Taking Shots (Assassins)

by Toni Aleo

  “Mm, goodness, do I even have lipstick still on?” she asked as she looked up at him, she giggled as she wiped his mouth. “I guess not, you might want to wipe that off, while I reapply,” she said as she walked back into the bedroom. He had a crooked grin on his face as he wiped off his mouth, when she reappeared, new lipstick applied, they gathered their things and left.

  Alex Welch and his wife, Mary Ann always held the opening game party at Union Station, which was a ritzy hotel in downtown Nashville. Shea loved the place, thought it was beautiful and the food was amazing. He was really excited about taking Elli there because he was pretty sure she hadn’t been there before. After giving his truck over to the valet, Shea led Elli inside, his hand on the small of her back. As they walked through the beautiful hotel to the meeting hall, he could tell that Elli was nervous. She was doing that lip biting thing, along with moving her hands a lot. He finally took her hand in his, squeezing lightly.

  “It’s going to be fine, baby.”

  She smiled nervously, “I’m just nervous your friends won’t like me.”

  “They’ll love you,” he reassured her; she gave him a small smile as they entered the hall. All his friends and teammates were there, with their wives or girlfriends. Some were talking, while others danced. Dinner hadn’t been served yet, so everyone was snacking on the hor' dourves while they drank. When Shea saw Alex and Mary Ann, he led Elli towards them. Alex smiled when he saw Shea, before turning Mary Ann a little to greet him.

  “Hey, Bro,” Alex said, shaking hands with Shea. Mary Ann smiled big, leaning up and kissing Shea’s cheek. Mary Ann used to be a model or something like that, but when she and Alex got married, she gave it up to have children and to be a wife. She was stunningly beautiful and very sweet; Shea liked her best out of all the wives.

  “Shea! How are you!” she said in her thick country accent. She had grown up in Nashville.

  “I’m good, Mary Ann, I want you guys to meet my…”

  Shit, his what? He looked over at Elli and she smiled nervously, taking Alex’s hand. “His date, Eleanor Fisher, but I go by Elli,” she said, shaking Alex’s hand. Alex looked surprised but smiled as he returned the gesture.

  “Well, hello, this is my wife Mary Ann.”

  “Hi,” Elli said. Mary Ann smiled, hugging Elli instead of shaking her hand.

  “Hi! How are you! You’re just too beautiful for words! I love your eyes!” Mary Ann was also very loud, but she meant well.

  “Thank you so much. Your maiden name is Ryan right?”

  “It is!”

  “I’ve seen your work, a friend of mine used to shoot for you back in the day”

  “Alli Richardson?”

  “Yup, I went to school with her.”

  “Wow! Small world huh?!”

  “Sure is,” Elli said giving Shea a grin, and off they went, into a very elaborate conversation about this person and that person. Shea and Alex stood for a few minutes before they both didn’t know what the hell the women were talking about, so they excused themselves, going straight for the bar. Alex ordered them both a beer and the men stood drinking them as they made small talk.

  “She’s nice, Shea,” Alex said with a nod towards Elli and Mary Ann.

  “I think so.”

  “She was the photographer from the team pictures we did, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s where I met her.”

  “Okay, I was thinking she was new because I haven’t seen you with anyone in a while.”

  “Changing it up, I guess.”

  “You can say that again. She is not your norm, Shea, not at all. Mary Ann loves her.” Shea smiled, watching Elli talk with her hands, before letting out a gut busting laugh. She was intoxicating; she looked over at him giving him a smile, which he returned.

  “She’s something.”

  “Is it serious?” Shea looked over at Alex. He had known Alex for a very long time. They both joined the Assassins the same year and they both played in the amateur league together, too.

  “I think so, but you know me,” Alex nodded, and then Shea said, “but then again, she’s the only thing I want right now.”

  Alex nodded his head, then grinned up at Shea. “That’s great, man, I hope it works out.”

  “Me and you both.”

  Elli was beyond nervous when she walked into the Union Station. She had been here before with her family for family events, but that didn’t help her nerves. First, she was running late, which made Shea late, but he didn’t seem to mind. Then she was meeting his friends, his people. What if they didn’t like her? Thought she was a fat cow or something?

  But that all changed when she met Mary Ann Welch. Mary Ann was stunning, big blue eyes, almost white blonde hair, with a face to remember, high cheek bones, beautiful lips, she was amazing inside and out. They talked about everything from modeling to photography to kids, when she felt Shea watching her. She loved that he only stared at her, even if it did make her self-conscious.

  “Oh, Jakob is here,” Mary Ann said with a big grin, “I love him dearly, he stayed with me and Alex for a while when he went through his divorce a couple years ago. He’s our kid’s god daddy, we just adore him,” Mary Ann gushed.

  Divorce? Harper didn’t tell her that.

  “He’s bringin’ someone tonight; someone he says is ‘the one’. Bless his heart, but he could fall in love with a rock, but he seems pretty sure of this one.”

  It took everything for Elli not to laugh because she knew for a fact that Harper would never get married, or even consider it, but then again Elli never thought Harper would see the same guy more than once.

  So what the hell did she know?

  “Ooo, she is super pretty!” Elli turned seeing Harper and Jakob make their way towards Mary Ann. Mary Ann wrapped herself around Jakob, kissing his cheek loudly as Harper stood by with the what-the-hell-is-this-chick-doing look. Elli shook her head, but Harper was getting madder by the minute.

  “Harper Allen, Mary Ann Welch, she’s married to Alex, they’re the ones I was telling you about. I’m the kids’ godfather.”

  Harper faced went from mad to understanding in two seconds flat. “Oh, yes, I have heard a lot about y’all,” she said, and then Mary Ann hugged her tightly.

  “I’m sorry, Elli!” Mary Ann said turning around, and grabbing Elli’s hand, “This is Elli Fisher, she’s Shea’s date.”

  “We know each other, Mary Ann. Harper is my best friend and my assistant photographer,” Elli said with a grin as Harper smiled at Mary Ann, basically wrapped around Jakob. He was beaming and Elli had to admit, Harper was just as happy. Maybe things were different for her and Jakob, maybe Jakob was her person. Elli smiled at the thought; she didn’t want anything more than for Harper to find her happily ever after.

  The four talked for a little longer before Jakob walked off, leaving the girls with Mary Ann. Elli could see that Mary Ann was testing Harper out, but Harper didn’t seem to mind. She answered any question Mary Ann had, with not so much as a blush. Harper always amazed Elli; she was so fearless, so beautiful.

  After a while, dinner was called to be served, and luckily the three couples were at a table together, so they were able to keep the conversation going. The food was divine. Elli knew it would be, but gosh, Mary Ann had great taste. The pork loin was spectacular, but the potatoes were the most amazing potatoes she had ever put in her mouth. Elli almost moaned every time she ate one, they were so delicious. She took another bite and saw Shea staring at her from the corner of her eye. She blushed as she covered her mouth, looking over at him.

  “Stop staring at me!” she whispered. He just smiled, leaning closer to her to place a kiss on the side of her mouth.

  “I can’t help it; you’re so hot when you eat.” Elli giggled and everyone looked over at them, smiling.

  “Y’all are too stinkin’ cute! Aren’t they, Alex?” Mary Ann gushed as she drank her wine.

  “Yes, honey, yes,” Alex teased in a fake country accent that had e
veryone laughing.

  Elli loved Mary Ann and Alex; they were funny and real. They got into a fight right in front of everyone about the seasoning on the meat, but two seconds after it, they kissed like two teenagers that couldn’t get enough of each other.

  It was the second time that Elli had seen Harper with Jakob and it still blew her mind how Harper acted towards him. She wasn’t cold like she was with other guys and she wasn’t hateful either. She was nice, not lovey-dovey like Jakob was, always touching her face, or holding her hand, but she was nice to him, smiling and kissing him whenever she had the chance. It was weird, but a good weird.

  As for her and Shea, they were perfect. That was the only way Elli could put it, he would move her hair off her shoulder, or kiss her neck, or hold her hand, kissing her knuckles. He didn’t care that they were sitting with four other people; all he cared about was her. It was weird, but an amazing, over the top, awesome weird.

  As desert was served (a three layer chocolate cake with a white chocolate sauce…yum!), Mary Ann and Alex excused themselves, to go thank people, Elli guessed, but all she cared about was the cake. It was fantastic! She knew Shea was watching her, but she was too busy stuffing her face to care.

  “My goodness, this is wonderful” she muttered as she ate.

  “It really is,” Shea agreed. She smiled at him, and looked over at Harper, who was also stuffing her face.

  “It’s amazin’,” she gushed as Jakob laughed. That when Elli noticed that his plate was still full of a cake and it hadn’t been touched.

  “Why aren’t you eating?” Elli asked pointing her spoon at his plate.

  “I don’t like chocolate.” Elli dropped her spoon.

  “Say what?” Shea chose that moment to drink his beer and started choking on it at Elli’s complete and utter shock. “What do you mean you don’t like chocolate? I’ll have to run 5 miles tomorrow, but I don’t care, this is God’s gift to me.” Jakob smiled and he shook his head while Harper and Shea laughed.

  “It's not my thing, and Mary Ann knows this, that’s probably why she skipped out,” he said with a laugh. Shea nodded his head, chuckling as he said, “Probably.”

  Elli just shook her head, didn’t like chocolate? That was a sin, she thought as she took another huge bite. A microphone was bumped and Mary Ann’s voice filled the room.

  “Hey, everyone! We just wanted to thank everyone for coming out, and bringing your dates out. I have met so many new people this year, and that is just awesome to me!” she gushed. Alex took the mic then and smiled at the crowd.

  “Like my beautiful wife, who has had a little too much, said,” everyone laughed while Mary Ann pouted, “Thanks for coming out. We hope you guys have enjoyed the food, and the dancing to come. Go Assassins!”

  The hall filled with everyone repeating ‘Go Assassins’. Even Shea and Jakob did it, leaving Harper and Elli out, not that they minded. They were too busy eating Jakob’s piece of cake. The music started as Mary Ann and Alex made it off the stage. Some people got up to dance, while others went to the bar as the waiters came around picking up plates.

  Shea leaned closer to Elli as she licked the spoon she had, making sure she didn’t leave any of the most amazing cake she had ever eaten on it. She was gonna have to ask for the recipe, it was fantastic. “Hey,” he whispered in her ear, knocking her out of her chocolate haze.

  “Hey,” she said, leaning her head over a little so he had full range of her neck.

  “Do you like to dance?”

  “I love to dance,” she answered with a giggle as he sucked on her earlobe. “Do you?”

  “Yeah, I like to get down with a pretty girl every once in a while,” Elli smiled as he looked into her eyes. He had a crooked smile on his face with his glasses a little crooked too since he had his face all in her neck, “Wanna dance with me?”

  “Hey El, wanna get a drink with me?” Both Elli and Shea looked over at Harper, who was standing up; with one look Elli knew she was mad.

  “Uh, yeah” Elli said, she looked at Shea with a shrug and then lean over kissing his cheek. “Sorry,” she said as she stood up and followed Harper to the bar. Harper was fuming; Elli was trying to figure out what happened since they were joking about chocolate not even five minutes ago. Crap, things were going so good! Harper ordered a Jack and Coke, while Elli settled for a beer. They both leaned on the bar, looking out at the crowd that was dancing while Jakob, Shea, and Alex stood with two wingers and the backup goalie at their table. Elli looked over at Harper; she had drunk half her drink.

  “So, what’s wrong?”

  “I wanna leave.”

  “Why? Aren’t you having a nice time? I am,” Elli said turning towards Harper. She looked like she might cry but since Elli hadn’t seen Harper cry since they were nine, she highly doubted that would happen.

  “He just doesn’t get it.”

  “Who? What? Jakob?”

  “Yeah, he told Mary Ann I’m his girlfriend.” Elli just looked at Harper confused, was she missing something?

  “Okay?”

  “Its sex, Elli. That’s all. Just regular sex when I want it. Nothing more. I’m not his girlfriend.”

  “Okay,” Elli said with a nod before taking Harper’s hand in hers, “Harper, y’all are so good together, are you sure it can’t be more?”

  Harper just shook her head, “No, I don’t want a boyfriend. I like it the way it is. He stays at my house and we do it all the time.”

  “And you’ve told him this?”

  “Yeah, but he can’t get it through his head. He says he can change my mind on that, but I’m serious, he can’t. I don’t want that.”

  “I know,” Elli said with a nod. She knew it was too good to be true. Harper would never change. It wasn’t who she was, she was crazy, fun loving, different man screwing, Harper Allen. Not a one man type gal. Elli felt so bad for Jakob, he just didn’t get it.

  Elli looked over to her right and saw two girls staring at Harper and her. Elli looked back over at Harper, who was shaking her head, as she took sips of her drink, and then she looked back at the girls. They were beautiful girls. One had brown eyes while the other had green, and both were blondes, with extremely huge boobs and no waist at all. They started making their way towards Elli, and she looked back over at Harper, who saw them coming.

  “Oh, come on,” she complained as the girls plastered big, fake grins on their faces.

  “Hi! I’m Ellen Rochester. I’m married to Bryan Rochester, number 62,” The one with brown eyes said, holding her hand out to shake Elli’s and Harper’s. They took her hand, shaking it as green eyes went into her spill.

  “And I’m Roxy Adams. I’m engaged to number 31, Matthew Parra,” she said also shaking their hands. “Who are you girls with?” Roxy continued.

  “Oh, I’m Eleanor Fisher. I go by Elli, though. I’m here with Shea Adler.”

  Both girls just looked at her before raising their eye brows, “Shea Adler? The captain?”

  “Yeah,” Elli said slowly with a nod.

  “We thought she was with him,” Ellen said as she pointed her skinny little finger at Harper.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Harper said, looking up at Ellen. Ellen had about a foot on Harper, but Elli didn’t think she cared. “No, actually I’m here with Jakob Titov.”

  That made the girls giggle, “No, wait, you’re kidding, right? We had this all wrong, didn’t we Rox, we thought it was the other way around.”

  “Yeah, Shea usually doesn’t date girls of your-” Roxy looked Elli up and down, “Stature?”

  Oh hell, this was about to go bad. Elli knew it when she heard Harper’s loud intake of breath.

  “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Harper asked, stepping towards Roxy.

  “Harp, please, its fine. Come on,” Elli said, pulling on Harper’s arm.

  “What are you trying to say? What, that Shea doesn’t date beautifully sized women; or that Jakob couldn’t get someone as hot as me?” Roxy to
ok a step back, but Harper followed “Because if you’re thinking what I think your thinking, I might have to break that fake nose of yours, you dumb bitch.”

  “Okay, now, come on, Harper.”

  Jakob came out of nowhere, wrapping Harper up in his arms, walking her away. Shea was right behind him, sending a look at the girls, then Elli.

  “You alright, babe?” Elli nodded as Shea looked over at Roxy and Ellen. “What’s going on guys?”

  “We don’t know? She flipped,” Roxy sputtered, as Ellen pulled her arm and then they were gone.

  “What the hell is going on?” Elli shrugged her shoulder, completely embarrassed for one, and a little hurt. This was what she had tried to tell Shea would happen. People wouldn’t understand why he was with her, she wasn’t his damn type.

  “They didn’t believe that I was your date, Harper got pissed and did the only thing she knows how to do--go off at the mouth.” Elli went to turn around, but Shea stopped her, pinning her against the bar.

  “Why don’t they believe you’re my date?”

  “Because, what was Roxy’s words?” Elli thought, than she nodded “You don’t like girls of my stature.”

  Shea scuffed as he shook his head, “She’s just jealous cause I wouldn’t give her any of my time, babe. You gotta keep your mind straight with these kinds of people, know that I’m with you because I like you, a lot. Don’t listen to any of them, they’re jealous.”

  Elli looked down at her beer which she held at her waist. He took a step closer, bringing her face up by her chin, “Elli baby, I like you, a lot, don’t you get that?”

  “I do.”

  She wouldn’t look at him, so he put his face in her view, making her look at him, which made her laugh. “Only you,” he said sternly, as he held her face, “I promise.” She nodded once before he kissed her softly. When he pulled back, Elli open her eyes, seeing his beautiful smile. She loved the imperfect things about his face that made it perfect. Like the way he had a scar by his lip or the one above his eyebrow. She loved the little bump on his nose that told her it had been broke a few times. He had only one dimple, but it was so big that it made up for the fact that there wasn’t another one on the other side. His eyelashes were so long, they almost touched the glass of his glasses, and his eyes, gosh, they were so damn blue. He was perfect to her, and he liked her, only her. He promised.