Wanted (7 page)

Of course it could be the incredible
hot guy standing across the room who was
burning
holes into me with his eyes. His
beautiful sky blue eyes that jus
t melted
my heart and for
the first time in my life, made
my
body tighte
n with anticipation…down there.

Oh holy hell
….what is going on with me
?

I sho
ok
my head to clear my thoughts again. I could n
ot let this guy
get under my skin. No matter how freaking hot he was. I lo
ok
ed up
at him
again and this time I felt the heat rise up my face.
Gunner let out a small laugh that made
his whole body tighten. I licked my lips as I watched his body respond to his laughter. My god this guy had a nice body
. All I wanted to do was
inspect every
square inch of it.

Wait…..
That
fucking
bast
ard just laughed at me!
This is why I am never going to have anything to do with men again. I will d
ie a virgin and be proud of it.

“
Sooo
, what are the
plans for Saturday night?” Ari
asked w
hile lo
ok
ing at Jefferson I’m sure
the same way I had been
lo
ok
ing at Gunner.

“I know what my plans are, not sure about you
rs
squirt.” J
efferson responded back to Ari
.

“
Oh.My.God
!
Can you
please
not call me that?! I am eighteen
years old and
not a child you asshole.” Ari
hissed.

“W
ell you sure
as hell
act like a chi
ld
squirt.” Jefferson stated matter of fact.

“I thought we were having a party at the house
to celebrate
Ellie
’s
graduation.” Gunner said as he lo
ok
ed back and forth between Ari
and Jefferson.
He seemed just as confused about what was going on between them as I was.
I
would swear they were in a star
ing
contes
t with the way they were looking
at each other.

“Wait…..
wait
just
one damn minute! You’
re having a party…..at your house? For us?
!
Oh. My. God…this is awesome!” Ari
jumped up and nearly knocked over the sharps container that was to her right!

“Um, no
squirt, I’
m having a party at my house for
Ellie
.
Not you.” Jefferson said
as he turned to lo
ok
up at me. I smiled my biggest ‘I love the shi
t out of you’ smile as I looked at him
.

“Are you for real?! I mean I finally get to meet all of your friends and go to a college party!” I was about to act like a total fool myself and jump up and down. If Gunner had not been in th
e room I so would have done it.

“You bet I am Ell
s
. You only graduate from high school
once. It’s one of my presents to you!” Jefferson said a
s he got up to come and hug me!

I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. When I lo
ok
ed over
Jefferson’s s
houlder there was that drop my panties
smile again. This time I didn’t mind it so much. I smiled back at him just as big as he was smiling at me. I have to admit I think I was more excited knowing I was going to be at a party where I knew for a fact Gunner would be.
I had been to their house before but Jefferson alway
s made sure Gunner was never
home.

They lived in a two
bedroom house that belonged to Gunner’s grandfather. He bought the ho
use when Gunner moved to Austin to attend
UT. Jefferson and Gunner hit
it
off within days
of meeting each other
and Gunner asked h
im if he wanted to bunk with him
at his
house. That was a no brainer. Jefferson would do a
nything to get out of our house with our
drunken
mother. I
spent most of my days at Ari’s
house
anyway
. Mansion I should say. Her dad was a big shot lawyer but you would never know
they had money by the way Ari
acted. That was one of the
things I just loved about her.

“Am I at least invited to my best
f
riend’s graduation party dick wad
?” Ari
asked with so much sarc
asm it was dripping off of her.

“If she wants you there squirt that is fine by me!” Jefferson sai
d
as he rubbed the top of Ari
’s head like she was five
years old.

“Fucker
!
”
Ari said as she pushed his hand away
. Jefferson and Gunne
r both laughed.

OH
.
MY
.
GOD…
…..
that laugh
of his
. Like his smile, or his touch, or his massive chest was not e
nough to be my undoing. His laugh
about dropped me to the ground.
A feeling ran through my whole
body every time I heard this guy
laugh. What the hell?!

T
he doctor came back in
right at t
he exact moment I thought I was going to
combust from the lo
ok
Gunner was giving me
. He gave me my prescription, another
round of how to take care of my hand
and out the door we went.
Thank God. Between Ari and Jefferson going back and forth with each other and Gunner standing across from me sending me lo
ok
s that about had me wanting to rip his clothes of…I was more than ready to get the hell out of dodge.

“Hey dick wad
,
can you swing back by th
e school so I can pick up my jeep
?
”
Ari
shouted over Maroo
n 5 blasting out of the stereo.

“
Ellie
and I both have our last
shift
tonight.”
Ari and I both worked part time at
Flipnotics
. It was a little coffee shop
near downtown Austin
.

“Oh
fuck no
is
Ellie
going to work
tonight! She has
to
rest her hand
and she is on pain med
s
. Are you fucking insane Ari!
Thinking
Ellie
is going to work tonight
!”
Jefferson shouted back to Ari
.

“Yeah, that is not a good idea going in to work tonight
Ellie
. You
need to keep your hand and wrist
elevated to keep the swelling down.” Gunner said to me as he turned around and lo
ok
ed at
me.

WOW,
he
really
lo
ok
ed like he was worried about me. My heart started to beat faster and I felt t
he blush creep up into my face.

NO! Wait…I needed to stop this right now. I could not let Gunner Mathews get into my heart. No. It was closed for business. Shut down, never to
be opened up to any hurt again.

You will never be wanted by anyone…..
Would I ever be able to get my mother’s voice out of my head?

Ari sat there and lo
ok
ed stunned. She just kept lo
ok
ing between Jefferson and Gunner and finally just
laughed.

“What?
!
Are you both her freaki
ng mother? No, I think not. Ell
s can do whatever she damn well pleases and you two ass wipes have no say in it what so ever!
If she wants to go to work or not go to work that is
her
decision to ma
ke. I can’t believe you two…my G
od.” Ari
said in a harsh tone directed more at Jefferson than Gunner.

Gunner gave me a small smile and turned back around and lo
ok
ed out the side window.
For a br
ief second I was pissed at Ari
for hurting his feelings. He was only worried about me.
Just the thought of it had me thinking things I should not have been
thinking
about Gunner.

Holy shit……I started to blush
just
thinking about what his touch would feel like.  Jefferson brought me out of my wayward thoughts.

“You know what squirt you’
re right, I’m not her m
other but I am her brother. Ell
s I don’t think it is a good idea hone
y. Plus you are taking pain med
s and yo
u really cannot use your hand.”

Maybe Jefferson was right. It had been such a long day and I was so tired. My hand was killing me and all I really wanted to do was curl up somewhere and go to sleep and forget this whole day even happened.
Well, not maybe the whole day. If Ryan had not cheated on me I wouldn’t have been gr
aced with the presence of Gunner
all afternoon
.

Gunner…
.even when I think about him
my stomach take
s
a dive. Does that really even happen to people? According to my mother all men are evil bastards. Jefferson isn’t
an evil bastard
. He would never purposely hurt anyone. Although he doe
s seem to be doing a good job at
getting Ari
all fired up
today
. They are currently going back and forth about what
is
better for me
again
. If I didn’t know any better…
.

OH MY GOD! OH. MY.
GOD.
Jefferson likes Arianna
! Holy fuck, how did I not see this?! The way he keeps lo
ok
ing at her and talking to her. The time h
e beat up Brad Roberts. Once Ari
started high school
and
really
started lo
ok
ing more like a girl than his little sisters….
squirt friend
. OMG! Jefferson pretty much dumped us both and no longer hung out with us right after
that.

How could I forget he use
d
to call her squirt? WOW….this was something I would have to think on later.
Right now trying to deal with my hand and these crazy intense
feelings for Gunner
was enough to handle.

“Oh my god will you two
PLEASE
shut the
hell up!”

Ari
and Jefferson immed
iately stopped talking and Ari
lo
ok
ed ov
er and to
ok
my good hand.

“Ari
, I hate to admit this but I really am so tired and my hand is killing me. Maybe I should rest a bit. Today
h
as been such a long day and I’
m ready for it to
just
be over.” I said as I lo
ok
ed up to Jefferson who turned aro
und quickly to give me a smile.

“
You’
re right sweets
, I’m
sorry. I will let them know what happened and why you can’t
come in. Tonight was our
last day anyway
!” Ari
said as she leaned o
ver to give me a hug.

“Thanks Ari
, you’
re the best!”
I noticed Jefferson
’s
body tense up right at that moment.
He must have thought of something.