Wanted (35 page)

Shit……

As soon as I walked outside Gunner jumped out of Jefferson’s truck and helped me into the front seat. He kissed the back of my hand and his smile grew larger when he saw the blush creep up into my cheeks. Shit! Why does he have this affect on me!

Snap out of this Ellie!

I turned to lo
ok
at Jefferson who leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I saw him lo
ok
past me like he was lo
ok
ing for Ari to be right behind me. There went that sick feeling again.

“Good
mornin
’ honey!” Jef
f said as he lo
ok
ed over my shoulder
. “Um, where is Ari?  I thought for sure she would be coming with you to pick out your new car.”
He kept lo
ok
ing at me and then back at the house.

“She um,
she really wanted to come but she had already made plans for today.” I said as I tried to think of a way to change the subject before he asked me what her plans were.

To late…..

“Oh really?
What could be more important than her best friend getting a new car?!” Jefferson said
as he stared at Ari’s house.

“I guess she had lunch plans.
” I said with a shrug and turned back to lo
ok
at Gunner.

“
Gunner I
‘
m so
glad
you’re coming with us!
”

“Do you know what kind of car you want Ells?”
Clearly he knew I was trying to change the subject but
Jefferson was not
letting this go.

“Who did she have lunch plans with?”
He asked before I could answer Gunner.

Fuck a duck….why me? Damn Ari right n
ow for putting me in this spot.

“Um…with um, an old friend from high school or something.”
I said as I lo
ok
ed up at Jefferson who was staring at the house
still
. I turned to lo
ok
and I could see Ari standing in the window
talking on the phone, probably to Jason still
.

“Is it Jason Reed? Is he the
old friend
from high school?” Jefferson asked as he lo
ok
ed back at me.

God when I got back I was going to lay into Arianna! Her stupid childish behavior
put me here
in the middle of all of this
…….. FUCK!

I lo
ok
ed up at Jefferson and did the only thing I could do. “
Yes Jefferson,
she is having lunch with Jason Reed today. I guess they ran into each other at the country club yesterday.”

“Did he take her out last night?”

“
Umm
…..she mentioned something like that.” Oh dear God pl
ease Gunner change the subject.

Just then Gunner cleared his throat and Jeff
erson seemed to snap out of it.

“Brad called
earlier
to see if we wanted to join
him and Amanda at Rebels tonight.
Do you think you would maybe like to
go?” Gunner asked me as Jefferson started to pull out of Ari’s driveway.

Oh God
if I could jump across this seat right now I would so plant my lips on
to
his! I turned around and he winked at me. I smiled back.

“Heck yeah I would love to go!
Ari, Amanda, me and Heather
have all been there once before. Are you going to ride the mechanical bull?”
I asked with a smile
and a wink
.

Gunner threw his head back and laughed. “NO! But Jeff here…..he can ride that thing
like he grew up in the
damn rodeo!”

“Wait…..did you just say Amanda
AND
Brad were going?
Like as in…they are going together…as
like
a couple?”
I asked as it hit me what Gunner had just said.

Jefferson a
nd Gunner both let out a laugh.

“Yep….lo
ok
s like your little friend Amanda left an impression on Brad!” Jefferson said
as he raised his eye
brows up and down
.

“I guess so.” I said as I laughed along with them.

“
Why don’t you g
o ahead and invite Ari
to come along tonight also
. Maybe her and her
friend
Jason would like to go
.” Jefferson said with sarcasm dripping from his mouth.

“
Oh
okay
yeah
, I’
ll send her a te
xt. What time do you think we’
ll go?” I asked as I turned to lo
ok
at Gunner.

“How about I pick you up early and we grab a bite to eat. Then we can just meet everyone there. Does that sound
okay
to you Jeff?” Gunner asked as he gave me a wink. I saw his eyes lo
ok
down and land on my daisy necklace. I reached up and touched it with my fingers and his eyes
instantly
snapped back up and captured my eyes
. His smile just about melted my heart.
I tried not to but I dropped my eyes to his lips. Those beautiful soft lips…..Shit…
..
I wanted
those lips on mine so damn bad
. I felt my ton
gue run over my now dry lips as I
lo
ok
ed back up at Gunner.

Oh my……. The smile that was on his face was replaced by a lo
ok
of
pure lust
. I felt
a tremble go through my whole body and
the
heat instantly on my cheeks.
He leaned forward
and brushed his hand along the side of my face
and gave me th
at cro
ok
ed smile of his
. He sat
back once Jefferson started to talk.

Holy hell………I could still feel the heat on my face from
where his hand touched my skin.

“That sounds like a plan
. We’ll just plan on meeting there around 8:30
. Now…..Ellie…
…
what kind of car do you
want
?” Jefferson said
as he lo
ok
ed over at me with
a huge smile on
h
is face
.

“Well do I have a pric
e range I have to stick with?!”

Jefferson laughed….”Not really, just
no
BMW’s
okay
?”

“
OKAY
! Then I’m thinking fuel efficie
nt here.”

Jefferson and Gunner both laughed. “I’m sure you are honey.” Jefferson said with a wink.

“A Honda Accord if that is something we can afford.” I said
as I watched Jefferson’s face.

“Some
how I knew that is what you were going to say. Let’s go get you a car.”

I never thought shopping for a car would be so
much
fu
n! I ended up with
a silver
2013
Honda Accord. Between Jefferson and Gunner the poor salesman had no hope. They got it for $300 below invoice and Jefferson wrote a check for the whole amount. When he saw my shocked expression he told me he had put money aside from our grandmother’s inheritance and had been adding to it the last three years
plus what it earned in investments
.

I ran into his arms and gave him a huge hug. I would be so lost wi
thout him.

I was on my way to pick up Gunner in my new car with Taylor Swifts
“
Fearless
”
blasting from the speakers. This
song reminds
me of how I feel
when I’m with Gunner. I had to smile as I
was singing along to the words
. I had invited Ari to come along but she said she had made other plans with Jason and
said
maybe another time.

I pulled up to Gunner’s house and he was sitting on the front porch on his cell phone. As soon as he saw me he smiled and must have said he had to go to whoever he was talking to. He jumped up and jogged over to the car. I turned Taylor down and put the car in park. He hopped up and l
eaned over and kissed my cheek.

SHIT
…..there goes that all too familiar ach between the legs…..I tried with all my might not
to let out a moan……..
for
P
ete
’
s
sakes
it was just a kiss on the cheek Ellie!

Gunner and I ate at a little Mexican restaurant in Hyde Park and then headed downtown to Rebels. We spent most of the night just sitting at a table talking. Amanda and Brad sure were getting along. They practically hung on each other all night. Jefferson seemed disappointed that Ari was not there but he quickly recovered and spent most of the night dancing. I swear every time he sat down 6 girls would walk up to him and ask him to dance. He tried being as polite as he could and danced with most of them but by 11:30 he was exhausted
. He started turning them down.

I was shocked at how many girls
completely
ignored me sitting with Gunner and asked him to dance. He turning them down even though I told him I didn’t care. I mea
n, we were just friends….right?

Then
she
showed up.

I noticed her chattin
g it up with Jefferson first but when she
first
walked up
Gunner said hi
to her
.
Her name was Lori. From what I could tell she must be majoring in Architectural Engineering as well.
She soon turned her attention on Gunner. He introduced us and she did pretty much everything she could to keep me out of the conversation.

“So, your name is
Ellen did you say? Your Jeff’s little sister right.” Lori said to me with a fake ass smile.

“It’s Ellie….and yes
,
I am Jefferson’s sister.” I said back with a fuck you smile of my own.

“So Gunner I didn’t know you were dating someone, let alone Jeff’s baby
sister.”

Gunner lo
ok
ed at me. I know he was waiting for me to respond. So
……
me
being the idiot I am…
.I answered the question for Gunner.

“Gunner and
I are just friends Lori. We’
re not dating.”
A smile spread across her plastic lo
ok
ing face.

That was
all the
bitch needed to hear and s
he jumped up and grabbed Gunner’s arm
and pulled him half way up.

”T
hen let’s dance
!”
Lori said as she was smiling at me.

Gunner went to sit back down, “Um no rea
lly I’
m here with Ellie Lori and…”

“It’s fine….go dance Gunner
, we’re not together
you can dance with someone else
.” What the fuck? I said
that
before I could stop myself.

Gunner turned and lo
ok
ed at me. I saw the hurt in his eyes an
d he just sho
ok
his head.
He looked mad.

OH MY GOD! I just
wanted to slap myself for being so fucking stupid. I’m sure I just pissed him off with my whole ‘we’re just friends bit’.

“
See
….she wants you to dance Gun.” Lori the bitch said as she winked at me and walked with
her arm wrapped around Gunners.

Just then Usher’s
“
Hot
Tottie
”
started.
REALLY?
Why that song of all songs?

Because life was serving me up another plate full of SHIT!

I ju
st sat there and tried not to watch
them dancing. I lo
ok
ed over at Jefferson who was watching Gunner. He lo
ok
ed over at me and gave me a small
weak
smile. Well fuck……
that
just
made me want
to lo
ok
at them.