Taking Shots (Assassins)

by Toni Aleo

  “He had work stuff.”

  “He works for me,” he said with a pout, causing Elli to giggle.

  “Stop complaining,” Elli said as she took a sip of her drink.

  “Has Melody gotten a hold of you about the promotional stuff the team is gonna need in the next couple months?”

  “No, but I’m sure she will,” Elli said. The thought of working more for the team made her extremely excited, but she didn’t want to think of work stuff right now, she was going to see Shea in a matter of hours.

  The jet took off right as a text came from Shea; it was a picture of a beach chair with the caption saying:

  I have a seat waiting for you.

  Elli couldn’t contain her excitement. She was ready to see Shea, ready to spend time with him. A shy smile went over her face as red dusted her cheeks when she realized she would be seeing him topless on the beach. Yeah, she had seen him naked in the bedroom, but laying on the beach with him, while he was topless, made her giggle from the giddiness!

  “I tell you what, Eleanor, I always thought you were beautiful, always but goodness me, the last couple times I’ve seen you, you honestly have taken my breath away,” Bryan said, making Elli blush profusely.

  “Papa….,” she groaned. He let out a loud booming laugh.

  “I only speak the truth, darlin’. You’re absolutely beautiful, and that damn Adler is to thank for it, huh?”

  “Yes, sir,” Elli said with a quick grin as she took a drink of her champagne.

  Bryan sat there smiling for a moment before his grin fell and he asked, “What if he got traded Eleanor?”

  Elli’s head whip back up, staring at him with disbelieve.

  “He isn’t, is he?” Her heart had actually stopped; she couldn’t breathe as she waited for him to answer.

  “No honey, he’s a franchise player, he ain’t going anywhere right now, but one day he might. What’s gonna happen then?”

  Elli let out a whoosh of breath, taking in another deep one. The man was gonna give her a damn heart attack! “I don’t know Papa, we’re just datin’.”

  “Now you and I both know that’s a lie, y’all are more than just datin’.”

  “It ain’t none of your business. Next subject please.” Elli said with a sheepish grin, as Bryan chuckled taking a long pull of his beer.

  “We need to discuss something, darlin’.”

  “Which is?” Elli said picking at one of the holes of her jeans.

  “The reason I asked about Adler was because I’m giving you the team, Eleanor.”

  Shea was basically bouncing up and down waiting for Elli and Bryan’s car to arrive at the hotel. He was ready for their mini vacation, ready to lie beside Elli on the beach and not move, unless to go back to the room where he would have his way with her. Shea was also excited for her being at the game tomorrow; he always played better when he could see her watching.

  Yes, he was ready for his girlfriend to come, now.

  Grace had called earlier that day, saying that the dress fitting went perfect, and that Elli loved the dress, which put his mind at ease about the party. The dress was the biggest part, since he wanted her to feel like she had stepped back in time and was going to the ball of her dreams. He was so excited about the party, everything Grace had emailed him looked amazing. From the food, to the entertainment, to the guest list, the night was gonna be astonishing, and he couldn’t wait to see Elli’s face.

  Speaking with her family was interesting to say the least. Her dad was fine, but Shea decided there was a good chance he would never like Olivia Fisher. She had promised that nothing would happen and that they would be on their best behavior at the party, but he was pretty sure she was full of shit and was just lying because he told her she wouldn’t be able to come if she couldn’t promise her best behavior. That was the only thing he was nervous about, considering the party.

  He probably shouldn’t have invited them, but he wanted to give them a chance to make amends with Elli. Elli didn’t get to see the kids like she had before and more than anything; he wanted her to be happy. So he thought bringing her whole family together would fix things, but he was preparing his self just in case things went to shit.

  Shea was leaning up against the wall of the hotel waiting as the ocean breeze hit his face. It was in the high 70s and Shea was convinced he needed to move here. He had always loved the ocean and being somewhere where it was always warm made him happy, but he did love Tennessee and didn’t really want to leave.

  Especially since he had Elli in his life now.

  Would she even come with him if he left Nashville? The fact that he didn’t know the answer to that bothered him. What did he expect, though? She wasn’t clingy; she had been on her own for the past six years. Of course, she missed him a lot when he was gone, but she didn’t act like her life was over when he was gone, unlike most of the women his friends dated. Elli was different, but would she follow him? Could he ask her to? She was rooted in Nashville.

  What was his love compared to her roots?

  Thankfully, he spotted Elli getting out of her uncle’s car, so he pushed his questions to the back of his head, put a huge grin on his face, and headed towards her. Her eyes were bright with excitement, and his grin grew bigger with every step he took. When he wrapped his arms around her, basically picking her off the ground, she let out a little squeal before he placed his lips on hers.

  They parted only because Bryan Fisher cleared his throat. Shea looked over at his boss with a sheepish grin, before saying, “Hey, Mr. Fisher.”

  “Adler,” he said with a raised eyebrow, before looking over at Elli, “Darlin’, I’ll have these taken to your room.”

  “Oh, I’m coming, I gotta change, you still wanna hit the beach right?” she asked Shea, but Shea was still confused on the whole “her room” part of Bryan’s statement.

  “Yeah, baby, where is your room?”

  “Um, Papa, where is it?”

  “Right next to mine,” Bryan said without looking at her, as he took the suitcases out the trunk. Shea looked over at her, but she wouldn’t look at him because she knew he was trying to figure out why the hell she wasn’t sleeping in his room.

  “Alright,” she said, before looking up at him, “wanna meet down here in a few?”

  “I’m already dressed. I can come up with you and then we can leave,” Shea said, but wished he didn’t when Bryan’s eyes cut to him, basically killing Shea with his eyes. Elli noticed the look and shook her head.

  “It’s alright honey, I’ll be done in a sec.”

  With that, she was gone, while Bryan still gave him death glares as he walked away. Shea stood there speechless as he watched Elli getting her room key before heading up to her room. He seem to always forget that she had to put on this good Southern girl act in front of Bryan and her daddy, but damn, it was annoying as hell. He hadn’t been with her in four days. He was hoping to get some before heading to the beach, but it wasn’t looking like he was gonna be getting Elli naked until good old Bryan left, which wasn’t til Saturday. Which was fine, at least she was there; he had missed her so much.

  Elli came down about twenty minutes later in a cute little yellow sun dress with her flip flops on and a huge yellow hat. He could see that her bathing suit was black and he couldn’t wait to see it on her. She came straight to him, a small smile on her face, as she wrapped her arms around his middle, walking with him out the door.

  “I sometimes forget I’m dating a Southern belle,” he teased as they walked through the beautiful white sand, the sun was slowly making its way down, and the beauty of the ocean was breath taking, almost as much as the girl that was wrapped around his middle.

  “Oh hush, you don’t forget, you just hope to be the Rhett Butler of our time, and deflower this little Southern belle in front of God and everybody,” she said breaking apart from him, giving him a haughty grin as she backed away slowly.

  He let out an arrogant laugh as he crossed his arms, “I don’t kn
ow if you realize this darlin’,” She glared at his failed attempt at being country, “but I’ve already deflowered you, many times.” He added the last part just for good measures. Her eyes narrowed before pushing him down in the sand, since she caught him off balance and promptly starting running down the beach. “Oh, you’re gonna get it now!”

  And off they went, chasing each other across the beach. At one point, Elli’s dress and hat joined Shea’s shirt as he chased her into the water, grabbing her by her waist, pulling her to his dripping wet chest. The waves ran up against their legs as they held each other, basking in the feeling of each other and the warmth of the setting sun. Elli looked up at him, a small shy smile on her lips as the sun warmed her face. Shea couldn’t help but gently run his fingers along her cheek bone, then down her jaw before cupping her neck, and bringing his lips down to hers.

  Shea held Elli’s hand as they made their way to the beach chairs he had requested for them. Elli threw her dress, shoes, and hat down before sitting down on the chair, looking over at him with grin.

  “I love the beach.”

  “Me, too,” he agreed as they sun started to make it way down, it was almost completely set, only peeking out a little above the beautiful bluish green water. When Shea felt Elli’s hand move into his, he looked over at her, admiring the look of peace that was all over face. “Can I ask you something?” he asked. The questions from earlier weighed heavy in his mind, since Shea wasn’t the one to keep things inside, he decided to bring it up.

  “Sure, what’s up?

  She looked over at him and he got tongue tied. It was the whole rejection thing all over again, it was crazy how scared he was of her rejection, before he never cared, but with Elli, she could rip him apart with it. “What would happen if I got traded?” Elli’s eyes went wide, and he knew he should have gone with another way of asking her, “Not that I am, as far as I know, but what if?”

  “It’s just crazy that you asked that. Papa had asked me that same exact questions before dropping a bomb on me on the way here.”

  “What bomb?”

  Elli pulled her hand from his, and started picking at her nails as she looked out at the ocean.

  “He asked me that because he’s giving me the Assassins when he retires.”

  “Say what?”

  She looked over at him, and then shrugged her shoulders, “I’ll own the Assassins in five years tops from what he is saying.”

  Shea sat there speechless, blinking a few times as he stared over at his girlfriend who, if he is still with the team, would be her boss.

  What. The. Hell.

  “What did you say?”

  “I said, yes, of course. I love the Assassins; of course I would want to own them.”

  “What about the studio?”

  “I could still do that on the side, I was thinking of selling it to Harper, but then I don’t know because she is probably gonna go wherever Jakob goes, even though I would want to keep him when I come on, but he might get traded before that, so I don’t know. But anyways, if Harper didn’t want to buy it, I would probably sell it. I mean, own the studio or own a hockey team, it’s not a hard decision.”

  She was rambling, which meant she was nervous, probably because she was gonna tell him that if he didn’t stay with the Assassins, they wouldn’t be together.

  “Yeah, it really isn’t,” he muttered as he looked out at the ocean. Off in the distance, he saw dolphins jumping out of the water, and he thought that would bring a smile to his face, but he sat with his heart slowly breaking from the mere thought of not being with Elli for forever. “So I guess that answers my question, huh? You can’t stay with me when you own the team I left,” he asked refusing to look over at her.

  “Well, don’t say that, that’s like putting an expiration date on our relationship, no telling what will happen in the next few years. What if you retire or God forbid Papa dies and I get the team tomorrow, because then you ain’t ever leaving.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Shea look at me,” she said, he took a deep breath before looking over at her, she reached over taking his hand in hers, “I’m not saying that we would be over if you got traded, but it’s not like I could have went with you before my papa asked me to take the team, I have a career here, I can’t just leave it.”

  “But you would sell the studio to own the Assassins but not to follow me to the next place I play?”

  She exhaled loudly, and he could tell she was getting angry, good, he was already pissed. “We’re about to get into a fight about a ‘what if’ situation, you ain’t going anywhere at the moment. You are an Assassin, so why ask questions? Let’s wait till we get there.”

  “I don’t like the uncertainty, Elli. I know that you don’t love me, but I love you and each day I fall more and more in love with you, so I’m sorry that I want the reassurance that one day, if it happens, my girl will be by my side, going with me.”

  Elli shook her head, frustrated, “I think you’re asking more than you mean to, Shea. We’ve been together for three months, and you’re asking for my forever. I don’t think you realize that.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “So you are asking me to marry you?”

  “No!”

  She stood up, glaring down at him, “Just what I thought, so come on, let’s go. I’m getting cold.”

  “Wait, we’re not done,” he said as he stood, grabbing a hold of her hand to keep her from walking away.

  “Oh, yes, we are, cause I don’t want to fight with you on our vacation, Shea. We’re happy, let it be, we’ll cross that bridge when it comes.” She dropped his hand to pick her things up, so he ran his empty hands through his hair, letting out a defeated sigh. Elli looked over at him, taking his hand in hers.”Do you want to do something else? Because if not, we’ll need to say our goodbye down here since Papa will be inside and won’t like watching you feel his niece up,” she gave him a cheeky grin and he nodded.

  “The guys are getting drinks, wanted us to join.”

  “Cool, let’s go then.”

  So much for reassurance on their relationship.

  Elli stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, checking out the little black tube top dress she was paring with a beautiful pair of sparking Christian Louboutin heels. She looked over her body, liking the fact that she looked skinny in the dress. She actually thought she looked good, but then she looked at her face, seeing the red splotches that covered her cheeks, and shook her head.

  She had been crying since she left Shea at the elevators.

  Why did he have to do this to her? Why couldn’t he be happy with the way they were? Why did he have to bring up the things that could or would not happen? He wasn’t leaving, so why did he have to ask her if she would follow? She shook her head, trying to keep the tears that were welling up at bay. Lord, knew she wanted to follow Shea to the ends of the earth, but the truth was she couldn’t. When he left, he was gonna be leaving her too, she had too much in Nashville, and it wasn’t like they were married. She tried to get that point across to him, but he just didn’t get it.

  It wasn’t like Elli wanted him to ask her to marry him, that wasn’t it; it would be nice, but not right now. They were still young in their relationship, and he wasn’t going anywhere! There was no need to stress about it! With that thought, Elli stomped out of the bathroom, pushing all her thoughts of marriage, Shea leaving, and her owning the team to the back of her head.

  Shea was leaning against the wall by the elevators when Elli stepped out, he was wearing a nice button down grey dress shirt and black dress pants. His hair was sexily tousled and he had a trouble looked on his face, which meant he was thinking about their conversation that happened on the beach as much as she was. She didn’t want their discussion to spoil their night, so she gave him a seductive grin before pressing her body against his, claiming his mouth with hers. At first she was kissing him, but he soon joined in, wrapping her up in his arms, taking over the kiss as she pres
sed into him harder. When she felt his hands slide down to her ass, squeezing it lightly, she grinned against his lips before taking his bottom lip between her teeth. This time he gave her a sexy grin, before wrapping his arms around her tighter.

  “We aren’t going to make it into the lounge if you keep at it.”

  “Maybe that’s what I want.”

  He gave her a skeptical look just as Bryan’s booming voice interrupted what could have been the start to a very great night.

  “Eleanor, what in the good Lord’s name are you doing?” Elli stepped back, rolling her eyes.

  “Obviously I’m making out with my boyfriend against a wall, Papa!”

  “Well, Jesus, honey, can you not do it in plain view of my team?”

  Elli and Shea eyes cut to the lobby where most of the guys stood, gawking and laughing their ass off.

  “Sorry,” Elli said, pulling at the bottom of her dress.

  “I’m going up to my room; I’ll be waiting for you.”

  “Cock blocker,” Shea whispered against the back of her neck as Bryan walked away, causing Elli to burst out in a fit of giggles.

  “For once I couldn’t agree with you more,” Elli said as she looked back at him. He gave her a cocky grin before kissing her cheek and leading her towards his friends.

  Her future team.

  The Ocean View Lounge was amazing. The walls were painted a beautiful light blue with neat lights shining on the wall that made it look like waves. The bar was completely clear. Elli could see all the beers that sat in the ice chest, all the liquor bottles, and all the glasses that were in the cabinet. There was also a built in fish tanks above the bar. Each table had a bubble in the middle of it that held all kinds of pretty fish. Elli was able to look down into the tank, watching the little fish swim back and forth. It was what was keeping Elli entertained since the guys were acting like she was diseased.

  Someone came in saying that Elli was Bryan Fisher’s niece and the guys were treating her like she was Bryan Fisher. No one would look her in the eye and when Shea tried to start up a conversation, no one said anything. It was as if they were nervous to talk about anything in front of Elli because of who her uncle was. It was weird, awkward, and Elli wasn’t having it.