Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(125)

When he reached his room, all her things laid everywhere. She must have been trying to find things to bring with her on the trip. His old AHL shirt laid on the floor by a pair of her boxers. He walked over to it, picking it up and bringing it to his nose.

Mangos.

Shea basically crumbled to the floor, a hard feat for someone Shea’s size. But he did it, holding the shirt to his nose taking in the scent of his Elli and for the first time ever of his adult life, he cried over a woman.



The next day, after his embarrassing break down that no one would ever know about, Shea sat in the living room, watching Pride and Prejudice. He wonder if Elli was gonna talk to him anytime soon since her birthday was only a week away. It would be something if everyone showed up for the party and the guest of honor didn’t show. He would look like a complete idiot. Part of him wished he hadn’t planned the party, but somewhere deep in his heart, he knew she would call.

He took his phone out and sent a quick text.

I love you. I miss you a lot.

An hour passed before she answered,

I miss you too.

He smiled. Maybe there was hope for them or maybe she just missed him, but had no intentions on getting back with him. He was about to ask her that when his phone rang, it was Jakob.

“Hello?”

“I have a bone to pick with you, Shea Adler!” Harper yelled into the phone.

“Harper?”

“The one and only. Listen here buddy, why is it that I am taking care of your best friend, but you can’t take care of mine?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Elli. I can’t do both and work, you’re gonna have to take one of them!”

“Wait, Harper, what’s wrong with Elli?”

She paused, “What? You haven’t talked to her-oh God, please don’t tell me you don’t know she’s sick.”

“No! I had no clue, she told me she needed a few days to herself. What the hell is wrong?”

“Ugh, damn it, why does she do this? She lied to her dad, her uncle, and now you, wonderful.”

Shea was starting to get frustrated so he tried to keep his voice calm when he said, “Harper, what the hell is wrong with Elli?”

“She’s sick, it happens every once in the while,” she added when he took in a sharp breath, “she starts to feel run down and then she’s just down for a couple of days. She had to change her meds this time, so it must have been bad when it happened. She called me to bring her soup and to pick up her meds. I got mad because that’s what you should be doing since you are the boyfriend.”

“You’re right I should be doing that, if I actually knew she was sick!”

“Well, now you know, her meds are at Walgreens and she likes the chicken noodle from Panera Bread. Holler if you need anything else.”

“Where is she at?”

“Home.”

“She told me she went to Jodi’s,” he said through his teeth, Harper laughed.

“She’s scandalous as hell; no, she’s at the house.”

“Wonderful.”

“Do you have a key?”

“No.”

“Well stop on by cause she won’t be able to unlock the door, she’s stupid weak.”

Shea’s heart broke knowing that Elli couldn’t even move to answer the door, “Alright, thanks, Harper.”

“No, thank you, see ya soon.”





Shea didn’t know why he was nervous when he pulled up in front of Elli’s house, but he was. After packing his bag for the next couple days, going to get Elli’s meds and five things of her favorite soup, he ran over to the studio for Elli’s key. Harper was busy and told him to grab it off the desk, and go, so he did. The whole drive over to Elli’s he thought about what he would say to make everything better between them. He wasn’t sure if she was mad still or if she was really just trying to hide the fact that she was sick, which he was not happy about and would address when he saw her.

After unloading the truck, he unlocked the door and started bringing things in. Adler came barreling out the back room and bark happily as he jumped around and between Shea’s legs. Shea grinned as he bent down, loving on the dog. Shea had missed Adler just as much as he missed Elli. “Hey, buddy,” he said quietly in case Elli was sleeping before noticing the house.

It was trashed and something smelled. It was probably all the dog shit by the back door. He walked into the kitchen to find that something must have died in there because it stunk badly. He also saw that Adler had torn into dog food bag and food was all over the floor.

“Harp, just leave everything in the kitchen. I’ll get it later.”

Shea barely heard what she said, it was muffled and she was groaning between words. He left everything in the hall and started down the other hall towards her room. When he opened the door, Elli laid face down in her bed, in only a bra and panties. Her body was flushed and she was sweaty.

“Harp, please go. I look terrible,” she groaned still not moving. Shea moved towards the bed, sitting on the edge and running his hand down her burning hot back. Elli moved her head, looking up at him, her eyes widen and after a moment, a tear ran down the side of her face. “Shea,” she groaned, turning her head back into the pillow.

“Harper called, she was busy and asked me to go get the soup and everything.”