Chapter Seven – Gunner

The smell of my grandmother’s perfume floated around me as I leaned down to kiss her goodbye. I loved being on the ranch, and every time I had to leave, it gutted me.

“Bye, Grams, I’ll miss you.”

She kissed me on the cheek. “You be careful driving back to Austin, Drew. Don’t be gone for so long next time, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Turning to Gramps, I reached my hand for his. “I hope we were of some help this weekend.”

He chuckled. “Son, just you being here was enough for me, but yes, y’all were a huge help this weekend. I can’t thank you enough. Next time I want to spend more time with ya, so no working.”

I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“And you bring the boys back with you. I enjoy shooting the shit with them.”

“They love it here.”

Jeff and Josh were both saying goodbye to Grams when they turned to face Gramps.

“Garrett, thank you for everything this weekend,” Jeff said while shaking my grandfather’s hand.

“Thank you. You boys helped out a ton. You’re welcome here anytime.”

Josh followed Jeff’s actions and shook Gramps’s hand and thanked him for the weekend.

“Now y’all be careful driving back, and you boys behave!” Grams called out as we made our way to my truck.

The drive back to Austin was quiet. Both Jeff and Josh passed out before we even hit the end of the driveway. Even though each of us worked out every day, working on the ranch was exhausting and hard work.

I pulled up to Josh’s place and hit him on the leg. “Sleepyhead, you’re home.”

Jerking awake, he rubbed his hands down his face. “Holy shit. I slept the entire drive back?” he asked.

Laughing, I jerked my thumb back to the back seat, where Jeff was still sleeping.

“Both of you did. Looks like y’all need to go to the ranch more often to get into shape.”

He rolled his eyes and opened the truck door. “Thanks for driving, Gunner.”

“Dude, thanks for working your ass off this weekend. It was fun.”

Josh smiled. “It was fun! Talk to ya later.”

He shut the door and then reached for his bag in the back of my truck and jogged into the three-bedroom house he shared with two other guys from the football team.

I put the truck in drive and started for home.

“Can you swing by my mom’s place? I want to check on Ellie,” a sleepy voice said from the back seat.

“You’re up?” I asked as I looked in the rearview mirror at Jeff sitting up, his hands rubbing over his face in an attempt to wake himself up faster.

“Yeah, I have been for the last thirty minutes or so. Just laying back here thinking.”

“About?” I asked as Jeff crawled into the front seat of the truck.

“My mom, Ellie, school, what in the fuck I want to do with my future.”

I knew what he was talking about. I’d pretty much had almost the same thoughts while driving back to Austin.

“Football isn’t in your future after college?” I asked.

“Hell no. It’s fun now, but I don’t see myself doing that for a career. Being at your family’s ranch this past weekend, I really think I want to move out of the city. Maybe I’ll open up my own business or something. Design barns and shit.”

Laughing, I glanced over at him quickly. “Barns, huh?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m worried about my sister.”

“What about her?”

“She’s so smart and so driven, but I feel like my mom is filling her head with shit and she’s starting to believe it. I don’t know what to do. Sometimes I wonder if I should move back home.”

“I’m sure if Ellie needed you to move back home she’d tell you, Jeff. Where did she stay this weekend?”

“Ari’s house. They’ve been friends since they were ten. The girl comes from a shit-ton of money, and her parents have offered more than once for Ellie to move in with them.”

“She won’t leave your mom?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “No. She worries about her, and so do I, but fuck, when is she going to snap out of it? I get that my dad left her, but hell, it’s past the time to move on and get back to your life.”

I looked back at Jeff. “Maybe there’s more to the story than you know.”

He half shrugged again. “Maybe. Who knows? I just want to make sure she’s okay. You don’t mind stopping, do you? It’ll only take me a minute to run in and check on things.”

“Still don’t get to meet her, huh?”

He shot me a half grin. “Not yet. She gets one look at you, and I’m afraid she’ll be stopping by the house for unplanned visits just to see you.”

I couldn’t help but toss my head back and laugh.

We were soon parked outside of Jeff and Ellie’s mom’s house. Before Jeff got out of the truck, the front door opened, and out walked Ellie. I strained to get a better look at her, but Jeff was blocking her the entire time he walked up to the porch. They hugged, and our eyes met when she looked over his shoulder directly at me in the truck.

My entire body shivered.

Shit. What in the fuck?

I couldn’t pull my gaze away from her, and she seemed to be having the same problem. When she stepped back, I turned my head and stared out the front window. My heart rate picked up, and I gripped the steering wheel harder.

“Dude, it’s just because she’s off-limits. Calm the hell down,” I whispered.

When I glanced back over, Jeff and Ellie had walked into the house. I let out the breath I hadn’t even noticed I was holding.

“Christ almighty,” I mumbled.

My phone rang, and I answered it without even looking.

“Hello?”

“Gunner?”

I stared at the door, willing them to come back out for just one more look at Ellie. Then the voice on the line registered.

“Casey?”

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“It’s um, it’s going good. How are you?”

“I’m going pretty good! Busy, but who isn’t, right?”

With a chuckle, I replied, “Yeah, I hear ya.”

“Listen, a few of us are getting together later tonight, and I was wondering if you’d like to join us. Be my date and all.”

Casey and I met last year at one of the frat parties. We’d hit it off and had gone out a few times. Nothing serious, but we had fun together.

“What are y’all going to be doing?”

“Bowling.”

“Sounds like fun. What time?”

“How about seven?”

“Should I pick you up?”

“That would be amazing.”

I could hear the smile in her voice. Jeff walked out of his mom’s house, and Ellie waved from the door. She tilted her head so she could look once more at me in the truck. Her hand lifted, and she waved to me, so I did the same. Jeff kept getting in the way of my view as he walked back to the truck.

Damn it.

“Let’s go!” Jeff said as he got into the truck.

“Is that Jeff?” Casey asked.

“Yeah, that’s Jeff.”

“Invite him too. My cousin is in town, and I’m sure her and Jeff would hit it off really well. She has a thing for guys like Jeff.”

Guys like Jeff. I wonder what she meant by that? The bastard owed me one from the whole Crysti date, so without even asking him, I offered him up as well.

“I’m sure Jeff would love to come along and meet your cousin.”

His head snapped in my direction while his mouth fell open. It took everything I had not to start laughing.

“What? Come along where and meet whose cousin?”

I held up my hand to silence him. It was payback time, and Jeff Johnson was about to pay up.

“You bastard!” he whispered.

“Great! We’ll see y’all at my place around seven.”

“Sounds good, Casey. See ya then.”

Jeff groaned when I hit End and tossed my phone down. Putting the truck in drive, I pulled out.

“I’m not going on any date tonight, Gunner.”

I laughed. “Oh, I think you are. You owe me. Remember Jemma and Crysti?”

“Come on, Gunner. Casey? You really want to go out with her again?”

With a shrug, I replied, “Why not? She’s fun, cute, and I had a good time with her. I like her.”

Jeff shook his head and looked out the window. “What are we even doing tonight?”

I couldn’t wait to see his face when I told him. “Bowling.”

The weight of his death stare was heavy on me as I took a chance and glanced his way.

Yep. He’s pissed.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Bowling? We’re going bowling? What are we, in high school?”

“Hey, bowling’s fun. Besides, we’ll be with a group of people, and I’m driving so you can drink all you want.”

His hand pushed through his hair. “I hate blind dates. You know I hate them, and I’m not a fan of Casey either.”

My head jerked back in surprise. “What? Why not?”

“I just don’t like her.”

Pinching my brows together, I asked him again, “Why not? What has she ever done to you?”

He sighed. “I just don’t like her.”

I laughed. “Damn, I’ve never known you to be like this, Jeff. There has to be a reason you don’t like her.”

If I didn’t know better, I would swear Jeff was pouting. “Can we just change the subject?”

“You’re still going out with us tonight.”

“What the fuck. If you’re calling in on your favor from me, then so be it, even though I helped you coach that kid. Whatever. At least there will be other people there, and I don’t have to listen to Casey’s annoying-as-hell laugh.”