Jeff snapped his head at Ari and looked back and forth to both us like we were crazy.
“Fuck Ari you didn’t tell me what hotel you saw Gunner at! Oh holy fuck!” Jeff said as he pushed his hands through is hair.
“What the hell does it matter what hotel it was at!”
“It matters a lot Ari! That girl over there…....that is Gunner’s cousin Shannon! She flew in a day early to surprise Gunner. That girl you saw jumping into his arms was his fucking cousin!”
No! Oh my god no………this can’t be happening again. I instantly felt the tears rolling down my face.
“Oh my god no…..OH MY GOD!” Ari said as she looked at me.
“Where did he go Jefferson? Where did Gunner go?!”
“Um, I don’t know Ells, he was pretty torn up when he saw you on the dance floor kissing asshole here who made damn sure Gunner saw him kiss you.”
I turned to look at Jon and who was now pulling on my arm to go back out and dance with him.
“Let me go Jon…….Ari I need your car keys……..I need to go after him!”
“No! Ellie my dear you need to come back out and dance with me. Just let him go.”
“ARI! I need your keys!” I was trying to push Jon away while trying to reach into Ari’s front pocket for the keys.
“Ellie, I know for a fact you’ve been drinking…Jeff and I will take you anywhere you want to go.”
Jon was still pulling at me. FUCK what was his deal.
“Hey, Jon…let my sister go right the fuck now!”
“Fuck you Jeff….your sister can make up her own mind.” He took my arm again. This time I saw Jefferson coming after him. I ducked down when I saw the swing coming. Jefferson hit Jon right in the nose.
Ari screamed out when Jon lunged back at Jefferson. I grabbed Ari’s arm and reached in her pocket and grabbed her keys. I knew she was going to be more worried about Jefferson than me reaching in and getting her keys out. I would be okay…I only had two beers.
I turned and ran over to Amanda and Brad who were still talking to Gunner’s cousins until they saw Jeff and Jon fighting. Brad ran over to try and break them up.
“I need to find Gunner! Will you make sure Jeff and Ari get a ride home?” I yelled at Amanda.
There was so much commotion going on no one even saw me running for the exit. I had to get to Gunner. I had to beg him to forgive me! Once I told him what I saw he will understand how easy it was to misunderstand that! He had to understand! OH MY GOD! Gunner! FUCK I had no idea where Ari parked! I started hitting her panic button as I ran to the parking lot she normally parked in. There! I saw her Jeep! I felt a little dizzy…….I only had two beers………
I jumped in her Jeep and took off…..the first place I needed to check was his house.
Gu nner……
Pounding…all I heard was pounding on the goddamn front door. Shit…my head was fucking killing me….I looked at the clock and it said 1:30 am. I left Rebels at 10:00 and came straight home and started drinking hard. I must have passed out around 12:30am…at least that’s the last time I looked at the clock.
Pounding again……... FUCK…..Make it fucking stop!
“I’m fucking coming! Jesus Christ!”
I opened the door and saw Brad standing there. What the fuck was he doing here?
“Jesus Gunner are you drunk?” He said as he pushed his way in.
I let out a laugh. “Not nearly drunk enough dude, not nearly enough.”
“Where the fuck is your cell phone?” He looked around and saw it sitting on the coffee table. I turned it off around midnight when Ari kept fucking calling me over and over.
Brad turned it on while I walked over the kitchen to get a beer.
“You want a beer man or something harder….” I said with a laugh.
Just then I heard my phone beeping like crazy with notifications. What the hell?
“Gunner I need you to listen to me.” He took the beer from my hand and looked at me. It was the first time I ever saw fear in his eyes.
“Oh my god did something happen to my cousin?”
Brad shook his head at me….
“Your cousin is fine Gunner, she and James are back at their hotel. But there has been an accident.”
My heart started to pound…oh god please no.
“Who?”
Brad swallowed hard. He ran his hand through his hair and when he looked at me again he had tears in his eyes…..holy fuck this was going to be bad.
“It’s…… It’s Ellie Gunner. She was in a car accident earlier and is at Brackenridge hospital. Jeff got a call around midnight and we’ve been trying to call you. I left the hospital to come find you.”
Ellie…..in an accident……I felt like I was going to pass out.
“Whoa….Gunner sit down man…take it easy for a second.”
I was instantly sober. I needed to get to her……
NOW!
“No, I need to get to her now Brad! Is she going to be okay? What happened? Who was driving?”
I was going to fucking kill Jon Baker if that asshole was driving.
Brad grabbed my wallet and we headed out to his truck. Once we got in his truck I started asking if she was okay again.
“I don’t know how she’s doing. They had her in surgery when I left.”
SURGERY?
“Surgery? What did she need surgery for?” Oh my god….my heart was pounding and my chest was killing me. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. What if something happens to her? I didn’t tell her I loved her, I told her we were done. She thinks I walked away from her. She thinks I left her and I promised I would never leave her or hurt her. I think I was going to throw up.
“Brad what happened?”
“Um, they think she might have swerved to miss a deer but she ended up hitting a tree…..”
“Wait….Ellie was driving? Where the fuck was she going?”
“She was coming here Gunner to find you. After you left Rebels all fucking hell broke loose. It turns out that Ari and Ellie where at the Driskill with Amanda. They were there looking at ballrooms and shit for the wedding. Ari and Ellie saw you standing outside a room and then saw some girl jump into your arms and y’all kissed and then you walked into the room with her. That’s when Ellie flipped out Gunner and thought you were cheating. She had no idea that was your cousin Shannon. She thought you were meeting James. Then when they saw Shannon at Rebels and Jeff told them she was your cousin Ellie lost it! Ari said she was screaming for Ari to give her the car keys so she could go after you. I guess Jon was not having it and kept trying to pull Ellie back on the dance floor before Jeff got sick of it and punched the shit out of him. Then Jon went after Jeff, while that was all going down Ellie got the keys from Ari and she took off.”
Holy fuck….It was all making sense. No wonder Ellie freaked out. Shannon had surprised the shit out of me and jumped into my arms and wrapped her legs around me like she always has when we saw each other. Did she kiss me?
FUCK…she did. It was quick but it was a kiss on the lips.
“Brad, please get there.” I leaned my head back on the seat. My Ellie, I needed to be with her. She was coming after me. Oh god please don’t take her away from me.
Please…………….
CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR
Gunner ……
I walked into the ER waiting room and instantly saw Jeff and oh man, holy shit he looked bad. He jumped up and started walking over to me. Fuck…...he started crying……oh god no……please don’t take her from me……..
He just slammed into me and hugged me and cried.
No…….Ellie…..
“Jeff, please tell me she’s okay……please tell me she’s okay, please.”