I started to shake my head no. “Emma….no man who loved a woman would ever say the things that he said.”

Emma let out a chuckle as she helped me get undressed. “You would be surprised my darling girl. You would be surprised.”

I sat in the bath for I don’t know how long. I got out only when I couldn’t take the cold water any longer. I wrapped the towel around me that Emma had left and reached down to let the drain out. I slowly walked into the bedroom Ellie and I was sharing. Ellie must have come in and laid out some clothes for me to change into. They were my comfy blue PJ bottoms and sleeveless white shirt. I climbed into them somehow. My whole body felt numb. I never knew one person had the power to hurt another person so badly.

I sat down on the bed and that is when I heard Ellie yelling at Jeff.

“How could you? How could you destroy her like that?”

Then I heard Jeff and Gunner arguing. I got up and walked to the window. I could see them standing down by the barn closest to the house. I couldn’t hear what Jeff said but the next thing I knew Gunner punched him. Ellie jumped in front of Gunner and told him to stop. My heart was beating a mile a minute.

SHIT! This was all happening because of me!

Garrett walked up and took Jeff by the arm and they walked off towards the stables. Ellie leaned back into Gunner as they watched them walk away. Jeff turned around and looked right up at the window I was standing in. It looked like he was crying…..

No….that cold hearted bastard didn’t have an ounce of love running through his veins.

I hated him……..

All of a sudden I got so tired.

Sleep….I just needed to sleep.

CHAPTER FORTY SIX

Gunner……

I sat on the porch swing waiting for Ellie to come back from talking to Ari. I still can’t believe I hit my best friend. I ran my hands down my face….FUCK! Why the fuck did Jeff have to go and mess up so bad with Ari? Gramps would not let me talk to him yet. They headed to the barn and that was the last I saw of either of them.

This had started out to be a great day and now it was just fucked.

I had brought Ellie into town to have breakfast at one of the local restaurants. I remembered her saying she wanted to go and eat in an old fashioned type restaurant. You just can’t get any better than Miss Mayes restaurant in town. Best damn French toast I ever had.

The plan was to eat breakfast, walk through a few of the little stores on Main Street then come back to the ranch and ride. Ellie had really taken to horseback riding and practically begged me go again today.

When Gramps told us about his “plan” to get Ari and Jeff some alone time, I knew it was going to go down all wrong. Just how it went down wrong I didn’t know yet. I heard the screen door open and saw the love of my life walking out with such a sad look on her face. I held out my hand and she came over and sat on my lap.

She laid her head on my chest and let out a sigh. God, what I wouldn’t do to just stay like this forever and never let her go. I buried my face in her hair and took a deep breath. Fuck she smelled so good….daisies…..she always smelled like them.

“So, did she tell you what happened?”

“Oh God Gunner…..I think Jefferson really messed up this time. I think he pushed her away for good.”

Fuck…I didn’t like the way this was sounding. I will fucking kill him he if forced her to do anything.

“He didn’t….”

“NO! God no! Jefferson would never! But then again I didn’t think he would ever be so mean and hurtful as this either.”

I felt Ellie shiver so I pulled her tighter into me.

“Can we take a walk? I don’t want your grandmother to overhear us talking. I’m not sure how much Ari told her about what happened.”

“Sure baby, let’s head down to the stables.” I reached down and took her hand in mine as we started to make our way to the stables. I needed to check on Big Roy anyway. He was a gift from Gramps when I was sixteen and somehow he cut his leg pretty bad; we needed to keep an eye on it for a few days for any signs of an infection.

Ellie walked for a few minutes in silence. Once we reached the stables I checked for Gramps and Jeff but they were nowhere to be found.

“No one is here sweetheart.”

Ellie started to cry. I walked over and held her in my arms. I was going to fucking kill Jeff for making his sister so upset. I don’t care how fucked up he is.

“Oh God Gunner….”

“Just take a deep breath baby.” I said as I ran my hands up and down her back. Once she settled a little bit she sat down on a bale of hay and took in a deep breath.

“God I love the way it smells down here. I wish I could bottle it up and take it home with me.”

I laughed and started to walk into Big Roy’s stall. I checked his leg out and it seemed to be doing well. I gave him a bit of oats and shut his stall. I sat down next to Ellie and took her hand in mine.

“I guess when the battery went dead Ari freaked out a little bit…if you can imagine that. Jeff got pissed and pushed her up against the Jeep and well, one thing led to another. No sex but more than kissing.”

I let myself go back to a few nights ago when Ellie had her first orgasm. The memory alone caused my dick to jump.

“What happened next?”

“I guess Ari made the mistake of telling Jeff she wanted to take it further and well…… he didn’t. He basically told her he made a terrible mistake and that he wished he could take it back…….after she told him she loved him.”

Shit Jeff……stupid fucker.

“She hates him Gunner but yet I know she still loves him….I hate to see her hurting like this.”

“I’m sorry Ellie but I can tell you that I’m sure Jeff is hurting probably even more.”

Ellie pushed back away from my chest and just stared at me. She looked confused and pissed at the same time.

“How in the hell do you think he is hurting more then she is Gunner?” Ellie hissed through her teeth.

“He’s in love with her Ellie.”

Ellie let out a laugh. “Yeah if that is how he shows love than she is better off without him.”

“Ellie, Jeff told me he loves Ari so much he’s afraid that if they end up together something will happen, something bad and he will lose her forever. He said he would rather have her in his life as a friend than to not have her in his life at all.”

Ellie just looked at me for the longest time. I knew what she was thinking because I thought the same thing when Jeff spit out that bullshit to me.

“That doesn’t make a lick of fucking sense Gunner. I hope you know that!”

God I loved this girl.

“Ells I told him the same exact thing. I wish I could understand his stupid fucked up way of thinking but I don’t.”

Ellie let out a sigh and we just sat there in silence. Fuck let this be a lesson for me NOT to fuck things up with Ellie.

Ellie and I spent the rest of the afternoon riding around the ranch. I showed her every square nook of it. Where me and my cousins use to play kings and queens, hide and seek and where in high school we would sneak off to with some of Gramps beer that he hid from Grams. Then I took her out behind the ranch house and showed her how to shoot a .22 gauge riffle. It was a perfect afternoon.

Dinner….not so much, Jeff didn’t utter a word while Gramps mostly talked about the plans for fixing up the main barn. Drake and his sons lived there and their quarters needed some fixing up. I told Gramps I would come back the weekend of Thanksgiving and help out. We had a game that Thursday, Thanksgiving Day but, I could plan on getting here Friday after we reviewed the game and staying until Sunday night. Jeff finally spoke and said he would plan on coming also. That led Grams to having Ellie come out also and we would cook up a Thanksgiving feast on Saturday. I thought Ellie was going to jump out of her chair she was so excited.

I looked up and saw Ari coming into the dining room. She was dressed in Jeans and a black Hulu Hut t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a low pony and she had the fakest smile I’d ever seen plastered on her face.

“Well crap…I see I’m late for dinner!”

I looked over at Jeff. He instantly sat up and looked at Ari. I could tell he wanted nothing more than to grab her and take her somewhere and talk to her. From what Gramps told me about his talk with Jeff, he pretty much told Jeff he just lost the best thing he would ever have, he then called him the stupidest mother fucker on the planet. He also let him know that if he ever wanted another chance with Ari he needed to back off, let her cool down and once she did he better crawl on his goddamn hands and knees and beg her to forgive him.

“You’re never late for dinners in this house my darling girl.” Grams said as she gave Ari a wink.

Ari never once looked at Jeff. Grams handed her a plate and we all started to pass down the pork chops, mashed potatoes and green beans. I had never in my life seen a girl eat so much as Ari did tonight!

The rest of the night was spent outside on the porch talking, listening to Grams and Gramps tell stories, a couple rounds of dominoes and then we all headed off to bed. Before I went to sleep I let Gramps and Grams know we were leaving the next day. I killed me to leave knowing there was so much work to be done. But I thought it was for the best.

I had pulled Ellie off to the side and asked her if she wanted to go to our tree one more time and watch the stars. She jumped up and down and clapped her hands.

“Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll meet you down at your truck!”

We ended up spending more time kissing and touching each other than we did looking at the stars. I was almost tempted to keep her out all night and make out but I knew we were heading back to Austin and we both needed to get some sleep. I kissed her long and passionately on the porch before I walked her to her room.

“Goodnight Ellie sweetheart.”

“Goodnight Gunner. Thank you so much for such a magical week. I love you!”

“You are more than welcome baby. Sweet dreams Ellie.”

After Grams had packed up a picnic basket full of goodies we made our way back to Austin. Ari and Jeff both put their iPods in and never spoke a single word all the way home. It killed me I couldn’t have Ellie in the front seat with me but Ari threw a fit at the idea of the “bastard from hell” sitting next to her.

When we finally pulled up to Ari and Ellie’s house I thought Ari was going to bolt from the truck before I even had it stopped.

Jeff and I carried their suitcases in and then Jeff went back to the truck after saying goodbye to Ellie and Ari disappeared into her room.

“How many more weeks until football is starting back up?” Ellie asked me as she walked me back outside.

“Three….so once that happens and school starts I’m going to be pretty busy so you know I’m going to have to spend every minute with you from now until then.”

Ellie laughed that beautiful laugh that warmed my whole body.

“Well….that sounds like a god awful punishment but I guess I can make it work!”

“You better! I’ll call you when we get back to the house. Did you have fun sweetheart?”