Wanted (14 page)

Jeff let out a laugh. “Dude…
..
if I could tell you I would. I know that feeling of wanting something so ba
d……” Jeff just stopped and star
ed off into space.

“What
’s
going on Jeff?
Do you have feelings for Ari
?”

“WHAT?!
What the fuck makes you think that! Ari is like a little sister to me. I mean, she is, she is…..um she is annoying as hell. She talks to fucking much and she drives me nuts. The only feelings I have for that girl are feelings of annoyance!” Jeff said as he got up and to
ok
the two empty bottles of beer to the kitchen garbag
e.

“
Okay
,
‘
cause I was a bit surprised at how much you two were going at each other all day. I just got the feeling
there was some um….
.tension the
re.” I said as I wiggled my eye
brows up and down.

“Fuck you du
de. I had a shitty night and I’
m going to sleep.” Jeff said
as he headed to the bathroom.

“What? Was Rebecca not her normal bubbly cheerleader self tonight?!” I called after him. All I got in return was a middle finger shot in my direction.

CHAPTER Nine

ELLIE
…..

I w
ok
e up from a total dead sleep. I sat up confused for a few minutes. Where the hell was I? My heart started to beep rapidly.
I lo
ok
ed around and realized I was in Jeffers
on’s room. I
lo
ok
ed
down
at my hand. I was surprised it did not hurt nearly as much as it did yesterday. I pushed back the covers and walked out into the kitchen. I heard someone and my heart started to flutter. Was it Gunner?

“Hey there honey! Did you sleep
well
?” Jefferson said in a very chipper mood.

“You must have had a good night last night to be so happy first thing this morning.” I replied back with a yawn. I was NOT a morning person. I sat down
at the bar stool on the island.

Jefferson let out a laugh. “You never were a morning person Ells. And no, my night sucked. I couldn’t wait to get home. Did you have
any mor
e nightmares?

“Nope I slept like a b
aby.
Soooo
, what’
s with this date last night? How come it sucked?” I asked as Jefferson handed me a plate of scrambled eggs
and a Sunny D
. He started to whip up more eggs as he lo
ok
ed
over at me like he really didn’
t want to have this conversation.

“It sucked because the girl who I went out
with
is a cheerleader who cannot take no for an answer. I got tired of giving her excuses so I thought it would
be easier to just get it over with it and go out with her.”

“Hmm
m, so there is no special girl in your heart Jefferson?” I asked as I to
ok a
bite
of eggs
. God I have missed his eggs! How crazy was that?

Jefferson let out a small laugh. It almost sounded l
ike it was filled with sadness.

“Ells the only special girl I have in my heart is you honey. Always has been, always will be.” I smiled up at him an
d my heart melted. I was starting
to put two and two together. I really was beginning to think that Jefferson just
might have feelings for Ari
. Maybe I was way off here but someth
ing just was not right.

Speaking of things not being right…….

“Um, where is Gunner? Is he still sleeping?” I asked, trying not to sound like I carried
too
much where he was.

“Shit
no
that cowboy is not still sleeping! Ev
en if he is out partying until three am he is up by six
am and headed out to the gym for a workout.” Jefferson said as he grabbed his plate and a bottle of Sunny D from the refrigerator. “He runs up to the gym, works out and runs back damn near almost every day. He puts my workouts to sham
e.”

“Oh, wow. No wonder he lo
ok
s…
.
..” I shut my mouth before the next words came out. Good God, I needed to get a grip. This was just insane how this boy, no not boy, MAN……it was insane how this man affected me. I was starting to bounce my leg up and down hoping I would not
miss him before I had to leave.

“Do you have to work today Jefferson? I mean if you do I can give Ari a call to come and pick me up. I still have to go clean out my locker since I didn’t do it yesterday. I guess I need to go home today also.
Not that mom would
even notice I didn’t come home last night.” I said as
I got up to clean off my plate.

“Yeah hon
ey
I’m
sorry. Gunner’s last day was last week and today is mine. This internship has b
een great experience though. I’
m kind
of bummed out i
t’
s over. Gunner is excited because all he wants to do is head out to his grandparent’s ranch
.” Jefferson said with a smile.

From what Jefferson has said around me
about Gunner, he
absolutely adores his grandparent’s. Any free t
ime he gets he heads out to their ranch. God I want to go to the country!

“It is
okay
. I can just give Ari a call and see if she can come and pick me up. I know she was planning on working on her speech for tomorrow.” Just the mention of Ari’s name and I saw Jefferson tense up. YEP…..there was something there whe
ther he wanted to admit or not.

I heard the front open and I lo
ok
ed up. Holy fucking h
ell I think I’
m going to faint.

Gunner came walking into
the kitchen, no shirt on, sweating……really sweating….lo
ok
ing……really H.O.T. I had to remind myself to breath. FUCK ME this guy was to good lo
ok
ing for his own good.
Oh
gaww
d
his tattoo was so fucking sexy….holy hell…he had two! My eyes traveled up and down his perfect body.

Jefferson walked up and to
ok
his finger and used it to c
lose my lower jaw.

“Breath
e
sweet girl….breath
e
.” Jefferson whispered in my ear. It snapped me out of my temporary moment of insanity. I mean really…no one deserves to ha
ve a body that fucking amazing.

“Hey, morning
Ellie
.
How did you sleep? You need anything
,
pain pill
s
or anything?” Gunner asked as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed
a
water
from the refrigerator.

“You headed off to work Jeff?”

“Yep, leaving in a few minutes, can’t believe this is my last day. Hey Gun
ner
,
Ellie
needs a ride back up to the school to clean out her locker and then she needs to head home. You busy? Would you mind giving her a lift?” Jefferson asked as he lo
ok
ed at me with a shit eating grin on his face. I knew exactly what he was doing. I can’t believe my own brother was selling me out…
…..
bastard.

Before Gunner could eve
n answer I shot back, “No that’
s
okay
, I will give Ari a call,
she
can come and pick me it is no big d
eal.” I said as I gave Jefferson a dirty look and turned to look at Gunner.
I had to quickly lo
ok
away. Every time I lo
ok
ed at him I got
a dull ache between my legs. Jesus, I needed to just get away.

“Nonsense
Ellie
, it would be my pleasure to give you a ride
swee
…..um….I can give you a ride to where ever you need to go.” Gunner said with the sweetest smile. It was not lost on me how he was about to
call me sweetheart and stopped.

SHIT! I can’t believe I even said anything
last night
. Fuck!

“Yeah, besides, I thought you said Ari was working on her speech today for the graduation tomorrow.” Jefferson said as he started to walk to his bedroom. I sure as hell hoped that he could feel the daggers I was
throwing his way with my eyes.

“That is
very
sweet of you but I need to go to the school, clean out my locker and then head home.” I’m sure you have other things you need to do.” I said as I turned to see
him
staring at me.

Gulp…..it was hard
to swallow….hard to even think with him standing there with no fucking shirt on looking at me like that. Squeezing of legs….again……

“Nope…not a damn thing to do but
take you to clean out your locker
and then home, sounds like
those are my plans for the day. Maybe we can even stop and get a coffee at
Halcycon’s
after we clean out your locker.” Gunner said as he started to w
alk past me. He stopped and pushed
piece of my hair behind my ear. He sure liked doing that……He brought his hand down and ran it lightly down my jaw line.

Oh.My.God
. I literally felt a jolt of electricity run from
where he
touch
ed me
down to my toes. I was barely able to open my mouth let alone talk.

“
Okay
, um….yeah.
I um, I’
ve always wanted to
go there.” I said with a smile.

Oh shit
, I felt the blush moving up my face. Gunner just laughed and tapped my nose with his finger. “Damn sweethear
t, you’re cute as a button when you blush. I’
m going to go take a shower and get ready to leave. Give me a f
ew minutes and then we can head out okay
?”

“Sure, I still need to get ready myself. So….
okay
…meet
ya
back out here, so yeah
,
we can head out after that.”

Holy hell I jus
t needed to shut the hell up
.  At least he called me sweetheart again. My stomach got but
terflies the moment he said it.

I got up to head back to Jefferson’s bedroom to
get
ready to go. Oh
my gosh
I sure as shit hope I had something decent to wear packed.
Jefferson came walking down the hall dressed in dress pants and a button up shirt and a tie. WOW….I had to smile at how good lo
ok
ing my own brother was. He just
grabbed me and spun me around!

“You have a good day today sis
okay
?! I’
ll talk to you tonight and hey, invite whoever you want to
the party
tomorrow night. Talk to you later honey
okay
?”
He leaned down and kissed me on my cheek
.

Just then my I heard my cell phone ringing
so I ran into the bedroom to grab it
.

“Hello”

“
Sooooo
…..
bitch tell
me how it went last night!! I can’t imagi
ne much happened since Jeff
was there the whole time.” Ari didn’t waste a min
ute just jumping right into it.

I just laughed. Never one to not just get right to the
point that
was
my best friend…….
Arianna.

“Well, actually
Jefferson went out last night s
o Gunner and I ended up watching a movie.” Silence……..

“
Ari
are
you still there?”

“
Oh yeah……
sorry about that I’m
still here.
I guess I was just shocked to hear that Jeff would have gone out and left you alone with
Gunner. Wow. He must really trust
this guy to leave him alone with is little sister.” I had never heard so much disappointment in Ari’s voice. It br
ok
e my heart that she was so stuck on Jefferson and he just woul
d not give her the time of day.