“Shea, son, would you like a drink?”

“Yes, please,” Shea said. Michael motioned for Shea to follow him. Shea looked down at Elli, kissing her cheek before pulling her along with him.

“You want a beer, Elli bug?” Michael asked. Elli was about to answer but her mom beat her to it.

“Now honey, the girl has gained weight. It’s probably all the drinking she does,” Olivia said.

Shea whipped his head back at Elli’s mother. She was looking Elli over with disgust all over her face. He looked over at Elli and saw the heat creeping up on her face.

“None of that now, Livie. Leave Elli bug alone,” Michael said, handing Elli and Shea a beer.

“Whatever, when she gets as fat as she did, don’t say I didn’t warn y’all.”

Olivia walked over to where they stood by the mini fridge, looking Elli over.

No wonder Elli didn’t like her mom.

“Livie, please,” Michael said while taking a good long swig of his beer. Shea did the same, as Elli downed hers.

“I mean, Eleanor, why don’t you belch at the end, honey!? No wonder you’re gaining weight again, how much have you gained? Six, eight pounds?”

“For the love of God,” Elli muttered, throwing her bottle in the trash, “Isn’t it time to eat?”

“We might need to skip it to save you from yourself.”

Elli looked up at the ceiling; it looked like she was counting. Shea didn’t know what to say or do, he felt so helpless.

“Now that’s enough, Olivia, not another word,” Michael said, grabbing a hold of her arm and directing her out the room, “Come on now kids, let’s eat.”

Shea watched as they walked before turning to Elli, who was grabbing another beer. When he turned her, he saw the tears in her eyes.

“Baby, don’t let her get to you.”

“Just let it be, Shea,” she said, walking past him.

Great, this was going to be f**king great.

It was going just as Elli thought it would go, straight to hell. How the hell her mother knew how much weight she had gained would always be a mystery to her, but the woman always got it right. And, of course, her brothers would bring up her god awful nickname. And Victoria’s attempts at flirting with Shea were expected, but what she didn’t expect was Shea to just completely ignore her.

He was perfect.

They all gathered in the first dining room since it was bigger, and classier, as her mother always said. It could also seat 15 people if needed. The room was straight out of Better Homes and Gardens. Classy white, with light blue accents. Some of Elli’s prints of the kids hung on the wall. Her mother would never admit it, though.

Shea pulled out Elli’s chair when they reached the table, and Elli flashed him a smile as she sat. Her smile fell when she saw her mother sit next to her and Victoria sat across from her, though.

Great.

As everyone else sat down, Elli noticed that her daddy was at the other end of the table, beside Adina and Lauren while Liam and Noah sat next to Shea. As Mrs. Harris and the rest of the kitchen came out to serve dinner, the men started talking about hockey.

Liam and Noah were dumbasses about hockey, so they basically listened as Shea talked about the last Assassins game and how they won. When all the food was laid out, and after her daddy said the prayer, everyone dug in.

Shea was looking around the room as he ate; he did that a lot, Elli noticed. He always took in the scenery. It was another reason she just adored him, because she had a tendency to do the same.

“I have to say, your children are beautiful.”

Lauren and Adina grinned as Liam and Noah kept eating.

“Thank you. Riley and Max just adore you. Jason’s still a little young, but he does love himself some hockey,” Adina gushed, as Lauren blushed.

“You guys will have to bring them out to Kids’ Night. My nephew always comes. They got along pretty well when we met at the park. Don’t you think, babe?” he asked, turning to Elli, who grinned.

“They sure did.”

“They would love that. Thank you, Shea,” Adina smiled.

Shea nodded towards the pictures.

“Those look like your work, baby. Did you take them?”

Bless his heart; she would adore this man for forever.

“She did,” Olivia said, before Elli could say anything, and that’s all she said.

“We have a lot of Elli’s work throughout the house. Not just pictures of the family, but she did some really nice black and whites of a tree for my office. They are the best things in my office,” Michael said.

Elli grinned widely at her father and he gave her a wink as Shea nodded. “Shea, aren’t you about to go out on a road trip?”

Shea nodded as he took a drink of his beer then said, “Yes, sir, I leave Monday.”

“Yeah, Bryan said something about y’all leaving. He was gonna fly out to some of the games, asked if I wanted to go. Maybe we can go together, Elli bug.”

Elli nodded, “Sure, daddy.”

“Bryan?” Shea asked, and then Elli dropped her fork.

Shit, shit, shit, shit.

“Yeah, Bryan Fisher, the owner,” Michael said.

Shea looked at Elli, then back at her daddy.

“You know the owner?” Shea asked.

She could tell he was confused as everyone laughed.

Shit, shit, shit, shit.

“Oh course I do son, he’s my brother. Eleanor didn’t tell you?”

Shea took a deep breath and then looked over at Elli. She couldn’t tell if he was pissed or shocked. Probably both.