As soon as I saw that bastard sitting on the steps, I had to fight the need to pound his face into the ground.

“What the fuck is he doing here?”

Ellie was just as shocked as I was. “I don’t know why he is here. Shit! My mother is here, too, Gunner. She’s going to ask questions about what happened! What am I going to tell her?” Ellie just about started to cry.

I didn’t have time to worry about her damn mother. I just wanted to know what this little prick was doing here waiting for my Ellie. I mean, waiting for Ellie.

“I’ll get your stuff in the back, but let me help you out of the truck,” I started to say, but Ellie threw the door open and got out of the truck before I could stop her.

“Where the fuck have you been all night, Ellie? I’ve been worried sick about you!” Ryan said as he jumped to his feet and started to walk over toward Ellie. I reached into the back seat and pulled out her two bags and her backpack. I so wanted to tell this douchebag not to talk to her that way, but I needed to stay out of this or else I might end up in jail for kicking his ass.

“What are you doing here? Why are you waiting on my porch for me?” Ellie kept looking back up at the house. What the hell was she looking at? Was she waiting for her mother to come out? I thought I saw someone standing in a window, but I looked away when that little prick started yelling at Ellie.

“Fuck yeah, I’ve been waiting here for you. I was here last night waiting for you to come home, but you never did. Where were you, Ellie?” Ryan said as he moved closer to Ellie. I was standing behind her so I took one step closer to her and that stopped him in his tracks.

Pussy bastard.

“I don’t know why you’re here, Ryan, and I have nothing to say to you. I’m sorry you waited for me, but we are through. I thought I made that perfectly clear yesterday after I saw you with Jessica. As far as where I’ve been . . . well, that’s just none of your business,” Ellie said with her shoulders straight and square. Good girl. Stay strong . . . I heard her voice crack while she was talking, but I was so fucking proud of her.

Just then that little bastard laughed and looked at me. “What, were you out fucking this guy because I wasn’t good enough for you to fuck, Ellie?”

He did not just say that to her.

I immediately dropped Ellie’s bags and backpack and went straight after that fucker. I had him pinned up against the house before he even knew what hit him. It took all of my strength not to beat the shit out of him for talking to her that way.

“You better apologize to her right now, you bastard,” I said as I held him even tighter in my grip. I heard Ellie behind me let out a gasp.

“Oh my God, Gunner, don’t hurt him! Please, just let him go. He’s not worth it.” Ellie was trying with all her might to pull my arm off Ryan’s neck with her left hand.

“Ellie, I need you to stand back. I’m not letting him go until he says he is sorry for what he said to you.”

I could hear him trying to say something, so I let up on my hold just a bit.

“I want you to apologize to her, and then tell her you will never bother her again, or I’m going to come after you with a few more of my friends and Ellie’s brother,” I said, pressed up against his ear.

“If you let go of me, I’ll tell her. Just let go of me—I can barely breathe, dude.” So I pushed off the fucker and stepped back a few steps. I stood next to Ellie and waited for the bastard to catch his breath.

“Um, Ellie, I . . . um, I didn’t mean what I said, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have talked to you that way.”

He acted like he was finished and wasn’t going to go on with telling her he would leave her alone, so I took a step back toward him.

“Yeah, and I, um, I won’t ever bother you again. I understand we’re over. I’m sorry I hurt you, Ellie. I really am. I hope you believe me,” Ryan said as he bent down to pick up his baseball cap, which had flown off when I pinned his ass against the house.

Ellie didn’t say a word to him as she watched him walk away. As soon as he got in his car and drove away, I saw her whole body just start dropping.

Holy shit! I reached out and grabbed her to hold her up.

She looked up at me and smiled. “Thank you, Gunner. You’re starting to make it a habit of coming to my rescue,” she said with a weak laugh. I pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, bent down, kissed her forehead, and smiled at her.

Just then, I heard the front door to Ellie’s house open. Ellie and I both looked over at the same time and Ellie pushed herself out of my arms and started to walk up the stairs. I walked over and picked up the bags and backpack I had dropped on the ground.

“Um, Mom, I’ll be in the house in just one second.” Ellie turned toward me and held out her hand. “I’ll take those from you, Gunner, and thank you again for today. I had a wonderful time.” Ellie let a small but weak smile come across her face. Just as I was handing them to Ellie, I heard a raspy voice start to talk.

“I always knew you would turn out to be a whore. There’s no other way you could get a man. Nope, you will never be wanted by someone like that Ryan boy or by this handsome fella. You give it up for this one, too, you damn whore?”

Ellie’s whole body started to shake, and I saw the tears coming down her face as she slowly closed her eyes, almost as if she was trying to block out what this monster was saying to her. I could not believe her own mother was talking to her this way. At that moment all I wanted to do was take her away from here, from this woman who was causing her all this pain.

I took a step back away from Ellie. I turned and walked over to my truck and put the bags back inside. I walked back up to her and almost threw up looking at her distraught face. Her mother was still calling her names and going on and on, but I tried to block her out of my head and only look at my sweet Ellie.

I walked up to the step right below the one she was standing on. She opened her eyes and looked at me. I took my hands and wiped away her tears. She tried to smile, but the tears would not stop. All the life was drained from those beautiful blue eyes.

Holy fuck . . . my heart had never hurt so goddamn much in my life.

“Do you have a suitcase, sweetheart, that we can pack your clothes in?” I asked as I heard her mother start to laugh. Ellie nodded her head yes.

“Let’s go inside and pack up your stuff, okay? Can you do that for me, sweetheart?”

My sweet, innocent Ellie was standing there, broken. How could a parent say such hateful and hurtful things to their own child?

Ellie and I both turned to walk into the house. Just then her mother stepped in front of us.

“You can’t take her away from here. She has to stay with me. She can’t leave me,” Ellie’s mom said in her drunken, slurred voice. “She has to stay with me. She’s not going anywhere with you so she can be your whore.”

I took a deep breath and looked right at her. “You really think I’m going to let her stay here with you and take this abuse? I suggest you move out of the way, Ms. Johnson. You wouldn’t want me to call the police now, would you?”

Ellie’s mother looked at me, stunned. She stepped out of the way, and I led Ellie into the house.

“Show me where your room is, sweetheart.”

Ellie walked toward her bedroom but stopped at a hall closet. She opened the door and I saw a suitcase sitting on the very top shelf. I reached up, took it down along with another bag, and then walked with Ellie into her bedroom. I shut the door to her room only to hear her mother yelling.

“There will be none of that in my house, you dirty whore! Pack your shit and get the fuck out of my house, you no good-for-nothing-bitch whore!”

I watched as Ellie slid down her door and hit the floor, crying. My whole body started to shake. I balled my fists together trying to stop the anger that was growing inside. The emotions I felt were confusing as hell and scared the shit out of me. God, I was being torn apart inside watching this beautiful girl fall apart. I just wanted to beat the shit out of somebody. I took a few deep breaths to calm down. I knew what I had to do. Now I just needed to do it.

I took out my cell phone and sent a text to Jeff. Did he know this was how his mother treated Ellie? Surely not. If he did, he would’ve taken her away from this long ago. There’s no way he would have let her stay here if he had known his mother was still verbally abusing Ellie.

“Ellie, where is your cell phone?”

Ellie reached in her back pocket, pulled it out, and barely handed it to me before she just let her hand fall to the ground. Shit! It was her sprained hand, too. Broken . . . my sweet girl was giving up. Fuck, I wished I could just take away her pain.

I slid down on the floor next to her and started to look for Ari’s number. After I sent Ari a text I set the phone down on the floor, picked up Ellie, and moved her onto my lap.

I’m not sure how long we sat there while she cried in my arms. She finally stopped sobbing and looked up at me. Those beautiful blue eyes red and swollen and so sad. I made a vow to myself right then I would do whatever it took to always protect and take care of her. Always . . .

“You have to stop doing this,” Ellie whispered.

“Doing what, sweetheart?” I asked her as I looked into her eyes.

Ellie put her forehead up against mine, and I thought I was going to die right then and there.

“Stop coming to my rescue. I’m going to expect it from now on,” she said with a slight laugh.

“Ellie, sweetheart, I’ll always come to your rescue. For the rest of our lives, I will never let anyone hurt you ever again,” I said as I felt my heartbeat pick up even faster.

I stood up, making sure I didn’t let her go. I walked over and set her down on her bed. I opened the suitcase and started to take the clothes out of her closet and put them in the suitcase. I was starting to get a little freaked out because Ellie was not moving at all. She just stared at the floor. Shit! Where the fuck was Jeff?

Then I heard him.

“What the fuck did you do to her?” Jeff was yelling at his mother.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! That little whore was out all night sleeping around and then came back here to my house and caused a scene for the whole neighborhood to see. It was disgusting,” Ellie’s mother said as they walked down the hall toward Ellie’s room.

“Shut up! Just shut the fuck up right now! What the fuck is wrong with you? That’s your daughter you’re talking about. She is nothing like you, so don’t you ever call her a whore again. She is leaving, Mom, and you will never see either one of us again. Do you understand me? That means no more money from me. No more help. My God, if I find out that you’ve been treating her like shit this whole time, you will be out on the streets. When I paid off this house, I made sure it was put in my name. You will have nothing! Do you understand me? Nothing!”

Just then the door to Ellie’s room flew open and Jeff looked at me and then down at his sister, who was still sitting on her bed, only crying again. I have never seen Jeff look so devastated before. I already knew he was blaming himself. Jeff would give up his own life for his sister. I could see it in his eyes . . . he was hurting bad.

Jeff walked over to Ellie and fell to his knees, and Ellie immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and cried hysterically. God, how I wish I could make her feel safe like that. Just then I heard Ari. I looked up and she was standing at the door. “Motherfucker,” she said as she looked at Ellie coming apart in her brother’s arms.

She looked over to me and tried to give me a small smile. I just looked down at the suitcase and back up at her. She nodded her head yes to me. Next thing I knew she had taken over packing up Ellie’s clothes and whatever little possessions she thought Ellie would want to take.

I just stood there. I had no idea what to do. What could I do to help her with this pain? Jeff got up and sat down on the bed next to Ellie, who was still crying. He put his arm around her and just kept repeating, “Shh, it’s going to be okay, honey . . . it’ll all be okay.”

He looked over at me and gave me a look that clearly said thanks. I nodded back my acknowledgment to him. Once Ellie calmed down and somewhat stopped crying, Jefferson started to talk to her.

“Ellie, honey, you’ll stay at Ari’s house until we figure this all out. I need to run back and let them know I’m leaving, so Ari is going to take you to her house, okay? Are you okay with that, Ells?” Jeff said as he looked over to Ari, who was now standing there with Ellie’s suitcase and another small bag. Ari gave Jeff a smile, and it looked like Jeff could not tear his eyes away from her. He seemed to be lost in Ari’s smile. Something I knew a shit ton about after spending time with Ellie today.

He was fucked . . . just like I was.

Ellie started to talk and that snapped Jeff out of his daydream.

“Um, sure, that’s fine, but can Gunner give me a ride to Ari’s? I need to talk to him. I mean, if that’s okay with you, Gunner?” Ellie said as she looked up at me.

Holy fuck, the look on her face about dropped me to my knees. She wanted me—not Ari or Jeff—she actually wanted to be with me.

“Of course it’s all right, sweetheart. Anything for you.”