Dump and Chase: Nashville Assassins: Next Generation Read online

  He leans back. “She’s right.”

  I meet his gaze. “Why are you okay with this? I feel like you’re acting cool in front of me but you’re going to kill Aiden.”

  He doesn’t laugh; Dad just looks at me with the blue eyes I share with him and shrugs. “No, it’s not that at all. I’m pretty sure I freaked out last night.”

  “He did,” Mom says with a tilt to her lips.

  “But we talked, and she already knew, so she calmed my crazy. The truth is, sweetheart, over these past few months, I’ve realized you aren’t a baby anymore. You’ve grown into this amazing, headstrong woman, and I think I started realizing it after you knocked the shit out of Amelia’s ex.”

  “Mom says that wasn’t one of my finer moments,” I remind him, but he shakes his head.

  “Maybe not. But in my heart, I think it made me realize that you can take care of yourself. As much as I want you to need me, you don’t. You’re going to pick your person just as I chose your mother. Shelli, baby, you blow me away. You’re amazing.”

  I don’t know why I’m tearing up as I gaze into my dad’s eyes. He reaches out, taking my hand. “I am so incredibly proud of you, and if Aiden is the guy you choose, then as much as I think I might die from the angina, I support you. You aren’t some flighty girl. You know what you want. I mean, you just shot me down. Pretty sure no one can dim your shine.”

  I swallow past the emotion in my throat. “Thanks, Daddy. But I promise, Aiden is really great—though he is nervous about y’all knowing.”

  “No reason to be. I’m only gonna break his toes and fingers,” Dad says, getting up and popping his fist into his other palm. “He can still play. I did it with a broken foot in the play-offs.”

  I look back to Mom, terrified, and she shakes her head. “He is not. But I do think we should go find him and have a little talk. I’ll bring him in here. He’ll be the one with angina.”

  I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my chest. I’ve wanted to tell my mom for a while. But now, knowing my dad is okay with it too, I feel so much better. It’s as if all the pieces I needed to make this whole are falling into place, and Aiden and I are gonna be good. Great, even. I just need him to see it. To see how great we’re gonna be at this.

  I grin up at my dad. “How’s your angina?”

  He presses his fingers into his chest. “Hurts, but I’ll ignore it if he makes you happy.”

  I stand up, wrapping my arms around him as he envelops me in his embrace. He kisses my temple and rests his head against mine as I let my eyes fall shut.

  “He does. I promise he does.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  AIDEN

  “I DON’T CARE what anyone says. That GM is terrifying!”

  I lean back in my locker, drying my face and chest free of the water from my shower as our new forward, Benson, complains. Everyone seems to disagree with him, but I don’t. Elli Adler is terrifying. So is her hot-ass daughter. Hell, the whole family is! Well, maybe not Quinn. He’s a sweet kid, but the rest of them—they could take you down with a look. One thing is for sure, I don’t want to piss the lot of them off. I’m already worried that Shelli is upset. I know she wants to come clean to her family, but I’m not ready. I like what we have right now, and it’s bad enough my family knows.

  I sort of want to be sure when I step in front of her dad. I don’t want him to see me as the punk-ass kid who’s trying to get in his daughter’s pants. I want him to see me as someone who is good for her. I think I am, but I want to be able to look at him and tell him I L-word her. Like, totally. Helplessly. Hell, I might already, but these feelings are totally up in the air. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I hate how unsure I am. Or is it the fear? What if I tell her and she runs off? Who am I kidding? She could do that now, and I would be traumatized. There is a reason no one has been able to pin me down, and that reason is because they weren’t Shelli Adler.

  “She’s awesome. So sweet,” Wes calls out, standing beside me in all his nakedness.

  I make a face and hold up my hand to guard my view of his schlong. “Dude.”

  He doesn’t even care. He looks back to Benson. “You treat her with respect, you respect this team, you’re golden.”

  Benson doesn’t seem convinced. “Dude, she ripped me apart because there are pictures of me on Instagram at that orgy party I had last week.”

  I snort as I shake my head. “Yeah, that’s a no-go.”

  Boon hooks a thumb toward me. “BB knows all about that. He came here and turned over a new leaf. He’s a fucking saint now.”

  I flip him off. “Hardly.”

  “Maybe not with his girl,” Boon says, waggling his brows at me.

  “You got a girl?” Benson asks, and all eyes turn on me.

  “Yeah,” I say simply.

  “But we’ve all heard about your fuck-’em-and-leave-’em philosophy.”

  I scoff. “I left that back in New York.”

  I’m not lying either. I think I did. Before I talked to Elli that first day, I only wanted to see Shelli again. That should tell me something right there.

  Benson shakes his head. “So, one girl?”

  I stand up, getting dressed. “Elli told me to get one girl and stick with her. It would keep my nose clean. So, that’s what I did.”

  And I couldn’t shake what I feel for Shelli even if I tried.

  His dark eyes hold mine, and he looks as if I’m speaking German. “How does that even work?”

  I shrug. “Great, in my opinion,” I say, putting on my hoodie and grabbing my bag. “I’m good with it.”

  Benson isn’t comprehending at all. “What about feelings? Don’t they start falling for you and shit?”

  I nod. “Yeah.”

  “And what do you do? Wait, don’t tell me you feel shit for them! That’s a recipe for disaster.”

  I used to think the way he does, but not anymore. I’m unable to say that, though. It will lead to more questions, and I already feel Boon’s and Wes’s gazes on me. I don’t want people in my business, so I shake my head. “No, I just ignore it all and get what I want from her.”

  I meet Wes’s and Boon’s gazes and shake my head, which makes them both smile as I head out with a wave to the guys. “See ya—”

  My words fall off when I see Shelli with Shea and Elli beside her, standing in the doorway.

  One look into Shelli’s eyes and I know one thing.

  I’m so fucked.

  My instinct is to hold out my hands, so I do because I have to calm the storm that is brewing inside her. But Elli and Shea are watching me. I drop my hands and inhale. “Um… Hey, guys. Um—” I’m stuttering like a fucking fool, and in all honesty, I probably am one. “Did you want to talk about that thing, Shelli?”

  When a tear falls down her cheek, it wrecks me. I don’t care that they are there; I don’t care who the fuck is here. I take a step forward, holding up my hands, and she smacks them away. “Shell—”

  Her eyes shut me up instantly. The roar of my heartbeat is killing my eardrums and probably breaking my ribs. “Really, Aiden?”

  “No. I promise. No.”

  “Is that what you’ve been doing all this time?”

  “No. Fuck no, Shelli. Can we talk over here?” I say, jerking my head to the side. “Please.”

  “I have nothing to say to you—”

  “Shelli, for real—” She turns quickly, her hair flying with the turn, but I’m on her heels. I ignore the death glare coming from Shea—partly because I’m confused by it but mostly because I have to get Shelli to listen to me. “Shelli, no. Listen to me. I didn’t mean that at all. Stop,” I say, reaching out for her, but she whips her arm out of reach.

  “I can’t believe you! I’m so fucking stupid.”

  I finally get ahold of her and stop her. “Shelli, you’re not. Baby, listen to me,” I demand, my eyes trying to capture hers as I hold her in place, but she’s got that fighter’s soul. “I didn’t mean any of that. I was jus