Didn’t she understand? He didn’t want that starfish freak! He wanted her!

He left for the airport, still calling her every two minutes it seemed, and she still wasn’t answering. Unfortunately, he had to wait three hours before jumping on a plane and heading back to Nashville. When he arrived, he took a cab to the condo to find that Elli wasn’t there, and neither was Adler.

Shea fell onto the couch and took a deep breath. He couldn’t go running over there at 4:00 AM. She was probably sleeping, and would be mad as hell if he came banging on her door. So he laid down, shutting his eyes.

He was out within two minutes.

When Shea woke the next morning, he had one hell of a backache and his head was killing him. Damn couch, only good for one thing, and it wasn’t sleeping. He picked up his phone, dialing Elli’s number for the 900th time.

This time she answered.

“What, Shea?” she sounded groggy, which worried him since she had probably been crying since she left. He didn’t like her crying over him, he wanted her smiling, he loved her smile.

“I’m so sorry, baby. Please come back to the condo, or I’ll come there.”

“No, don’t.”

“Why, baby? I don’t want those girls. She got a hold of me, sucked my damn lips off my face. I’m sorry, please don’t do this,” Shea pleaded as he paced the living room, “I want you, baby. Only you.”

“I can’t do this right now, Shea, I’m not in the mood to talk to-” She started to cough, and it didn’t stop for what seem like a good five minutes.

“Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not. Listen, I need a few days to myself, a lot happened the other night and I just need to be by myself for a while.”

“Elli, please don’t do that, we can work this out.”

“I can’t right now. I promise I will call you soon, but right now I need me time. I’m not home so don’t go there. I’m at Jodi’s. Just let me be for a couple of days. I promise I’ll call you soon.”

“Like you promised before, huh?”

“I promise this time. Text me, I’ll answer. I just need some time to myself. Please give it to me,” Elli said, coughing again, “I gotta go.”

The line went dead, and Shea slumped down into his crap ass chair.

Why was being in a relationship so damn hard? It seemed like things were easier when he was screwing anything with legs. No one to answer to, no one to worry about, and no one to f**king freak out about! Shea stood up, stomping through the house, kicking anything that reminded him of Elli. How could he do this? How could he f**k up the one thing that made him a better person? Elli was everything to him, and he had probably lost her. Yeah, life as a single man was great, but life with Elli was spectacular and what he wanted.

When he reached his room, all her things laid everywhere. She must have been trying to find things to bring with her on the trip. His old AHL shirt laid on the floor by a pair of her boxers. He walked over to it, picking it up and bringing it to his nose.

Mangos.

Shea basically crumbled to the floor, a hard feat for someone Shea’s size. But he did it, holding the shirt to his nose taking in the scent of his Elli. And for the first time ever in his adult life, Shea cried over a woman.

The next day, after his embarrassing breakdown that no one would ever know about, Shea sat in the living room, watching Pride and Prejudice. He wondered if Elli was going to talk to him anytime soon since her birthday was only a week away. It would be something if everyone showed up for the party and the guest of honor didn’t show. He would look like a complete idiot. Part of him wished he hadn’t planned the party. But somewhere deep in his heart, he knew she would call.

He took his phone out and sent a quick text.

I love you. I miss you a lot.

An hour passed before she answered,

I miss you too.

He smiled. Maybe there was hope for them. Or maybe she just missed him, but had no intentions of getting back with him. He was about to ask her that when his phone rang. It was Jakob.

“Hello?”

“I have a bone to pick with you, Shea Adler!” Harper yelled into the phone.

“Harper?”

“The one and only. Listen here, buddy. Why is it that I am taking care of your best friend, but you can’t take care of mine?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Elli. I can’t do both and work. You’re going to have to take one of them!”

“Wait, Harper, what’s wrong with Elli?”

She paused, “What? You haven’t talked to her- oh God, please don’t tell me you don’t know she’s sick.”

“No! I had no clue, she told me she needed a few days to herself. What the hell is wrong?”

“Ugh, damn it, why does she do this? She lied to her dad, her uncle, and now you. Wonderful.”

Shea was starting to get frustrated so he tried to keep his voice calm when he said, “Harper, what the hell is wrong with Elli?”

“She’s sick. It happens every once in the while,” she added when he took in a sharp breath, “she starts to feel run down and then she’s just down for a couple of days. She had to change her meds this time, so it must have been bad when it happened. She called me to bring her soup and to pick up her meds. I got mad because that’s what you should be doing since you are her boyfriend.”

“You’re right. I should be doing that, if I actually knew she was sick!”