by Toni Aleo
The Chase is Over
Nashville Assassins : Next Generation
Toni Aleo
Copyright © 2020 by Toni Aleo
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
For Phoebe
Thank you for being the rainbow in my storm.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
Stay Tuned
ALLY IS HERE!!!!
Also by Toni Aleo
Acknowledgments
About Toni Aleo
Introduction
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Chapter 1
Aiden
I’m finally seeing what everyone else has been saying. This wedding is a little bit out of control.
I watch as my future wife waves her arms in the air, frustrated. “Those aren’t the heights we discussed. The stages need to be elevated off the ground. I want the musicians to be seen. It’s all about the ambiance!”
I roll my eyes; everything is about the ambiance. Our wedding is in only five days, and I’m pretty sure Shelli is losing her damn mind. All she talks about is the wedding. All she does is flip through her wedding planner, and I’ve never hated a book so much in my life. I swear, I’m at the point where I want to burn the fucking thing since I’m sure it gets more attention than I do.
Along with planning a wedding, I thought it would be a grand idea to buy a house. Now, not only is that damn wedding book in our bed, but so is the tablet holding all the listings our real estate agent sends us. After trying to have a house built fell through, we decided to buy an existing one. It’s become a shitshow.
And on top of all this, Shelli is also helping our friend Lacey King with a really in-depth social media campaign featuring women with breast cancer. Our alumni game raised so much money for the Lacey’s Lace Foundation, and Shelli is convinced that since she was able to make the alumni game a success, she’ll do the same for the photo spread.
I don’t doubt her one bit—problem is, she’s stressed to the max, and I really want her to make it down the aisle without having a heart attack. We may have bitten off more than we can chew…
The poor wedding planner—also known as Shelli’s aunt, Grace Justice—gives her a look only an aunt can get away with. “Shelli Grace, they are high enough. I’m not trying to have a musician fall off or trip when they’re attempting to get up there. Your dad is paying enough. He doesn’t need a lawsuit.”
Still frustrated, Shelli strikes her hands on her hips. “But I want them to be seen!”
“Shelli, it’s not about them. It’s about you. You’re the star here.”
“Well, duh. But I want it to be all magical and stuff when I’m walking down the aisle to their beautiful music. I want it to feel like it did when I walked out for my solo on Broadway in Frozen.”
I raise my hand. “Question. Am I just chopped liver? Or better yet, the costar? No, wait. I’m the snowman, huh?”
Grace is immediately embarrassed, holding her hands up in defense as Shelli laughs. “Oh, Aiden, stop,” she says, taking my shirt in her hand and pulling me to her. Instantly, gone is everything but her gorgeous blue eyes. I hold my breath, my lips curving as she grabs my jaw with her other hand. As a promise, she says, “You’re my star.”
I press my lips to her top lip. “I know.”
And I do, but hell if this wedding isn’t becoming a real pain in my ass. I’m so worried about her, it’s hard to be excited for the day. More so, I’m excited for it to be over so I can lie on the beach with my wife. Man, I can’t wait for her to be my wife.
She kisses me again before turning to Grace, her hand still in mine. “For real, I want them higher.”
Grace glares. “Shelli, that’s going to cost more.”
Shelli shrugs. “Daddy won’t mind. At this point, he’s given Mom the checkbook. We’re good.”
“Jesus Christ,” Grace mutters. “As my brother’s sister, I need to play devil’s advocate and say I feel they are at the perfect height.”
Just then, in her thick, distinctive country accent, Elli Adler, my future mother-in-law, says, “Oh no, these stages are too low.”
Shelli throws her hand toward her mother. “Exactly!”
Grace groans even louder. “Elli, we don’t want to chance fate of people falling off.”
Elli makes a face. “We bought extra insurance since we’re having all kinds of chandeliers installed, and we’ll have those heavy vases full of flowers and water. I don’t trust one of my brothers not to get drunk and fall into one just to sue us.”
Grace blinks. Shelli nods. I inhale deeply.
Shit. Show.
I know I’m going to regret this. “I thought we decided against the chandeliers since we were getting bigger vases?”
All three women turn to me. Grace, she’s with me, wondering what the actual fuck is going on. But Shelli and Elli live in some kind of reality show where money falls off trees and the bigger, the better.
Shelli smiles sweetly. “We figured we’d do both. It was only $1,000 difference.”
“Is that all?”
She nods excitedly. “Dad said I could have both.”
I shake my head. “Man, I bet Shea was glad Posey got married in a gazebo.”
Grace snorts. “Right?”
We both smile, but Shelli and Elli don’t find me humorous. “Shea would have given the same to Posey,” Elli informs me, and now I’m holding my palms up.
“Oh, I know. It was a joke.”
She just stares at me with a look that says she didn’t find it funny before moving her hands around in a circle. “So, higher stages?”
Grace looks distraught. “If we have higher stages, it’s also going to take more time to tear down for the reception.”
We were supposed to get married at the Fontanel Mansion, the same place my mom and dad held their wedding, but unfortunately, extensive damage was done to the building after a tornado took down half of Nashville. We tried to get into the Belmont, same place Shea and Elli exchanged vows, but no go. They had a wedding booked already. Thankfully, Grace and her late husband bought a lot of land over the years. One of the pieces of property they bought holds this amazing tobacco barn that Grace has turned into an event venue. Fully functional, with a kitchen and a dressing area upstairs. It looks out over the beautiful rolling hills of Tennessee. The pictures are going to be incredible, and the aroma of the place just smacks you in the face, but in a fantastic way. Reminds me of the summers when the tobacco would be hung and burned. It was one of the unique things I missed when I was living up north.
It’s a southern thing, and I love that it’s a part of our wedding.
I loved the idea of a barn too. I was kind of excited to be having our ceremony in a place of our own, instead of somewhere our parents had been before us. This location is gorgeous and airy—freaking stun
ning. The walls of the building are a nice dark brown, with beautiful, thick exposed beams at the top. While Grace has already hung an impressive chandelier that is all rustic and woodsy, my future wife and her insane mother have added more that will have fresh flowers adorning them and draped around the candles. There are no windows in the building, but the doors will stay open, bringing in more light and sunshine, God willing. It’s gonna be real picturesque and romantic, if Shelli and Elli don’t get us kicked out. This is the venue’s—which is called James Place—first wedding, and at the rate my lady is going, we might be its last.
“But that’s why we’re having cocktails and hors d’oeuvres between the wedding and reception,” Shelli says, attention falling on her. “While we do the pictures and everything. It’s a solid hour. Surely they can get it set up.”
“I’m going to need to hire more people for the teardown,” Grace mutters as she navigates through the iPad she’s holding. “Y’all are stressing me the hell out.”
Elli hugs her sister-in-law tightly. “But just think of the portfolio you’re going to have!”
“At the expense of my brother’s money and his soul,” she teases. I think. I’m not sure.
Elli waves her off. “Shea wants Shelli to be happy.”
I hold my hand up. “Me too, right? He wants me to enjoy myself?”
Shelli laughs once more, the sound tickling my cock as she wraps herself around me. “Yes, of course. Jesus, you’re needy today.”
I give her a look. “This wedding is getting out of control.”
Her eyes widen. “No, it’s not.”
“Oh! Good, I just got confirmation for the butterfly release.”
I gawk at Shelli after I process what Grace has just said. “Um, what?”
“For when we kiss,” she says shyly. “It’ll be amazing.”
I gaze into her eyes, and I want to tell her to slow down. That I don’t need all this to marry her. As I sang at Posey’s wedding, which was in a field with maybe fifty people, I was envious of her and Boon. Our wedding is going to have close to three hundred guests. Everyone is coming for the spectacle that is our wedding. But then I remember the night I looked through Shelli’s book of wedding crap. She has been planning her wedding—to me—since she was a kid. Every single detail has been thought of, and on almost every page was a little heart with A+S in it. Good thing I got my head out of my ass and saw her, and I mean, really saw her, or the other guy she married would be questioning the hell out of her.
But none of that matters. She’s got me. I’ve got her, and I want her to be happy. If that entails a huge-ass wedding, then that’s what she’ll get.
“You’re lucky I love you more than anything in this world.”
She nods, leaning into me as she kisses my chin. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
We kiss, her lips hard to mine as I snake my arm around her waist. I pull her to me as I tear my lips from hers, kissing her temple. “So, you’re sure about all this?”
She beams up at me. “Marrying you, no-brainer.”
I scoff. “I mean about all this stuff. This circu—”
“Don’t you dare call our wedding a circus. I let Posey and Boon say it, and sometimes Wes, but you’re not allowed. You will sleep on the couch.”
I laugh as she eyes me. “Fine, fine. This production.”
She glares. “I don’t like that either.”
I shake my head. “So, this is happening?”
“Oh, it’s happening, and it’s going to be amazing.”
“Okay,” I say, kissing her lip. “I have one question. Where is the Cup going?”
Grace holds up her fingers, showing me the iPad with a very detailed sketch of the wedding. Under the huge altar is the Cup in all its beautiful glory. Grace points to it with her pen and says, “You’ll be married in front of it, and then you’ll pour the two colors of sand into it, becoming one. I have the smaller Stanley Cup replica for y’all to keep the sand in later.”
I nod as Shelli grins at me. “Happy with that?”
“Yup, especially since so many of my buddies from other teams are coming—oh, and Chandler,” I tease, but Grace doesn’t laugh.
“My son-in-law is still very upset,” she tells me, and I grin.
“Yeah, giving up a three-game lead and losing is something to still be upset about,” I say proudly. The Assassins were down-and-out; no one thought we could come back, but we did, and I held that Cup above my head and kissed my girl. Pretty incredible.
“It’s all fun and games until he doesn’t come,” she warns me, but Shelli just laughs.
“He’ll come. His kids are in the wedding along with his wife, so he’ll come. He’ll be bitter, but he’ll be here.”
We all share a laugh as I slide my hand in Shelli’s. She looks up at me with all the love in the world in her eyes. She loves me, I know this, and hell if I don’t love her more than life itself. I lace our fingers together before I bring our hands up, kissing the back of her hand. With everything going on, it hasn’t just been her and me. When we’re alone, we’re both bone-tired. The play-offs were long and hard. Yeah, we brought home the Cup, but as soon as that was over, we went into hard-core house hunting and wedding planning. Shelli worked her ass off for the alumni game, and then Posey’s wedding happened in there too. So much has been going on, and I feel like Shelli and I haven’t connected like we did before the Cup run. I know I have her for the rest of our lives, but I don’t ever want to stop chasing her. “Are we done?”
Shelli looks back at her mom and aunt, where they are discussing whatever the hell is on Grace’s iPad. “Here, yeah. But I have to go get ready for the bachelorette party tonight.”
I shake my head. “That’s not until eight. We have plenty of time.”
“Plenty of time for what?”
“I have a surprise for you.”
She raises her eyebrows. “For me?”
I nod. “Always you.”
I pull her along without either of us saying goodbye to Elli or Grace. Reason being, they both know where we’re going. They helped me plan it. I take Shelli to the back of the barn and then up the spiral staircase to the second level.
I look back to Shelli, and she’s excited but wary. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” I say sweetly, kissing the back of her hand once more. She thinks there are only dressing rooms up here, but I’m about to show her so much more. I turn the handle on the door that leads to an open-air balcony hidden by the large cupola of the barn. I look back at her as she takes in all the pink flower petals covering the balcony and scattered around the two brass bathtubs I had filled with all her favorite bath salts and hot water. It’s not hot out, but it’s not cold either. It’s a perfect late-summer afternoon, ideal for a dip in these two tubs, which have a table between them holding a charcuterie board for us to share. Candles are everywhere, along with a bottle of her favorite white wine.
She looks over at me, her jaw falling open as she laughs. “For real?”
I grin, pulling her to me. “For real.” We walk together to the table, where a rose is lying. I pick it up, handing it to her as she sighs in happiness. “I love you, Shelli Grace.”
Her eyes are a bit misty as she glances up at me. “I love you too, Aiden James.”
Our lips meet, and within seconds, I know the connection is back. Honestly, I don’t even know why I thought it was gone.
Shelli and I, well, we’re meant for each other.
A+S 4Ever.
Chapter 2
Shelli
I sit in my little getup that Posey got for me. I’m wearing the most adorable crown that reads “Future Mrs.” and a matching sash. I made her promise not to have anything with penises on it since Emery would be joining us for dinner. I’m aware she’s almost sixteen and knows what a penis is, but just in case, I don’t want to be the one to show her one. That’s all I need—my future mother-in-law coming after me for exposing her daughter to a penis. And a
plastic one, at that. Ugh, I am thinking way too hard about plastic penises right now. Especially when I have the real deal at home.
I sigh happily around my wine as I replay my afternoon with Aiden. “He had all my favorite cheeses, even that one from France that we had when we went on vacation last summer. Awesome meats and all the fixins’. It was amazing.”
Posey grins over at me in the “Knocked Up” sash her husband forced her to wear. My sister is more beautiful than I could ever imagine now that she is pregnant. Her skin is glowing. She says it’s from puking all the time, but I think it’s the pregnancy. She’s showing a little bit, just enough that she had to use a rubber band to hold her jeans shut. She’s wearing one of the shirts Aunt Harper made for us. Since Nashville is the bachelorette party capital of the world, I figured I’d join the masses with my own shirt that has the date of our wedding and a huge picture of Aiden and me on the front.
Easy to say, Posey absolutely hates it.
Her dark hair is up in a ponytail, making her look every bit like the tomboy she is but also isn’t. ’Her style is very much comfortable, but when my sister wants to pull out all the stops, boy does she. My cousin sits beside her, beaming with excitement for me. We spent countless nights planning my wedding to Aiden when I was eleven, so this is a dream come true for both of us. When Chandler got wind of the “Knocked Up” sash, he made sure Amelia had one too. Now, my very favorite women sit across from me, knocked up and married. This is not how I thought this would be all those years ago. I always saw myself getting married first, and they would get shit-faced with me and flirt with everyone. That won’t happen now. They don’t need to flirt; they have the perfect husbands at home. Amelia is further along in her pregnancy than Posey and is showing quite a bit. I don’t like Amelia pregnant, though. She’s hungry all the time, and if she’s inconvenienced, she complains like no other. She’s been on her best behavior, but I’m pretty sure that’s because Posey has endless snacks in her purse.
