Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(105)
“Oh, that’s nice. I was looking forward to seeing them, though; I haven’t seen them since before Shea left.”
“Yeah, well maybe you can visit while Shea’s gone these next two weeks. I don’t mind, I would love it actually,” she said with a grin, Elli smiled.
“I would, too.”
When Shea moved his hand into hers, she smiled up at him and he returned it just as his mom said, “So Elli, you and Shea would make beautiful babies, do you want children?”
Elli head whip over to Jenna, as Shea used his other hand to cover his face.
“Mom!” Grace complained, “You just met her a couple hours ago, can you not get her barefoot and pregnant in your mind, yet?”
Everyone laughed as Jenna turned deep red, “I was just asking.”
“We know, baby, we know.” Mark said, wrapping his arms around her, kissing her temple.
Shea had done it so many times to Elli that it brought a smile to her face. Elli had always thought Shea was a good man, and now meeting Mark and seeing that his relationship with Jenna has lasted this long, it made Elli’s heart swell. She noticed all through the night how Mark would touch Jenna lovely, or how they would share a private joke, causing Grace and Shea to make a face while it made Elli smile. Elli wasn’t even sure her father really loved her mother, she was convinced her daddy only stayed with her mother because he didn’t get her to sign a pre-nup, but with Mark and Jenna, it was obvious that they were crazy in love.
Elli watched as Mark moved his hand into Jenna’s as she glared at him, then she smiled, as if holding Mark’s hand had made the embarrassment of her question for Elli go away. If Shea and Elli’s relationship could be anything like Mark and Jenna’s, they were golden.
“Elli, the last game we came to, Shea showed me your seats, they must be nice. I’ve never been that close,” Mark said with a grin, “Even when Shea played in the AHL, we were always up in a box, I think the last time I was on the ice was when he was in high school, maybe some college.”
A small smile crossed Elli’s lips, “They are amazin’, and I’ve sat there since the Assassins started. I love ‘em.”
“You’re uncle owns the team, is that right?” Mark said looking over at Shea.
Shea nodded as Elli said, “Yes, he has loved hockey his whole life, him and my daddy also played some. My brothers never did play, but I did a little, I wasn’t very good though.”
Everyone laughed as Shea smiled down at her. “I didn’t know you played before.” She smiled back.
“Just a little, no big deal,” she said with a shrugged, he shook his head, a smirk pulling at his lips.
“You guys are just too cute!” Jenna exclaimed, clapping her hands. Elli watched as Grace shook her head and Shea looked everywhere but at her.
“Jenna, we are talking hockey, quiet now!” Mark joked as he looked back over at Elli, “It's really great having a female in the family that knows hockey,” he said with a laugh.
In the family? They already considered her family?
Shea squeezed her hand, and she smiled up at him, showing him that she was okay.
“You should sit with us tomorrow, sweetie.” Jenna said, taking a sip of her coffee.
“Oh, thank you so much Jenna, but I don’t sit anywhere but in my seats,” Elli said with a grin, hoping that wouldn’t get her kicked out of the family she had just been added too. Mark just smiled, shaking his head.
“I wouldn’t sit with us either, if I had your seats.”
Elli thought for a moment, Harper wouldn’t be going to the game with her tomorrow since Jakob wasn’t coming home till Sunday, so she looked up at Mark with a winning grin on her face, “You wanna sit with me tomorrow?”
Being decked out in Shea Adler gear, when Shea Adler’s father sat beside Elli, was a tad bit embarrassing but not enough to make her change. She even had Shea’s number on her cheek, and a big grin on her face as Mark and her watched Shea warm up. Mark kept his eyes on Shea and the rest of the guys just as intently as Elli did. They had gotten beers and hot dogs before the guys had come out and the conversation never stopped. Mark was full of stories of Shea’s childhood. Shea had once told Elli he was a busy child, and he wasn’t lying. Mark had a story for every year of Shea’s life and Elli loved hearing them.
“Did he ever tell you the first time he held a stick?” Elli looked over at Mark, shaking her head.
“No, sir, he hasn’t,” she answered taking a swig of her beer, Mark smiled over at her.
“We lived in a crappy apartment on the rough side of town at the time. Jenna started screaming that there was a rat in the kitchen. She yelled at Shea to go get something to kill it, he was four at the time,” Mark chuckled for a moment, reminiscing Elli guessed. “Well, I stood in the doorway, shaking my head at my young wife that stood on our busted kitchen table screaming at the top of her lungs, when Shea come barreling into the kitchen with my old hockey stick from high school. I actually laughed, but then he pulled back when that rat came out and swung that stick so damn hard, that he killed the rat instantly.” Mark slapped his leg as he let out a gut busting laugh, he wiped his eyes after a few moments, still laughing and Elli couldn’t help but laugh along, “Poor Jenna, she was freaking out about the rat blood all over the place, while I just stood there gawking at the perfect slap shot my four year old son had just done. I signed him up the next day, and look, hardest slap shot in the NHL for the last three years. I could kiss that rat if it was alive.”