Boomtown (23 page)

  “I want to know where your mother is.” He said to me. 

  “No.”  I said firmly.  “I’ll do a lot of stuff, but it won’t be illegal, and I won’t give you her.”

  “It was worth a try.”  He said back to me.” I’ll get back to you on the favor.  I’ll ask around about this Malcolm.  I’ll also put Mack on it and let you know.  This number where you work?” 

   “Yeah.  Appreciate it.”  I said to him. 

  “Oh, this won’t be pleasant.  You can count on that one.  I’m going to make it something that will absolutely kill you to do.” He said and then hung up. 

  My stomach dropped when he said that.  The bad part was that he would make it unbearable.  He would probably think about it and rethink it until he came up with something that he knew I would loathe.  It was bad enough that he now knew where I lived and place of work.  He could find me and visit anytime he felt like it.   

  He had called only two times throughout the two weeks that it had been since I had called him.  Once to tell me he put a few feelers out but hadn’t heard anything.  The second was to tell me that he had a trail that he was following that might be hot, and that he would call me back as soon as he heard anything. 

  Both of these calls went to voicemail on the work line because he called at three in the morning.  My father obviously still kept long hours.  There wasn’t a time when I was younger that he wasn’t home by dawn.  He would leave after dinner, and come home about the time it was time for me to get to school.

  I flipped my phone back up under my ear, and called the number for my dad.

  “’Lo?” he answered.

  “Whatever line you were following, reel it in.  He just called and told me he was surprised that I had called you in.” I said to him.  “Be careful how you proceed.  He is not some lowlife that you are used to dealing with.  He has skills and training that you wouldn’t believe.  Learned anything new?”

  “Name he goes by now is Justin.  Followed his info and found that he had plastic surgery, and just showed up this new person and goes by Justin.  He was heading south from Washington.  That’s all I know.”

  That lined up with what we now knew of his location being in Texas.  His family was from Washington, so that made sense that he would still be around there.  The plastic surgery however threw me.  What would he look like now? 

  “Thanks.  Keep me updated.” I said and hung up.

  I relayed the information that I had gotten from my dad to Max, and we discussed the possibility that it we might have already been in touch with Malcolm and not even know it.  We were chasing a fucking ghost.

  “What do you think” I was saying when I was interrupted by my phone ringing.

  Jack’s name popped up on the screen and I hit the answer button on the screen and answered.

 “Hello?”

  No one answered.  There was a hissing, pinging and popping sound, and the sound of raspy breathing, some pained moans, but no voice telling me what was going on. 

  Finally Jack said “We got trouble.”

  “What is it?” I asked gruffly.  “Where are you?”

  My heart was in my throat.  Jack was on Cheyenne duty today.

  “Pines and Sheffield.  A car pulled out in front of Cheyenne and she T-boned them.  We had left the dress shop not two minutes before.  The guy just fucking pulled out.  It’s hard not to see that black behemoth of yours.  They are ok.  Shaky.  But ok.  Cheyenne looks like she could possibly have a broken arm and a concussion, but other than that she is fine.  The girls are talking.  Gabe and Ember are taking them in her car to the ER.  They are making Cheyenne ride in the ambulance because she lost consciousness for a few minutes.  They are going to General.  I’m going to ride with her, and meet you there.”

  By the time he was finished with his explanation I was already on my bike and heading out of the driveway.  Max was following me I was sure, but he had to close up shop call James to tell him what was going on.

  I arrived at the hospital in no time and rushed inside.  There was a man working a counter at the front, and I gave him Cheyenne’s name. 

  “They’re still two minutes out.”  The man said while pointing to a little room with a nurse sitting behind a desk.  “Can you go in there and give them her information?” 

  I nodded and headed to the seat in front of the woman.  She smiled at me and introduced herself as the triage nurse. 

  “My name is Judy.  What is the patient’s full name and date of birth?” She said gently. 

  “Cheyenne Renee Allen. March 3, 1987.” I answered. 

  “How are you related to the patient?” she asked.

  “I’m her fiancé.”  I said impatiently.

  We continued through this for around five minutes.  I just finished up when there was a commotion in the doorway behind her.  I looked over her shoulder to see them roll Cheyenne in on a yellow gurney with two paramedics pushing it on either side of her.  Cheyenne was in a sitting position with her injured arm secured to her chest.  Her face was already starting to bruise and redden where the airbag deployed and hit her face.  Jack was walking behind the gurney trying to stay out of the way but still close enough to get to her if he was needed.

  I rose walked behind the triage nurse watching as the paramedics and a nurse transferred her from the gurney to a hospital bed in a curtained off little room.  They did it nicely but she wasn’t able to suppress a grimace of pain when they jostled her.  She noticed me right about the time I made it to the curtains, and her eyes started welling with tears.

  “I ruined your beautiful truck!” she wailed.

  I burst out laughing.  Only her.

  The paramedics gave their report and then exited with smiles on their faces.  I walked to the side that wasn’t injured and cupped her cheek with the palm of my hand.  I cataloged all of the bruises.  Her eyes were starting to puff up a tad, her cheekbones had a faint bruise, and the rest of it was red from the powder that covers the air bag.  There were a few stray pieces of glass I picked out of her hair.  There was also some crusted blood in the creases of her nose.

  “Honey, I don’t give a shit about the truck.  I’m only happy that you and the girls are all right.” I whispered to her. 

  She smiled, and nuzzled my hand with her cheek. Just as suddenly her face was gone out of my hand, and she started ranting about the person she hit. 

  “The fucker just pulled out!  Didn’t even look to see, just went.  I was going fifty miles an hour!  I was right on top of him and I could see that he was going to go, but there was nothing I could do at that point.  I slammed on my breaks and prayed that I would be able to not hit him too hard.  On top of that the guy fled the scene!” she said heatedly.

  I frowned and said “What did he look like?”

  “Blonde, six foot, muscled.” Jack answered for her.

  I turned to Jack and raised my eyebrow in question.

  “I was too worried about the girls. Gabe and Ember were too far behind us to even see the accident.  They stopped when they finally caught up, but he was already gone.” He answered.

  I nodded my head.  I would have done the same thing as him.  No way was I going to chase someone down when I didn’t know if the girls or Cheyenne were hurt.

  “You need to go be with Kayla and Janie.  I’ll be fine. I promise.” Cheyenne said to me.

  Now that I saw that she was alright, I calmed down some and agreed to go check on them.  I gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, and then ran my knuckles down the side of her cheek.  She smiled at me, and I let my hand drop, nodded to Jack and headed around the nurses station.

  I was almost to the hall when James rushed through the doors.  He glanced around, saw Cheyenne across the room in the hospital bed talking to the doctor, and then took me in heading away from them towards the hallway.  He powered through the flurry of nurses and doctors that were at the nurse’s station and headed straight for me with long purposeful strides.  He was still dressed in his work clothes.  He had a black t-shirt on that hid the grease stains.  The dark washed jeans weren’t so forgiving.  He had a few smears on his face that he hadn’t gotten a chance to clean off yet.  Obviously he had rushed, even though he was told that everyone was fine.

  He caught up and fell in step beside me.

  “What happened?” he asked as we walked down the hallway.

  “A car pulled out in front of Cheyenne and she t-boned him.  Deployed the airbag, she’s got a few bruises already forming on her face and neck.  Her arm’s most likely broken.  The girls are fine.  They are only being brought in as a precaution.  Although the paramedics said that they were fine.  The guy fled the scene, Jack stayed with the girls to make sure that they were fine.  Ember and Gabe didn’t arrive until it was already done with.  The girls were said to be fine, but they brought them in just in case.  They are being seen in the minor.” I said and nodded in the direction of the glass doors ahead of us.

  We entered the glass doors and were rewarded with little girl laughter and screams.  We followed the noise to a corner that had two curtained off areas side by side. The middle curtain was open and they were playing in the middle on the floor with some syringes.  They looked as good as ever, and already had their release papers on the way.

  Gabe and Ember were in the corner sitting on two chairs and stood up when they saw us and came over.

  “How is Cheyenne doing?” she rushed out.

  I went over the whole story again for the both of them, and assured her that she was doing okay. 

∞ 

  We all left the hospital and got a quick bite to eat at the BBQ place that was just around the corner.  We dropped Janie and James off at their house, and then went home.  Kayla was asleep by the time we pulled into the driveway.   

  I unstrapped Kayla from her car seat while Cheyenne got herself out of the car and started heading into the house.  I went directly to Kayla’s room and laid her down into the bed, removing her shoes, and then covering her up. 

  I went to the kitchen and got a glass of water for Cheyenne to wash down her pain medication with and then headed into the bedroom to see her struggling to lift the shirt over her bed.  I set the glass of water down and helped her maneuver out of the t-shirt without touching or moving her arm too much.  Once it lifted off, I shucked my tee off over my head.  Carefully, I got it situated over her body.  I unbuttoned her pants, my knuckles grazing her tummy and she flinched. 

  I compressed my lips, but helped her off with her jeans and threw them into the corner of the room.  She went into the bathroom, and I followed and waited to see if she needed anymore help.  She went about ignoring me to the best of her ability.  I helped her use the facilities, then put her hair into a pony tail at the top of her head, just like she liked it.  It may have been slightly lopsided, but she didn’t complain.  She smiled slightly, and then headed into our bedroom and climbed on the bed.  She eased down on to her back, and let out a relieved breath.

   The t-shirt rode up slightly, so I slid it up further as I sat beside her on the bed facing her.  There was a nice line that started at her shoulder blade and diagonally crossed her body ending at her lower ribcage from the seat belt.  That wasn’t what I was interested in though.  I placed my hand flat on her tummy, letting it rest lightly and her breath hitched. I leaned down and let my nose and lips run lightly over her stomach.  I gave her small kisses every once in a while, and then laid my head onto her stomach.  She was crying uncontrollably now, so I gathered her into my arms and held her. 

  “It’s going to be okay.” I whispered to her. 

  “You suck.” She gasped out, slowing down the crying jag. 

  I laughed and brushed back the wisps of her hair smooth to her head.  I was ecstatic. That night I met her, I hadn’t been prepared for her.  I was only there for a drink, and then I was heading home.  It’d been a few months since I’d been with a woman.  I was tired of the nameless faces.  I wanted something more.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the perfect woman would come barging into my life.   

  When we started kissing, all of my sanity flew out of the window.  Never once did it cross my mind to find a condom.  I had never gone bare before, and being in her with nothing between her slick pussy and my dick was almost indescribable.  I had intended to use protection with her, but she made my brain short circuit and I didn’t think about protection until it was done.  On the way home I was trying to recall where I had put the condoms when I moved in.  My dick inside her bare, feeling that wet slick fist of her pussy made me think about getting more, not about covering it up.  Everything was different with her, and never once did I worry about getting her pregnant, because I knew she was mine.  Her pregnant meant that she wouldn’t be slipping through my fingers.

  She was claimed, my baby was growing inside her, and that made me feel on top of the world.  It was a caveman thought to have, but I put a claim on that body of hers, and she would forever be mine. 

  Cheyenne was sniffling so I shifted her around to look at me. 

  “Talk to me.” I said to her.

  “You knocked me up.  With twins!” she shrieked.

  She buried her face back into the crook of my neck again, and I could feel her tears running down my neck and into my hair.  

  “How could you do this to me?  Couldn’t you have just done one?  No.  Not Mr. Overachiever Sam!  He has to do it right.  He has to make me fat as a house.”  She rambled on and on. 

  I chuckled and listened to her go on and on for a good twenty minutes.  She was going to get stretch marks.  She was going to shit herself when she pushed the babies out.  She was going to sneeze and pee.  She was going to never fit into her clothes again.  She was going to have sleepless nights.  She was going to have to share her boobs with someone besides me.  I didn’t think that last one would bother me so much, but I let it go because I didn’t want to set her off again.  She finally ended her rant with a question. 

  “You are going to marry me before I get too fat for a wedding dress won’t you?”