“How in the hell, oh sorry Emma, how in the heck can he afford to buy a two hundred fifty acre piece of land?”
Ari shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. I knew Jeff worked during the year after football season but that was only during the spring semester. Then I remembered my car! How did he afford to buy my car…. with cash. Now he is buying horses? Something did not add up! No intern at an architectural firm could make that much money. I know he said he had money left over from our grandmother and he was a good saver but come on. I was getting to the bottom of this right now.
I spun on my heels and made a beeline for the stables. Ari was right on my heels. I didn’t talk the whole way there; I had too many things running through my mind. OMG…what if he was selling drugs?!
“Stop thinking so much Ellie! Christ! I can hear your damn brain working in over time now. Just give Jeff a chance to tell you. Don’t go running in and start accusing him of selling drugs or something. ”
Shit…. how did she know that’s what I had been thinking? Did I say it out loud by mistake? We turned the corner and I saw Drake, Aaron, Jefferson, Gunner and……a girl?
She was probably my height and weight but she was dressed in super tight ass Wrangler jeans, cowboy boots and a tight Navy Blue t-shirt. What the fuck?
Gunner and Aaron were both talking to her and she was throwing her head back laughing at something Gunner had just said. I immediately didn’t like her. I didn’t know who she was, but I knew I did not like her one bit.
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph who the fuck is the tramp dressed as a cowgirl?” Ari said as she looked her up and down. Jefferson’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw Ari. He looked over at me and smiled as he walked up to me.
“Ells I wanted to wait until it was all final but it looks like this week it will be so…. Um, yeah I bought some land out here. It butts up to the north pasture of the Mathews ranch. It’s about two hundred and fifty acres. ” He then looked over to Ari and smiled even bigger. “I bought it hoping to turn it into a horse ranch, and I bought my first filly today. She’s yours baby. Whatever you want to name her Ari, she is all yours. ”
Ari looked stunned. I had never in my life seen Ari stunned into silence…. EVER…. . in all the years I had known here. She just stared at Jeff and I noticed his smile starting to falter. I looked back at Ari and she had a tear rolling down her face. Next thing I knew she was jumping into Jeff’s arms and wrapping her legs around his waist.
“OH MY GOD!!! You bought me a horse?! OH MY GOD!” Jeff started laughing as he walked over to the filly while Ari was kissing him all over like mad.
“Jesus get a fucking hotel room would you!” Gunner called out as he looked over at me and winked. He then turned his attention to miss bleached blonde tight ass jeans wearing fake ass tits cowgirl. She gave him a quick hug…. HUH?. . . . . . and then turned to hug Aaron. Old friend? Cousin? Who was this girl?
“Hey sweetheart, want to see the filly, she is a beauty. ”
“I’m pretty sure I already got a look at her. ” Gunner gave me a confused look and looked back toward the horse. Stupid ass…. .
”Sure, let’s go meet Ari’s new horse. ” I said as I just shook my head.
For the rest of the night no one brought up miss bleached blonde tight ass jeans wearing fake ass tits cowgirl so neither did I. It was almost like she was never there. I did corner Jeff about how in the hell he was able to buy all this shit. Turns out he took a part of the money we received from our grandmother and invested it. I guess it has been doing pretty well. He had some set aside for a car and school for me and some left over if I ever wanted to use it for a wedding.
A wedding? Okay. I wasn’t planning on that for a while. Gunner’s whole body tensed up when I laughed about needing the money for a wedding. I thought it was weird but I was still pissed about miss tight pants to care right now what Gunner was thinking.
The next morning I got up to Ari already up and gone. Gesh, second day in a row she had hightailed it out first thing in the morning. I was beginning to think that she and Jeff were sneaking off to make out or something. EEEWWW…. I didn’t need that visual at all just now. Not first damn thing in the morning. I shook my head to erase the image from my mind.
I threw on a pair of sweatpants and a UT football sweat shirt. It felt like the cold front had moved through. I went down into the kitchen. 9:30? What the hell?! Why did everyone let me sleep in so late? And where the hell was everyone?
I walked out onto the front porch to see Emma and Garrett in a deep conversation. They stopped the moment I walked out.
“Oh excuse me I didn’t mean to interrupt you. ” I said as I started to head back into the house.
“Nonsense Ellie darling, you could never interrupt us. Are you looking for Drew honey?”
I nodded my head and smiled.
“I believe he walked down to the barn a little bit ago. He was going to feed the horses. ”
“Oh…. okay great…. um thanks I’ll go um track him down. ” Why was I stammering over my words?
I headed down to the main stable and I heard voices. I turned the corner to see her…. . leaning up against the barn and Gunner was leaning next to her with his arm resting up against a stall. She was smiling and laughing at something he said. I instantly had the same feelings I had when I came across Ryan. I just stood there. Finally Gunner looked up. He gave me that drop my panties crooked smile of his and dropped his arm and started to walk towards me. I was frozen. Why was he down here alone with this girl? I looked over at her and she was giving me a dirty look and then smiled a smirky smile at me.
I don’t know why I did it but I turned and walked away. “Ellie?” Gunner called for me. As soon as I turned the corner out of their view I took off running. I had no idea where the hell I was going but I was running as fast as I could.
“ELLIE STOP!” Gunner shouted. I knew I would never be able to out run him. FUCK! He runs every damn day. I ran up to the tank and had to put my hands on my knees and lean over.
OH SHIT…I needed to start working out again. I was trying to suck in air but my lungs felt like they were closed up.
“What the fuck Ellie? What are you doing running away like that?”