Wanted (4 page)

Bastards……

I looked at Gunner again.
There was somethin
g about him
. I was shocked by my immediate intense feelings for him especially after what had just happened. I lo
ok
ed his body up and down as I licked my lips after my mouth went dry in an instant. I tried to tear my eyes away from him but c
ouldn't. He was built just a
bit bigg
er than Jefferson. He had
brown hair that had that perfect messy lo
ok
only a guy this hot could pull off. I lo
ok
ed up to
his eyes…. holy shit…those
beautiful blue eyes. I could see myself getting so lost in those eyes. I dragged my eyes down away from his face and they went right to his
large muscular chest. He
had a tattoo
, YUM
. I could see part of it on his arm, just sticking out from under his tight white tee shirt. You could almost see his black tribal tattoo under his shirt if you lo
ok
ed hard enough and I sure as hell was lo
ok
ing hard. It appeared to start on his chest and moved up his shoulder and back down onto his arm. What I wouldn’t do to get a peek of t
hat and run my fingers along…….

OKAY
!
Wait…..
Hold the fucking fort
Ellie
! Good god what am I doing? I had to shake my head to clear my thoughts. I was practically undressing my br
other’s best friend in my mind.

No! I will never let myself be hurt again by another man. My mother was right;
no one would ever want me and
Ryan was proof of that.
I was
never
going to
let another man into my life to hurt me ever again.

Just th
e
n I was brought back to the real
world
by Ari
asking me to let her see my hand.
When
she got there I have no clue.

“OH FUCK…..
ELL
S
!
Jeff
! We need to get
Ellie
to the hospital like RIGHT NOW!”
Ari
was screaming trying
to get Jefferson’s attention.

“Dude listen to me, your sister is hurt. We need to get her to
the doctor
. Don’
t worry about this fuck wad Jeff
. We can take care of him later” Gunner said as he gave Ryan a lo
ok
that oozed
out hate and disgust.
If I had not known better I would have thought he wanted to kil
l Ryan more than Jefferson did.

Jefferson’s body relaxed in an instant. I have never seen anyone calm my brother down that fast. Jefferson
w
alked over to Ryan and leaned in
close enough so that Mr. Watson did not hear but I sure as hell heard it.

“I will be back for you
bastard
.”
Jefferson hissed.

“Let’s go Jeff” Gunner said
as he guided
Jefferson away from what Ari
was now calling
‘
the crime scene
’
.

We started to wa
lk down the hall to go outside when Ari started her famous rattling ways.

“They are for sure not going to let you walk now Ell
s
…oh my god
,
what
the hell
were you thinking hitting him and doing it right here
in school in FRONT of everyone??
I mean I know you are third in the class but they might not let you walk!!!
I can’t be up there giving a speech knowing my best friend is not going to be walking with me on the same stage!
Have I
not taught you a damn thin
g?!
I mea
n, you needed to wait…..”

“Arianna
!
Please
,
shut the fuck up
will you?” Jefferson shouted
.

Even though
my hand
was so swollen and hurt like hell,
I had
to giggle. Jefferson and Ari
had
a lov
e/hate relationship. Ari
lov
ed
Jefferson and Jefferson seemed to hate
Ari
.
It was not
always like that
though
.

W
hen I was ten
ye
ars old Ari
became my best friend in school after she moved from Da
llas to Austin. Jefferson was thirteen
and use
d
play with us and tease the shit out of Ari.
Then som
ething changed when we were in ninth
grade
and he was a senio
r. He would barely lo
ok
at Ari
. He never wanted to be around her and that made life a bit d
ifficult for me. I know he cares for
her like a sister though. When Brad Roberts bragged
that he was going to take Ari
out to her parent’s lake house one wee
kend and take
her virginity, Jefferson found out about it and
beat the shit out of Brad. Ari of course
to
ok
that has a si
gn of his undying love for her.

I
to
ok
it as he was protecting his little sister’s best friend
because
Jefferson just does things like that. That is why I need
ed
him so much
and would be lost without him.

Ari
and Jefferson continued to bicker back and forth all the way out to Jefferson’
s
truck
,
I just tuned them out because my hand was hurting so much otherwise
I would have been annoyed with their bickering.

Jeffers
on helped me up into the
back seat of his Ford
F250
.
Gunner ran up behind him and handed me a bag full of ice. HUH? Where and when d
id he get that?

“Thank you ah,
um
,
Gunner.” I stuttered out.

Jesus what was wrong with me?
I could not even talk right.
Why did he give me such weird feelings? Just when I thought it could not get any worse he smiled
at me.

Fuck me….those
beautiful sky
blue eyes and
perfect white straight teeth to round out the most be
autiful smile I have ever seen.

“No problem
Ellie
. Try to keep it up above your heart sweetheart and here, take these Advil.”
He handed me Advil and water.

Gul
p, I could not even speak. Ari
leaned
over and whispered in my ear, “Breathe Ell
s
, B
reath
e.” I sucked in a long
breath and managed to thank him for t
he ice, bottle water and Advil.

“Hey, I’m Ari
by the way
, Ell
ie
’s best friend.”
Ari said
.

Gunner gave her the sweetest smile
then leaned in a bit closer to me.

“Let’s get you to the doctor
,
what
do you say?” Gunner
whispered against my ear. The feel of his hot breath against my face ca
used my body to start to shake.

“
Ahhh
, yep
okay
, doctor sounds good, yep let’s go, let’s roll,
let’s
do
this
thing
.”

Okay
why was my mouth still talking wh
en clearly my brain had
checked out the moment he smiled at me
? He shut the door and jumped into the front passenger seat.
Jefferson started his truck and of course
,
Tim McGraw’s
“
Truck Yeah
”
started up. I swear to God if I had to hear that song one more time I was going to hurl.

I lo
ok
ed over to Ari
who had a shit eating grin on her face. She leaned over and said low enough to where only I would hear her. “
Okay
that
boy wants in your panties!!!”

I just gave her my best SHUT THE HELL up lo
ok
and said “PESH…You’
re crazy!
H
ave I told you lately you seriously need
therapy?
Seriously
…..
you
do Arianna
…I am beginning to get scared for you
.
” I bit back at her.

Ari
threw her head back and laughed.
“Bitch, you can’t tell me I am wrong on this one. Matter of fact
,
I would bet you that C
oac
h purse you have been eyeing the last three months,
that that boy wants you
.”

I had to let out a laugh which caused my ha
nd to start throbbing e
ven more and my heart to break.

You will never be wanted by anyone……….

“Even if I could afford to take you up on that, I know for a fact you are dead wrong on this one.”
I stated just a little
too
loud.

“Ari
is dead wrong on what
Ellie
?” Jefferson asked
while pulling out of the school parking lot
.

“Nothing Jefferson, she is
just delusional that’
s all. She is seeing things that are clearly NOT there.”
I said as
I
narrowed my eyes towards Ari
.

“Well
,
whatever crazy
shit
Ari
is going on about I don’t care.  I want to know right now what the fuck happened b
etween you and Ryan!”

Ari
sho
t Jefferson a lo
ok
and rolled her eyes at him.
I’
m pretty sure I heard dick
wad
come out of her mouth also.

Shit….here we go. I have to tell Jeffe
rson what happened and pray to G
od that he does not kill Ryan.
I mean I truly did not care what the hell happened to Ryan anymore.
I would rather like to see someone kick his ass but not Jefferson.
Jefferson
had to think about his scholarship and his future. Not about what some ass wipe had just done to his sister who probably deserved it. Gunner turned around and gave me a smile that melted my heart
, not to mention my panties
. It was almost like he was giving me the courage to start talking.
I gave him a small smile back and my body actually felt li
ke it was humming.
I thought I was going to start having trouble breathing again but his smile seemed to make me forget about it.

What the hell?!
I have never had a guy a
ffect me the way this guy did. What was going on
with me
? I needed to focus here. I sho
ok
my head again to get the
se crazy thoughts out
.

“Well
,
it all started when I got a text from Ryan to meet him in the auditorium……..

Gunner……..

The moment he walked into the principal’s office the air turned cold. If the lo
ok
that he shot me was any indication of how pissed
he was, I was in for a good,
long lecture. He always started out with “
What you need is
ROTC
or m
aybe I should just send your ass to military school, make something out of the worthless
piece of shit you are.” I’d love
to
be able to
tell him not to pull that drill instructor shit on me, but he would probably knock the shit out of me and I would end up in military school
anyway
.

My father joined the military straight out of high school. He wanted nothing more than to get away from his father’s ranch in Ma
son
,
Texas. I’
m pretty sure when he dies, he will still be in the Army
. He is good at what he does, if he would only leave it at the front door when he got home.
H
e worked long hours and was
often in a piss p
oor mood.