“Why aren’t you driving?”

Shea looked over at her, relaxing his hands from the steering wheel that he was squeezing so tightly his hands hurt.

“Oh, I thought you needed to throw up some more,” he said pulling the truck back onto the road when it was clear.

“No, I’m good. I’m tired now,” she said, before crossing her arms across her legs and laying down.

She was out before they even made it a mile. Her loud snores filled the truck and even though he was so pissed he could scream, he cracked a smile as he drove. Elli was the most beautiful, strongest, amazing woman he had ever met, and he couldn’t love her more than he did at that moment.

When they got home, Shea carried Elli over his shoulder up the steps and into the condo as Adler bounced up and down around Shea’s legs.

“Adler, bud, sit,” Shea said as he tried to move by him. Adler listened and Shea made it to the bedroom with Elli drooling down his back.

He just prayed she didn’t throw up.

Shea laid her down on the bed and proceeded to take her clothes off. He thought about throwing her in the shower since she had makeup on and smelled like a bar, but she couldn’t even stand, so he discarded that thought and continued to pull her shirt off. It took a lot more force than he thought it would to get her cowboy boots off, but he finally got them off before pulling her pants off. He shook his head at her drunkenness as he pulled her up in the bed, tucking her in.

He loved learning new things about Elli, but he could have gone on without knowing that Justin Yates was an ass**le with a death wish and that Elli was the worst drunk ever, but even with knowing those things about her, he still loved her, probably always would.

Shea undressed before going into the bathroom to wash up and take out his contacts. When he came back into the bedroom, Elli was laying face first in her pillow with the blankets kicked off her. He laughed as he shut off the lights and crawled into bed with her. He looked over at her and smiled. How was she breathing with her face in the pillow like that?

“Baby, can you breathe?” She nodded and he laughed before saying, “Alright baby, goodnight.”

He leaned, over kissing her naked shoulder before saying, “I love you.”

When she didn’t say anything, like he knew she wouldn’t, he closed his eyes. But he opened them again when she said, “Good, because I need you.”

A grin cracked across his face and he closed his eyes.

She needed him.

That had to be one step closer to loving him.

Chapter 22

Shea learned another thing about Elli the next morning, and that was that she was very angry when she was hung over. When she sat up as he came out of the bathroom, her hair was sticking straight up, her makeup smeared across her face and her pillow, and drool was dripping from her chin. He still thought she was beautiful, though, even when she started cussing him out.

“Why the hell is that window open!? For the love of God, Shea! My f**king head is pounding and that damn sun is beaming on me! Ahhh!” she screamed and curled up in a ball, covering her body with the blankets.

He couldn’t help but laugh as he walked over to the window, shutting the curtains. He came around the bed, looking down at the ball that was his Elli.

“Better, sunshine?”

“Fuck off!” she yelled, but not even a second later she threw the blankets back and looked up at him, “I didn’t mean that, I’m sorry.”

He smiled, leaning down to kiss her cheek, “Its fine, you’re an angry day-after kind of chick. Grace is the same way.”

She tried to smile, but she couldn’t, and before he knew it, she shot up, running to the bathroom. When he heard her puking, he went in there to see her hugging the toilet. He went up behind her, moving her hair back. He looked over at the counter and saw a hair tie, so he grabbed it and pulled her hair up in a messy ponytail on the top of her head. When she started crying, he sat down beside her, rubbing her back.

“Oh, my god, what man does this?” she cried as she continued to puke. He smiled running his hand up and down her back. When she stopped throwing up, he stood up to get her some water from the sink. She washed her mouth out, but went right back to throwing up.

“Ugh, just leave me here to die, Shea.”

He laughed as he went to the bathtub, filling it up.

“Maybe a bath would help?”

“Maybe,” she said, lying down so that her face was on the cold tile.

“I need to call Harper, what time is it? I have a 9:00 appointment.”

“I already called her. She’s fine, apparently. She going to go in with Alice.”

“Thank you so much. Yeah, she always is. It makes me sick, because I never am.”

“I see that.” She opened her eyes, glaring at him, but closed them quickly because he guessed it hurt.

“Want to jump in?”

“I will not be jumping, but climbing might happen,” she said as she started crawling over towards the bath.

He helped her take her bra off, then she slid out of her panties before falling into the water, splashing water onto the floor. He shook his head as he went to get towels to clean up as she apologized. After cleaning up, he made sure she was okay and left her to soak as he went into the bedroom to wash the bedding.

He had an amused grin on his face as he moved through the condo, picking up her mess. Yeah, she drove him crazy, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. After last night, he knew why she wouldn’t move in with him. It wasn’t because she didn’t care for him, but because that ass**le didn’t treat her right. How he could kick Elli out of her home, when she was raw with hurt and scared with all of the medical problems she was having at the time was beyond him, and he hated the guy for it, but he wanted to murder the guy for putting his hands on her. No women deserved to have a man put his hands on her, but especially not his Elli. She was too sweet, too perfect.