Shea decided he needed to go shopping for a new bed the next day.

After doing his hair, he looked himself over. His playoff beard was growing in nicely. It was probably the only thing that was going well in his life. Last year he had placed fifth on the list for best beard; he was hoping for first this year. Hey, he didn’t have much to look forward to in life right now. After putting on his suit and tying up his Chucks he was ready to go. Even though he’d rather stay home, he knew he had to go.

So he went.

Walking into the Ronald McDonald House event wasn’t easy. It wasn’t that Shea didn’t love the program, he did, but he didn’t want to be there. He didn’t want to suck up to the big heads, he didn’t want to see his teammates who didn’t like him much, and he definitely didn’t want to see Bryan Fisher. Seeing him always made Shea want to break out in hives. Shea knew Bryan could see that he was hurting by just looking in his eyes. Shea hated that, he hated people knowing he was weak, but he just couldn’t put on the ‘everything is fine’ act.

Shea wanted to drop off his donation and leave, but he couldn’t. He had to put on a smile, act like life was grand, and he had to entertain his date. Some country singer Damon had hooked him up with, Alexi Lynn. She was nice, Shea guessed. Quiet, sweet, but not what he wanted. The big blonde hair, deep brown eyes, huge br**sts, and small waist were not his thing anymore. No matter how hard he tried.

Alexi hung on Shea’s arm in her long yellow gown that accentuated her br**sts, with a grin so large that he was blinded by her perfect white teeth. Alexi’s teeth made Shea miss her teeth. The way the front one bent into the other one always drove him mad. It was crazy how he missed even the simplest things about her.

When Shea saw Jakob he put on a smile, but it promptly fell when he saw the look of horror on Jakob’s face.

“Jake, are you okay?”

“I didn’t know you were bringing someone,” Jakob said, looking at Alexi before looking behind him.

“Yeah, this is Alexi Lynn. Alexi, my best friend Jakob.”

Alexi smiled, shaking his hand as Jakob looked around.

“Nice to meet you,” Jakob mumbled before stopping and looking off to the side.

Shea followed his gaze, and when his eyes met with the same green eyes he had been missing so much the past two months, he took in a sharp breath.

“Elli.”

Elli stood in a long shiny purple gown that had rhinestones lining the low dipped front. It was the dress she bought in Boston. He had picked it out for her. Her beautiful green eyes were wide, filling with tears as seconds turned into minutes while they stood with their gazes locked. He couldn’t look away, though. She had lost weight, a lot of it. As he took in every single detail of her, the dark circles under her eyes, the sullen look on her face, he realized she looked as bad as he did, but he still thought she was beautiful. Shea wondered if she was here to see him. Was this his chance?

Shea took a step towards her, but she shook her head before turning and taking off towards the exit.

“Elli! Wait!” Shea called as he tried to get by the hundreds of people who stood in his way. Shea received dirty looks as he pushed and moved past people, almost knocking over a waiter that held a platter of champagne, but he didn’t care. He had to get to her.

When he made it outside the arena, Elli was gone. He took out his phone, pushing on her icon, before putting it up to his ear. It surprised the hell out of him when her voice rang through the phone.

“What, Shea?”

“Elli, come on, talk to me,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Let’s meet up, talk.”

“No, Shea, I came here thinking that maybe I was wrong, maybe I needed to see you to prove to myself that we can work it out, because I’m not over you, but God I was wrong!”

“Baby, you aren’t wrong. We need to talk, please. Come back.”

“No, I’m done, Shea. You’ve moved on, now I need to,” she yelled into the phone. When he heard her take in a shaky breath, he knew she was crying. “You’ve moved on, while I’ve been a mess for the last two months, but no more.”

“Elli, I haven’t-”

“No, I’m done. Don’t you ever call me again, and if you see me, act like you don’t. Because you are dead to me, Shea Adler. Dead.”

When the line went dead, Shea let out a frustrated yell, throwing the phone into the street before sliding down the wall until he was sitting with his legs sprawled out in front of him. Shea cradled his face in his hands, listening to the traffic drive by while quiet sobs ripped through his body.

Why wouldn’t she listen to him?

Why couldn’t he catch a break when it came to Elli?

All Shea could do was ask, why?

Chapter 33

When Elli arrived home, she stomped through her house, ripping off one of the most expensive dressed she had ever bought and throwing it against the wall before throwing on a tee and going back into the foyer of her house. She had been torturing herself, leaving pictures of that ass**le up on her walls so that every time she passed by them, he would be f**king grinning at her! Her heart would break a little more each time she passed the picture, because she couldn’t put her pride aside and go to him! Go and tell him that she loved him more than she needed to breathe.

But no more!

Elli ripped down every single picture of Shea, placing each one by the door. Taking down the signed jersey was probably the hardest, and heaviest, but she did it. Even through the tears that fell down her cheeks, she continued to de-Shea her house. She had to. If she was going to move on like he had, she was going to have to get rid of anything and everything that reminded her of him.