Gunner slammed his hands through his hair and sighed. He stood up and looked down at me and shook his head. “Are you staying here tonight?”

“Do you want me to stay the night?” I asked as I looked up at him.

“I don’t really give a f**k Ellie if you stay or not.” He turned and walked to his bedroom.

I felt the tears starting to burn my eyes. I will not cry…I will NOT cry. I wish Jefferson was still up but as soon as he came home he went straight to bed. Some Thanksgiving this turned out to be. I slowly got up and grabbed the dish Gunner’s sandwich was on and his empty beer bottle and set them in the kitchen. I grabbed my keys and purse and started to head for the front door. I had to hold it together just long enough to get in my car and leave and then and only then would I start crying.

I quietly shut the front door and practically ran to my car. Just as I opened the door and was about to swing it open to get in I saw an arm come across and shut the door. I screamed and spun around ready to kick someone in the balls. Except I didn’t see some strange mass murder, I saw Gunner.

“What the fuck! You scared the shit out of me you a**hole!” I whispered realizing it was around one in the morning and my scream probably woke up one or two people.

“Ellie it’s late, don’t drive home this late. Come back inside.” Gunner said in a tired voice.

“Well you shouldn’t really give a f**k if I drive home now or not, now should you Gunner.”

He took his hand and ran it through his hair….his signature I’m frustrated or angry move…..God why did that turn me on so much?

“Now if you don’t mind, I’m going home and please tell Emma I’m so sorry but I won’t be joining y’all for Thanksgiving dinner this weekend.”

I turned and grabbed the door handle to open it and Gunner slammed the door shut again.

“Ellie, get your ass back in the house now.”

I was so mad that I started shaking…how dare he tell me what to do!

I turned and looked at him. “FUCK OFF!” I tried to push him away but he wouldn’t budge an inch that built mother f**ker! I pushed again and again and even tried to put my foot on my car for extra leverage and nothing worked.

“Are you done yet?”

“No! How dare you tell me what to do! You’re acting like a prick and I wouldn’t stay here if you got on your hands and knees and begged me to.”

Before I knew it he had lifted me up and was carrying me into the house. I instantly felt his erection which totally caught me off guard. I couldn’t yell because it was so late and I didn’t really want to end up in jail tonight.

Once we got in the house I started to struggle to get out of his arms. Jesus….he was strong and I was not making any headway. He grabbed my purse and threw it down on the sofa and forced my keys out of my hand all the while still holding onto me. I was trying to squeeze my legs tighter on him but I think I was only turning him on more!

He started towards his bedroom. SHIT! I couldn’t yell because I would wake up Jefferson. Once he got in his room and shut the door with his foot, the next thing I knew he slammed me up against the wall and started to kiss me. At first I did nothing in return, but after I felt his erection pushing up against me and the sweet feel of his lips, I could not resist. I grabbed his hair in my hands and started kissing him back.

Oh god this felt so good and so right. I don’t even remember why we were fighting. Oh yeah, he was acting like a prick. I started to pull away from the kiss.

“Baby I’m so sorry I said that to you. Please forgive me Ellie. It’s just when you gave me the finger and got up and left I had no idea why and it f**ked up my whole game after that. I dropped two f**king balls and got the shit knocked out of me three times.”

Oh no! Oh shit I had no idea that by me doing that it would mess him up. I put my head back up against the wall and closed my eyes.

“Oh Gunner I had no idea I’m so sorry and it was a total misunderstanding that I don’t even want to talk about. I came back into the stadium did you not see me? I was there the whole game!”

“No Ellie, once you and Ari left I assumed you were leaving for good. I never bothered to look back up there.”

Oh I felt like a total piece of shit.

“You have to trust me Ellie.” He said as he was kissing all over my neck. My body started to tingle all over again.

“I do trust you Gunner, I’m sorry I’m so insecure. I love you more than anything.”

“As much as I want to keep this up, Ells I’m exhausted.” He said has he carried me over to his bed. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. I’m not sure how long I watched him sleep. I really did love him but I just had the weirdest feeling. Something was about to happen, I could just feel it.

CHAPTER FIFTY

Gunner……

Ellie was in heaven with Grams in the kitchen Saturday morning. My heart was racing just watching her learn everything Grams was teaching her about how to cook the perfect Turkey as well as how to make a homemade pumpkin pie.

I walked down to the stable to find Jeff saddling up Fire Star.

“You’re going for a ride?”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to head out and clear my head. Maybe take a ride and check out that property again.”

I nodded my head. I knew he was upset that Ari wasn’t there. When I asked Ellie about Ari she just smiled and winked at me. I didn’t even have the energy to ask what that wink meant.

“I still can’t believe you plan on buying that property dude. Have you given any more thought about your plans for it? You still thinking of going the way you were thinking?”

Jeff looked over at me and smiled. “Yep, it just feels right. I talked to Jake at the office and the fact that they are going to let me work part time will help out. I always thought you were crazy to give up the position Jake offered you just so you could come out here but the more time I spend out here the more I know, this is the life I want also.”

I nodded my head again. I had the strangest feeling in my stomach. I had been having it for the last week, almost like I was expecting something to go wrong. Things with Ellie were going great…almost too good. While everyone around us had so much drama in their relationships, Ellie and I didn’t, thank God. But still, something wasn’t right. The fact that I saw Ellie talking to Jon at the football game didn’t help matters either. That f**ker clearly was not getting the message to stay away from her and for some reason; Ellie was too nice to him.

Fucker….

“I’m heading out for awhile. I’ll be in the north pasture.”

Jeff jumped up on Fire Star and gave me a smile. He had not had a beer for the last few days and I think he finally f**ked all the girls in Austin he could. He had not gone out since the night of Ari’s party. Maybe things were about to turn around for him. I sure as shit hoped so. It was killing Ellie to see him being so upset over Ari. I saw him pull out his headphones and put them in.

“Have a good ride Jeff.”

“Thanks dude, later.”

I watched him ride off. I shook my head….I pray I never f**k up with Ellie. It would kill me if she was not in my life. I watched him ride until he turned around an oak tree and I couldn’t see him anymore. I turned to leave and got the shit scared out of me.

“Holy f**king shit Ari! You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here?”

Ari just smiled as she was leaning up against the stables. She was dressed in jeans, boots a sweatshirt and a cowboy hat. I looked down at her hand looking for the ring but she had her left hand shoved into her pants pocket.

“Hi Gunner, nice to see you too a**hole; and I told you I was planning on coming on out to the ranch this weekend.”

Something was up….she had a shit eating grin on her face. I kept looking down at her hand. Why didn’t she drive out with Ellie? Where was Jason? Jeff was going to flip out once he found out she was here.

“You’re thinking too much Gunner. You mind helping me saddle up a horse?”

“No, I don’t mind at all. You want to ride Chestnut again?”

“Who is Jeff on?”

I had to smile, damn this girl never ceased to amaze me. I shook my head as I walked over to the newest addition to the family. She was a beautiful paint horse who had a bit of spunk in her, fast as hell too and probably my favorite horse. Could be because Ellie name her Rose, said she loved the way she smelled. She smelled like a horse to me but who was I to argue.

“Jeff is on Fire Star. Rose here, she’s the horse you want. She’s a feisty five year old, has a mind of her own and sometimes she likes to just take over, push you to your limits. She tends to make you open your eyes and pay attention.”

Ari looked over and smiled at me. “Sounds like my kind of horse. Now let’s get her ready…I have a race to win.”

I stood there and watched Ari as she rode off on Rose. Ellie came up behind me and wrapped her arms around me. God she felt so f**king good. I was fighting the need to take her more and more. I was going to have to talk to her pretty soon to see where she was at with all of this. I needed her so f**king bad but the last thing I wanted to do was push her into sex. I was pretty sure she was feeling the same way.

“So you knew she was coming all along?”

“Yep!” Ellie said as she popped her P.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I turned and hugged her close to me.

“I would have but she was not one hundred percent sure she was going to make it. She had a problem she was trying to deal with and he was not walking away as easy as she thought he would.”

I pulled back and looked down at Ellie and tilted my head with a questioning look.

“She said no?”

Ellie laughed. “Of course she said no!”

“When did she say no? That night? Was it after she heard Jeff say he loved her when we were outside?”

“She pretty much told Jason she needed some fresh air and came outside after us. She heard what Jefferson said and went back in and pulled Jason aside to her bedroom and told him she couldn’t marry him. He didn’t take it very well and was pretty pissed. Turns out that Jason knew Jefferson liked Ari all along. I guess Jefferson used to talk about her in high school. One night when he was drunk, he told Jason and a few other football players he was going to marry her someday! She broke it completely off with him yesterday and told him she loved Jefferson and could not see herself with anyone else but him. Happiest damn day of my life, I could not stand him!”

I let out a laugh and put my arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go for a walk.”

Ellie and I walked and talked for what seemed like forever. It was so nice to just have time to do nothing but talk to her. Usually one of us was running to class, the library, practice, the gym or some other bullshit. We sat underneath a red oak and just talked about everything.

“Gunner, what’s going to happen when you graduate? You’ll be moving out here and I’ll still be in Austin. I thought the last two and half months were bad….that is going to be hell!”

I knew she had been worried about what would happen after graduation, but I had a plan to help ease her mind. I just couldn’t tell her yet.