Chapter Sixteen – Jeff

She stood at the door, her hands on her hips, a pissed-off look covering her face. The old Jeff and Ari were back. Gone were the two civil people who shared coffee together.

“Just let me in, Ari. I need to talk to Ellie.”

“She’s not here, dickhead. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

I knew damn well my sister wasn’t at Ari’s. So why was I standing at her door arguing with her about it?

Because I was sick in the damn head. Because it thrilled me. Gave me a high I’d never experienced before. And because I was dying to see her smile. Her hazel eyes. Her soft, wavy, light-brown hair.

“Ari?” Sue called out. “Who’s here?”

Shooting me daggers, Ari called back, “A salesman trying to sell a bunch of shi—”

“Jeff Johnson! My word, I haven’t seen you in months! Get on in here and give me a hug.”

As I walked by Ari, I shot her a smile that would have any normal girl blushing. But not Ari. Hell no. It just pissed her off and made her cheeks flush with anger, not lust.

“How are you, Sue?” I asked, letting Ari’s mother lead me into the house and straight to the kitchen.

“I’m wonderful! Wait until Mark sees you. How is your mother, darling?”

I huffed. “The same.”

She gave me a knowing look. “We’ve been begging Ellie to move in here. Why, she spends most of her time here as it is.”

I smiled. “Thank you for always taking such good care of her.”

Sue gave me a knowing grin. One that said she knew what went on in our house but wasn’t about to pry unless asked to.

“Mark, look who stopped by.”

Glancing up from his newspaper, most likely the sports section, Mark flashed me a wide, toothy smile.

“Well, if it isn’t Jefferson Johnson. How in the hell are you, son?”

Mark had always liked me, but there was always something that told me that could all change if he knew how I really felt about his daughter. His only daughter. The same girl I had laid in bed and jacked off to since she was fifteen years old.

Jesus, what is wrong with me? My dick was getting hard thinking about jacking off to an image of Ari. With her father standing in front of me.

“I’m doing well. Just looking for Ellie.”

“Like I said, she isn’t here. She’s with that loser of a boyfriend of hers.”

“Arianna, that’s not nice,” Sue said.

Ari and I exchanged looks. “I wish you would talk to your sister about what pigs guys are.”

“Not all of us are pigs, Ari,” I said, with a wink.

Snarling her lip up at me, she scoffed.

I decided to let that part of the conversation go. I was more curious as to why Ari didn’t like Ryan. “Why don’t you like him?”

“He seems like a nice boy,” Sue added, handing me a glass of iced tea.

“Thank you, Sue.”

She nodded and asked, “Piece of chocolate cake, Jeff?”

“No!” Ari shouted.

“Yes, I’d love a piece.” I didn’t really want a piece, but it was an excuse to stay longer.

Rolling her eyes, Ari dropped into the chair next to her father. His eyes looked from me to Ari.

“When did you two start not liking each other?”

“Oh, Mark! Don’t be silly; Ari’s just being Ari.”

It took everything out of me not to laugh when Ari’s mouth dropped open and she stared at her mother.

“What?” she shouted.

“It’s a love-hate relationship, sir,” I replied.

His brows raised.

“Love as in brotherly,” I added.

When I peeked back over to Ari, her eyes looked like they were filled with hurt. Tears quickly filled them up before she jumped up and left the room.

What in the hell was that all about?

“Is she okay?” I asked, taking a bite of the piece of heavenly chocolate cake that had just been placed in front of me.

Sue frowned and answered, “I think she’s upset; her date for the prom canceled on her.”

I sat up a little straighter. I wanted to know who in the fuck Ari had been planning on going to the prom with. Everyone knew what guys had in mind on prom night.

“Who was she going with?”

Mark huffed. “Some idiot named Parker.”

I growled internally. I had no fucking clue who Parker was, but I hated him already.

“Want me to talk to her?” I asked.

Sue gave me a smile. “I think it’s more of a feelings being hurt type thing. She’ll be fine. Her and a few of her other friends, Heather and Amanda, are all going stag.”

“They’ll have more fun. Everyone knows what those little bastards have on their minds during prom,” I bit out.

Mark looked at me, and we exchanged a knowing look. Then I thought about Ellie.

Ryan.

I was going to have to have a little talk with that little bastard.

After finishing my cake, I stood. “Thank you so much for the tea and cake, but I need to go track down Ellie.”

“She’s not answering her cell phone?”

“I thought she said she was coming over here; I haven’t even tried to call her yet.”

Sue gave me a sweet grin. I instantly felt guilty for lying to them. Here I was trying to sneak a moment with Sue and Mark’s daughter, and they were none the wiser.

I’m an asshole with a capital A.

“No need to show me out; I know the way.”

“Okay, sweetheart, you have a good day,” Sue said.

“Keep up the good work on the football, Johnson!” Mark called out, never looking away from his paper.

“Yes, sir,” I replied. “Thank you again, Sue.”

“Tell your mother we said hello!” Sue called out as I made my way through the house and to the front door.

When I walked outside, I saw Ari sitting on the tire swing. Her back was faced toward me so she wouldn’t see if I just left. But I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to talk to her, make sure she was all right.

Dragging in a deep breath, I made my way over to her. “Everything okay?”

“Go away, Johnson. I’m not in the mood to do battle with you today.”

My heart ached at the sadness in her voice.

“Your mom told me about your date for prom.”

Ari groaned and buried her face in her hands.

“Fuck him, Ari. If he doesn’t want to go to prom with you, then you’re better off.”

Her arms dropped in her lap. “He did want to go with me, Jeff. It’s what he wanted to do after prom that I wasn’t down for.”

Anger pulsed through my veins.

“Which was?”

She spun around and stared at me. “Fuck. He wanted to rent a hotel room and fuck like rabbits the whole night. His words. Not mine.”

I was ready to explode. “That motherfucker. I’ll kill him.”

For a brief moment, Ari looked like she was going to smile, then her expression changed.

“I don’t need you and your brotherly love fighting my battles.”

My owns words thrown back at me caused me to stumble a step or two back.

“Ari . . . I didn’t . . .”

“Please go. Just go, Jeff. I can’t do this with you today. Not today.”

The tears filling her eyes had me dropping down to my knees and cupping her face within my hands.

“He’s not worth it, Ari. Don’t cry over him.”

Her voice shook as she said, “I know that. I’m not crying about him.”

She closed her eyes, and that gave me the courage to blurt out my next sentence.

“I’ll go with you. To prom.”

Snapping her eyes open, she went to say something, then stopped herself.

I wasn’t sure how long we stared at each other before she pulled her head out of my embrace and laughed.

“Sure. How great would it be to show up to prom with my best friend’s brother, who thinks of me like his little sister? I’m sure every girl who has ever hated me at one point in my life would love that.”

The way she stressed little sister made my stomach lurch.

“Ari,” I whispered.

She spun around and faced away from me. “Go, Jeff. Will you just go? Please.”

Standing, I took a few steps back, waiting to see if she would change her mind and spin around with a huge smile on her face, in love with the idea of me taking her to prom.

Instead, she sat there. Silently pleading with me to leave. It tore my heart into a million fucking pieces.

I turned and walked away. When I got to my truck, I glanced back in time to see Ari watching me . . . and wiping a tear from her cheek.

Everything inside of me yelled to go back to her. Tell her how I really felt about her. But I didn’t. I was too afraid of the unknown.

I got in my truck. Started it and drove off.

Dropping the weights, I let them bang against the floor. Everyone turned and glared at me.

“Sorry,” I said, holding my hands up in defense. “I know . . . don’t drop the weights.”

Gunner eyed me with suspicion. “What’s going on with you? You act like you want to tear someone’s head off.”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing. I think I’m going to head to Hyde Park gym, go a couple of rounds with Billy.”

“Now I know something’s wrong.”

“It’s been a long week, and I need to let out some steam. I’m ready for this school year to be over.”

With a nod, Gunner continued to stare at me.

“You’re creeping me out, dude. Stop staring at me.”

“I will when you tell me what’s bothering you.”

With a frustrated groan, I pushed my hands through my hair.

“Tonight is Ellie’s prom, and I’m just worried about the dick she’s dating. I caught up with him yesterday and threatened his fucking life if he tried anything with her.”

Gunner laughed. “Did he believe you?”

“He sure as fuck better. I told him I’ll be waiting for him with a few of my friends when he drops Ellie off after prom. So I’m going to need you to go with me later tonight so he knows I wasn’t bluffing.”

His jaw fell open. “You’re serious?”

I nodded. “Yep. I already asked Josh and Brad. They’ll be at the house around ten.”

“How do you think your sister is going to feel when she knows what you did?”

“She won’t. I told him if he tells her, I’ll break both his legs and make it look like an accident.”

Gunner swallowed hard. “Christ almighty, dude.” He reached for a weight to do biceps but stopped.

“So if you think he believes you, why are you so angry?”

There was no way I could tell him it was because Ari ended up going to prom with another jerk who was most likely going to try something with her.

“I guess I’m just stressed.”

“Then maybe a few rounds in the ring will help work that out.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m gonna head that way. I’ll catch up with you later at the house.”

Gunner slapped my back. “Have a good workout, and don’t worry. Ellie will be fine.”

I huffed. It wasn’t Ellie I was worried about. I had put the fear of God in Ryan. There was no way he would even lay a finger on her after I threatened him. If he did, he was a stupid ass.

No, it was Ari I was pissed off about. She was stubborn, and I had a feeling she went with this guy just to piss me off. She knew it would get back to me through Ellie.

“Yeah, I know she will be. See ya later.”

“Later,” Gunner said, giving me a reassuring grin.

I spent the next hour trying to punch the living shit out of Billy, my sparring partner at the gym near my house. By the time we were finished, I was sweating, and I didn’t feel any better.

Billy sat down next to me and handed me a water. “I think what you need to do is get laid. Not try and beat the living shit out of me.”

With a gruff laugh, I downed the water. “That obvious?”

He nodded. “Fuck yes. To me; not sure about anyone else. Want to talk about it?”

“Nah.”

“A woman?”

“Something like that,” I replied.

“Girlfriend? I didn’t peg you as the type.”

“No, nothing like that.”

I stood. “Great workout, buddy. Thanks again.”

As I walked out of the gym, I mentally went over in my head all the reasons I shouldn’t give two fucks about who Ari was with at prom.

By the time I jogged back to my place, I felt worse than I had before. I hadn’t actually come up with one single damn idea.

Ari was surely going to be the death of me.