Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(176)

Michael turned facing Elli with the saddest look on his face. “I’m so sorry, darling,” he said before wrapping his arms around her, holding her close to him.

“He wanted to marry me?”

Elli felt him nod his head as he moved his hand up and down her back, “He did.”

“What did you say?” Elli asked.

“Yes, of course.”

Elli started to sob loudly into her father’s chest. She cried for the betrayal her mother had done, she cried because Victoria had fallen to her mother’s threats, and she cried because she missed Shea more than anything. How could she be so stupid? Shea was right, she was making him pay for the things Justin had done to her. She was always looking for a reason to doubt Shea, not believe his word, and again, he was right when he said that he had always been true to her, because even with all her insecurities she knew he would never hurt her. So why did she believe the lie her mother set up? Why didn’t she believe him when he said that he had been played? God would only know, but now Elli was paying the price for her stupidity.

When Elli finally calmed down, her father let her go and she moved towards the chair that over looked the ice. The game had already started and Shea was on the ice, hitting people so hard that Elli was convinced he would either hurt himself, or owe her Papa more money when he broke another sheet of glass.

Elli had never met such an amazing man. Shea was sweet, caring, devoted, compassionate, funny, and passionate, Elli could go on for hours describing him, she loved him so much. When she was with him she felt complete. He made her love herself, something that she hadn’t down since she was in high school. Elli had given him her heart, her soul and thought she would be with him forever. She knew Shea loved her, but when she saw Victoria and him together, she lost it. She felt like everything he had ever said to her was a lie, and without thinking she threw away the most amazing man she would ever meet.

Elli didn’t deserve him, because even after all this time he still wanted her back. He still loved her, but could she swallow her pride and admit she was wrong? Admit that she was wrong to doubt him? As she watched him skate around, shooting the puck every chance he got, she thought about their relationship. They had their up and downs, but more ups than downs. Elli smiled as she thought back to the little things that made their relationship so spectacular.

Their joking banter with each other. The dinners they cooked together. The bubble baths they would share. The arguing over what to watch because he had seen Pride and Prejudice a hundred times in six months and he was done with the damn movie. He had lived it with her with her party and just thinking of that brought a grin to her face. The waking up in the middle of the night just to make sure he was still there, because sometimes it felt like a dream. A dream she wanted back. She wanted back her little things with him, she wanted it all back. Everything.

But how?

When the goal buzzer went off and the crowd started screaming, Elli eyes searched for Shea. When she found him, he wasn’t grinning like his teammates; he stood by the bench with no emotion on his face. How was she ever going to apologize? Would be believe her? What if he never wanted anything to do with her? She walked away from him when he poured his heart and soul out to her, yeah it was to find Victoria and get to the bottom of the situation but still. Why would he even want her when all she did was ignore his feeling, not listen to his pleas, and not give him the benefit of the doubt. He was a good man, and all she did was walk away. Elli should have run to him, jumped into his arms while telling him that she still loved him, that she would always love him, that she would never doubt him again.

It was the truth, but would he believe her. She didn’t believe him when she should have, so why would he? He had proved that he loved her many times over, but had she ever done that for him? It took her damn near four months just to admit she loved him, so when Elli walked away from him for the fourth time since they been together, she knew she had to of stomped his pride into the ground. Why did she deserve to even have a second chance with him, she wasn’t good enough for him. She was selfish, whinny, insecure and he needed someone better.

Even if the thought made Elli’s heart break since she wanted to be Shea’s forever, she knew she wasn’t good enough.

Midway through the third period, Bryan sat down beside Elli, handing her a beer.

“So, will I be helping pay for a wedding?” Elli looked over at him, a small smile forming on her face.

“I don’t know.”

“I’m pretty sure all you gotta do is say you love him and he would marry you tomorrow, hell maybe tonight.”

“I don’t deserve someone so amazing; look at the crazy freaks I come from.”

“Hey now, that’s your mother side, your daddy’s side ain’t crazy.” Elli scoffed at that, and smiled when Bryan finished, saying “You’re perfect, darling, Adler knows that.”

“I have issues, I’m crazy, loud, I have a temper, I get sick, and I’ll probably always be a little fat. But Papa, even with all them things about me, he still loved me, and when he needed me to believe him, I didn’t. When he basically begged me to take him back, I ignored him. Why do I deserve the perfection of a man like that, when I’m far from it?”

Bryan smiled, taking Elli’s hand in his large old one, “You’ve changed, Elli.”

“No I haven’t,” she said with her face scrunched up.