No, it was Ari I was pissed off about. She was stubborn, and I had a feeling she went with this guy just to piss me off. She knew it would get back to me through Ellie.
“Yeah, I know she will be. See ya later.”
“Later,” Gunner said, giving me a reassuring grin.
I spent the next hour trying to punch the living shit out of Billy, my sparring partner at the gym near my house. By the time we were finished, I was sweating, and I didn’t feel any better.
Billy sat down next to me and handed me a water. “I think what you need to do is get laid. Not try and beat the living shit out of me.”
With a gruff laugh, I downed the water. “That obvious?”
He nodded. “Fuck yes. To me; not sure about anyone else. Want to talk about it?”
“Nah.”
“A woman?”
“Something like that,” I replied.
“Girlfriend? I didn’t peg you as the type.”
“No, nothing like that.”
I stood. “Great workout, buddy. Thanks again.”
As I walked out of the gym, I mentally went over in my head all the reasons I shouldn’t give two fucks about who Ari was with at prom.
By the time I jogged back to my place, I felt worse than I had before. I hadn’t actually come up with one single damn idea.
Ari was surely going to be the death of me.
Chapter Seventeen – Gunner
The four of us sat in Jeff’s truck, waiting for Ellie to come home from the prom.
“Do we get to talk to her?” Brad asked.
“No,” Jeff barked back.
“Can we at least look in her direction?” Josh asked with a chuckle.
Jeff sighed. “Yes.”
Glancing at my watch, I asked, “How do you know she’s coming home and not spending the night at a friend’s house?”
Jeff nearly came out of his seat with the idea. “Fuck!”
He pulled out his phone and shot off a text message to whom I would assume was his sister.
Cursing under his breath, he started the truck and did a U-turn.
“Where are we going?” Josh asked.
“Ari’s house. Ellie just said they are all there . . . hanging out.”
“Are the girl’s parents home?” I questioned.
“They better sure as fuck be.”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw Brad raise his brows.
“Dude, why are you so worried? You need to trust your sister that she’ll do the right thing,” Josh stated from the back seat.
“I do trust her. I don’t trust this little fucker. I have a bad vibe about him.”
It wasn’t long before we were driving down a long driveway and pulling up to what looked like a pretty nice house. It was dark, and hardly any lights were on outside.
Not a good sign the folks are home.
The front door immediately opened, and four girls trickled out. I tried like hell to get a better look at them all.
“Stay here,” Jeff ordered us.
Once the door shut, Josh let out a laugh. “Is it just me, or does Jeff seem like he’s lost his damn mind?”
“Not just you,” Brad stated.
I watched as one of the girls moved closer to Jeff. Her brown hair was piled on top of her head, and her back was toward us.
“I can’t get a good look at her, damn it,” I whispered.
“Me either,” Brad stated.
Josh practically crawled into the front seat. “Do you think that’s the sister?”
“Maybe.”
Another girl walked up and got between Jeff and the girl who might be Ellie. It looked like she had brown hair as well. She looked pretty from what I could tell.
“Shoot me right now. That girl has a fucking hot body,” Josh said.
“You better hope that is a friend of the sister’s and not Ellie herself,” I said with a laugh. “But you’re right. She does have a nice body. So does the one with her back to us.”
I knew that was Ellie. I couldn’t explain how I knew; I simply did. My chest was pounding with the idea of her walking up to the truck and Jeff finally introducing her to us.
“Yeah, so does the blonde,” Brad added. “Can’t really see the other one; Jeff’s blocking her.”
“She has red hair, and trust me, she’s rocking a hot body as well and is pretty as fuck,” Josh stated as he leaned farther up into the front seat. “Why do I feel like I’ve seen her before?”
“Dude, why don’t you just fucking crawl up here already?” I snapped.
“Why didn’t girls look like this when we were in high school?” Brad asked with a sigh.
All three of us laughed as a porch light turned on, lighting it up for us to get a good look at all the girls.
The girl who had her back to us, who I was guessing was Ellie, turned and looked at the truck.
She was beautiful. My heart felt like it dropped to my stomach.
Josh gasped. The fucker actually gasped. “Holy. Shit. No wonder the bastard has been keeping her away from us. She is hot as hell.”
“That she is,” Brad agreed.
My eyes strained to take her all in. I could see her, could tell she was absolutely stunning, but I needed to see her better. Study her face so I could remember it.
Jeff pulled her into his arms and kissed her on the forehead. They took a few steps closer to the truck, and Jeff pointed. He leaned down and said something to her, making her look directly back at the truck again and smile.
My breath caught in my throat. She was stunning. I wondered what she looked like with the sun shining down on that pretty face of hers.
Ellie lifted her hand and waved toward us.
“I’m getting out!” Josh said, trying to scramble into the driver’s seat. I stopped him and pushed his ass back, forcing him to land next to Brad, who was laughing his head off.
I pointed to Josh. “Dude, he told us not to get out. Unless you want to get your ass beat, I suggest you stay in the truck.”
Crossing his arms, Josh looked away.
“Are you pouting?” Brad asked. “You’re fucking pouting. You pansy-ass!”
I couldn’t help but smile before turning back around and looking at Jeff and Ellie. As they moved a bit closer, Jeff stopped and turned to his sister. Her gaze went back to the truck, and it felt like I was having a déjà vu. A chill ran up and down my spine, and I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d seen Ellie somewhere else.
And like that, she turned and ran back over to the other three girls. One of them still looked pissed. Her arms crossed over her chest, she glared as Jeff walked back to the truck.
Once he got in, I had to ask, “Who is the one crossing her arms shooting you daggers?”
Jeff looked back over to the girls.
“That’s Ari. She’s pissed at me, but that’s nothing new. She’s always pissed at me.”
“Why?” Brad asked.
Jeff shrugged. “Who the hell knows? Well, this time I do know. Apparently Ryan passed my threat along to Ari’s date. The guy didn’t even so much as dance with Ari. The other two, I guess, were going to go stag but went with dates at the last minute. The threat wasn’t passed along to their dates.”
I chuckled. “No wonder she’s mad. Sort of stupid the guy wouldn’t even dance with her, though.”
Jeff put his truck in drive and pulled out. “She’s full of shit. I’m sure he danced with her. The one thing about Ari is she likes to blow things up.”
“Drama queen?” Brad asked.
“Only when it comes to me, it seems.”
“After looking at that body, I could let a little drama into my world,” Josh said.
Jeff turned and stared at Josh . . . he didn’t speak a word, but he didn’t need to. We all knew what he was saying, even if he didn’t want to admit it himself.
I cataloged that little bit of information away to revisit when we were alone.
“So do you think he’ll invite us to the party?”
I turned to look at Josh. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
“Jeff. His sister’s graduation party. After getting a peek of her and her friends, I sure as hell would like to see more.”
I shook my head and handed the girl behind the register my money.
“Is there um . . . anything I can do for you?” the cashier asked, slowly handing me my change back.
“Nope. I think I’m good,” I stated with a smile.
After grabbing my cup, I headed over to the fountain drinks and filled it up with tea, then found a seat.
Josh had been in the mood for Panera Bread, so I tagged along with him. I hadn’t eaten anything all day, and my stomach was warning me to provide it with something sooner rather than later.
“Why is it women throw themselves at guys? Don’t they think maybe for once we’d like the chase?” Josh asked, a tinge of frustration mixed in between his words.
I shrugged and sat down, sliding my buzzer to the side of my drink.
“I don’t know, but it’s getting old and seems to be happening a lot lately.”
Josh nodded in agreement. “It’s all getting to be too easy.”
Grinning, I asked, “You ready to settle down with one girl, Josh?”
“Fuck no. But it would be nice to have to work for it a little more. One more year, and I hope like hell older women are different.”
“Not all women are ready to drop to their knees for you, dude.”
He laughed and took a drink. “Then I must be looking in all the right places . . . or wrong places depending on how you look at it.”
“Have you ever actually gone out with a girl more than once . . . besides Victoria?”
“Hell no. She fucking ruined me for all time.”
I laughed. “She was a nursing major, right?”
He smiled. “Yes, and about the only thing I miss was the sexy little nurse’s uniform she used to dress up in.”
I acted like I was about to be sick. Josh didn’t know this and I would probably never tell him, but Victoria and I had a one-night stand months before she started dating Josh. My stomach rolled thinking about it.
“Let’s change the subject before I hear something that will make me lose my lunch before I even get it.”
“Back to Jeff, what’s his deal with the best friend?”
“No clue. I know he’s been conflicted about someone . . . not sure if it’s this Ari or not.”
Josh raised a brow. “Conflicted? What do you mean?”
I sighed and leaned closer. “If a word of this gets back to him, I’ll twist your balls off.”
Josh adjusted his position in the chair, as if thinking about me doing exactly that. “Not a word.”
“I’m almost positive he likes her, but with her being his sister’s best friend and a few years younger, he won’t admit it to himself.”
“So what if she’s a couple of years younger, and the fact that she’s Ellie’s best friend shouldn’t play a role. I doubt Ellie would care.”
“I doubt she would either,” I agreed. “I would think she would be happy her best friend was with her brother.”
The corners of Josh’s mouth rose. “I guess we’ll find out at the graduation party.”
I laughed. “Should be an interesting night.”
The buzzers on our table went off at the same time. After retrieving our food, Josh took a bite of bread and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“I’m thinking about Jeff’s reaction when I move in on Ari.”
I frowned. “Why would you do that, Josh?”
He held up his hands. “If she’s at the party and Jeff doesn’t make a move or a claim, it’s fair game. Do you not agree?”
“I think you’re playing with fire if you go after any of those girls.”
Josh leaned back in his seat and stared at me with an expression that appeared to be calling me a bullshitter. “You don’t think I noticed you staring at Ellie? How everything seemed to go on hold when she was walking toward the truck?”
I let out a scoff. “Please. Jeff would kick my ass if I so much as breathed on her.”
“Or like you said, Jeff might be happy knowing his little sister was with his best friend.”
The idea had crossed my mind more times than I wanted to admit the last week since I’d gotten a look at Ellie Johnson. I’d never admit it to Josh, though.
“You’re crazy. There’s a reason he’s kept her away from us. Respect that.”
Josh took a large bite of his apple and pointed to me. “You might want to say that to yourself, Mathews. I’ve never seen you look at a girl like that, and it was fucking dark out. You didn’t even get a good look at her.”
“It’s the forbidden that we’re drawn to, Josh. That’s all.”
His head tossed back, and he let out a roar of laughter. People sitting near us looked over at him.
“Okay, Mathews. You keep feeding yourself that line of bullshit. You and Jeff make a good team. Both of you are too damn scared to go after what you want.”
I lifted my middle finger and caused him to fall into another round of laughter. Smiling, I tried to blow off his words, but something deep down inside of me knew Josh was right.
I’d gotten a peek at Ellie Johnson, and I wanted more. A hell of a lot more.
Chapter Eighteen – Gunner
Gunner? Gunner, where are you?
Running through the trees, I tried to follow her voice. “Where are you? Show me where you are!” I shouted.
“Drew . . .”
I stopped in my tracks. No one called me Drew.
When I turned around, those blue eyes I’d seen before stepped out of the darkness. They were growing brighter.
I could feel the warmth of her as she moved closer to me. “Who are you?” I whispered.
When the showdown emerged, I stumbled back. My lungs felt like they were collapsing in on themselves as I fought to find air.
The breathtakingly beautiful woman before me smiled, but it was a sad smile. It didn’t reach those stunning eyes of hers.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I shook my head, trying to make sure I was seeing correctly.
When they opened again, she was closer to me, holding her hand out to me.
“Help me, Gunner.”
My hand reached for hers, but she was being pulled back into the dark shadows.
“No! Wait. Please wait!”
“Drew . . . I need you.”
Just as I was about to touch her hand, she vanished.
I stood there, staring at the fog in front of me, my heart pounding in my chest.
With a long sigh, I closed my eyes and whispered her name.
“Ellie.”
I shot up out of bed and nearly busted my ass. Standing in the middle of my bedroom, I placed my hands on my knees, and I dragged in a few deep breaths.
Holy fuck. I’ve been dreaming about Ellie this whole time?
“No. No. No. No. Nooo!” I shouted.
I cannot be dreaming about Ellie. Not Jeff’s sister. Not the one he has been keeping away from us for this very reason.
My hands pushed through my hair, where I grabbed tightly. What in the hell was wrong with me? Why was I dreaming about Ellie?
“You need to get laid, or it was the other night. It’s the forbidden shit. It’s . . . it’s . . . it’s so fucked up.”
The knock at my bedroom door had me screaming out like a girl.
“Dude, you got someone in there with you?” Jeff asked.
Rushing to the door, I jerked it open. “No! I’m not dreaming about anyone.”
Jeff’s brows pulled tightly together, and he jerked his head back. “I didn’t ask that. You screamed out like a pansy-ass. I was simply seeing if you wanted to go for a run with me.”
My eyes darted over to the clock. Six in the morning. “It’s so early.”
“Um, since when? You get up every morning and run.”
My heart was still racing, an
d I knew if I closed my eyes, I would see Ellie’s. I needed to be away from Jeff. Not running next to him as I thought about how I had dreamed about his sister last night.
Or maybe a run was what I needed.
“Yes! I need to run. I’ve some shit I need to work out of my head.”
He smiled. “Nothing like pounding the pavement to get it out.”
My hand brushed down my face. “Give me ten minutes to get ready.”
“You have five,” he stated while walking to the living room.
Rushing to the bathroom, I splashed my face with cold water, brushed my teeth, took a piss, and then hightailed it back to my room. A pair of jogging pants and a T-shirt would work fine. A late spring cold front had moved through, and the weather was supposed to be on the chilly side.
“Ready,” I called out as I walked into the kitchen.
Jeff handed me a water and a protein bar.
“No coffee?” I asked.
“Not before a run. Drink the water and eat the bar so you have some energy.”
I forced the bar down my throat. I never ate before my morning runs. At least I tried not to. “Jesus, it tastes like a cardboard box.”
Jeff laughed. “You get used to it. Let’s go; I’ve got some planning to do for Ellie’s graduation party in a few weeks.”
My body froze. Jeff turned back to look at me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Shaking it off, I forced a grin. “Nothing. Trying to get the rest of that brick into my stomach.”
He laughed and grabbed his iPod.
A good run was what I needed. I’d run that damn dream right on out of my head.
By the time Jeff and I got back to our place, I was covered in sweat. My heart raced in my chest, and my lungs burned.
“Jesus H. Christ, dude. I could hardly keep up with you,” Jeff panted, leaning down to rest his hands on his knees.
I paced back and forth in our front yard with my hands over my head, trying to open up my damn lungs to let more air in.
“I needed . . . that,” I panted.
“I’d fucking say so.” Jeff slapped my back and headed to the front door. He glanced back over his shoulder and said, “Get a shower! I want breakfast now, and Magnolia is calling my name.”