Wanted (29 page)

“Ellie what’s wrong sweetheart? Are you sick? Do you need to throw up?” Gunner asked as he bent down to lo
ok
into my face. I sho
ok
my head no and slowly dropped my hand away from my mouth. Just the feel of Gunner’s hands on my shoulders instantly calmed my nerves. I lo
ok
ed around Gunner and saw Jeffers
on sitting there staring at me.

OH. MY. GOD…..he h
ad tears running down his face.

My first instinct was to run to him. I had never in my life seen him cry. I lo
ok
ed up at Gunner who was still lo
ok
ing down at me with worry in his eyes. I to
ok
a step back to get out of Gunner’s grip. Jefferson started to stand up and walk towards me.

“Don’t! Just…. don’t Jefferson. What you did tonight it was…it was just….I don’t even want to think about it anymore. I only wanted to let Gunner
know that Ari is asleep in his
room. Did you need anything out of your room? I could get it for you.” I said as I lo
ok
ed away from Jefferson and back to Gunner.

“Um, no it’s
okay
I’
ll just wear a pair of Jeff
’s shorts.” Gunner turned to lo
ok
at Jefferson and then back at me. He walked me out of the bedroom and leaned in close to me. “
Is Ari doing
okay
Ells? What made her sick?
Did she drink too much
beer
‘cause
I will feel like shit if that’
s what made her sick
?”
Gunner said with the most concerned lo
ok
on his face.

Gesh
, every time I think he cannot be any better….he goes off and does or says something that just makes him that much better. The heat from his body and his breath on my face instantly caused an ache between my legs. I sho
ok
my head to clear my wayward thoughts.

“No Gunner, I don’
t think it was the beer at all. I think it was seeing Jefferson walk out of his bedroom putting his shirt back on while some whore was smiling at her with a triumphant
fucking
smile on her face. THAT is what made her sick to her stomach.” I said loud enough for Jefferson to hear me. Gunner just clo
sed his eyes.

“I’m going to go clean the bathroom and then go to sleep. Thank you so
much Gunner
for the party….I enjoyed myself
, most of the time anyway.
”

“Ellie just le
ave the bathroom sweetheart
its
fine. Jeff and I always have a cleaning company come in and clean up the house the day after a party….it’s fine just go to sleep. Please.” Gunner said as he followed me into the bathroom.

“Whatever….fine……I’
m exhausted anyway. Goodnight and thank you again for letting us use your room. I really do appreciate it.” I leaned up and gave Gunner a kiss on the cheek. He smiled from ear to ear w
hich made my heart skip a beat.

I didn’t even bother say
ing good
night to Jefferson. I walked back into Gunner’
s room. I just
want
ed to get out of these clothes
and go to sleep
. My head was killing me from all of the beer I drank.
God
I just wanted to get this night over with
. I remembered seeing a tee shirt in the bathroom
when I was in there earlier
. I walked in and saw it lying over the tub. I to
ok my sk
irt and shirt off and pulled the tee shirt over my
head.

Oh holy hells bells….it smelled like Gunner.
Hmmmm
…..I to
ok
a big sniff and buried my face in the shirt. Y
ep…I should sleep well tonight!

I crawled into bed next to Ari. She was snoring away. Man oh man…she was going to feel it tomorrow when she w
oke
up. Maybe she won’t
even remember
Jefferson
sleeping with that bitch Rebecca
! Oh, I could only hope.

Good lord….everything around me smelled like Gunner…..his pillow, the blankets…..
hmmmm
…..I cou
ld sleep like this every damn
day. Wrapped up in his smell……the last thing I remembered before I fell asleep was dancing with Gunner as he sang in my ear.
He really had such a beautiful voice.

It seemed like I had just closed my eyes when I heard Ari talking on the phone. I opened my eyes and sat up yawning. From what I could tell Ari was talking t
o her parents. She was fine, yes
the party was super fun, yes it was just us two and Jefferson and Gunner……we slept in Gunner’s room. After a few more seconds she finally said goodbye and
hung up.

“Hey there!
Morning sunshine! Did you sleep well?” Ari said as she jumped up out of bed. Oh HELL no….she has to
be feeling something for fucks
sake. I was and I didn’t
even drink as much as she did!

Just then all the memories of last night came flooding back to me. Jefferson and what he said about her virginity and
him sleeping with that Rebecca
chick.

“Good morning Ari….you sure are just a little to chipper this morning. How do you feel?
”
I asked as I watched her go into Gunner’s bathroom. I heard the faucet start and heard her
laugh. I got up to walk in
and see what she found so funny.

“What’s so funny?” I asked her as I lo
ok
ed around on
the counter
.

“This…this shit is funny
” Ari pointed down to my skirt and shirt that was
lying
on the bathroom floor. ”I
never thought I would see your clothes laying on the floor of a fucking hot guys bathroom….OR you dressed in said hot guys tee shirt.
HOT Ells….very hot!”
Ari said as
she pushed my shoulder
with her hand.

I let out a small laugh and reached down to pick up my clothes. “I thought I picked them up last night! Gosh I was exhausted. Um, Ari
honey are
you
okay
? I mean do you want to talk about anything?” I asked as I watched her put her hair up in a pony.

She stopped
putting her hair up
and lo
ok
ed at me. For one brief second I saw the hurt i
n her eyes, but it was gone so fast I wonde
red if it was even there in the
first place.  She flashed that signature
smile
at me and shrugged
her shoulders.

“
There’
s nothing to talk about Ells. What’s done is done.
I had a silly crush on a guy who happ
ened to turn out to be a real dick head; sorry I know he is your brother!
If he wants to go around and fuck every girl on the UT campus….I could care less.” Ari said as she turned and walked out of the bathroom.

Ooo
okay
…..that was not what I was expectin
g from her but I’ll go with it.

“So, you mean to tell me Arianna that you are totally fine with everything that happened last night
. You’
re not
the least bit bothered that Jefferson slept with another girl.” I
said
as I started to take Gunner’s tee shirt off
and put my own clothes back on.

“Nope….I’m not the least bit bothered by it Ellie. Matter of fact, Josh
gave me his number and
asked me out last night. I turned him down but…….
now that I think about it, I’m going t
o give him a call today.”

She turned and gave me a wink and headed towards the bedroom door. I saw her square up her shoulders and take a deep breath as she opened the door and headed out towards the living room. I could hear Gunner and Jefferson talking
as soon as she opened the door.

Bullshit….she was totally putting up a front.

CHAPTER
TWENTY TWO

Gunner…..

I ended up sleeping on the sofa last night
after Jeff finally passed out around 2:30 am
. Once I sat on the sofa
I could still smell Ellie on the sofa pillows. I probably lo
ok
ed like a stupid fuck wi
th the way I was cuddling a god
dam
n throw pillow last night.

Jeff was up at six
am d
ressed and ready for a run. Not sure how the fuck he managed that but he did. I got up and went for a quick run before I came back to make up
some of my
g
rams’
blueberry muffins.

I never got a chance to give Ellie her graduation gift last night so I was hoping to do it this morning. I was pretty sure I heard Ari on the phone and then heard Ellie and Ari talking. Jeff had been gone for almost two hours. I started to wonder if he was s
taying away to avoid the girls.

Stupid bastard.

Just then the front door opened and Jeff walked in. Lo
oking
like he jus
t had the shit beat out of him.

“What
the fuck happened to you dude?”

“I went a few rounds with bubba up
at the gym. I need to work
all the fucking alcohol
out of
my system
.”
Jeff said as he grabbed
a
water
out of the fridge.

“Are the girls up yet?”

Jeff sat down at one of the bar stools and started to down his water. Man he lo
ok
ed like shit.

“Dude, I
think you worked out to
o
hard, y
ou lo
ok
like shit.” I said as to
ok
the muffins out of the oven.

“Fuck you dude…..I’m not the one acting like Betty Fucking C
rocker!”

“Seriously Jeff, you feeling
okay
today, you get enough sleep?” I asked as I to
ok
a good lo
ok
at him. He lo
oked tired and h
is eyes were like a dead
green
sea.

“Yeah I feel alright. I can’t believe I drank that much last night.
I
fuckin
’
never drink like that.” Jeff said as he reached over and grabbed the bottle of Advil that was
sitting on the kitchen counter.

“Do you um, you remember everything that happened last night?” Shit…I h
ated to do it but I had to ask.

Jeff lo
ok
ed up at me and I swear his eyes glossed over with tears. “Yeah dude, I remember everything that happened last night. Believe me…I w
ok
e up wishing
I had been drunk eno
ugh not to have remembered it.”

Just then the door to my bedroom opened up and Ari came walking out. Damn….she lo
ok
ed just as good this morning as she did when she walked in yesterday evening. I co
uld see Jeff sit up straighter.

“Good morning!” Ari announced as she came buzzing into the kitchen. What the hell? I lo
ok
ed over at Jeff who wa
s just watching her every move.

“Did you make blueberry muffins Gunner? My god! No wonder Ellie has the
hots
f
or you!” Ari said with a laugh.

“ARIANNA!”
The sound of Ellie’s sweet voice caused my stomach to do a few flips. I lo
ok
ed up and my breath caught in my throat. She lo
ok
ed beautiful. I wonder if she w
ok
e up every morning lo
ok
ing this fucking good. She gave me a shy smile….there was that blush…..fuck I just wanted to take her in my arms an
d kiss the shit out of her
.

“Good morning sweetheart. Did you sleep
okay
?” I asked as I poured her a glass of orange juice. She sat down in the bar stool next to Jefferson who was s
till watching Ari’s every move.

Ellie lo
ok
ed over at Jeff and her smile faded just a little. When she lo
ok
ed back over at me she gave me that smile that would make me pro
mise her anything in the world.