by Toni Aleo
“It hurts like a bitch, man.”
“I bet, only a couple more weeks, though,” Shea reassured as he backed out, heading towards Broadway, where the bar was located. When he saw Elli’s truck, his pulse picked up. It had been a long, agonizing two weeks. He had missed her so much and couldn’t wait to hold her in his arms, kiss those luscious lips on hers, lay her down in the bed that he had missed as much as he missed her.
Shea parked the truck beside hers and notice that the place was busy, like always. He waited at the front of the truck as Jakob hobbled his way towards him. They entered and made their way, slowly through the crowed bar. When they got to an opening in the crowd, Shea saw Harper sitting off to the side, waving her arms in the air, but he didn’t see Elli.
“I didn’t know Elli could sing, she’s damn good, too,” Jakob said. Shea looked over at him, seeing that he was pointing up at the stage. Shea looked over at the stage and that’s when he noticed two things.
The first thing was that Elli’s pants were extremely tight.
The second was that she was extremely drunk.
“Oh, my God,” he muttered as he watched her sing. It was the first time he had ever heard her beautiful voice, but he couldn’t enjoy it, because she wasn’t singing with a smile, no, she was glaring and pointing and basically cussing out some guy by the bar. The guy she was singing to kind of look like Jakob as he leaned against the bar, with a smug grin on his face and his arms crossed across his chest.
“Who’s the guy?”
“I don’t know, let’s go ask Harper,” Shea said through clenched teeth, heading towards Harper, because Shea felt that if he went over there, the smug grin that was on that asshole’s face would be on the floor. Harper was screaming ‘Get it, girl’ at Elli when they reached her.
“Hey guys!” she gushed when she noticed them. She moved past Shea, wrapping herself up in Jakob’s arms, “I missed you,” she said up to Jakob. He smiled lovingly at her, kissing her nose, before pointing over to the guy.
“Who’s that?” he asked.
Harper squashed up her face, like something didn’t smell good, and basically growled out, “That ass hat is, Justin.”
Shea whipped his head back to look at Harper, “Justin, as in Elli’s ex?”
“The one and only, he actually had to the gall to tell her she looks good. Which, of course, she does, but she looked good when she was with him, too,” Harper slurred. Harper’s head fell to the side as she looked Elli over, “I’m actually surprised Elli’s still dressed.”
Shea looked over at her confused, “What? Why’s that?”
“Because that girl can’t keep her clothes on when she’s drinking tequila and she’s had a lot!” Shea raised his eyebrows, looking back at Elli, who was only wearing a little tank with her extremely tight jeans. Harper almost fell off the stool she was sitting in, but Jakob caught her before she hit the floor. She was just as smashed as his girlfriend, the same girlfriend that had just threw her mic down after hitting the last note of the angry song perfectly, and throwing her middle finger in the air as she made it down the stairs, coming towards them.
For the love of God.
“That was awesome, babe! Tell that asshole! Because he stole your happy, he made you cry-” and off they went singing the chorus again. People around them sang along, while some cheered them on.
Great, they had fans.
When they finished, Harper cheered for Elli again as she grinned widely at her, then Elli let out a squeal when she saw Shea.
“Shea!” she almost fell twice as she made her way towards him, slamming her body into his and kissing him lavishly. He tasted beer as she swirled her tongue with his, sloppily and had to pull back. She was too drunk to be kissing.
“Hey, baby,” he said kissing her nose, then the side of her mouth as she smiled up at him.
“You’re home early!”
“I am, surprise,” he said as she swayed back and forth, “Jesus, baby, how much have you had?”
She giggled, before saying, “A. Lot.”
“I can see that.”
“It started out just beer, but then these nice guys wanted to buy us shots of tequila and, of course, we said yes to free booze!” Harper let out a loud yee haw, and Elli joined in, slapping hands with her.
And he thought Grace was bad drunk. He couldn’t count how many times he has dealt with an extremely drunk Grace through his teen years and early twenties. Grace had gotten them in trouble so many times that Shea was surprised he was where he was and not in jail.
“Did you see that ass hat I wasted years of my life to? I wanted to go smack him, but Harper said I couldn’t. She didn’t have any bail money on her, but I said we could always call you, or my papa, but she wouldn’t let me,” she slurred.
“Thank God,” Shea and Jakob said at the same time. They grinned at each other and then looked back down at Elli. She was chugging a beer along with Harper. Shea shook his head, looking around the bar, noticing that men were watching as the girls drank and giggled.
Shea wondered how many of the guys had hit on Elli, since she had said guys had bought them drinks. He wondered if she flirted back, if she had given them the same smile she gives him, or if she touched them the way she always touched him. His mind filled with the thoughts of what could or what had happen as he assumed the worst, that she had cheated, that she had come out to replace him. She didn’t love him, what made him any better than any of the assholes in the bar.
Elli looked over at Shea, and the brightest, biggest, most beautiful smile crossed her face, before she came to him, wrapping her arms around him and looking up at him. He could see the lust filling in her eyes, “Did you know that the whole time I’ve been here I’ve been wishing that you were here, cause I just missed you soooooo much,” she slurred as she leaned on him for support, “We should go find a place to be alone,” she said drawing out the last word.
Shea smiled shaking his head, how could he think those things? His sweet Elli was crazy for him and only him. He could see it in her beautiful, sparkling with lust, green eyes.
He was jealous.
Something he had never been before.
His breath caught while she just grinned up at him totally oblivious to the fact that he was having an epiphany. He hadn’t even realized it had happen, he knew he loved her, but he didn’t realize that he was absolutely, completely, and entirely hers, and that she could break him.
She reached her finger up to his forehead, poking him hard between his eyes, “You’re thinking too hard,” she stated, “about what?” With every word her head nodded, and all he could do was laugh as she beamed up at him, drunkenly.
“Nothing, baby, you ready to head out?” he asked as he gathered her in his arms, kissing her cheeks.
“I was thinking I would have another beer or two.”
He shook his head, before bringing his lips to her ear, “I thought you wanted to go somewhere to be alone, I was thinking my bed.”
There was no way he was having sex with Elli when she was plastered, but if he had to say that to get her out of the bar, he would say it. She probably wouldn’t make it home awake.
A slow grin went across her face and she looked over at Harper, who was making out with the man that was apparently driving her bat shit crazy.
“I’m leaving!”
Harper looked over at her, and glared, “No, no, no, no, you ain’t. You’re my ride!” she said moving her head from side to side. Shea raised an eyebrow as Jakob just chuckled.
“Baby, I’ll drive you home,” Jakob said, “Shea, can I take your truck home? You can drive Elli’s home.”
“Sure. Thanks,” he said digging out his keys and handing them to Jakob, “We’ll come and get it tomorrow.”
“Sure, dude, thanks.”
Jakob put his arm around Harper and started to lead her out. Shea did the same to Elli, but they only made it halfway before Elli tripped. Shea caught her before she hit the ground as she started laughi
ng uncontrollably. Shea basically had to carry her out of the bar. How did they think they were going to get home if he hadn’t of showed up?
When they got outside and the cold hit Elli, she let out a cry and basically climbed into Shea’s jacket as he tried to walk. It had gotten colder in Nashville since he left. Two weeks ago it was in the lower 50s, but now he was convinced it was only 20 degrees outside. When he reached the truck, Elli had her keys out and unlocked the doors. He helped her up into the jacked up truck, shutting the door before going around getting in himself. She had already started the truck and some country singer was singing about drinking.
What else was new in the country world?
They were either singing about being drunk, crying about their women leaving, or about their tractors. But Shea would admit, country boys wrote wicked mean love songs.
Elli sat cross leg, singing louder than necessary as he carefully backed her monster of a truck out of the parking spot she was in. How she drove this truck on a daily basis, he couldn’t fathom. The thing was huge!
“Well, if I have one, I'll have thirteen, Naw, there ain't no in-between,” she sang before stopping, jumping up and down in the seat beside him, “Oh, my god! This is my theme song!”
Shea just shook his head as he laughed at his beautifully, drunken girlfriend, “It sure is, baby.”
Elli threw herself into him, causing him to swerve before breaking down in a fit of giggles. He couldn’t be mad at her, she was harmless, but he would monitor her drinking for now on.
“Shea, I’ve missed you sooooo much,” she slurred against his neck, “So much.”
“I’ve missed you, too, baby.”
She grinned up at him and he returned it before turning off Broadway, heading towards his condo. After a few minutes of silence she asked, “You know what?” as she turned the drinking song down.
“What, baby?”
“Sometimes I think I love you.”
He looked over at her and she was looking down at her hands, he could see that her eyes were filling with tears.
Aw shit, she was one of those drunks?
“But every time I think I do, Justin comes along and he gets in my head telling me I’m no damn good and that I don’t know how to love a man. He was so mean to me, so mean,” she said as she shook her head. He didn’t know what to say so he didn’t say anything, but he did wish he would have at least gone over to the guy and push him into the wall. “You wouldn’t believe half the shit that asshole did to me, and I thought it was normal. I was so naive.”
“You were young,” Shea stated, hating the guy more and more with each passing second.
“I know, but I should have known better, especially when we had been dating for years, and he never told me he loved me. The day he chose to tell me he loved me was the day my grandparents died and I got my inherence.”
Shea looked over at her, “You’re kidding.”
“No,” she said, taking a deep breath, “When we would have sex after I gained all my weight, he would put a blanket over me or turn off the lights, so he wouldn’t be able to see anything.”
Okay, that was just crazy. “Elli, why did you stay with him?”
“Because he said he loved me,” she started to hiccup and he thought she was done talking, but she went on, “before when we were just dating, I didn’t care that he didn’t love me, but after my grandparents died and he said that, I said it back because I was so sad and I felt so alone. We moved in together in New York, and everything was fine, until I got fat. We had moved back home; and my family had turned on me, he turned on me, and shit was bad. I craved the ‘I love yous.’ They were slim to none, but I tried to do everything to make him happy, but nothing worked. At least once a month, I would come home from school and my shit would be outside the house that he owned. Harper would take me in and then three days later he would show up begging me to come home.”
The tears started to fall and Shea reached for her hand. She took it, using her other hand to wipe her face. “And I did.” Shea noticed she was starting to look green when he looked over at her, but she just went on, so he assumed she was fine.
“Finally, I started to notice something wasn’t right. I was in school, something he said was a waste of time because when we got married I wouldn’t need to work since I would be taking care of the babies, which how we were gonna make those babies was beyond me since he never wanted to have sex with me, but whatever-” She stopped suddenly and Shea looked over. “Pull over,” he did as she asked, and she opened the door, puking her brains out. Her body shook violently as she threw up on the side of West End Ave. He ran his hand up and down her back, trying to move her hair out of the way as she expelled some of the beer and tequila she had consumed.
Shea had thought Grace was a talented drunk, nope, she had nothing on Elli. Right after she got done, she sat up, grabbed the bottle of water that sat in her consul, washed her mouth out and went on with her story.
He was amazed once more by her.
“So anyways, we weren’t having sex, and he had made me go to one of them stupid dinners through his daddy’s firm, when I stepped into that place in my plus size dress without him because he went earlier then me, no one looked at me, that’s when I knew that I was nothing.” Shea sat listening to her, not moving the truck, he wanted to hear her. Plus, in case she needed to puke, he was already pulled over. “The night went on, when he would introduce me to the women of the firm; they couldn’t even look me in the eye. That’s when I knew he was cheating on me.”
Shea’s heart hurt for her and it seemed with every word that came out of her mouth, it made him want to kill Justin Yates more and more. When her face turned green again, he was glad he was already pulled over so she could continue to throw up on the side of the street again. She repeated the rinsing of the mouth routine and then went on like she hadn’t been throwing her guts up on the side of the road. “So that night,” she let out an empty laugh, “he actually had the gall to climb on top of me. I got so mad that I pushed him off me. Oh, Shea, he got so mad. Called me everything in the book, smacked me up against the wall, telling me I was nothing and that no one would love me. I don’t know what got into me, it must have been him hitting me, but I swung back and hit him as hard as I could. He fell to the ground and I threw my ring at him, telling him I did not love him and I was leaving. And I finally did and he never came after me.”
Shea wanted to beat the living hell out of Justin. No man lays a hand on a woman. It was disgusting and Shea couldn’t believe that he let that man stand beside the bar with that smug look on his face. Let him see him out in the streets, Shea would beat him to a pulp.
“Why aren’t you driving?” Shea looked over at her, relaxing his hands from the steering wheel that he was squeezing so tightly his hands hurt.
“Oh, I thought you needed to throw up some more,” he said pulling the truck back onto the road when it was clear.
“No, I’m good. I’m tired now,” she said, before crossing her arms across her legs and laying down.
She was out before they even made it a mile. Her loud snores filled the truck and even though he was so pissed he could scream, he cracked a smile as he drove. Elli was the most beautiful, strongest, amazing woman he had ever met and he couldn’t love her more than he did at that moment.
When they got home, Shea carried Elli over his shoulder up the steps and into the condo as Adler bounced up and down around Shea’s legs.
“Adler, bud, sit,” Shea said as he tried to move by him. Adler listened and Shea made it to the bedroom with Elli drooling down his back.
He just prayed she didn’t throw up.
Shea laid her down on the bed and proceeded to take her clothes off. He thought about throwing her in the shower since she had makeup on and smelt like a bar, but she couldn’t even stand, so he discarded that thought and continued to pull her shirt off. It took a lot more force than he thought it would to get her cowboy boots off, but he finally got them off before
pulling her pants off. He shook his head at her drunkenness, as he pulled her up in the bed, tucking her into the bed.
He loved learning new things about Elli, but he could have went on without knowing that Justin Yates was a asshole with a death wish and that Elli was the worst drunk ever, but even with knowing those things about her, he still loved her, probably always would.
Shea undressed before going into the bathroom to wash up and take out his contacts. When he came back into the bedroom, Elli was laying face first in her pillow with the blankets kicked off her. He laughed as he shut off the lights and crawled into bed with her. He looked over at her and smiled. How was she breathing with her face in the pillow like that?
“Baby, can you breathe?” She nodded and he laughed before saying, “Alright baby, goodnight,” he leaned over kissing her naked shoulder before saying, “I love you.”
When she didn’t say anything, like he knew she wouldn’t, he closed his eyes. But he opened them again when she said, “Good, because I need you.”
A grin cracked across his face and he closed his eyes.
She needed him.
That had to be one step closer to loving him.
Chapter 22
Shea learned another thing about Elli the next morning, and that was that she was very angry when she was hung over.
When she sat up as he came out the bathroom, her hair was sticking straight up, her makeup smeared across her face, also all over her pillow, and drool was dripping from her chin. He still thought she was beautiful, though, even when she started cussing him out.
“Why the hell is that window open! For the love of God, Shea! My fucking head is pounding and that damn sun is beaming on me! Ahhh!” she screamed and curled up in a ball, covering her body with the blankets. He couldn’t help but laugh as he walked over to the window, shutting the curtains. He came around the bed, looking down at the ball that was his Elli.
“Better, sunshine?”
“Fuck off!” she yelled, but not even a second later she threw the blankets back and looked up at him, “I didn’t mean that, I’m sorry.”