“It’s none of my business if you do.”
“Well, I don’t. I don’t want you thinking I do this kind of thing normally. I just needed . . . I don’t know. Something different.”
She nodded and gave me a weak smile. If I hadn’t known better, I would swear her eyes almost looked like they had tears in them.
“Well, I hope she was what you were looking for.”
I shook my head. “She wasn’t. Not anywhere near it.”
A small grin tugged at her pretty mouth. I wanted to walk up to her. Tell her she was the type of girl I wanted. The only girl I wanted. Instead, I shrugged and said, “But it was fun. At least the parts I remember anyway.”
Her face went pale, and she quickly opened the door and walked out without saying another word. The second the door shut, I let out a string of curse words.
Why in the hell did I say that?
The bathroom door opened, and Josh walked out.
“Was that Ellie?”
Shaking my head, I answered, “No. It was her friend. Ellie had to work. There’s the clothes on the bed.”
I slipped my boots on and waited for Josh to get dressed in the bathroom. Thank God that bitch left our shoes.
Sitting on the sofa, I cradled my head in my hands and closed my eyes. The only thing I could see was Ari’s face looking back at me right before she walked out the door. Was I imagining the hurt in her eyes? There was no way she would have been upset about this. I mean, she didn’t have feelings for me . . . did she?
Leaning back, my head fell against the back of the sofa, and I hit the cushions with my fists as hard as I could. “Fuck! Fuck!”
Josh walked back out and stood in front of me. “Dude, I feel the same way. I wish I’d never laid eyes on Sunshine. I’m also hoping she used your card to pay for the room.”
I reached for the remote that was sitting on the side table and threw it at Josh as hard as I could.
Chapter Eleven – Gunner
Walking in from my run, I glanced between Jeff and Josh. They both looked pathetic. “What’s wrong with you two?”
After Josh and Jeff exchanged looks with each other, Jeff looked at me.
“Sunshine is what’s wrong.”
“Tell me you’re talking about the sun’s rays and how you’re not getting enough.”
“I wish,” Josh replied.
I shook my head. “What happened?”
Sitting down on a chair opposite the couch, I waited to hear what these two idiots got themselves into.
Jeff spoke first. “It’s an evening and morning I’d rather forget.”
My gaze moved to Josh, who said, “Same here. Let’s just say we should have listened to you. I’m ready to get out of town for a few days.”
“That bad, huh? The ranch?” I asked.
Jeff and Josh both nodded.
“I’m sure Grams and Gramps wouldn’t mind that. How soon can you pack up and meet us back here?” I asked.
Josh looked down at the duffel bag he had sitting there. “I’m ready to go whenever y’all are.”
I stood up and rubbed the back of my neck. “Just tell me one thing. Y’all didn’t do her at the same time, did you?”
“No,” they both replied at once. From the looks on their faces, I knew there was more to the story, but I let it go for now.
Jeff cleared his throat. “By the way, can you cover us on cash until we get new credit cards and debit cards in?”
My stomach dropped. “Jesus H. Christ. You idiots.”
They both looked away from me.
“I’m going to take a shower, and then we can head on out, and yes, I’ll cover your asses.”
After I took a quick shower and packed an overnight bag, we headed to my truck and then to Mason. The drive was silent, but not because Josh and Jeff were sleeping. Each of us seemed to be lost in our own thoughts.
Jeff cleared his throat before speaking. “You guys ever wish there was that one girl? The one to come home to, go to dinner with, talk to about how good or bad your day was?”
I peered up in the rearview mirror at Jeff. He had his eyes closed as he talked.
“I’m so damn sick of this. I just want to meet someone who wants those things too,” Jeff added.
I looked over at Josh. He was staring out the window.
“Yeah, I wish for that too, Jeff,” Josh added in a voice barely above a whisper.
“So do I,” I replied.
Exhaling a deep breath, Jeff asked, “Where is she?”
I said the only thing that came to my mind. “In my dreams.”
Josh let out a gruff laugh. “Every time I crawl out of someone’s bed, I keep telling myself this is it. I’m done with this shit. But I keep doing it, and a part of me thinks this will be my life. I’m not sure I’ll ever meet a woman who makes me feel like I truly want something different.”
“Do you think that maybe you sleep around so much, Josh, because you’re afraid of what will happen when you do find her?” I asked.
He slowly shook his head. “I don’t even know anymore, Gunner. I honestly don’t even know.”
“Gunner?”
I couldn’t see through the darkness, but I felt her. Her presence was strong and made my heart beat ten times faster than normal.
“Hello? I can’t see you!”
“Drew?”
“Where are you?” I cried out.
“Gunner. Please come find me.”
Frantically I searched the dark, empty room only to find nothing. She was here, though . . . I could feel her.
“I’m lost.”
Her voice was soft and sounded like a song on a breeze.
A light pierced the room, and there she was. Her blue eyes met mine, and my knees nearly buckled out from under me.
“Gunner . . . it’s me.”
“Who? I don’t know who you are!” I shouted.
Her eyes drifted away.
“No . . . no, wait! Don’t leave.”
“Come find me. I need you to find me.”
I sat straight up in my bed. My hand clutched over my pounding heart as I tried to catch my breath.
“What in the hell?” I gasped while throwing the sheet off my sweat-soaked body. Leaning over, I rested my head in my hands as I tried to calm my heart rate down.
I heard the sound of the porch screen open and glanced over to the window I had opened before I went to bed.
Who in the hell would be heading outside this late at night?
Grabbing a T-shirt, I pulled it over my head and headed out of my room and downstairs. When I walked outside, I saw Jeff sitting on the porch. “What are you doing out here?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” he replied as he looked up at me. “You?”
“Dream woke me up.”
“Same one?”
I sat down next to him and rolled my neck around to loosen the tension. “Yep. Same one.”
“What’s it about?”
“A girl calling out for me to help her. The thing that’s confusing me is she keeps calling me Drew. No one but my family calls me Drew.”
“Huh. Someone from your past maybe?”
I shook my head. “Nah, there’s only one other person besides family who knows my real name, but she only ever called me Gunner. Her name was Jessie. We were really good friends before we got the bright idea to sleep together to be each other’s firsts.”
“Oh hell. Did that change the friendship?”
“We dated for a bit afterward, then figured out we were better friends than lovers. Didn’t take long to figure that out.”
“So do you think this is the girl you’re wishing you could find?” Jeff asked.
With a tight chuckle, I shook my head. “Hell if I know. I feel like Josh—lost, just not sleeping around to bury the feeling.”
“Yeah,” he whispered softly.
“So what’s really going on, Jeff? Is there someone you like?”
After staring down at the ground for a bit, he nodded. “Yeah, there i
s.”
“Why aren’t you going after her then?”
He let out a huff. “Christ, there are so many reasons I wouldn’t know where to start. She’s younger than me; I’ve made her life miserable for the last I don’t know how many years. If we dated and it didn’t work out, I’m afraid she’d hate me forever. Hell, I could keep going on.”
“Does she go to UT?”
“No.”
“Does she know you like her?”
“No, and I can’t tell her so don’t tell me to.”
I laughed. “So you like this girl, but you can’t tell her you like her because you’re afraid she won’t feel the same way.”
“Pretty much.”
“So find someone else.”
He turned to face me and stared at me. “How, when every time I picture a future, she’s in it?”
“Well, at least you know who she is. Mine’s a ghost, with hauntingly beautiful blue eyes.”
“Dude, you ever think it’s your eyes in the dream?”
“Are you saying I have hauntingly beautiful blue eyes, Jeff?”
He smiled. “They are pretty amazing.”
“What in the fuck am I about to walk out on?” Josh asked from the other side of the screen.
Jeff and I both started laughing.
“My blue-eyed ghost I keep dreaming about who insists I’m the only person capable of saving her, yet I have no clue who she is.”
Josh closed the screen door quietly.
“Maybe you should have someone interrupt the dream.”
“What? Interrupt the dream?”
“Yeah, people do that for a living. Like fortune-tellers and shit.”
I frowned. “It’s probably just something in my subconscious.”
Jeff and Josh both stared at me before Jeff said, “Like your mom maybe?”
There was no way in hell the girl in my dreams was my mother. “Yeah, it’s not my mother. Not with the way this girl makes my heart race.”
It was time for a subject change.
“So you ever going to tell me what happened with Sunshine?”
Jeff pointed to me. “That is not to ever be brought up again.”
Josh laughed. “Jeff’s mad because he woke up spooning me.”
My eyes widened.
“Go to hell, Josh,” Jeff said.
Holding up my hands, I said, “I’m pretty sure I don’t want to hear the story after all.”
“No, you really don’t,” said Jeff.
“What are you two doing out here anyway?” Josh asked, then yawned.
“Can’t sleep. You?”
Josh shrugged. “Same. I may just go change and go for a run.”
I stood and gave Josh a slap on the back. “You have fun with that. I’m going to go try and get some sleep.”
If only I had known the same dream would wake me back up only hours later.
Chapter Twelve – Jeff
Gunner sat on the bench with a bag of ice over his shoulder.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Hurts like a motherfucker. I need to go and get it looked at.”
I shook my head. “Damn, hopefully it isn’t anything too bad and doesn’t keep you from playing next year.”
With a laugh, Gunner replied, “Nothing will keep me from playing next year. Hell, it’s our last year.”
Coach yelled out for Gunner. “Mathews, go with Doc and get that shoulder looked at.”
“Want me to drive you?” I asked as Gunner stood.
“Nah. Josh said he would follow me in my truck. He ran to practice today, so he doesn’t have his truck.”
Before I could say anything, my phone went off in my bag with a text message. Ignoring it, I walked with Gunner toward Doc’s SUV.
“Let me know what they say after they look at your shoulder.”
My phone started ringing again. It wasn’t Ellie’s ringtone, so I continued to ignore it.
“I will. Will you be home later, or are you going out?”
“I’ll be home. Don’t worry about anything to eat; I’ll take care of it. Hopefully you will be in and out and it’s just a strain.”
Doc, the team doctor, walked up. “All right, Mathews, let’s go.”
When my phone rang again, a slight panic hit me. What if it was Ellie trying to get hold of me?
“Later, Gunner,” I quickly said as I dug into my bag for my phone. When I saw the name, I frowned.
Ari.
Turning toward my truck, I answered it. “Ari?”
The moment I heard her sniffles, I wanted to rip someone’s head off.
“What’s wrong?”
“I . . . I didn’t know who else to call.”
My heart was hammering in my chest. I looked at my watch and knew she was normally at the shelter about now.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
“Where are you?” she asked, her voice sounding scared and weak.
“Just leaving practice.”
“Shit,” she mumbled. “I’m sorry. I forgot Ellie said you had spring training. I’ll . . . um . . . let you go.”
“No!” I cried. “Tell me what’s wrong. Are you hurt?”
“No . . . just scared.”
Son of a bitch. “Tell me where you are right now, Ari.”
She sniffled again, and it about made me throw up. I tossed my bag onto the passenger seat and started my truck up.
“I’m in my car. In the parking lot of the shelter.”
“Don’t move. I’m on my way, okay?”
“I didn’t mean to bother you. I thought . . . I thought . . . maybe you . . . you were h—here.”
Fucking hell. She was crying harder. I’ll kill the person who hurt her.
“I’m on my way, sweetheart. Just don’t leave, okay?”
“I w—won’t.”
How I didn’t get a speeding ticket I’ll never know. I made it to the animal shelter ten minutes later. When I pulled into the parking lot, I saw Ari’s jeep. Pulling in next to it, I jumped out of my truck and made my way over to her. She had her face buried in her hands, and I had to keep myself from punching something.
I lightly tapped on her window, and when she unlocked the door, I opened it and reached in for her. She was unbuckled so I pulled her out of the jeep. She instantly wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest. Her body shook as she sobbed.
Running my hand over her hair, I softly talked to her. “Shh, it’s okay. Tell me what happened, Ari. Please tell me what happened.”
She drew back and looked up at me. Her beautiful hazel eyes were filled with tears and bloodshot from crying. I pushed a piece of hair that was stuck to her tear-soaked cheek away and behind her ear.
Fucking hell. Even upset she was achingly beautiful.
“What happened?”
“I . . . I took the dogs out for a walk on the trail. And this guy started talking to me about them. He . . . he kept telling me how pretty I was and how he wanted my number. I politely told him no and started immediately back to the shelter. He followed me h—here and wouldn’t leave.”
“Did you tell anyone here?”
She nodded. “Bryce went out and told the guy he needed to leave, and he did. But—but when I got to my jeep, I saw him pull in and park in front of the door. I crawled into the back seat of my jeep and hid. I didn’t w—want him to see me.”
I pulled her back to me. “Baby, why didn’t you call the police?”
She started crying again. “I don’t know. The only person I could think of to help me was you. I thought maybe you were on your way here and you could make the guy leave.”
My heart felt like it slammed against the wall of my chest. Ari thought of me. I was the one she wanted to help her. Was it because she had feelings for me, or was it simply because I was like an older brother? Right now none of that mattered. Only she mattered.
“Is he still here?”
“No. Um . . . he left a few minutes ago. I think he thou
ght I had already left.”
Resting my chin on her head, I closed my eyes. If anything would have happened to her, I would have hunted the guy down and killed him.
“Fucking asshole,” I whispered.
Ari was clutching on to my shirt like her life depended on it. I hated that she was scared, but I loved having her in my arms. It was the first time in I didn’t know how long, we hadn’t exchanged heated words.
“I think you need to take a break from volunteering here, sweetheart.”
She nodded. “Probably.”
I pushed her out some and stared into her eyes. Cupping her face in my hands, I smiled. “Are you okay to drive? I’ll follow you home if you want.”
When the corners of her mouth rose slightly, I had to force myself not to kiss her. My resolve was breaking, though, when her eyes searched my face and then landed on my lips.
Leaning down, I kissed her on the forehead because if I didn’t kiss her somewhere, soon I’d be pulling her mouth to mine. “You scared me, Ari.”
“I was scared. I’ve never been so scared before in my life, Jeff.”
Her head dropped, and I hugged her again.
“I’ll never let anything happen to you, I swear. Come on, let’s go grab a coffee really quick so your nerves calm down some before you go home. I’m sure you don’t want to come home upset.”
She fisted my shirt again, as if she was saying she didn’t want me to let her go. And in true Ari fashion, to cover her tender side, she used it to wipe her nose. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You don’t mind? I mean, I don’t want to be alone right now.”
Lifting my hand to her face, I brushed my thumb over her cheek. “I don’t mind at all.”
Her smile made my knees weak and my heart jump.
“No fighting?” she softly asked.
“No fighting.”
After waiting for her to get back into her jeep, I got in my truck and followed her over to Mozart’s Coffee. We got two cups of coffee and sat outside.
“So how is school going?” I asked.
She shrugged. “It’s going okay.”
Ari wasn’t the type of girl to brag, so I knew she wouldn’t tell me she was valedictorian of her class. I only knew because Ellie had told me.
“Been a busy year?”
Chuckling, she nodded. “Yes and no. The teachers seem to be giving up on us. We hardly do any work. The closer we get to the end of the year, the more boring it gets.”