Taking Shots (Assassins)

by Aleo, Toni

  Wow, once she got talking, she was Harper all over.

  “No, I haven’t, I thought diamonds came in one color,” he said, feeling pretty stupid.

  “Oh, no, what are you looking to get?”

  Shea smiled shyly, “An engagement ring.”

  Piper’s face lit up, before she started bouncing up and down, “For Elli!” she gushed.

  “Yes, but don’t tell anyone, okay!”

  “I won’t! Oh my God! This is awesome! Oh goodness! Come on over here, come look at these amazin’ pink engagement rings.” Piper basically screamed as she dragged Shea across the store to a case that held the most sparking rings he had ever seen. He sat in the chair in front of the case as Piper brought out each display. “Ain’t they pretty!”

  “They are,” he said breathlessly as he looked at each ring.

  “What are you doing?” Shea looked up as Victoria sat down beside him. Piper made a face at Victoria, and then looked back down at Shea.

  “Isn’t that Elli’s sister?”

  “Yeah, she came to help.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I can. I don’t think Elli would like pink rings, their kind of childish, don’t you think?” Victoria asked.

  “Um, no, they are actually very classic looking,” Piper said, pointing down at a large pink diamond that was surrounded by little white ones. “See the cut, the elegance? A girl would die to have this on their finger. I know I would.”

  “Yeah, I guess it’s pretty, but a white diamond is so beautiful, distinguished.” Victoria countered.

  “Yeah, but it’s played out, a pink diamond is new, thrilling. Elli has amazing style and this would add to her amazing style. All women will want to be like Elli because she has an engagement ring that no one else has. Not too many people buy these, they are crazy expensive.”

  Piper was right, and when she brought out another display, Shea found the ring.

  “That’s it,” Shea said pointing to the elegant ring. Elli would love it.

  “Oh, yes, the cushion-cut fancy deep pink diamond with round brilliant white diamonds, in platinum ring setting. I know it’s amazing, its two carats, with a clarity of VS2.” Piper gushed, sounding like a ring magazine or, better yet, a great seller because she had Shea sold. The pink princess cut diamond stood out with the hundreds of little round diamonds around it, the band was covered in them. It was beautiful; Elli would flip when she saw it. When Piper handed it to him, he held it in his hand and he was sure it wouldn’t be too heavy for Elli’s pretty hand. It was perfect.

  “I’ll take it.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Shea! It’s almost a million dollars!” Victoria complained as Piper still looked shocked.

  “Yeah, Elli would love it; do you have a wedding band to match?”

  “You want to buy that, too?” Piper asked.

  “Yeah,” Shea said with a grin, “I want it all, she’s going to love it.”

  Shea was on cloud nine as he drove back with his little package of two of the most gorgeous rings that his future bride would wear.

  He hoped.

  Shea chuckled to his self as he turned onto the road that led to his condo. “What are you laughing at?” Victoria asked, “Are you delirious because of how much money you spent on two rings?”

  “No, Elli is worth every penny. I’m laughing because I’m actually scared she might say no.”

  Victoria didn’t say anything which surprised Shea, since she had an opinion on everything. He noticed, though, that she didn’t say much since he said he wanted the rings. It was weird.

  When they pulled into the spot beside her car, Victoria got out as Shea hid the ring under his seat, before locking the doors. Elli was a snoop and he refused to bring the rings in the house, she would find them within an hour. Victoria stood at the end of the truck, looking as pristine as Elli always did; just Victoria didn’t have the light in her eyes that Elli always had. Victoria was a very beautiful girl, but she wasn’t his Elli.

  “Thanks for going with me, Victoria,” Shea said as she came to stand in front of her. She smiled sweetly, putting her hand on his bicep.

  “I had a wonderful time. Elli will love the rings.”

  “Yeah, she will,” he said trying to shake her hand off.

  “Well, come here and give your future sister-in-law a hug, cause Elli would be crazy to say no,” Victoria said before she threw herself into his arms, he caught her, even though he really didn’t want to. When she pulled back some, she looked up at him before whispering, “She doesn’t deserve you,” Shea had no time to react, she pressed her mouth against his, and before he could pull back, she slapped his face hard.

  “Oh, my god! You’re with my sister, you pig!”

  Shea looked down at her shocked as she moved away from him, “You crazy bi-”

  “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

  Shea looked over; feeling like his stomach hit the ground, before meeting eyes with a very angry Elli.

  Shit.

  Elli only saw rage as she stomped her way past Shea and Victoria, and up the stairs to the condo. Shea kept calling her name and she kept ignoring him as she entered the condo, also ignoring Adler as she headed to the kitchen. When she found the black trash bags from under the sink, she made her way to the dining room, throwing each of her shoes in the bag with more force than needed.

  How could he do this to her? It was her sister, the one person that if she could beat the crap out of she would. Elli hated Victoria, it didn’t matter how nice Victoria had been to her lately, Elli knew it was all a crock of shit! Elli felt the tears that threaten to fall, but she pushed them back. There was no way she would cry in front of Shea. He didn’t deserve it.

  Seeing them together made Elli physically want to puke. Shea in all his beautiful glory with a fucking hag! What was he thinking? Elli thought he was over them Barbie dolls! She shook her head as she threw each shoe in the bag, how could he do this to her?

  She heard him coming into the house and was surprised it took so long, he was probably trying to suck up to her sister, so Victoria would meet him later.

  Douche bag.

  “Elli, please, stop, what are you doing?”

  “Get the fuck away from me, Shea Adler,” Elli yelled as she walked by him, placing the bag of her shoes by the wall, before she headed into the bedroom.

  “Elli, she kissed me, I swear.”

  “Yeah I bet! It’s funny how all these females kiss you but you never kiss them,” Elli yelled, throwing clothes in the plastic bags she had grab on her way to his room. “I don’t believe you, you’re a liar just like Justin.”

  “Don’t compare him to me!” Shea yelled, “I love you, I would never hurt you and you know that, why are you doing this? Why won’t you believe me?”

  “Because YOU KISSED MY MOTHER FUCKING SISTER! My sister! My worst enemy. I can’t ever look at you!”

  “I didn’t kiss her! She fucking kissed me!”

  “Whatever, your lips touched hers, you had her in your arms, oh my god, why am I even explaining myself,” she said as she moved around him, picking up more of her shoes, and throwing them in bags.

  “Elli please, I swear to you, I don’t want her, I want you, please,” Shea went around, bending down to her level, trying to get her to look at him. She didn’t know why he was trying to get in her face, didn’t he know that she was libel to knock him the hell out! “Elli I would never do anything to cause you to leave me. I love you baby, please, stop, let’s talk.”

  “There is nothing to talk about, Shea. You are a liar, an asshole, and I don’t want nothing to do with you.”

  “You don’t mean that, stop for a minute,” he said trying to stop her but she went by him, packing more things.

  “Leave me alone, Shea.”

  “No, please Elli, I’ll do anything.”

  “There is nothing you can do to get that fucking image out of my head, get away from me,”

  “Let me try,
listen to me!” he yelled, but she ignored him, continuing to pack.

  “You know I should have known no man is like you. Now I know it was all an act, you were probably trying to ensure you have a way to my money huh? Being with me gave you a one way ticket to the Assassins, God you disgust me!”

  “Now you know that is not true! I don’t want the Assassins; I told you I wanted to teach kids!”

  “Yeah, I bet that was a lie, too, you’re full of it. You just want my money, my team, my everything, but let me tell you something you asshole, you ain’t gonna get it from me, and you sure ain’t gonna get it from Victoria. She don’t have shit!” Elli sneered as she threw shirt after shirt into her suitcase.

  “I don’t want your money, I have my own! I want you, and you’re fucking crazy to think differently!”

  “Yeah, crazy to ever fall for your bullshit! You are just like every other asshole in the world, hell you and Justin could be best friends.”

  “Well you stop comparing me to him and get your head out of your ass! You’ve been making me pay for his mistake for months. I looked past it, dealt with your craziness, loved you, but you can’t even listen to me for a minute!” Elli sent him a look of death before he went on, “If you actually calmed down and listened to me, you would find that I didn’t kiss your sister, she kissed me, and before I could even do anything about it, she slapped me! Making it look like I kissed her, she played me!”

  “Why were you with her anyways? No, don’t tell me I don’t care!”

  “She went to help me with something; I didn’t know she was planning this!”

  “Whatever, you’re a liar. I don’t give a shit what you have to say!”

  “Stop, you are freaking out on me! Calm down! Give me a chance to explain!”

  “Fuck you! Get away from me!”

  Elli stormed past him but he grab her by her arm, causing her to jerk to a stop, “Elli, please-“

  The crack of Elli’s hand against his face stopped any words from forming. Hell, it stopped everything. Elli just stood there staring up at him as traitorous tears rolled down her cheeks. She had never thought she would ever bring her hand against Shea’s face, Justin’s yes; he was a complete ass but not Shea. She loved him so much, and she felt like he had taken her heart and hit it with his hockey stick, shattering it in a million pieces.

  He took a deep breath, moving his hand up to his red cheek as he looked down at Elli. “Don’t touch me,” she cried as she walked past him, moving around the room, grabbing more things, her iPod, her picture frames of the kids, everything. He could keep the ones of them, at that moment she wanted to forget everything that ever happened between them. She cleaned out the bathroom and when she came out, he was sitting on the bed, watching her. When she saw the tears rolling down his cheeks, she almost broke, but instead she moved to the closet grabbing her suitcases full of her clothes and taking them downstairs, after three trips, she only had a few more bags to grab. She couldn’t make the same mistakes she made with Justin, she just couldn’t. When Elli went back into his room, he stood there with the most awful look on his face.

  “Elli, the things you have said, they aren’t true and you know it, you’re making the biggest mistake of your life right now.”

  “The only mistake I ever made was falling in love with you.”

  It was like she had hit him again, the way he jerked back as the tears made their way down his beautifully sculpted face. It made her sick that she thought he was beautiful, gorgeous, but that was what he was; a playboy. He would never change.

  “If you walk out that fucking door without talking this over with me first, we’re done.”

  She bent down, picking up the bags that she had left before looking up at him with all the anger and hurt in the world, in her eyes, “No Shea, we were done when you kissed my mother fucking sister.”

  With that, she was gone, and even though it hurt so much she couldn’t breathe, she knew she would never see him again.

  Chapter 31

  Elli missed the way Shea slept.

  It was one of the main things she missed. As the tears threaten to come down her cheeks all she could do was think about the many mornings she would wake up, and stare at him. His long eye lashes would touch the top of his cheeks, his lips would be parted some, and his breathing would be so even that Elli could only think that he was dreaming about something good. When she would get bored, she would run her finger down from his nose, across his top lip to his bottom, and giggle when he would purse his lips. He would always wake up, glaring at her, but he wasn’t really mad. He would wrap her up in his arms, kissing her long and hard before letting her go.

  He loved her.

  That was what Elli was thinking about as she stood in the middle of Starbucks, a block over from the arena, the place she was working that day. Out of all the things she could be thinking about, she was thinking of Shea. She should be thinking about the paperwork that was accumulating at the studio and in her office at the Assassins’ headquarters, but nope, she was thinking about her ex boyfriend.

  Like always.

  When her phone rang, she rolled her eyes, hoping it wasn’t the same person that clouded her brain. It wasn’t, it was her mother.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello darling, are you coming to dinner with me and Victoria today?”

  “I don’t know Mother, I’m not really feeling it, I still don’t want to be around Victoria.”

  “Oh come on, you’ve been weird ever since that womanizing ex boyfriend of yours kissed her. Get over him, it’s been, what, two months? And Victoria has apologized profusely, even though she shouldn’t have too, it was him for goodness sakes.”

  “I loved him,” Elli said as the tears rushed to her eyes, but she wasn’t going to let them fall, she was in the middle of a damn Starbucks for goodness sakes. She would wait till she got home.

  “So, he was trash, tattoos everywhere, he didn’t know how to dress, he wasn’t good enough for you. You’re lucky you found him out before y’all got married or something crazy.”

  “I just hate what he did to me, and coming onto my sister out of all people. It just blows my mind; he wasn’t the guy I thought he was.”

  “Again, he was trash, so come on, let’s go to the dinner. At the club! You can stay at the house tonight instead of that crummy house of yours.”

  Elli rolled her eyes before saying, “I’ll call you this afternoon.”

  “You better, sweetheart, bye.”

  “Bye.” Elli hung up the phone, when her mother’s call went off and the picture of Shea laying in the snow making a snow angel came up, it felt like she was being punch in the chest. It happen every time she looked at it, with that happening it would only be smart to take the picture off, but ever since Shea sent it to her the day of the first snow fall with the caption saying:

  I miss you like the snow misses an angel.

  Elli was unable to do it; she set it to her wallpaper and put herself through the torture every time she turned her phone on. She missed him so much, but her pride kept her from returning the nonstop calls the first month, and the random texts she still got from him. She couldn’t do it. He broke her heart, and no matter how much she missed him, she couldn’t bring herself to talk to him. She wouldn’t go through what she went through with Justin.

  She wouldn’t, couldn’t.

  “That’s a cool picture, your boyfriend?” Elli jumped in surprised, turning to a very tall, very handsome man. Elli looked down at her phone, then back up at the stranger.

  “Um, no. Thanks, it is a good picture.”

  “Well, you have impeccable taste in photography,” he said with a sly grin, “My name is Joseph Rinehart.” He held out his hand, and Elli took it in hers.

  “Elli Fisher, nice to meet you.” He continued to grin at her.

  “The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Fisher. Do you work around here?”

  “I do, I own Time Standing Still studio on West End, but today I’m working over
at Assassins’ headquarters.”

  “Hard working woman, would you have time to date?” he said with a suggesting grin, “Me, if you’re wondering.”

  Shit, Elli didn’t see that coming, she thought the guy wanted to talk about photography as they waited in line, but nope. He was hitting on her, and he had a damn wedding ring on! With disgust, her smile fell, and she turned back around.

  Being hit on was not what she wanted at the moment. The guy said something, but Elli wasn’t listening as she put her headphones in, turning on her iPod. The way guys openly hit on Elli ever since she and Shea had broken up, never cease to amaze her. Yeah, she had lost twenty pounds since the breakup and she was wearing a single digit number, something that hadn’t happen since she gotten sick, but still, dudes needed to back up.

  It wasn’t like Elli wanted to lose the weight, but she had gotten sick twice since the break up, and she just wasn’t hungry. Plus, anything she ate reminded her of Shea and she would basically want to throw up, so eating really didn’t happen much. Once she got to the Starbucks counter, her heart broke all over again as she ordered her regular drink. It was really sad that after two months, ordering the same coffee that she knew Shea drank still hurt. Shouldn’t she be over him by now?

  When she passed by the guy that had hit on her, he gave her a dirty look, not that Elli cared much. Elli made her way into the newly spring day, the warmth of the sun warmed her face bringing on a small smile, even though she knew it would be cold as all get out the next day.

  Gotta love Tennessee weather, people always say, “If you don’t like the weather just wait, it’ll change by tomorrow.”

  Elli made her way up the block, then onto the next before reaching the arena. After riding the elevator up to the business part, she stepped off going towards her office that was right beside Bryan’s. Her assistant Janet stood with a big welcoming grin on her face. Elli liked Janet, she was a good hardworking girl, and always tried to make Elli happy.