Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(85)

“I will, I’ll call every night.”

“You better.”





Chapter 16


“How did you know Grace would come back?” Elli asked as they drove back Shea’s condo a couple hours later. After a tearful goodbye from Ryan and Grace, Shea had to get out of there. He hated when Ryan cried, but seeing Grace cry; he couldn’t handle it.

“When she gets real worried about me, she gets like that. She had been a little testy with me the past couple weeks.”

“I’m glad you knew what was going on because for a second I thought she hated me.”

Shea laughed, “No, baby, she’s just nervous.”

“I am too; I don’t want you to leave.”

“I know,” he said taking her hand in his; they drove the rest of the way home like that.

Nothing else was said until after they were washed up from the day, Adler was fed, and they were lying in bed together. The light was still on; the bed was turn down as they laid on top of the blankets. Shea was wearing just his boxers while Elli was wearing his AHL shirt and panties. She was lying on her back, while he laid on his side, tucked up against her side, running his hand up and down her thigh.

“Hey,” he said since her eyes were closed, she opened them then smiled, “How did you get sick?”

She bit her lip, than shrugged her arms as she looked up at the ceiling, “I don’t know.”

“How old were you?”

“Nineteen.”

“What happened?”

She shrugged her arms again, “It all happen so fast, like one minute I’m on top of the world. I was Roxie Hart for Chicago, it was my second show and I was so excited cause I had just signed my contract for a third show. I was dating a Yates, something my mother had wanted me to do since I was born, I had this beautiful apartment in New York, and I was spending more money than I should,” She let out an empty chuckle as she moved her hands under her thighs, he guessed since she was picking at her nails. “I woke up and my jeans didn’t fit, and I was like what the hell? So I stopped eating the way I was and went on an intense diet and started running, but I kept gaining. When I finally got to the doctor, I was already topping over two hundred pounds, had already lost my job, was packing up to come home ,and Justin was livid but he still stayed with me, which made no damn sense then, now it does, but still. Anyways, I got diagnosed with hypothyroidism and I have been on medicine ever since.”

“When you got on the medicine did you start losing the weight?”

“Yeah, but it was slow, it took three years for me to get where I am, and I still have problems. I still get real tired and weak sometimes if I don’t take my meds. I gain weight so stinkin' fast if I don’t watch it, and depression sticks its head into my life every once in a while.”

“Okay, but you’re okay now, right?”

“Yeah, if I take my meds and stay away from my mom,” she said with a smile. He smiled back, kissing her temple.

“Will you get better? Or well you have to take the pills forever?”

“No, I have to take them for the rest of my life.”

“Does it scare you?”

Because it scared the living shit out of him.

“No, not too bad. I’m used to it now, I guess. I guess when I get pregnant I’ll probably be worried, since if I don’t take my pills and take care of myself, it could hurt the baby.”

Shea nodded as he looked her over, she was so beautiful, he hated that something like this could happen to her, but in a way he was happy it did. He knew it was selfish but her going through what she did brought her to him, and now that he had her, he could never imagine her not being there.

“Do you miss it?”

She shook her head, he was surprised she knew what he was talking about; he guessed they were that connected, “No, when I was singing I thought I would never be happy doing anything else, but I love what I do. I love taking pictures of people for them to keep that moment forever. I make good money, I can pay my employees, and pay all my bills and still have money for my shopping addictions. I have a beautiful house that I love, a dog that loves me when you are not around, and for the first time in a very long time, I’m happy.” He smiled as she turned on her side, putting her hand on his cheek and the other on his neck. “It’s cause of you, you know.”

He gave her a sheepish grin, because if she knew how much she changed his life, she would probably run, he wanted to scream at her that he loved her but instead said, “Really?”

“Yes Shea, I have never loved my life, but you came along and flipped it upside down and I couldn’t be happier. You make me so happy.”

His hand slid down her back from her hip, and he pressed her closer to him, meeting her mouth with his, kissing her hard. She melted against him, kissing him just as hard as she wrapped her arms around him, basically molding her body with his. He moved his hand up her body, pulling her shirt up as he went, and she let him causing him to smirk against her lips. She smiled back as he moved himself over her, pulling her shirt off and throwing it on the floor. Her arms folded over her stomach and she looked up at him with worry in her eyes.

“Shut the lights off,” she said, he shook his head as he kissed one side of her mouth, then placed a kiss on her lips, bringing his lips to the other side of her mouth kissing it.