Wanted (31 page)

“What are you doing Ari?” Ellie asked as she walked up to Ari.

“O
h
nothin
’, just deleting Rebecca
’
s number from Jeff’s
phone.
”
She set the phone down on the table as Ellie and I busted out l
aughing.

Yep….Jeff
was in for a wild ride whether
he wanted it or not!

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Ellie……

It had been four
days since
the party and
I had
not
seen Gunner
yet
. I talked to him on the phone everyday at least twice a
day. He called me first thing every morning because he wanted to be the first person I heard each day. Then every night he would call to tell me goodnight. By the third day I was so
excited waiting for his calls.

It was Wednesday
and Ari and I were going to go lo
ok
ing at apartments. I was stressing out about it as I was going to have to work to help pay my share and I was taking a pretty heavy load the first semester. Just then I heard my
phone on the side of the table and
I reached over to answer it.

“Good morning
Gunner!” I said with as much of
a purr to my voice as I could.

“Good morning to you sweetheart, how did you sleep?” Gunner asked with a laugh.

“I slept
okay
. I have a lot on my mind so I tossed and turned a lot. How about you? How did you sleep?”

“Like shit….your smell is gone from my bed so
I can’t sleep in it anymore. I’
m going to need you to come to my house right away, get naked and roll around in my bed…..while I watch of course!”

I let out a laugh. He always knew how to make me laugh! I loved to hear his voice over the phone. It made my whole body just tingle. Shit if he only knew how much I would love to do just that but…….I can’t go there. We have to stay friends.

“The only way I would do that is if you had those blueberry muffins ready and waiting for me.” I said with a giggle. I shouldn’t be flirting with him like this but damn….it was so much fun! Ryan never flirted with me
like this.

“Fu
ck Ellie….don’t tempt me or I’
ll be baking all damn day! What are you doing today? I want to see you.” Gunner said so soft and sweet.

“ARGH….Ari and I are going to lo
ok
at apartments
so she made me block out my whole day for that.
I’m not sure how this is going to work out though. I am a bit nervous about it.
”

“Don’t worry sweetheart, it will all work out. Do you think we could go out for dinner tonight? Not on a date….just as friends?” Gunner asked as I heard a bunch of people yelling in the background.

“Um, yes I would love that! Where are you? It sounds like there is a party going on there.” I asked as I heard a knock on my door. Ari opened it and I waved for her to come in and sit down on the bed.

“Yeah….
I’m
at the gym.” Gunner said as he sounded a bit distracted.

“My goodness, what time do you get up to go to the gym Gunner? It is only 7:30 in the morning!” I said as Ari started to giggle next to me.

“Jeff and I try to get in a run and
a workout first thing each day
. That way if I have the time I ca
n sneak in another one later on
. Makes it easier for me to just get it done within the morning and…….”

Gunner’s voice trailed off. The
n I heard Gunner start cursing.

“Oh fuck no….I knew this was going to fucking happen.” Gunner shouted.

“Gunner?
Gunner! What’
s wrong?
Gunner!”
I shouted back into the phone.

“Um, Ellie sweetheart…..I need to let you go for a second. Jeff has been sparing all week since the party and he just got knocked out. Let me call you right back
okay
sweetheart?” Gunner said in what sounded like a bad attempt to keep my calm.

“WHAT! OH MY GOD…is he
okay
?
Gunner please call
me right
back as soon as you can. I’
m getting dressed now!” I shouted into the phone.

“Ellie…listen to me….calm down
okay
. Give me five
minutes and I’
ll call you back.”

I started to cry, oh my god what the hell was Jefferson doing fighting? I managed to let out an
okay
before Gunner hung up.

“Jesus Ellie what the hell is wrong?” Ari asked as I flew up out of bed and started to throw on a p
air of jean shorts and a UT t-
shirt.

“It’s Jefferson! He’
s hurt or knocked out or something! I don’t know!” I started to say in between my sobs.

“Jeff is hurt? Oh my god how???? Wait….let me go get dressed!” Ari flew out of my room while I went and brushed my teeth and threw my hair up in a pony. Please Gunner call
me
back…..
please………
my heart was beating s
o fast I could hardly stand it.

I was putting my sneakers on when Ari busted through the door again. She was already dressed.

“What’s going on Ells?” Ari said with tears in her eyes.

“I’m not sure…..I mean I was talking to Gunner and he mentioned that he was at the gym. Jefferson must have been there with him….I heard all this yelling in the background, Gunner seemed to be distracted when he was talking to me……. and then Gunner just started swearing and said something like he knew this was going to happen. Um…something about
Jefferson had been sparing ever
since the morning after the party and he just got knocked out! Oh my god Ari…if anything happens to him…..” I br
ok
e down and cried hysterically.

Ari to
ok
me in her arms. I saw her wiping away tears from her face a
s she rocked me back and forth.

“
It’s
okay
sweets…..don’t worry. Gunner would never le
t anything bad happen to Jeff and
besides Jeff is huge! Even if he was boxing with someone he would for sure kick their ass! I’m sure it is going to be fine…..
shhh
…don’t worry Ells…..” I think Ari was trying to calm herself down more than she was
me. I could tell she was just
as worried as I was.

My cell phone rang.

“Gunner,
please tell me he is
okay
!” I practically screamed into the phone.

“Ellie
sweetheart,
he is awake now but he is really confused. He has
a big gash in his forehead and he is going to need stitches. I’
m taking him to
the
ER right now.” Gunner said in such a calm voice.

“What do you mean he’
s confused? Which hospital are you taking him to?” I saw Ari’s
face when I mentioned hospital.

“Seton main, but p
lease
be careful
driving here Ellie
okay
sweetheart. Why don’t you make sure Ari drives
okay
?
I have to go so I can drive.
”

“
OKAY
! Please get him there fast Gunner and please be careful driving. I will get there as soon as I can.” I jumped up and grabbed my purse. Ari was still sitting on the bed…..

“ARI!
We need to get to the hospital now!” I shouted at her.

She jumped up and ran down the stairs. We
both ran right into Ari’s dad.

“Hey….whoa what is going on girls? Why are you in such a rush and why the
hell are
both of
you
crying?”
Mark
asked.

“Jefferson! He’
s been hurt and Gunner is taking him to Seton we need to get there!” I could not believe I managed to get it out my voice was shaking so bad. Ari just
stood there…not saying a word.

Mark
pulled out his cell phone. “
Okay
….well there is no way either one of you is going to drive
this upset
. Let me
get
Br
ian to pull the car up and he’
ll take you both.”

Next thing I knew
,
w
e were heading to the hospital and
Ari was just sitting in the back seat with me staring out the window. I managed to stop crying when I got a text message from Gunner saying that they were at the hospital and
they had taken Jefferson back.

My heart was beating so fast. I had not talked to Jefferson since Sunday morning and I never even said goodbye to him when I left. The last thing we did was
yell
at each other. Oh my god…please….please dear God I will do
anything……
Please just let him be
okay
.

We pulled up at the ER and I jumped out of the car. I turned around and Ari was just sitting in the back seat still.
“Ari?
Are you coming honey? Did you change your mind about coming with me?” I asked as she turned to lo
ok
at me. The tears where just pouring down her face…..she sho
ok
her head no and started to slide out of the car. I thanked Brian and told him we had a ride home.

I rushed into the ER and the first thing I saw was Gunner sitting in a chair. He stood up as soon as he saw us walk in. I flew into his arms so hard he lost his balance for a second. I lost it and started to cry again.

“
Sh
hh
…Ellie sweetheart it’
s going to be
okay
. Don’t cry baby……please don’t cry.” Gunner said has he str
ok
ed my hair with his hand. I grabbed onto his shirt and almost let out a yell, my hand was sti
ll hurting
.

“What’s going on? How is he?” I said between sobs.

“Honey they wo
n’t tell me anything because I’
m not family so I don’t know what’s going on. Let’s head over to the nurse and let her know you are here
okay
?” Gunner said has
he wiped the tears off my face.

I lo
ok
ed at Ari and she was sitting down. She had stopped crying and had wiped her face clear of any evidence that she was
ever
crying. You could tell she had been crying
though
because her eyes were red. I smiled at her and she
smiled a weak smile back at me.

“I will just sit here and
wait if that’
s
okay
?” Ari said so quietly I almost had to strain to hear her.

I saw her take her iPod out of her purse and put her head phones in. I heard
Col
bie
Caillat’s
“
Realize
”
start up and m
y heart br
ok
e…….shit……Ari must be feeling even worse than me. How did I not even think about how this was affecting her?

Gunner to
ok
my left hand into his hand and guided me over to the nurses’ station. I lo
oked back at Ari one more time and s
he
just
lo
ok
ed so scared and lost.

The nurse told us that Jefferson had a mild concussion and that he was confused about what had happened. He didn’t seem to have any memory loss that they could tell but because he was a football playe
r the doctor wanted to do a CT
scan. He also had a pretty big cut above his eye that they
were putting stitches in.

I asked if they needed me to fill out any paper work but she told
me Gunner had filled out most of the paper work
and I just needed to sign a few paper
s
.
I lo
ok
ed up at Gunner who just gave me that cro
ok
ed smile and m
y heart melted again…..how will I ever surv
ive without him in my life now?

“When can we go back and see him?” I asked the nurse.

“Once he comes back from
getting the CT scan I will
take you back there. If the scan co
mes back normal we will start the
process of discharging him.” The nurse said with such a sweet smile. Of course
I did notice how she kept eyeing up
Gunner. I guess that is to be expected with how damn good lo
ok
ing he is.