend?”
He grinned. “Hell yeah.”
Then, he kissed me, and it was everything. Honest and messy. Soaked in rain and long overdue. But it was ours. Finally, truly, completely ours.
We stayed like that for a while, grinning like idiots, forehead to forehead, letting the rain do whatever it wanted. Then, Sawyer reached back and pulled out something from his wallet.
I squinted at it. “Is that—?”
He held it up between us. “The contract.”
Sure enough, it was the stupid napkin we’d scribbled on the day everything started, half-smudged now, a greasy coffee ring bleeding through the corner.
“You’ve had that in your wallet this whole time?” I asked.
“Obviously. I take all legally binding agreements very seriously.” He looked down at it for a second nostalgically and ripped it clean down the middle. “Contract terminated.”
I grinned. “Good.”
He tucked the torn halves into his pocket and looked back at me. “I think we should renegotiate.”
I tilted my head. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. New terms. Real dating. Equal partnership. No end date. And you still owe me that dinner date you paid twenty grand for.”
I leaned up to kiss him again. “Deal.”