The Honeytrap Heartbreaker

22.

She had rehearsed how she would tell Adam so many times in her head before she left the safe house but seeing the genuine look of sadness on his face made her feel guiltier than the jury ever would.

Adam was disappointed he had to read about it in the papers, The Miami Herald ran a four page spread, but once Ella had worn him down a little and began telling him exactly what happened with all the gory details they were back to normal within no time discussing the details for his upcoming bachelor party.

She spent that night at Adam's – he had offered which she was pretty sure was Jake's suggestion so he could go and see Erin without feeling bad but the thought of going home alone for the first time was pretty nerve racking for her so she got comfy on the sofa, Frankie at her feet and fell into a margarita fuelled sleep.

The next morning she walked Frankie back to the apartment, it felt good to be home for them both but there was something about it that just wasn't so homely any more. Ella decided she wanted to throw away everything that reminded her of Tom. Photo frames, candles, clothes, glasses, movies and the rug all lined the bin nicely and following a deep scrub of almost every surface she was starting to feel like a weight was lifting off her shoulders. Jake came over just before midnight and although she was battling sleep in the minutes before he arrived, the adrenaline of being with him kept her up for most of the night.

She lay with her head in his lap as she scoured the internet for bargains to replace the things she had thrown away, Jake just played with her hair giving an occasional thumbs up or down. They woke intertwined in each other's arms like they had so many times before but only this time Jake had to leave to go to work and Ella had nothing to do.

She needed to find a job, she couldn't hide away forever but she was just hoping she could have had another week in her love bubble before she had to return to normality. Ella knew she was going to struggle for work – ex drug courier isn't the sort of thing you put on application forms and if she didn't declare it then they would assume she had been out of work for a while, plus she could hardly ask Tom for a reference.

Adam and Jake both did their best to find her suitable vacancies within the Police department but with her past she wasn't going to be high on the list. Adam even asked Nick to check at his work but unfortunately Ella's name was still a hot topic and lot of the local places weren't interested in a Gangsters Mole.

She spent day after day scrolling through page after page of mind-numbing job vacancies. She had no idea what she was good at. All she had ever done was either frowned upon or illegal, apart from waitressing but there was no way she was going back to that.

Nothing paid like being a drug runner she found out quickly. Fed up of the reinforcing feeling of her not being good enough she slammed the laptop shut and took Frankie for a run. As she was running against the crashing waves she had a lightbulb moment – she could be a personal trainer. When she got home she did a quick Google search for personal trainer jobs in the area, then the words she had seen far too often lit up her screen: qualifications required.

She couldn't help but scream out in frustration, Frankie's eyes pondered up to her face and after a deep breath she was lay on the floor with him scratching his belly.

When Jake called that evening she couldn't help but complain to him about how hopeless it was to get a job in America when you're not from America. He laughed at her and gave her a few more good websites to try before sharing the great news that he had a promotion interview next week. Ella was absolutely buzzing for him and asked him to come over; she even offered to cook which was something she wouldn't be offering again. He couldn't though, obviously he had to tell Erin who made them reservations at some shitty expensive place that he would probably hate but Erin really wanted to go to, probably just so she could post on her Instagram that she was there and then she would throw it up later on. Ella couldn't hide her bitter tone as they finished the call.