Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(113)
When she sat up as he came out the bathroom, her hair was sticking straight up, her makeup smeared across her face, also all over her pillow, and drool was dripping from her chin. He still thought she was beautiful, though, even when she started cussing him out.
“Why the hell is that window open! For the love of God, Shea! My f*cking head is pounding and that damn sun is beaming on me! Ahhh!” she screamed and curled up in a ball, covering her body with the blankets. He couldn’t help but laugh as he walked over to the window, shutting the curtains. He came around the bed, looking down at the ball that was his Elli.
“Better, sunshine?”
“Fuck off!” she yelled, but not even a second later she threw the blankets back and looked up at him, “I didn’t mean that, I’m sorry.”
He smiled, leaning down to kiss her cheek, “Its fine, you’re an angry day after kind of chick. Grace is the same way.”
She tried to smile, but shot up, running to the bathroom. When he heard her puking, he went in there to see her hugging the toilet. He went up behind her, moving her hair back. He looked over at the counter and saw a hair tie, so he grabbed it and pulled her hair up in a messy ponytail on the top of her head. When she started crying, he sat down beside her, rubbing her back.
“Oh, my god, what man does this?” she cried as she continued to puke. He smiled, running his hand up and down her back. When she stopped throwing up, he stood up to get her some water from the sink. She washed her mouth out, but went right back to throwing up. “Ugh, just leave me here to die, Shea.”
He laughed as he went to the bathtub, filling it up. “Maybe a bath would help?”
“Maybe,” she said, lying down so that her face was on the cold tile. “I need to call Harper, what time is it? I have a nine o’clock appointment.”
“I already called her; she’s fine, apparently. She going to go in with Alice.”
“Thank you so much. Yeah, she always is, it makes me sick, cause I never am.”
“I see that.” She opened her eyes, glaring at him but closed them quickly because he guessed it hurt. “Wanna jump in?”
“I will not be jumping, but climbing might happen,” she said as she started crawling over towards the bath, he helped her take her bra off, then she slid out of her panties before falling into the water, splashing water onto the floor. He shook his head as he went to get towels to clean up as she apologized. After cleaning up, he made sure she was okay and left her to soak as he went into the bedroom to wash the bedding.
He had an amused grin on his face as he moved through the condo, picking up her mess. Yeah, she drove him crazy, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. After last night, he knew why she wouldn’t move in with him. It wasn’t because she didn’t care for him, but because that * didn’t treat her right.
How he could kick Elli out of her home, when she was raw with hurt and scared with all the medical problems she was having at the time was beyond him, and he hated the guy for it, but he wanted to murder the guy for putting his hands on her. No women deserved to have a man put his hands on her, but especially not his Elli. She was too sweet, too perfect.
It all made perfect sense now, and he knew that it was going to take a lot to get Elli past that, but he didn’t care. Shea would be there, he would be patient, he would love her, and one day, he just knew she would love him back.
Elli thought men like Shea Adler didn’t exist, but they did. Shea had laid beside her in bed watching movies all day, as she tried to recover from the awful hangover she had.
Damn tequila.
She was never drinking again, she swore.
The night before was a blur. She remembered everything up to singing Carrie Underwood, after that it was a blur. Shea said that she was puking all over the sidewalk of West End Ave, which was lovely, considering that was the classier side of Nashville. She remembered seeing Justin, but not wanting to fight him like Harper had said she wanted to.
That was another reason she was never drinking again, she didn’t remember anything after a certain point!
Shea was so good to her, though, bringing her crackers and rubbing her back when she would get nauseous. He was genuinely a great guy and Elli didn’t know how she got so lucky to have met him.
The next day, they went to see Grace and the kids at the Adventure Science Center after Shea’s practice. They had such a great time, even though Elli was still a little sick from the day before. Afterwards, they went to Publix to go grocery shopping for the next day before Shea needed to go home for a nap. Elli decided she wanted to make a Christmas dinner with all the fixings, since she wouldn’t see her friends until after the holidays, so she got the biggest ham they had since Shea, Jakob, Derrick, and Walter would be there, and they ate like an army.
After unloading the groceries, Elli started to clean while Shea washed his clothes from his suitcase. It was so domestic. They would move around each other with ease. He would ask if she knew where something was and most of the time she did. Living there for the past month had been so easy. She knew his condo inside and out and now that he was home with her, moving around the house with her, she really didn’t seem as scared as she was before about moving in with him.
She wasn’t sure what had changed in the last two weeks, but something had, so maybe she would consider it, or maybe she would just keep things like they are, because God knew her daddy and Papa would freak when they found out. The thought sent chills through her body. She couldn’t even imagine it because when she moved in with Justin, they flipped, but her mother took care of them and Elli didn’t even have to deal with it. But now, she’s pretty sure ‘the shit would hit the fan,’ as it was said.