Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(98)

Elli didn’t think anyone saw it coming, but with hockey, no one ever does, but she was out the door and in the truck driving to Harper’s because she knew Harper was gonna need her. She just wished she had put on some pants first, because it was colder than the North Pole out with only her little plaid shorts on.

When Elli pulled into Harper’s apartment complex, she saw Harper in the window on the phone. Shit, she had forgotten her phone at home. She ran up the stairs after locking the truck, and pounded on Harper’s door. Harper threw the door open, tears streaking her face, snot running down from her nose.

“I can’t get a hold of anyone!” she cried as she threw herself in Elli’s arm. Elli held her close, even though she was freezing, and moved her hands up and down Harper’s back.

“I’ll call Papa, let’s go in,” Elli said soothingly as she moved Harper inside.

“It looked bad Elli, so stinkin’ bad.”

“I know,” Elli said with a shake of her head, as she locked the door, and sat Harper on the couch before taking her phone from her.

The hit that Jakob took was honestly the worst Elli had ever seen. Elli wasn’t even sure who the guy was that took Jakob out. All she knew was that Jakob had done a full flip before hitting the ice, face first.

And Jakob doesn’t wear a face guard.

“Did they get him off the ice?”

“Yeah, about ten minutes ago. Shea isn’t in the game anymore, either.”

“He isn’t?” Elli asked looking at the screen to see if she could catch Shea’s number as she dialed her Papa’s number. Bryan answered on the third ring.

“Eleanor, I can’t talk right now.”

“Is he okay?”

“We don’t know, they are taking him to the ER now.”

“Is Shea with him?”

“I think so.”

“Okay, I’ll call him.”

“Okay.” Elli hung up, dialing Shea’s number, but he didn’t answer. She looked over at Harper to see her still crying her heart out, which who could blame her? Elli would be a wreck, too, if her boyfriend was the one that had gotten hit. She went over to the computer, looking up the number for the hospital by the arena. After talking to four nurses and waiting for over ten minutes, Elli hung up the phone in complete frustration. No one would tell her anything.

“Anything?” Harper asked as she hiccupped before wiping her face with her shirt.

“No, babe, but someone will-” The phone rang, and it was Shea. “Shea, is he okay?”

“No, not right now, but he will be. He took a bad hit to the knee, and broke his nose. They are running x-rays right now, we’ll know more in a few, but I wanted to call and tell you guys that he’s going to be okay.”

“Okay.” Harper had come over and stood beside Elli, she relayed what Shea had just said, and Harper nodded her head, trying to keep the tears at bay.

“Should I go down there?” Harper asked as she took deep breaths.

“Should she?” Elli asked.

“She could, I’m not sure how long he’ll be here, it might be just overnight.”

“Okay, when will you know more?”

“Soon, I’ll call you at this number.”

“Alright.” Elli hung up, and gathered Harper in her arms. “It's okay, Harper. Knee injuries can be fixed, he’ll be okay,” Elli said as Harper sobbed in her arms.

“I’ve never been so scared in my life. I just want to see him, hold him.”

“I know Harp, I know.” Harper pulled back, looking up at Elli.

“Can you manage tomorrow? Maybe we can call Alice? She can come in to assist.”

“Sure, go pack, I’ll look for a flight.”





Harper ended up leaving an hour later which was for the best because Jakob had a complete tear of the MCL in his knee and wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital for a couple of days. Elli had called Alice when she was driving back to Shea’s from the airport and she was more than willing to come in a help the next morning. When Elli had arrived at the condo, she walked Adler before going back inside to go to bed. She crawled into bed just as her phone rang. It was Shea.

“Hey.”

“Hey, you, Harper get off alright?”

“Yeah, she should be there at 10:15.”

“Okay, I’m gonna head to the airport in a few, then bring her back here.”

“Thanks, she’s a mess, so beware.” He chuckled, and Elli’s heart swelled. She missed him so much, and was so excited to see him tomorrow, but all she kept imagining after dropping off Harper was Shea getting hurt, and her being the one in a ball of tears.

What in God’s name possessed her to date a hockey player?

“Its fine, it was a scary hit, we are lucky it’s only what it is, it could have been worst.”

“Yeah.”

Nothing was said for a moment, and then Shea said “Hey, you’re okay, right?”

“Yeah, it was just scary, Harper’s a mess.”

“I know baby, but getting hurt can happen, we all know that when we lace up our skates before each game.”

“I know, but still, I couldn’t imagine if it was you. I probably would have flipped out.”