Just then, I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder. I looked around to see Victoria standing there.
Oh great. Just what we need is for her to start some shit.
It wasn’t lost on me how she had been watching Ellie and me all night.
“You need something, Victoria?” Josh asked.
“Well, since I can’t have you, Josh, I was thinking maybe Gunner here would want to pick up where we left off all those years ago. You remember, don’t you, Gunner? If my memory is any good, I’m pretty sure you said it was the best f**king bl*w j*b you ever got. That statement still hold true?”
“You f**king bitch!” Ari said.
When I turned my head back toward the dance floor, I saw Ellie standing there with Ari. Ellie had tears in her eyes, and Ari looked like she was about to go apeshit.
Fuck. Me.
Victoria started laughing. “Oh, now, now, Ari. Don’t worry. You’re the lucky one. You see, Jeff here…he would never let me get any further with him than a quick grab of his dick.” Victoria looked at Jeff and winked.
Josh stood up. “Listen, Tori, I think you better leave.”
Ari walked up to Victoria and got right in her face. “You know what? I’ve just about had it with all you f**king bitches. You just keep talking, but you don’t ever say shit. You can’t find a man of your own, so you try to take others. Women like you are nothing but pathetic, lowlife, douche twat, desperate, slut, bobblehead whores who have no respect for themselves or anyone else for that matter!” Ari balled her hands into fists.
Victoria stood there and just stared at Ari. “You know what I say to that, honey? Go f**k yourself.” She smiled.
Ari glared at Victoria. “Don’t call me honey.”
Before I could even make a move to stop her, Ari reached back and then knocked the shit out of Victoria.
“Ari!” Ellie and Jeff both called out.
Jeff was next to Ari so fast that I didn’t even see him go by me. He grabbed Ari’s arm and tried to pull her away. She had hit Victoria so hard that Victoria stumbled backward and fell. Ari pulled her arm out of Jeff’s grip.
She walked up to Victoria and stood over her. “The only person who calls me honey is my dad. I have one piece of advice for you. Stay the f**k away from all of us.” Ari took a beer off the table and poured it onto Victoria.
Victoria jumped up, screaming.
Jeff grabbed Ari and reached for her purse. He looked back at me. “I’m taking her home.”
Everything was happening so fast that I didn’t even notice when Ellie had grabbed her purse to head out with them.
I ran and took her by the arm. “Ellie! Where the f**k are you going?”
“I’m going to have Jeff drop me off at Garrett and Emma’s house,” she said.
“Ellie, come on, that was so f**king long ago, way before you. This has nothing to do with you and me.”
“Really, Gunner? If it was so long ago and meant so little to you, why didn’t you tell me about it the minute she started coming on to you yesterday?”
Fuck! I didn’t think Ellie had noticed how Victoria kept flirting with me yesterday. “Ellie, sweetheart, please don’t do this. Please don’t bring up something from my past that is meaningless. You’re my life, Ellie. You and Alex. You know this!”
“Ellie, are you coming with us or not?” Ari asked.
Ellie looked at me and gave me a weak smile. Thank God she’s seeing how silly she’s being.
“I’m gonna stay. Put ice on your hand, sweets,” Ellie said to Ari.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Ari said with a smile before she started to leave with Jeff.
“I love you, Ells. You know how much I love you,” I said.
She smiled and nodded. “Oh shit! I have Jeff’s truck keys.”
When Ellie turned to go after them, she ran right into Jessie, Drake’s daughter. Aaron, Jenny, and Dewey were following right behind Jessie.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Ellie said.
Jessie started laughing. “No worries, Ellie. How are you?”
Ellie glanced at me and then back at Jessie. “I’m good. Thank you for asking.”
When Ellie looked back at me, I instantly remembered how jealous Ellie had gotten when she saw me talking to Jessie in the barn.
“Hey, Gunner! Shit, you remember all the good times we had here?” Dewey said with a smile.
“Yeah, good times.” I smiled at him.
“Fuck…you and Jess had your first kiss here, didn’t y’all?”
Ah shit. Dewey and his big mouth.
Jessie started laughing. “Yep! That’s right. One of a few kisses!” She winked at me and then looked at Ellie. “We were in high school. It was so very long ago.”
Ellie slowly turned and glared at me.
Oh, son of a bitch. Why is this happening?
“Like a sister…right, Gunner?” Ellie turned and walked off.
“Ellie!”
I followed her out of the dance hall as Jeff was about to walk back in.
Then, he saw Ellie coming out. “Oh, good. You got my keys, Ells?”
“Will you drop me off at Emma and Garrett’s place, please?” She handed him the keys and walked to the truck.
“Ellie! Stop!” I jogged over and grabbed her arm. “Why are you acting like this? All this shit happened years ago, Ellie. Stop being so damn jealous over nothing.”
“What else have you not told me, Gunner? Any other girls gonna walk in tonight and say how they kissed you or f**ked you?”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. This is so stupid. “Ellie, this was so long ago. It was before you and me, and really, the way you’re behaving is stupid and childish. We’re married with a baby for fuck’s sake.”
The moment I saw the tears forming in her eyes, I felt sick to my stomach. “Wait, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to just say that—”
“Just stop. I’m leaving. I’ll see you in the morning.” She turned and jumped into the back of the truck.
I looked over at Jeff as he shrugged his shoulders.
“Is she pissed about Victoria? I thought she got over it.”
I ran my hands through my hair as I headed over to him. “Fucking Dewey mentioned how Jessie and I had our first kiss here. The first time Ellie saw me talking to Jessie, she got jealous, and I told her Jessie was like a sister to me when I was growing up.”
“Uh-huh. A sister you kiss?”
I let out a breath and shook my head. “It was high school, Jeff. I’d say that’s far enough back that she shouldn’t worry!”
“Dude, I would think it has more to do with the fact that you told her you were only friends, and now, she just found out that you kissed her.” Jeff raised his eyebrow at me. “Y’all date?”
I looked back at the dance hall. Fuck, this is not happening. I turned back toward the truck. Jeff had given Ari the keys, and she had started his truck, so there was no way Ellie could hear us talking.
“For a bit, right before I started UT, but we weren’t meant to be anything other than friends,” I said.
“You sleep with her?”
I looked at him, and the moment our eyes met, I didn’t have to give him my answer. He shook his head and walked toward the driver’s side of the truck. I stood there and watched them drive off with a sick feeling in my stomach.
“I take it you never told Ellie we were more than friends?” Jessie said from behind me.
“No, no, I didn’t, Jessie. The first time she saw us together, she got insanely jealous. I didn’t think it would matter. It was so long ago.”
Jessie let out a laugh. “Yeah, it was a long time ago. You were never worried she might ask about the first time you had sex?”
I turned and looked at her. “No. Why the f**k would she ever ask me that?” I walked past her to head back into the dance hall. I need a damn drink.
When I saw Scott at the bar, I walked over to him and slapped him on the back. Jessie came in right behind me, and I noticed when Scott did a double take at her.
“Holy shit, is that little Jessie Rhodes?”
“Yep.”
“Damn. She grew up…and she looks like a girl. I mean, she looks like a woman…a very hot woman.” Scott took a drink of his beer.
I glanced back toward Jessie. She was talking to Josh and Heather, and I assumed Heather was getting her caught up on everything.
Scott and I talked at the bar for a while longer. I lost count on how many beers I’d downed. Scott kept looking over toward where Jessie and Heather were talking.
“You should go say hi and catch up with each other. Didn’t you like her for a bit in high school? Before Chelsea? Jessie always had the hots for you.” I downed my beer.
Scott turned to me. “What? How do you know that?”
I looked at him and smiled as I stumbled back. Why is the f**king room spinning? “When I f**ked her, she called out your name.”
Scott shook his head. “Nice, Gunner. You’re f**king trashed, dude.” He grabbed my arm and walked us over toward our table.
“Looks like Gunner got himself drunk. I’m gonna take him home. Any volunteers on who can drive his truck back?” Scott asked.
I tried to stand perfectly still. Shit, I haven’t been this wasted in a long-ass time.
Jessie jumped up so fast that it caused me to take a step back. I ended up tripping over a chair, and I started to fall backward, but Scott and Josh jumped up and caught me.
“Jesus H. Christ, Gun. How much have you had to drink?” Josh asked.
“Well, he just downed at least six beers in the last thirty minutes while we were talking at the bar. Not sure how many he had before I got here,” Scott said.
“I’ll drive his truck!” Jess announced. “I mean, I think he should drive with you, and I’ll follow y’all in his truck.”
I looked at Scott and raised my eyebrows. I was just about to say, I told you so, when he grabbed me, and we headed out the door.
Shit, I wish the room would stop spinning.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I was pacing back and forth in the living room, trying to remain calm. For the last thirty minutes, I’d been trying to call Gunner. When the bartender from the dance hall answered Gunner’s phone, I was stunned. I was guessing that Gunner must have dropped it or left it on the bar.
Where is he?
I grabbed my cell and called Heather.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey, sweets. Is Gunner home yet?”
“Um…no. When did he leave?”
“Well, he was really wasted, so Scott was giving him a ride home, and Jessie was following them in Gunner’s truck.”
Oh, just great. I can’t believe he got drunk. “Well, I guess that’s my fault he got drunk. I acted like an insecure, childish brat,” I said.
“No, sweets. He really shouldn’t have lied to you about Jessie,” Heather said.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Oh, um…Josh and I are, um…well, we’re heading home…or I mean, back to my house.”
I let out a laugh. It was going to be their home before the accident happened. Josh had almost his whole apartment packed up and ready to move in with Heather. My heart started aching for them both.