Taking Shots (Assassins) (52 page)

“
No, thank you, see ya soon.”

Shea didn’t know why he was nervous when he pulled up in front of Elli’s house, but he was. After packing his bag for the next couple days, going to get Elli’s meds and five things of her favorite soup, he ran over to the studio for Elli’s key. Harper was busy and told him to grab it off the desk, and go, so he did. The whole drive over to Elli’s he thought about what he would say to make everything better between them. He wasn’t sure if she was mad still or if she was really just trying to hide the fact that she was sick, which he was not happy about and would address when he saw her.

After unloading the truck, he unlocked the door and started bringing things in. Adler came barreling out the back room and bark happily as he jumped around and between Shea’s legs. Shea grinned as he bent down, loving on the dog. Shea had missed Adler just as much as he missed Elli. “Hey, buddy,” he said quietly in case Elli was sleeping before noticing the house.

It was trashed and something smelled. It was probably all the dog shit by the back door. He walked into the kitchen to find that something must have died in there because it stunk badly. He also saw that Adler had torn into dog food bag and food was all over the floor.

“
Harp, just leave everything in the kitchen. I’ll get it later.”

Shea barely heard what she said, it was muffled and she was groaning between words. He left everything in the hall and started down the other hall towards her room. When he opened the door, Elli laid face down in her bed, in only a bra and panties. Her body was flushed and she was sweaty.

“
Harp, please go. I look terrible,” she groaned still not moving. Shea moved towards the bed, sitting on the edge and running his hand down her burning hot back. Elli moved her head, looking up at him, her eyes widen and after a moment, a tear ran down the side of her face. “Shea,” she groaned, turning her head back into the pillow.

“
Harper called, she was busy and asked me to go get the soup and everything.”

“
Please just go, Shea; I don’t want you seeing me like this.”

“
I’m not going anywhere, so you can stop telling me to leave. Have you taken anything for the fever?”

“
No, I can’t move.”

“
You don’t think we should go to the ER?”

“
No, this happens sometimes. I just need to lay here, it’ll past. I just need the new meds I was prescribed, there should be an antibiotic in there.”

“
Alright, I’ll be right back.”

Shea went into the front hall, grabbing the bag with her meds and tearing open the package. She was right, an antibiotic was in there, along with her new hormone medication. He went into the kitchen, pulling open the fridge to get a bottle of water, but what he found was a great big pan of green stuff that he was sure wasn’t supposed to be green.

Well at least he found the source of the smell.

He shut the fridge and went to the bags he brought in. He had bought a bottle of water at the gas station, so he grabbed that and went down the hall to Elli’s room. He sat everything on her night stand, and moved her hair off the side of her face. She open her eyes, and he could see that she was hurting bad.

“
Can you sit up?”

She slowly shook her head. Shea moved himself into the bed, picking her up slowly, leaning her against him as he grabbed one the meds and the water. Her body burned through his shirt to his skin, and he shook his head. How could she not call him? How did she do this by herself before?

“
Open up, sweetheart,” she did as he asked and he popped the pill in her mouth, then put some water in afterwards. He repeated the same thing with the other med, and then slowly laid her down.

“
Thank you,” she whispered as he covered her up. He smiled down at her, moving the hair that was stuck to her forehead off and to the side.

“
Anything for you, baby, anything,” he said as he finished tucking her in, “Maybe after I’m done cleaning up, you’ll wanna take a shower. The fever might be broken by then.”

She nodded before closing her eyes. He slowly moved from the bed and shut the door quietly as he walked out. When he entered the living room, he looked around and then he slapped his hands together.

Off to work.

It took almost three hours to get the house spotless. He kept checking on Elli, making sure she was fine between cleaning, and she mostly was. She was moving a lot as she slept which wasn’t really new, but she kept kicking the blankets off and he was afraid she would get cold, so he would cover her back up, just to come back to find the sheets on the floor. He checked on her one last time before heading to the dump and then the local store for food.

When he got back and unloaded everything, he made his way to the bedroom, where Elli still laid with her face in the pillow. He was really worried about her, but she seemed to know what was wrong, so he didn’t push the hospital. Plus, Harper said this happen sometimes, which bothered him because when he asked her about it a while back. She said she was fine as long as she took her meds. Shea moved into the bathroom and saw that her bathroom was just as bad as the house had been. She must have been really sick because there was vomit all over the toilet and some in the bath and on the floor.

Jesus, why didn’t she call him?

He looked under the cabinet and pulled out all her cleaning supplies before getting started. When he was done, the damn bathroom sparkled. His mother would be proud. Shea moved back into the bedroom before sitting on Elli’s bed, running his hand up her bare back. She had taken off her bra while he was cleaning the bathroom, he guessed. The good thing was that she wasn’t hot, her skin felt warm, normal.

“
Baby, how you feeling?”

“
Crappy.”

“
Okay, you wanna take a shower or a bath? Wash the sickness off, as my mom would say?”

“
I can’t stand and sitting upwards hurts my stomach, so I’ll just lay here.”

He didn’t like the whole her stomach hurt thing, but then again she probably hadn’t eaten in a while. There was so much puke in that bathroom that he was surprised it came from her. She had to take a shower, she smelled, and he couldn’t let her stay like that. He got out of the bed gently, and headed into the bathroom, starting the shower, getting it just right before stripping off his clothes. When he went back into her bedroom, she was basically hanging off the bed, she must have tried to moved on her own.

He slowly removed her panties, and then slowly picked her up as she groaned. She let out a little whimper as he turned her, wrapping her body around his as he carried her into the bathroom. When he stepped into the shower, her grip on him became tighter as he fully immersed them into the shower.

“
Can you put a little weight on your legs, baby?”

Elli unwrapped her legs, letting them fall to the shower floor, but still leaned heavily against him, which was fine. He just needed to grab the shampoo so he could wash her. As he washed her, she kept her eyes closed. She didn’t say anything, even when he would say something, she would just nod or shake her head. He washed every part of her before shutting the water off and grabbing the towels he had set out for them. He dried her off before taking her into the bedroom, laying her on the bed. He took the shirt and panties he had laid out for her, and started getting her dressed. He laid her down before getting the brush and throwing on some boxers. He leaned her against his body, brushing her hair slowly, making sure he didn’t hurt her. When he was done, he moved her to the couch that sat in the corner, so he could change her sheets.

Not surprisingly, the only color of sheets the girl owned was pink. So he grabbed what he swore was the exact same sheets and changed her bed. When he looked over at her, she was watching him, her green eyes as dull as her skin, something he never thought would happen. He went over to her, picking her up, bringing her to her bed.

“
Do you feel better, baby?” She nodded, but then a tear ran down over her nose, onto her top puffy lip. “Then why are you crying?”

More tears began to fall before she opened her eyes, “I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

“
Oh, honey, don’t worry about that, you’re beautiful even when you’re sick, you’re always beautiful to me.”

“
I’m disgusting,” she said as more tears fell from her eyes. He shook his head, moving his fingers to catch every tear.

“
That is not the D word I was thinking,” he said with a grin.

Elli blinked before asking, “What?”

“
I was thinking delicious, maybe delectable. In other words, Elli, I want to eat you up, always.”

“
But I’m-”

“
Perfect.”

“
Shea, I’m far from it. You should leave while you have the chance, these kinds of things can happen. One minute I’m pissed as hell at you, the next I’m on the floor and can’t move. Get out while you can,” she pleaded as she looked up at him.

“
While I can, huh? Who said I could?”

“
You should.”

“
I’m not going. Don’t you know that by now? Don’t you understand that I’m here, and there is no way I’m leaving? I love you, Elli. I don’t know how you were loved before, but I’m going to love you more than anybody ever will or ever has. I’m here for you because I love you, not your money. Not because your uncle owns the team, or because you have a successful business. That’s not what drew me to you, it was your eyes….and your ass.” When she smiled, his heart filled with all the love in the world, he loved making her smiled, “but mostly your eyes. I’m so sorry about what happen with them females in Florida.”

“
I’m not mad, I just didn’t understand why you didn’t pull back.”

“
She was sucking my face, Elli! I’m surprised I have lips still!” She smiled again, moving deeper into the bed, closing her eyes. “I’m not gonna hurt you, Elli, I promise.”

She opened her eyes again, looking deep into his before saying, “I believe you.”

When Elli woke up the next morning, she felt five times better, which was how it usually happened. The first day she would puke her brains out, the second, she couldn’t move because the fever set in, and then the third she was finally able to move but still needed to stay in bed. The next couple days she would be bed ridden, but at least she would be able to use the bathroom and take a shower by herself.

She hated that Shea saw her like that, she hated that he had cleaned her house, her bathroom, and she hated that he had given her a bath. She would be forever embarrassed and hated that, too! He really was the most amazing man in the world and she couldn’t believe that not six months ago, he was sleeping with anything with legs. That his idea of having a good time was drinking and sleeping with a random female, but now, lying in bed feeding her soup was what he was doing and he seemed to enjoy it.

“
I can feed myself,” she said with a glare as he held the spoon to her mouth, a smirk came across his face.

“
Don’t be angry; just let me take care of you.”

“
You’re always taking care of me,” she countered before she opened her mouth, swallowing the hot, yummy liquid. It was her favorite soup, and it warmed her whole body as it went down her throat.

“
Because that’s what you do for your girlfriend. You know if I got sick, or if I drunk myself into a stupor, I know you would take care of me and I wouldn’t be embarrassed at all.”

“
How’d you know I was embarrassed?”

He smiled, feeding her another spoonful of the most amazing soup on earth. God, she was starving. “I know you, Elli. Now that I know the extent of your sickness, I’m pretty sure I know everything.”

“
You do not.”

“
I do, too.”

“
You don’t know about Justin,” she don’t know why she said it because Lord knew she didn’t want to talk about him but when Shea started laughed, it pissed her off as she raised her eyebrows.

“
Actually, I do.”

“
Huh?”

He laughed, before handing her a glass of hot tea, “You told me all about asshat the night you got trashed.”

A heavy feeling filled her stomach as she incredulously stared at him. She knew that she had diarrhea of the mouth when she was drunk, but come on! She told him about Justin! “You’re kidding.”

“
Nope, I know all about you now, Ms. Eleanor Rey Fisher.”

“
You ass,” she sneered playfully as he chuckled, feeding her some more. They sat in silence as he finished feeding her, she didn’t know what to say because he did know her insides and outs now, and for some reason, she felt good.

Happy even.

“
You wanna try to get up? Walk around a little?”

“
No, maybe tomorrow.”

“
Okay,” he said standing, taking her dishes in his hands, “I’m going to go clean up the mess I made, do you need anything?”

“
Not right now. Thank you, Shea.”

He smiled, then leaned down kissing her lips softly before leaving. God, she needed to thank his momma. She raised herself an amazing man. Elli reached for the remote and turned on the TV, waiting for Shea to come back. It was crazy how much she got used to having him around her and, honestly, she was glad that Harper had called him. Harper hated taking care of Elli because it scared her really bad, but even though Elli was sure Shea was scared, he still took amazing care of her. Way better than Justin ever did. Justin would just leave her to die basically. He would clean up after her, but he would never shower her, or feed her like Shea had.