Saved (16 page)

I kissed her forehead and
looked back up at Ellie and Gunner. I walked her around to the
passenger side and put her into my truck. She just sat there and
stared straight ahead.
What the fuck was
going on?
She was fine when she
left.
Oh my god. I hope Rebecca didn’t
call her.
She’d been trying to call me all
evening, and I ignored every call. She never once left a message,
so I figured it wasn’t important.

“I’m going to go say good night to Gunner and
Ellie. Will you be okay until I get back, baby?”

She turned to look at me. “Yeah…I’m fine
really. I just feel a little sick. That’s all.”

I shut the door and walked up to Ellie, who
was looking at Ari in the truck. Then she glanced back at me, then
back at Ari, and then back at me.

“Ellie, what the hell happened? Rebecca
didn’t call her, did she?” I asked confused.

Ellie looked at Gunner and then back at me.
She was acting really strange.

“Um…well, um….no, Rebecca didn’t call her.
She just, um…she just got sick and threw up. So, yeah, she’s
probably just really stressed. You know this whole thing just has
her thrown for a loop, Jefferson.”

I turned and looked back at Ari. She was
still sitting in the truck, just watching us talk. She was staring
at Ellie like she wanted to get out of the truck to say something.
When I turned back to look at Ellie, she was mouthing something to
Ari.

Then she looked at me and smiled.

“I think she just needs some sleep,
Jefferson. She’ll be fine. I promise.”

“Okay…Gunner, will you make sure you tell
Garrett and Emma we said thanks for dinner again? I guess I’m
heading over to our place. Talk to y’all tomorrow?”

Gunner and Ellie both said good night and
watched as I drove the truck around to the gate that was between
both ranches.

****

During the whole drive to our house, Ari just
stared out the window. It was 11:30 at night, and I was exhausted
from moving furniture all day. I just wanted to get home, shower,
and go to bed.

I pulled up to the house and jumped out. I
ran around to the other side of the truck, but Ari was already
getting out. She was staring at nothing as she walked up to the
house.

I grabbed her arm and turned her around.
Pulling her close to me, I said,

“Ari, this will be the first time we stay
here in this house as an engaged couple.”

I was hoping that would have
at least made her smile. Instead, she just pushed back away from me
and stared at me.
What the hell is going
on?
Her eyes looked so…lost.

Just then, the corners of her mouth started
to move up, and she gave me her beautiful smile that always took my
breath away. She stepped closer to me, and I leaned down to capture
her mouth with mine. She kissed me back with so much passion that
my knees just about buckled.

She slowly pulled away from me as she looked
at me. She had tears streaming down her face. I reached up my hands
to cup her face as I used my thumbs to wipe her tears away.

“Will you please make love to me, Jeff?” Ari
whispered.

I never in my life could love this girl more
than I did right now. As much as I knew I was hurting her, I was
still the one she wanted to help her forget and feel better.

I couldn’t even find my voice to speak. I
reached down and scooped her up in my arms. She leaned her head
into my chest as I made our way into the house.

I thanked God that I’d gone ahead and put
fresh sheets on our bed earlier today. Josh had given me hell about
it the whole time. The last thing I’d wanted was for Ari to be
searching through all the boxes for clean sheets.

As I stepped into our room, still holding Ari
in my arms, I heard the moment when she let out a gasp. She wasn’t
prepared to have our room all set up and ready. I softly laid her
down on top of the quilt that Emma had made for us.

As I pushed Ari’s beautiful hair back behind
her ears, I leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“You’re so beautiful, Ari. I love you so
much.”

She closed her eyes briefly. When she opened
them again, I could see the moonlight from the window sparkling in
her eyes.

I slowly pulled her up to me as I started to
kiss her. The moment she bit down on my lower lip, I let out moan.
She sat up on her knees on the bed and started to take off my
shirt. We only broke our kiss long enough for me to get my shirt
off. As I removed her shirt, she placed both of her hands on chest,
and then slowly started to push me down onto the bed. Her whole
body was shaking, making me wonder if she was nervous or just
cold.

I watched her face as she started to unbutton
my jeans with that damn smile of hers. I would do anything she
asked me to do just that smile. I lifted my hips up off the bed as
she began to take my pants off.

Her head snapped up at me and she raised her
eye brows. “Commando, huh?”

I just laughed as I pulled
her down on top of me. I rolled her over and started to slide off
her shorts. I sat up and stared at her.
God, her body is amazing.
She was
wearing a pair of pink lace thongs with a matching bra. I couldn’t
take my eyes off of her. I looked up at her perfect chest and moved
my eyes down until they landed on her panties. I softly moved my
hands up her legs. The moment my hands touched her, she jumped and
got goose bumps.

“Ari, are you feeling up to this, baby?”

“Jeff…please don’t stop! Please.”

I started to pull down her
panties and off her legs when my fucking cell phone rang.
Motherfucker! Are you kidding
me
?

I ignored it, and I made a mental note to get
my fucking phone number changed. I wasn’t even sure if Ari noticed
the phone ringing because she didn’t move or make a sound. I
reached over and turned on my iPod.

I leaned down and started to kiss the inside
of her thigh. She let out the most amazing moan I’d ever heard. I
wanted to taste her so fucking bad.

I moved up to between her thighs and quickly
took her in my mouth. She grabbed my hair and pushed me in closer.
The sounds that she was making were driving me crazy. I placed two
fingers inside her, and her whole body jerked up. Then, I placed
another finger inside, and she started to call out my name.

I stopped kissing her after she seemed like
she was coming down from her orgasm. I placed soft kisses all along
her hips, moving up to her stomach, until I came face to face with
her. The love I saw in her eyes was amazing. She seemed to be
glowing. She let a small smile play across her face before she
moved quickly, flipping me over. She was now sitting on top of me
with a devilish grin on her face.

“It’s my turn to be in control, baby,” she
said as she aimed her hips on top of mine.

The moment she sank down on me, I felt like I
was going to lose control. I ran my hands up and down her body.
With each motion, she about killed me with her moans of
pleasure.

“Jesus, Ari, you feel so good.”

She threw her body back, and before I knew
it, she was calling out my name again. This time, I lost all
control and came right along with her.

She laid her head on my chest, trying to
catch her breath.

“I love you, Jeff. You have to know how much
I love you.” She slowly looked up at me.

Son of a bitch.
She was crying again. It felt like someone had
just kicked me in the stomach. Just then, Maroon 5’s “Wipe Your
Eyes” started to play.
Perfect fucking
song.
I wiped off the tears from her face
as she smiled at me. My heart shattered into a million pieces. She
was hurting, and I couldn’t fix it. She put her head on my
chest.

“I know, baby. I love you just as much…if not
more.”

Lying there with her in my arms, I listened
as her breathing become more and more relaxed as she finally
drifted off to sleep. I rolled her over and pulled the sheets up
over her. I sat there for a few minutes, just watching her sleep.
She seemed so at peace. I wished that she was that way when she was
awake.

Then, I heard my phone chirp. I knew that
who-ever had called before had left a message because my
notification alert kept going off. There was no way I would have
told Ari we needed to stop, so I could check my phone. I already
knew who had been calling.

I quietly moved off the bed and reached into
my jeans pocket to get my phone. Sure enough, there was one missed
call and one voice mail message from Rebecca.

I walked through the living
room and stepped out onto the front porch. Rebecca had sounded
panicked in her voicemail. She’d said she needed to know if I was
alright because she had been trying to get a hold of me all
day.
No shit.

I looked at the time. It was close to 1 a.m.
I guess I better call her.

“Jeff! Oh my god! I’ve been worried sick.
I’ve been calling for hours,” Rebecca said.

“Well, Rebecca, I’m fine. I told you that I
was coming out to Mason and that I didn’t get very good cell phone
coverage here. If it was important, you could have left a
message.”

“I remember that now. Gesh, it must be
pregnancy mind. I tend to forget things a lot lately. I was
wondering what you were doing this weekend. I really need to get
the baby’s room ready, and I’m afraid that I’m running out of time.
Is there any way you can help with painting and setting up the crib
and such? I can’t get anyone to help me.”

“You have until the middle of August. Why are
you in such a rush to get the baby’s room done this weekend?”

“Jeff, please. You never
know. What if something happens and the baby comes early?
Please
. If I have to beg
and plead, I will. I really need help. My parents have pretty much
disowned me. I have no one.”

Motherfucker!
Ari’s going to be pissed. “Fine. I’ll be there
sometime tomorrow morning. It’ll probably be closer to
lunch-time.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Jeff! You don’t know
how relieved I am. I’ll plan on making us lunch.”

“Okay. I’ll be there around eleven.”

“See you then Daddy!”

I ended the call and almost
felt sick to my stomach. I turned around to see Ari standing in the
doorway.
Fuck.

“So, now, you feel like you have to go
outside and talk to your baby mama at 1a.m.”

“Ari, it’s not like that. I just didn’t.”

“I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday with
Dr. Wyatt.”

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“Only the fact that Rebecca and I share the
same doctor. No, nothing is wrong. My mother asked me to get tested
for Fragile X, so I am.”

“Shit, baby. Do you want me to go with
you?”

She shook her head. “Sounds like you have a
busy weekend planned. You better get to bed,”

Ari turned and walked away from me, leaving
the front door open.

Fuck me! Why the hell did
she have to wake up and over hear my
conversation
? I followed her into the
bedroom and tried to get her to talk to me.

“Jeff, I’m tired. I don’t feel good, and I
have a lot on my mind. I’m not really in the mood to talk to you
about how you’re going to play Daddy and fix up a fucking baby
room!” Ari shouted.

“What the hell do you want me to do, Ari?
Leave her to fend for herself? She needs help, and her family has
abandoned her. You really want me to be that cruel to her?”

Ari glared at me before she grabbed a pillow
and a blanket.

“I’m sleeping on the sofa. I might need to
get up in the middle of the night. My stomach is feeling sick
again.”

“Ari, please don’t sleep out in the living
room. Stay here with me, baby.”

Ari turned to look at me,
and I could see the tears building in her eyes.
Motherfucker, this sucks.
She gave me
a weak smile and then turned and walked out of the
bedroom.

I sat down on the bed and
pushed my hands through my hair.
Why
couldn’t it be Ari who was pregnant and not Rebecca? Why do I keep
hurting the one person I loved the most?
Laying down, I stared the ceiling until around 4am. My heart
was breaking a little more with each passing minute. I never once
heard Ari get up and get sick.

My alarm went off around 7:30. I got up and
walked out to the living room to find that Ari was already
gone.

Heading back to the bedroom, I grabbed a pair
of jeans and put on a t-shirt before I went to my truck.

This day is gonna suck.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

GUNNER

Jeff and Ari had left a while ago and I was
exhausted mentally and physically. Not to mention, I was pissed
that we had to cut our damn honeymoon in half.

Grams and Gramps had been talking about my
dad for the last hour. I looked over at Ellie. She was struggling
to keep her eyes open. I thought back to the day before yesterday
when I’d watched her sleep on the beach. My heart hurt so much from
just thinking about how much I loved this girl.

She must have sensed me looking at her; she
looked up at me and smiled. Her smile stopped my whole world. I
would do anything to see her smile like that. She winked at me and
then turned back to Grams.

“Emma, please let me know what I can do to
help out with the party. Or maybe you need help getting things
ready for when Grace and Jack get here? Whatever I can do to help
keep Jack comfortable, please just let me know. I’d love to help
out in any way.”

“Ellie, darlin’, you’re a sweetheart. I’m so
sorry y’all had to cut your honeymoon in half. Your mother is sick
over it, Drew. Drew?”