Taking Shots (Assassins)

by Toni Aleo

  What was he thinking?

  He has sex with Elli once and he is already thinking about moving in with her?

  He needed help.

  Shea shook his head as he showered quickly. When he looked in the mirror he glared at the stubble on his chin, but it wasn’t like he came prepared, so he threw on his clothes from last night. He was tying his shoes when Elli came back in; she was wearing a brown skirt with some ivory tights and an ivory blouse that hung big off her shoulders. Her hair was still up in the towel as she breezed by his smelling like the mango shampoo he had just used. He was gonna have to get some of it, so he would always have her scent on him.

  Shea was sitting on the porch watching Adler run through the yard when Elli stepped out in some brown heels. She smiled at him before calling Adler in.

  “So isn’t it called the walk of shame when you are caught in the clothes from the night before?” He laughed as he stood up; Elli locked the door then turned to look at him, laughter dancing in her eyes.

  “Maybe for other people, but I would never walk in shame after last night,” he said, wrapping an arm around her waist as they walked down the stairs, “By the way, you look good.”

  “Why, thank you,” she said with a grin as she climbed into the truck after he open the door for her. He went around the car, got in before driving off. They went to the mall in Clarksville, and even though everyone in the Gap gave him a look, he wore the clothes he bought out of there. He had picked a yellow button up shirt with some nice khaki pants since from what Elli said about the club, it was pretty classy. He was a little nervous about his chucks, so he went ahead and got some canvas shoes too while he was there.

  They left the mall and drove about fifteen minutes before driving down the drive for the Clarksville Country Club. Shea was starting to think every place had a long drive way in this town. After driving past golfers and tennis courts, they finally pulled up in front of the pretty large white building. It had large windows that lined the place, with double glass doors, and flowers galore. Shea got out as the valet help Elli out, he came around the truck, handing the valet a tip before taking Elli’s hand in his.

  As they walked, people would stare at Elli than looked up at him before whispering to each other. He wasn’t sure if hockey was popular in Clarksville, and he didn’t know if they knew who he was, but they definitely knew who Elli was.

  “Ms. Fisher,” a tall balding man said as he walked in front of them, Elli smiled nicely.

  “Hello, Mr. Johnson, how are you?”

  “I’m fine darlin’, vistin’ your daddy?”

  “Yes, sir, we are late, so if you’ll excuse us,” she said pulling Shea along towards a lady that stood behind a podium. “Ugh, I hate this place,” she muttered before giving the lady her dad’s name. The lady smiled at Shea then led them out onto the Terrence. The room was large, filled with about ten tables; the walls were blue with brown trim that lined the floors, windows, and doors. It was very classy, a lady sat in the corner playing a harp as people enjoyed their brunches. As Elli and Shea past each table, people would look up, staring at Elli, but not him. He was so used to everyone staring at him that it was new having everyone stare at Elli. Not that it was bad, but different for sure. Elli’s dad, Michael, was sitting at a table on the other side of the room, by a large window out looking the front nine. He stood as they got closer, a big welcoming grin on his face.

  “Eleanor,” he said, kissing her cheeks. He smiled up at Shea, shaking his hand hard, “Shea, how are you? So glad you could come.”

  “I’m good, thank you for having me,” Shea said as he pulled out the chair for Elli beside her dad, Elli smiled up at him as she sat. Michael sat down as Shea pulled out the puffy chair and sank down it. It had to be the most comfortable chair he had ever sat in. He looked at Elli and Michael to see if they thought the chairs were awesome, but they were settling in, not paying attention to him or basking in the awesomeness of the chair like he was. Nothing was said as a waitress came up, getting their drink orders.

  “I’m surprised you’re not working, Eleanor,” Michael said after taking a drink of his water, Elli looked up from her nails that she was picking at. He was starting to notice that as a nervous habit of hers.

  “I took the weekend off since Shea is leaving tomorrow night. Alice and Ryan are doing the weddings I had today, and Jack, Alice’s brother is doing the birthdays.”

  Michael nodded his head, “Where’s Harper?”

  “She took off this weekend, too. Her boyfriend is actually Jakob Titov, so she is spending the weekend with him,” Elli said with a grin, Michael smiled.

  “Boyfriend, huh? Interesting.”

  “To say the least.” They shared a laugh before Michael looked over at Shea.

  “I really am glad to see you, Shea. When I called Eleanor this morning and she said she’d call you, I have to say I was surprised. I could have sworn after last night you would run for the hills,” Shea smiled as Michael laughed, and Elli looked nervous. “Sometimes I wonder about my family, me and Eleanor here are the only normal ones, I think, would you think so darling?”

  “Yes, daddy,” Elli answered with grin as the waitress came back for the orders. He ordered different from them; he went for the classic bacon and eggs with pancakes, while Elli and her dad got sausage, eggs, and grits. Even though he lived in the south, he couldn’t do the damn grits, they were disgusting in his opinion. Elli smiled at him, knowing what he was thinking since they had had this discussion before.

  “You know, Shea, Olivia is quick to point out Elli’s failures, but not her accomplishments.”

  “I noticed that,” Shea said reaching for his glass of orange juice. “Why is that?”

  “Oh, it’s simple, she’s jealous.” Shea found himself choking on his orange juice. That was probably the last thing he expected Michael to say.

  “Excuse me?”

  “It’s simple, really. She wanted to be on Broadway, and she wanted to marry into the Yates family. When Elli done both, Olivia was livid, but then Elli got real sick, and she wasn’t kicked off Broadway like Olivia tells everyone, she was asked to lose the weight but couldn’t so she never went back, and even when she did lose the weight, she was already in her new career and I guess she never wanted to go back.”

  “It isn’t that I didn’t want to go back, daddy, it’s just I don’t know if I’m as good as I was. I mean I used to sing every day, now I only do it in the shower or when I’m driving.”

  “But you’re happy?” he asked. Elli looked over at Shea. She beamed at him, before looking back at her dad.

  “I am.”

  “Then it is done with, but for some reason your mother can’t let it go,” He reached for Elli’s hand, squeezing it lightly as he looked at Shea, “and then the thing with that piece of shit Justin, thank God, she got rid of him. He told everyone he left her, but I know he would never leave her, he had it too good with her,” Michael leaned back, letting the waitress give him his food, Elli was looking down at her plate, a little red covering her cheeks. After the waitress placed their food down, Michael continued “You know, with the trust fund and the inherence from her grandparents and the inherence she will get from her uncle, then the part from me, she is a valuable thing to have, not only money wise, that’s not what I mean, darling.”

  “I know, daddy,” Elli said with a smile just for him.

  Michael looked back at Shea, and said, “But because she is the most amazing girl in world, right baby girl?”

  “Daddy..,” Elli groaned with blush covering her cheeks.

  Whoa, Shea was missing something. He looked over at Elli as Michael looked over at her, too.

  “Now darlin’ I haven’t embarrassed you have I? I’m sorry.”

  She shook her head, smiling weakly at him, “No, daddy, I just haven’t told Shea all that.”

  They both looked at him as he placed his fork down, “So what? Are you loaded or something?”

  Elli shook her head yes,
“I didn’t think it mattered.”

  “It doesn’t, but you know I’m loaded,” He didn’t want to argue with her in front of her dad, but damn it! She had kept so much from him. “Babe, you haven’t told me anything.”

  “I have. I didn’t tell you about my past or my money, everything else is what’s important. Is this going to be an issue?”

  He narrowed his eyes at her, she had a little sass to her voice, and it was pissing him off, “Should it? Because since you didn’t tell me, you must have thought I would make an issue of it.”

  “No, I just didn’t tell you cause you see the way these people around here treat me. I don’t want you to treat me different.”

  “Oh, come on, Elli, like I would.”

  She shrugged her shoulders, “You’re right, I didn’t tell you cause I don’t tell anyone in Nashville, the only people that know is here in town. My family don’t even know how much I have, or will have, they just all know I have money.”

  “Only I do,” Michael said with a small smile, “What can I say, Shea, she’s a complex gal.”

  “You can say that again,” Shea agreed as he started eating again. They were going to have a long discussion tonight, well on second thought, tomorrow probably…on the way to the airport.

  When he felt Elli’s hand reach for his, he looked up at her. She gave him a weak smile, and he squeezed her hand. He couldn’t be mad at her, he loved her too much.

  “Shea, did I hear right yesterday, your family lives in Boston, right?”

  Shea nodded his head as he looked up at Michael, “My mom and dad do, my twin sister lives in Nashville.”

  “I’ve heard of her, she’s a big party planner.”

  “Yes.”

  “She married James Justice. He owns a lot of real estate up in Nashville and some surrounding counties right?”

  Okay, should he be creep out?

  “Yes, how do you know that?”

  “I know James’ co-workers, I play golf a lot with them. They had mention that you were his wife’s brother.”

  “Oh, I thought maybe you did a background check on me or something,” he said with a nervous laugh.

  Elli laughed, and then smiled at her father, “Hell, don’t put it past him, Shea, he probably did.”

  Shea looked from Elli to Michael, Michael was laughing, “Oh, I did, but can you blame me? My daughter is dating you.”

  Shea smiled nervously, “I guess not.”

  “Daddy, your creepin’ him out, quit,” Elli said, smacking Michael playfully on the arm. Michael let out a booming laugh and started eating again. Shea looked over at Elli and she was smiling sweetly at him. He smiled back, taking her hand in his since she had moved it to the table. They continued eating, talking about Elli’s business, the weddings she had been doing, since apparently a lot of them were clients or friends of her dad. They talked hockey, which was cool since Michael kept up with him and Elli. A fruit parfait was brought out while Michael was in a story about Elli singing for the first time when she was three. Shea happen to look up and saw his boss walking towards them, a big grin on his face.

  “Oh, hell.” Elli and Michael looked him questionably as Bryan Fisher’s booming voice greeted them.

  “Eleanor Fisher, you best get on up and give your Papa a big ole’ kiss and hug,” Elli whipped her head around, and then stood up quickly, wrapping her arms around Bryan with a squeal. Bryan was bigger than Michael, he had more muscle to him, but seeing them together, you couldn’t deny they were brothers. Which pissed Shea off; he should have noticed the family resemblance sooner so he could have went to Bryan, talked to him about dating Elli.

  Michael stood up, shaking hands with Bryan, then giving him a back slapping hug as Shea stood up, too.

  “Well I’ll be, you’re the last person that I thought would be sitting at this table, Shea Adler,” Bryan said shaking Shea’s hand tightly, while giving him a look that scared the living shit out of him. “I thought when Michael told me one of my players was dating my Eleanor, it had to Jakob or Sergei, but not Shea Adler.” Bryan went around the table, sitting between Michael and him. Shea looked over at Elli, and she looked nervous, but had a smile on her face.

  “What, Papa? I ain’t good enough for Shea Adler?” She teased boldly. Shea smiled before looking over at Bryan.

  “Oh no, sugar plum, you’re way too good for him, but here’s my question,” He paused as he narrowed his eyes at Shea. Shea felt his heart pick up in speed, this man was his boss, he signed the million dollar checks that Shea got, “Is this serious or is she just like all them other girls I’ve seen coming in and out of your box.”

  “Papa, leave him alone,” Elli complained, grabbing on to Shea’s hand and giving him a forgiving smile, “Papa is a little hard to deal with when it comes to me,” she bit her lip and smile nervously, “I guess I should have told you that, huh?”

  “It would have been nice,” Shea said with a laugh, “And no, Bryan, she isn’t like those women. I think we both know she’s different.”

  Bryan laughed loudly, turning heads of the other patrons, “Oh, I know that, I’m just making sure you do.”

  “I do.”

  “Well, good. I really hate to get my ass kicked when I try to kick my 6’3”, 230lbs star captain’s ass, I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t look good.” Everyone laughed at that, and with that breaking the tension, the rest of the morning went great, that was until Elli had to go to the bathroom. She left the guys at the table after shooting her dad and uncle a look. Nothing was said as all three men leaned back in their chair, looking each other over.

  “So here’s the deal, Adler,” Bryan finally said, leaning onto the table, Michael sat back in his chair, shaking his head. “You’re too good of a hockey player for me to ruin your career so I’ll just break your pretty little face if you hurt my niece. I should just go ahead and do it because you weren’t even man enough to come and tell me you were datin’ her.”

  “He didn’t know about you, Bryan. Eleanor didn’t tell him.”

  Bryan shook his head, “That girl.” Shea sat up straighter, looking Bryan in the eyes.

  “If I would have known about you, Bryan, I would have come to you. Yeah, my track record with women isn’t the best, but I have always been honest and straight forward with you on anything you ask me.”

  “You have, that’s why when I came in and saw your damn mug I was pissed as hell. I just don’t understand how Elli even met you. I am pretty good at keeping her away-” It was like a light bulb went off in his head and then he smiled, “The team shoot.”

  “I saw her and I can honestly say that I couldn’t breathe,” Shea said, laying his heart out for the two men to see, “I am in love with her, no, I haven’t told her but I will tell you two. You guys have nothing to worry about. I don’t want to hurt her.”

  Both men thought it over as Shea looked at the bathroom. Where the hell was Elli?

  “You might not want to hurt her, Shea, and I believe you on that son, but that girl is emotional and insecure as hell. She’s got some issues and I want nothing more than for my baby to be happy, but I’m just worried,” Michael said, shaking his head. “Her mother and siblings have messed her up bad, and that son of a bitch Justin didn’t help, either.”

  “I’m not going to hurt her,” Shea said as he looked Michael in the eye, “I can’t, because if she left me, I don’t know what I would do.”

  Michael and Bryan laughed, as they both leaned back in the chairs, going on two of the legs. It was so country in the classy place that Shea was worried they might get kicked out.

  “Damn, he’s got it bad,” Michael muttered. Bryan smiled over at Michael, smacking his arm.

  “Can you blame him? It's our Eleanor, she’s captivating.”

  Captivating, what a great way to describe her.

  “Harper! I have to go, Shea is out with my daddy and Papa. I gotta go!” Elli yelled as she washed her hands, Harper had called while she was using the bathroom.


  “Tell me what happened!”

  “My family did what they always do, and then Shea yelled at me all the way home for keeping things from him-”

  “I thought you told him about everything!”

  “No, I didn’t tell him shit!”

  “Then all that you brought on yourself.”

  “I know!”

  “Okay, so keep on.”

  God, she drove Elli crazy. “Then he dropped me off and drove off, basically breaking up with me-”

  “Oh no!”

  “I’m with him now, Harper. I mean you know it works out.”

  “I know, but still, your heart must have hurt when he left.”

  The tears came hot and fast to her eyes, but thankfully didn’t fall, “It did, but it was my fault. He came back about half an hour later. I showed him the house, he didn’t think I was a crazy stalker fan and then…we had crazy monkey sex all night!”

  “SAY WHAT!?”

  “Yes! Now I must go! He’s out there with my Papa, Harp, Papa.”

  “Ahh, you better call with details later!”

  “I will, bye.” Elli hung her phone up and headed out towards the table. Things were going well, nothing too bad. Except for her Papa showing up, that was unexpected and totally her daddy’s fault, but Shea was handling it well. Elli headed to the table just as everyone started standing; they all turned when she reached the table. Shea reached for her jacket, holding it out for her.

  “We’re leaving?”

  “Yes, Ellibug, we have meetings this afternoon. Shea said something about a dinner with his sister.”

  “Yeah,” Elli nodded before wrapping her arms around her daddy’s waist. “Thanks for brunch.”

  “Oh, baby, anything for you,” he whispered, kissing her cheek. She released him, hugging her Papa hard.

  “Wanna go to one of the away games with me darlin’? Maybe the one in Florida, spend some time on the beach?”

  “Sure, let me know the date and I’ll work something out if I have an event.”