Wanted (20 page)

Ellie
didn’t say a word to him
as she
watched him wal
k away. As soon as he got in his
car and drove away I saw her whole body just start dropping. Holy shit! I
reached out and grabbed her to hold
her up.

She lo
ok
ed up at
me and smiled. “Thank you Gunner. Y
ou are starting to make
it a habit
of coming to my rescue.” She said with
a weak laugh. I pushed a
piece of her hair behind her ear
, bent down and kissed her forehead
and smiled at her.

Just then I heard the front door
to Ellie’s house
open.
Ellie
and I both lo
ok
ed over at the same time and
Ellie
pushed herself out of my arms and started to walk up the stairs. I walked over and picked up the bags and back pack
I had dropped on the ground
.

“Um, mom I’
ll be the house in
just
one second.”
Ellie
turned towards
me and held out her hand. “I’
ll take those from you Gunner
and
thank you
again
for today. I had a wonderful time
.”
Ellie
let a small but weak smile come across her face.
Just as I was handing them to
Ellie
I heard a raspy voice start to talk.

“I always knew you wou
ld turn out to be a whore. There is
no other way you could get a man…nope, you will never be wanted by someone
like that Ryan boy or by
this handsome
fella
. You
give it up for this one also you damn
whore?”

Ellie
’
s whole body started to shake and I saw the tears coming down her face as she
slowly
closed her eyes. Almost as if she was trying to block out what this monster was saying to her. I could not believe this was her own mother who was talking to her this way. At that moment all I wanted to do was take he
r
away from here, from
this woman
who was causing her
all this pain.

I to
ok
a step back away from
Ellie
. I
turned and
walked over to my truck and put the bags
back inside
. I
walked back up to her
and almost threw up lo
ok
ing at her distraught face
.
Her mother was still calling her names and going on and on but
I tried to block her out of my
head
and only lo
ok
at my sweet Ellie.

I
walked up
to
the step right below the one she was standing on. She opened her eyes and lo
ok
ed at me. I
to
ok
my hands and wiped away her
tears. She
tried to smile
but the tears would not stop
. All the life was drained
from those beautiful blue eyes.

Holy Fuck…m
y heart
h
as never hurt so god
damn much in my life.

“Do you have a suitcase sweetheart
that
we can pack
your clothes in
?” I asked as I heard her mother start to laugh.
Ellie
nodded her head yes.

“Let’s go inside and pack up your stuff
okay
? Can
you do that for me sweetheart?”

My sweet innocent Ellie
was
just standing
t
here br
ok
en. How could a parent
say such hateful and hurtful things to their
own
child?

Ellie and I both turned to walk into the house. Just then her
mother stepped in front of us.

“You can’t take her away from here. She has to stay with me
she can’t leave me
.” Ellie’s mom
said in her drunken slurred voice. “She
has to
stay with me. She is not going anywhere with you so she can be your whore
.”

I to
ok
a deep breath and lo
ok
ed rig
ht at her. “You really think I’
m going to let her stay
here with you and take this abuse? I suggest you move out of the way Ms. Johnson. You wouldn’t want me to call the police now would you?”

Ellie’s mother lo
ok
ed at me with a stunned lo
ok
on her face. She stepped out of the way a
nd I lead Ellie into the house.

“Show me
where your room is sweetheart.”

Ellie walked to
wards her bedroom but stopped at
a hall closet. She opened the door and I saw a suitcase
sitting on the very top shelf. I reached up and to
ok
it down along with another bag
and then walked with Ellie into her bedroom. I shut the door to her room o
nly to hear her mother yelling.

“There will be none of that in my house you dirty whore! Pack your
shit
and get the fuck out of my house you no good for nothing bitch whore!”

I watched as Ellie
slid down her door and hit the floor crying. My whole body started to shake.
I balled my fi
sts together trying to stop the anger that was growing inside. The
emotions I was having were
confusing as hell and scared the shit out of me
.
God I was being torn apart inside watching this beautiful girl fall apart.
I just wanted to beat the shit out of somebody.
I to
ok
a few deep breaths to calm down. I knew what I had to do. Now I just needed to do it.

I to
ok
out my cell ph
one and sent a text to Jeff
. Did he know this was how his mother treated Ellie? Surely not…
.if he did
he would have tak
en her away from this long ago. There is no way he would have let her stay here if he had known his mother was still verbally abusing Ellie
.

“Ellie, where is your cell phone?”

Ellie reached in her back pocket and pulled it out and
barel
y
handed it to me
before she just let her hand fall to the ground. Shit! It was her sprained hand too
. Br
ok
en….my sweet girl was just giving up. Fuck I wish I
could just take away her pain.

I slid down on the floor next to her and started to lo
ok
fo
r Ari’s number. After I sent Ari
a text
I set the phone down on the floor and
picked Ellie up
and moved her to sit on my lap.

I’m not sure how long we sat there while she just cried in my arms. She finally stopped sobbing and lo
ok
ed up at me. Those beautiful blue eyes red and swollen and so sad. I made a vow to myself right then I
would do whatever it to
ok
to always protect and take care of her. Always…..

“You have to sto
p doing this.” Ellie whispered.

“Doing what sweetheart
?”
I asked her as I lo
ok
ed into her eyes.

Ellie put her
forehead up against
mine
and I thought I was going to die right then and there
. “Stop coming to my rescue, I’m
going
to expect it from now on.
” She said with a slight laugh.

“Ellie
sweetheart
, I’
ll always
come to your rescue
. For the rest of our lives
……
I will
never
let anyone hurt you ever again.” I said as I felt my heart beat pick up even faster.

I stood up
making sure I did not let her
go. I walked over and set her down on her bed. I opened the suitcase and started to take the clothes out of her closet and put them in the suitcase. I was starting to get a little freaked out
because Ellie was not moving at all. She just stared at the floor.
SHIT! Where the fuck was Jeff?

Then I heard him.

“What the fuck did you do her?” Jeff was yelling at his mother.

“I don’t know what you’
re talking about? That little whore was out all night sleeping around and then came back here to my house and caused a scene for the whole neighborhood to see. It was disgusting.” Ellie’s mother said as they walked down the hall towards
Ellie’s room.

“Shut up! Just shut the fuck up right now! What th
e fuck is wrong with you? That’
s your daughter you are talking about. She is NOTHING like you so don’t you EVER call her a whore again. She is leaving mom and you will never see either one of us again. Do you understand me? That means no more money from me. No more help.
My god……
If I find out
that
you have been trea
ting her
like shit this whole time
…..you will be out on the street
s. When I paid this house off I made sure it was put in
my name. You will have nothing! Do you understand me?
NOTHING!”

Just then the door to Ellie’s room flew up and Jeff lo
ok
ed at me and then down to his sister who was still sitting on
her bed but
now she was crying again. I have never seen Jeff lo
ok
so devastated before. I already knew he was blaming h
imself. Jeff would give
up his own life for his sister
. I could see it in his eyes…..he was hurting bad.

Jeff
walked over to Ellie and
fell to his knees and Ellie immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and just cried hysterically. God
how
I wish I could m
ake her feel safe like that
. Just then I heard Ari
. I
lo
ok
ed up and she
was standing at the door.
“Mother fucker……” she said as she lo
ok
ed at Ellie coming apart in her brothers arms.

She lo
oked over to
me and tried to give me a small smile. I just lo
ok
ed down at the suitcase and back up at her. She nodded her head yes to me. Next thing I knew she had taken over packing up Ellie’s clothes and whatever li
ttle possessions she thought Ellie
would want to take.

I just stood there. I had no idea what to do.
What could I do to help her with this pain?
Jeff got up and sat down next to Ellie who was still crying.
He put his arm aroun
d her and just kept repeating…”
Shhh
it’
s going to be
okay
honey….it will all be
okay
”

He
lo
ok
ed over at me and
gave me a lo
ok
that clearly said thanks.
I nodded back my acknowledgement to him. Once Ellie calmed down and somewhat stopped crying Jefferson started to talk to her.

“Ellie honey,
y
ou will stay
at Ari’s house
until we figure this all out.
I need t
o run back and let them know I’
m leaving for the day so Ari is going to take you to her house
okay
?
Are you
okay
with that Ells?” Jeff said as he lo
ok
ed over to Ari who was now standing there with Ellie’s suitcase and another small bag. Ari gave Jeff a smile and it lo
ok
ed like Jeff could
not tear his eyes away from her
.
He seemed to be lost in Ari’s smile. Something I knew a shit ton about after
spending time with Ellie today.

He was fucked….just like I was.

Ellie started to talk and that snapped Jeff out of his day dream.