Wanted (32 page)

I thanked the nurse and walked over to where Ari was still sitting. She had her eyes closed and her music was blaring out from her iPod. She was going to end up with a massive headache
if she kept listening to the music that loud
. I sat down next to her and touched her arm. She jumped and opened her eyes. As soon as she saw
me she pulled the ear buds out.

“Well? Is he
okay
…..will he be alright? Do we know what even happened to him? What did they s
ay?”
Ari and her nervous jabber
.

“Um….well….he is
okay
. He has a mild concussion and he is a little confused
but they don’t think he
suffer
ed
any memory
loss. He has a really bad
cut that they are putting stitches in. They did take him t
o do a CT scan just because he’
s a football player and the doctor just wants to make sure everything is
okay
before they discharge him.
” I saw Ari’s w
hole body relax just a little and s
he let out a small sigh.

“So he can go home today?” She asked as she lo
ok
ed up at Gunner and then back down to me.

“Yes, if th
e scan comes back normal but I’
m sure it will. I have seen him take a lot harder shots in the head then what he to
ok
today.” Gunner said with a small smile.

“What happened? What is he doing fighting?!” Ari asked Gunner as he to
ok
a seat on the other side of us.

“
Yeah, what is this all about…
has
he
been sparing every day? I
didn’t think Jefferson had boxing as part of his workout routine.
” I sa
id as I reached for Ari’s hand.

I pretty much already knew the answer before I asked it. I remembered Jefferson sparing in high school to let out steam. It was always after our mother had gone on one of her drunken escapades. Jefferson to
ok
a bad hit once and walked around high school with a black eye the whole week. I asked him to stop doing it and he did. That is until Sunday morning.

“Um…..well…..I guess this is just his way of letting off a little steam. He was pretty upset with himself the day after the party. He stayed in his room almost the whole day until he told me he was going back to the g
ym to do a little sparing. He’
s been doing it at least twice a day. I tried to tell him he was going to get hurt but he told me he needed to do it.” Gunner had been lo
ok
ing everywhere but at Ari and me. Ari squeezed my hand and lo
ok
ed at me.

“Just like when he was in high school.” She said as a tear rolled down her face.

“What do you mean just like in high school?” Gunner asked.

“When my mother use to go on a week, or sometimes more, drunken binge Jefferson would head down to the Y and starting sparing with a few of the guys that were training for fights. He got hit so hard on
c
e time that
he got knocked out and
it caused him to get a black eye. I made him promise me he wouldn’t fight
anymore to let off steam. That’
s when he to
ok
to running.” Just then the nurse walked up to us.

“Miss
Johnson? Your brothe
r is back from his scan and he’
s asking for you.
He can have two
visitors at a time.
” The nurse smiled a small smile at me and turned to Gunner and gave him
a wink before she walked off.

I just rolled my eyes. Gunner didn’t even f
linch or give her a smile
back;
h
e
just kept looking
over at me and Ari.

“Do you
both want to head on back?” I’
ll wait here.”

Ari sho
ok her head no. “No, that’
s
okay
. I’
m fine waiting out here for right now. I think the two of you shoul
d go on back first.”

I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the head. “Be back in a few minutes swe
ets.” Ari gave me a weak smile as
Gunner and I turned and w
alked towards the nurse’s desk.

When I walked behind the curtain and got a lo
ok
at Jefferson my heart j
umped in my throat.
Oh.My.God
. H
e lo
oked terrible!
I let out a gasp and threw my hands up to my mouth.

He opened his eyes and lo
ok
ed at me and then at Gunner. He lo
ok
ed behind us like he was lo
ok
ing for someone else…….he was lo
ok
ing for Ari………

“Hey there little sis, w
hat brings you here
today?” He said with a chuckle.

“
Dammit
Jefferson this is NOT funny! You scared the shit out of us! You promised me you would never do this ever again. W
hy? Why did you do this?” I asked him
trying to bite back the
anger I was
feeling.

“What do you mean us?” Jefferson asked me.

“What?” Oh God….he is confused.

“You said us….you scared the shit out of us…..who is us?” Jefferson asked me as he kept lo
ok
ing over my shoulder.

“She’s in the waiting room. They only let two come back at the same time so Ari had Gunner and I come back first.” I sai
d,
knowing now what he was asking.

“Jeff, do you remember what
happened? Do you know why you’
re here?” Gunner asked.

“Yeah….I remember why Gun. I remember everything…..I wish I didn’t. I wish I could just forget it all.” Jefferson said with such a lost lo
ok
in his eyes.

“So all of this Jefferson, all this fighting the last few days was because of what happened Saturday night?” I asked as I to
ok
his hand in mine. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened the
m a tear rolled
down his face and he squeezed my hand.
His tear soaked eyes captured mine
.

“I’
m so sorry I disappointed you. I will never forgive myself for hu
rting you. You’
re all I have Ells…..I promise I will never disappoint you again.
Please tell me you
forgive me for being such a prick
.
Please Ellie…..
”

My heart started
to pound. Oh my God Jefferson.

“Of course I forgive you Jefferson. I love you more than anything you know that. Jefferson you can’t keep doing this…you have to stop. Having someone beat up on you like a punching bag is not going to make it go away, you have to talk to Ari. You have to tell
her
how sorry you are.” I said as I lo
ok
ed up at Gunner
who was watching me intensely.

“FUCK! I have been trying to tell her I’m sorry. She won’t
fucking
answer her phone when I call. I’ve been texting her to please call m
e and she just ignores me!
” The heart monitors they had Jeff connected to
started
to beep faster and faster…..

“Jeff, dude just calm down…..
let me go out and get Ari….she’
s right outside Jeff. Let me go get her.” Gu
nner said as a nurse walked in.

“Mr. Johnson is everything
okay
in here?” the nurse asked as she lo
ok
ed between Gunner and me.

“Jefferson
,
please just take a few deep breaths
okay
? It’
s alright Gunner is going to get Ari ri
ght now. Everything is fine….he
um,
just sta
rted to get a little upset. W
hen can we take him home?” I asked as the nurse starting taking
all of Jefferson’s vital signs.

“As soon as the doctor says he can leave we can start on the paper work. Until then…..please try to keep him calm.” Nurse
meanie
said as she walked back out the door.

“She’
s pleasant, she been your nurse the whole time?”

Jefferson laughed. “Yeah, but she has been pretty cool. I’m sorry Ellie I scared you. I love you sis….more than life itself. I
wanted to take you shopping last
Monday for your graduation gift. Maybe we could do
it tomorrow? What do you say?”

“
Ohhhh
….what type of store do we need to go to for this gift?!” I said as I hopped up and down. Jefferson was the BEST gift giver! I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to get me.

“A car dealership…….that type of store.” He said with a smile.

“Wait…..what? A car dealership…..shut the hell
up
Jefferson! You’
re buying me a car????! OH MY GOD! How can you afford to buy me a car?” I practically screamed out.

“
Gesh
Ells, try to keep it down. There are sick people here and my head is fucking killing me right now. Don’t worry about how I can afford it. I work and I must s
ay I am a pretty damn good
investor
when it comes to money. Think about what kind of car you want honey and we will go shopping tomorrow.”

I started to jump up and down I was so excited! The smile on Jefferson’s
face melted my heart. Just then
my phone beeped alerting me to a text message. I grabbed it out of my b
ack pocket. It was from Gunner.

Ari left.....she left a message with the nurse that she was heading back home
.

Fuck a duck! W
hy did she leave? I lo
ok
ed up at Jefferson. His smiled faded when he saw my face.

“She left
didn’t
she
Ellie?” he said with such a sad lo
ok
in his eyes.

“Yes, I’m afraid she did. I’
m so sorry Jefferson.” I said as I to
ok
his hand again in mine.

“
S’
okay
….I didn’t even really expect her to be here after what I did to her so…it’s no big deal. Um, can you go see about getting me out of here? I’m really ready to get home.”

I nodded my head and headed out the door. When I walked out to the nurses’ station Gunner was already talking about Jefferson being able to leave. They told him they were getting the paper work together a
nd it shouldn’t be much longer.

“Hey….everything
okay
with Jeff, does he know Ari left?” Gunner asked a
s he held open his arms for me.

I melted into his body. Only he could take away the hurt I was feeling. Hurt for Ari, for Jefferson…..shit….my own damn hurt. It al
l just melted away in his arms.

“Yes he knows she left. And no….he doesn’t seem
okay
. He’
s hurtin
g so bad Gunner. What do I do?”

“I don’t know sweetheart…..I really don’t know.” Gunner said has
he held me tighter in his arms.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Gunner…….

I w
oke
up Thursday morning with a sick feeling in my stomach
, like I was worried about something
. What the hell was that all about? Yesterday turned out to be a fucked up day. With Jeff spending most of the day in the ER, then bringing him home and getting him settled before I brought Ellie back to Ari’s house. Ellie sent me a text saying that Ari had not been home when she got there and was still n
ot home when Ellie went to bed and she was really worried about her. The fact that Ari left the hospital without seeing Jeff made Ellie upset.

What a fucked up mess. I sure as shit hoped Jeff and Ari could work out this cluster fuck cause
it was taking a toll on Ellie.

My s
weet
Ellie….god e
very
tim
e I thought about her I smile
d and had to adjust my damn dick
. This whole friend
thing was
turning out be
harder than I thought it would be. She was worth the wait though. She would always be worth the wait
.