Because of Ellison (11 page)

Hunter

Henry James was probably the scariest SOB I’d ever met in my
life. When he told me he could come up with 50 ways to kill me and hide my body
without going outside a mile of his house, I paid attention. I knew it didn’t
look good. First, he found me practically naked outside of Ellison’s window and
then, he found me with my tongue shoved as far down her throat as I could get
it. But, dammit, I’d do it again. She was amazing.
Everything
about her.
The way she looked. The way she smelled. The way she talked
and those crazy, ridiculous ideas she had. But her taste, holy shit,
her
taste … it was like nothing I’d ever experienced. It was
the perfect mixture of sugar and spice and I was addicted to it after only
tasting it one time. Her scent was all over me when I dragged ass up the stairs
and into my uncle’s house — and I loved it. My fucking legs felt like
they were on fire and my balls shriveled considerably after Henry told me what
he had planned for them if he caught me touching his daughter again — but
I didn’t fucking care. All I could think about was the feel of her lips on mine
and the feel of her silken hair wrapped around my fingers. I was thankful as
shit that Henry didn’t notice how rock hard I was when Ellison first crawled
off my body. It would have made for a much more awkward conversation in the
long run.

I quickly showered and
laid
down on
my bed sighing in relief to take the weight of my body off my legs. My heart
was hammering with thoughts of Ellison and I reached down to grab my crotch in
an effort to relieve myself of the ache I’d had since she’d been sitting on top
of me. My hand wasn’t enough; I needed her … wrapped around me … intimately. I
knew I shouldn’t do it. I was somehow completely obsessed with her and it had
only been three days. If I was this addicted already, I couldn’t imagine what I
would feel like if things ever went farther between us. I had to remember, I
didn’t live here. I was going home to my friends, to college — to my life
without her. The thought was depressing and I beat the shit out of my brain
trying to come up with a way to convince her to go with me. But I knew she’d
never leave her family and she’d never leave Lily. This was her home and mine
was over a thousand miles away.

I fell asleep for a few hours and woke again when Lily came
in my room. “Dinner’s ready. Thought you might be hungry after walking the red
trail with Ellison today. I’ve made that trip before and I know it’s brutal.

“Lil, I’m starving, but I don’t think my legs work anymore.
I seriously can’t feel them right now.”

She pinched me on the thigh … hard.

“Ow! Sonofabitch!”

Laughing, she pushed herself up off the bed. “See? You can still
feel them. Now, stop being such a baby and get your ass in the kitchen. El and
I are building a bonfire tonight in a clearing not too far from here. Some
other kids in town are going to meet us out there and you’ll miss out if you
don’t go.”

Ellison. That was the magic word. Suddenly I didn’t care if
I my legs would fall off if I used them again. I was getting up and I was going
to that bonfire.

When I sprung up, Lily gave me a funny look. “I’m starting
to think you have a thing for Ellie. I haven’t seen you move that fast since
you’ve been here. Did something happen on your walk today that I don’t know
about?”

I rubbed my eyes into focus and looked up at her. “Have you
talked to her since we’ve been back?”

“No.”

“Then I will leave that information to the girl talk. I’m
going to treat Ellison right and do the gentlemanly thing by not talking.” I
winked and Lily laughed. “Hey, Lil, before you go. Can I borrow your phone? I
want to check in at home.”

“Sure! But go easy on the minutes. It’s a cheap phone and I
can’t afford too many for the month.” She grabbed her phone from her back
pocket and tossed it in my direction.

“Thanks.” After she’d left the room, I checked my voicemails
and cringed to hear Tiffany’s voice.

Fifty. There were 50 messages total and in each one, her
voice got louder and more annoying. I didn’t listen to more than the first
three words of each message, but it was pretty clear by her tone of voice that
she was mad. Real mad. And I wondered if she’d bothered to go by my parents’
house to find out what happened to me.

I wanted to move forward with Ellison. I knew it was wrong,
I knew that we didn’t have that much time to be together, but I was willing to
risk my heart for just the memory of her. Three days and she’d already touched
a part inside me I didn’t even know existed. But if I was going to do this, I
was going to be honorable about it, and there was baggage back home that I
needed to unload.

Quickly, I dialed Tiffany’s number and pumped my fist in the
air when it went to her voicemail. This was a cheap move. I knew that; but it
had to count for more than a text message, right?

“Hey Tiff. Listen, I’m in Florida for the summer and I’ve
been thinking a lot about things. I think we should split up and I don’t have a
lot of time to explain, but I wanted to let you know so you could hopefully
move on while I’m away. If you want, we can talk more about it when I get home.
Sorry to break up over voicemail, but I’ve been stripped of my phone and
everything, so this is the only chance I have to tell you.”

I hung up. It was done and it was done without several hours
of screaming and crying. My exile was the best thing that could have happened …
I ditched Tiff without drama and it would give her time to move on before I
returned. But, more importantly, I’d met Ellison James and I knew that just
knowing the girl was going to change my life forever.

~
    
~
    
~

When Lily said ‘bonfire’, what she really meant to say was
‘tower of flame that had to be illegal in most states and the heat from which would
melt your plastic solo cup if you got too close.’ It was impressive. I couldn’t
imagine how long it’d taken these guys to construct the monstrosity, but I was
slightly afraid that the entire fucking forest was about to go up in flame.
However, looking around, I appeared to be the only person with any concern.
I’ll admit the space that was cleared out was large and we were nowhere near
trees or other vegetation, but if the wind picked up the wrong way, we were
going to be in some definite trouble.

Lily tugged on my arm. “You look like you’re about to shit
your pants. Is it the bonfire that’s scaring you or was it Ellison’s driving?”

Let me stop here to explain what happens when a person rides
with Ellison James. First, you must understand that she drives around in a 1979
Jeep that is practically held together with duct tape and electrical tape. She
has the engine tuned just enough that it only blasts out one incredibly large
puff of smoke when it starts; but for most of the journey, she’s not creating holes
in the ozone around the areas she travels. The Jeep had no
doors,
no roof and the floor had holes in it. If a person was brave enough to climb
into the hunk of metal after taking a good look at it first, then the rest of
the ride they had coming to them. Ellison took off fast, she drove fast, she
stopped fast, and she turned fast. Sometimes the car was on the road, and
sometimes it was on the shoulder. That didn’t appear to faze Ellison, she just
ignored the flying rocks and dirt her tires kicked up and she bounced in the
driver’s seat happily singing along to … and you’ll want to brace yourself for
this … Kenny Rogers’
The Gambler
. I
kid you not. While Ellison was off in la-la land having warm thoughts about
poker games and whiskey, Lily and I were holding on for dear life. I’m not a
religious man, but I prayed more during that trip than I’d done my entire life.
And there were a good number of praying incidents in my past — mostly
when cops were involved.

“A little of both, I think. Are you sure we’re not going to
start a forest fire with this thing?” I pointed at the fire but then quickly
pulled my hand back to my body when a few of my arm hairs sizzled. Holy shit
that thing was hot.

There were people everywhere; spread out on blankets,
sitting on trailers beds and just laid out in the grass or lawn chairs. It was
high energy and people were having a good time. Music blasted out of the
speakers of a few of the cars and I enjoyed watching people laughing and joking
around with one another. When we’d arrived, Ellison had grabbed a guitar case
from the back of her Jeep and had taken off so fast; I’d lost sight of her. She
was acting really weird towards me since the incident with her father and I
didn’t want to push the issue. But I was pissed. The only reason I was at the
party was for her and in the 30 minutes we’d been here, I hadn’t spotted her
once. There were a couple of kegs near the trucks. I’d already had two beers
and I was working my way towards another refill when a hand fell on my
shoulder.

“Hey, Hunter. I’m surprised to see you out tonight. Did you
know Ellison’s here?”

I turned around to find Finn standing behind me. He was
dressed casually in jeans, a black shirt and cowboy boots. He wore a straw
cowboy hat on his head and I rolled my eyes at the typical ‘southern’ look he
was going for. But then, what did I know? From what Ellison told me, he was the
typical ‘southern’ guy, so I guess it fit.

“Uh, yeah, I rode over with her.”

He smiled. “And you’re standing upright already? First ride
in Ellison’s Jeep and I was kissing the ground for a solid two hours when it
ended just because I was thankful to be alive.” He walked up to the keg with me
and we both filled our cups. “She didn’t tell me she brought you along. I
thought you two hated each other or something after the incident with the dogs.
But if you’ve made up, I guess you should come over and sit with us.”

Two things occurred to me at that moment. The first was that
I hated the fact that Ellison hadn’t mentioned she’d brought me when she
apparently immediately went out and found her ex; and second, I hated that this
guy was as nice as he seemed to be. I wanted to hate him. I wanted to not want
to hate him. I wanted to not care about Ellison the way that I was.

“Are you sure that’s cool?”

“Well, hell yeah. Your cousin and her man are sitting with
us and you’ve met El’s brother, Jake.” His smile was genuine — and I
wanted to smack it off his face. That was shitty of me, I know.

We arrived at the blanket and Lily was curled up with Ryan,
Jake had some girl I didn’t recognize tucked into his side and El was sitting
up, holding a guitar in her lap. She was strumming softly and humming a song so
low, I could barely hear it over the music from the cars. Finn immediately took
a seat beside her and I was stuck sitting on the outskirts of the circle.

Third wheel —
table for one.

Damn if this wasn’t awkward.

Finn sat back and his arm went behind Ellison close enough
that it was brushing up against her back. She looked beautiful illuminated by the
firelight and the shadows danced along her body and hair; making it
appear
that she was swaying to the music. She looked up at
me for a moment when I sat down, but her eyes shifted back to her guitar
quickly. The next half hour was pretty quiet while the two couples did their
thing and the three of us took our time absorbing our surroundings. Finn was
the first to talk.

“So, what are you doing down here for the summer, Hunter?
Jake tells me you’re Lily’s cousin, but that’s all I know. Is there any reason
in particular why you came down, or is it just a family reunion type thing?”

“I need a beer.” Ellison pushed up suddenly, handed her
guitar to Finn after she’d stood and she walked in the direction of the kegs.
Finn had an odd expression on his face when she walked away, but he seemed to
shake it off by the time he looked back over to me. He started to strum the
guitar while he waited for me to answer and he played well.

Of course. Fucking, of
course, he’s the sensitive guitar-playing guy!

I was more annoyed than ever.

I cleared my throat. “Well, uh, my parents sent me down
because I pissed them off. I’m going back at the end of the summer to attend
Harvard. I got a full ride for academics, so I have to make sure I return for
that.” It was cheap, and I was
puffing
out my chest
like El would say, but I had to show this asshole up. The
fucked up part was that he probably hadn’t intended to show off with the
guitar, making me the real asshole.

He laughed softly. “What’d you do to piss them off?”

“I parked my car at the bottom of their pool.”

Finn’s eyes grew wide and he whistled. “Well, damn, yeah, I
can see where that would piss a person off. Were you in the car when it went
for a swim?”

“No. I was sleeping when it happened. I think. I don’t know,
I was pretty trashed and it could have gone for a dip as soon as I stepped out
of it and I wouldn’t have noticed.”

His eyes searched me after I said that. He was sizing me up
and, judging by the look on his face, he wasn’t too impressed with his
competition — if he even knew I was competition. “You must party hard to
get that fucked up.”

“I have,” I admitted. There wasn’t any point lying about it.
I’m sure Bill told Henry and Henry told El. It might have been the reason she’d
been acting strange.

Ellison returned with a solo cup in her hand. She gulped
down the beer and I raised my eyebrow to see her drink as quickly as she was. I
knew she didn’t like to get fucked up. I mean
,
this
was the same girl who’d stayed sober while drinking pitchers the night before
for fuck’s sake. Why was she now drinking like a fucking fish?”

When she’d finished, she set her cup aside and grabbed the
guitar from Finn before asking him to get her another drink. When he left, she
started playing a song, but I interrupted.