TROUBLE, A New Adult Romance Novel (The Rebel Series) (45 page)

I look down at my legs and then at her.
 
“My water broke on your couch.
 
I’m so sorry.”

“Gross. Does it smell?
 
Okay, yeah, never mind, don’t answer that question. Don’t worry about it.
 
What should I do?”

“Bring me some
dry
towels and then get the car.
 
We need to get to the hospital.”

“What about an ambulance?”

I shake my head. “No.
 
It won’t be a big deal, and ambulances are too expensive anyway.
 
Labor takes hours and hours.
 
They might even send me home once we get there, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

A contraction starts, my belly tightening and gripping around the baby.
 
It turns my stomach into a weird shape and more liquid comes out.
 
I have to bend over a little to ease the tension.

I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be timing these things, but I have no idea how.
 
Am I supposed to time how long they last?
 
How much time between the end of one and beginning of another?
 
From the beginning of one to the beginning of another?
 
It’s all so confusing.
 
I thought I’d have more time to do research.
 
The baby isn’t due for another few weeks.
 
Will she be okay?

“You sure about that no ambulance thing?” Teagan asks, for the first time sounding scared.

I wave her away. “Just go.”
 
Reaching down to the table, I grab my phone.
 
I flip it open and press the button for Colin’s number.

“Hey, babe,” he says after two rings.

“Hey,” I say, almost grunting.
 
Whoa, these contractions are no joke.
 
Holy … crud buckets.

“Something wrong?” he asks.

“My water broke,” I grunt out.

“What?!” he yells into the phone.

I hold it away from my head for a few seconds to protect my eardrums from any more outbursts.

When I’m sure he’s done, I put it back to my head. “Easy, Colin.
 
You just made me deaf in one ear.”

“Stay there, I’m coming over.”

“No, meet me at the hospital.
 
Teagan is taking me.”

“But…”

“Don’t argue!” I yell, the pain from the contraction that doesn’t want to end slicing into me.
 
“Just go there!”

“Yes, ma’am,” he says, sounding bewildered.
 
“See you soon.”

He hangs up and I waddle to the door, using the towel that Jersey brings me as a giant maxi-pad.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

QUIN AND JERSEY ARE IN the back seat of the Beetle.
 
Teagan’s driving like a maniac and I’m her front seat passenger. My belly is squeezing itself over and over, almost without stopping.
 
I did some reading about birth stories a couple weeks ago, but I don’t remember any that sounded like this.
 
It feels like it’s going too fast.

“Shouldn’t we be timing something?” Quin asks, her face appearing between the seats.

“Yeah.
 
We should,” Teagan says.

I have one hand on the dashboard and one on the windowsill next to me.
 
I can’t answer right now.
 
I’m just trying not to explode with pain.
 
I thought there would be breaks between the contractions, but either there aren’t any breaks or this is just one big long one.

“Is this normal?” Quin asks.
 
“Why isn’t she talking?”

Jersey starts making a sound like a truck driving.
 
Out of the corner of my eye I see a toy car coming at me from the back seat.
 
Then I feel something rolling over the top of my head.

“Jersey, cut the crap,” Quin says, smacking it off my head.
 
Some of my hair goes with it.

“She likes it!” he yells.
 
“It’s rubbing her head.
 
Daddy says it’s nice to rub people’s heads when they’re sick.”

The toy car goes back to my head as another contraction rips through me.
 
I whimper when the pain reaches new heights.

The car leaves my head.
 
“Oopsy.
 
Sorry,” Jersey says.

“Time it!” yells Teagan.
 
“Time the contraction!”

Quin starts yelling right next to my ear.
 
“One one thousand, two one thousand, three Mississippi, four Pennsylvanias!”

“Who the fuck taught you to count like that?” Teagan asks, twisting around to look at her.

“I’m under a lot of pressure! Shut up!”

I scream as the car swerves over to the side of the road.
 
The side mirror hits a mailbox and goes flying off with a crash to the sidewalk below.

“Holy fuck-a-nutter,” Teagan says, jerking the wheel back and getting the car straight again.
 
“Phew!
 
I almost just gave myself a heart-attack, I think.”

“You drive!
 
I’ll count!”
 
Quin puts her hand on my shoulder.
 
“Tell me when to stop.
 
One Mississippi, two Pennsylvania…”

I hold my hand up.
 
“Stop.
 
For the love of God, stop.”
 
I’m panting like a dog.
 
Real breathing hurts too much.
 
The baby is taking up all my lung room.

My phone rings.
 
I grab it and throw it over my shoulder.
 
“Answer it,” I say weakly as another wave of pain starts to build.

“Hello!
 
Alissa’s phone!” Quin has gone deaf.
 
That’s the only explanation for her constant yelling.

“Brrrmmmm brrmmmm,” says Jersey.
 
His toy car is on my shoulder now.

“Yeah, we’re in Teagan’s car!
 
We’re about ten minutes away.”
 
She twists around.
 
“Hey!
 
That’s you back there?
 
How’d you catch up so fast?”
 
She leans closer to my ear.
 
“Colin’s right behind us.
 
He wants to know if you want to get in his car.”

I shake my head. “Pull over,” I whisper.
 
This is not going well.
 
The gushing has lessened but the pressure is increasing.
 
I’m pretty sure my entire uterus is about to fall out.

“Yeah, she wants to get in your car!”

“No!” I yell.

Teagan looks at me.
 
“Am I pulling over or not?”

“Yes!”

Quin leans in-between the front seats, looking first at me and then at Teagan.
 
“So is she getting in his car or what?”

“PULL THE FUCKING CAR OVER RIGHT NOW!” I scream, as I feel a bulging pressure coming from between my legs. Something inside me is ripping open.
 
This makes round ligament pain feel like a frigging massage.

Teagan swerves to the right and pulls up onto a sidewalk.
 
Cars honk and move out of our way.
 
The one behind us screeches to a stop and then a guy starts yelling a stream of cusswords at us.

“What the fuck?!” Teagan yells.
 
“All you had to do was ask!
 
Don’t yell like that or you’ll make me crash!”

I’m struggling to find the door handle.
 
“Out.
 
Out.
 
Out.”
 
It’s all I can think.
 
I’m about to have this baby and nobody is understanding me.

“You want out because you’re getting in Colin’s car?”
 
Quin sounds confused and maybe a little nervous.

I hear some more screeching and honks and then as I’m getting the door to finally open, Colin’s face appears next to me.
 
The door opens and he’s squatting down at my side.

“What’s up, babe?”

“Baby …” I say in between panting breaths.
 
“Baby coming …”

His face goes white.
 
“Baby coming?
 
Like now?
 
Baby coming now?”

“You talk like a baby!” says Jersey, laughing.
 
“Let’s play baby, sister!
 
Let’s play baby.
 
I’ll be the baby, you be the momma.”

“Shut up, Jersey!
 
Not right now!”
 
Her voice is in my ear again.
 
“Are you having the baby right now?”

“Get my pants off,” I say, practically crying.
 
“Get them off right now.”
 
All I can picture is my baby getting turned into an accordion because my jeans are in the way of her coming.
 
Why didn’t I wear a dress today?
 
Ugh, they’re wet!
 
They won’t come off!

Colin turns me sideways and yanks my shoes off.
 
He gets one leg of my pants off by pulling it from the bottom.
 
As he reaches for the other side, I hold my hand up. There’s no way my leg is moving over there.

“Leave it,” I say, swiping at his hand.
 
“Underwear.”
 
I can’t say anything more.
 
I’m out of breath and another monster contraction is about to tear me in two.

My underwear disappears about three seconds after Colin produces a knife from his pants pocket.
 
The pieces fall to the seat, trapped under me.
 
I now have a free path for the baby to use.
 
Thank God. No baby accordions today.

Colin holds my hand and looks into my eyes.
 
I can barely see him through the haze of pain.

“You ready for this?” he asks.

“No choice,” I say, right before I scream like a wild woman.
 
The pressure is too much.
 
I feel like I’m being torn in two.

“Holy mother fucking miracle of life … you’re having a baby in my Beetle,” Teagan says.
 
She takes off her seatbelt and gets on her knees on the seat, leaning over to be in front of me.
 
“You can do this!
 
Just breathe, okay!
 
Just breathe!”
 
She puts her hand on my shoulder and looks down at my crotch.
 
“Oh, God.
 
That is just … that is just…”
 
Her face goes pale too.

“What?
 
What is it?!” Quin yells.
 
“I can’t see!
 
Tell me!”

“Is that …”
 
Teagan points to my crotch.
 
“Is that … the baby?”

I close my eyes and lean my head back against the seat.
 
The pain is gone for two seconds and then it comes back, full force.
 
And things start to move inside me.

“Oh, man.
 
That’s the head, I think,” Colin says.
 
“Quin, call nine-one-one.”

Quin gets busy following his orders, but I don’t have the presence of mind to hear everything she’s saying.
 
I have the strongest urge to push, but I know it won’t matter whether I do or not.
 
This baby is coming, and it’s happening
now
.

I grab Colin’s bicep and Teagan’s forearm.
 
“She’s coming,” I say.
 
“Somebody catch her.”

“I got you, babe,” Colin says.
 
He looks terrified.
 
“I got you.
 
Just do what you need to do.”

I can feel warm fluids slipping out of me as the pressure builds.
 
The smell of iron and I don’t even what to know what else fills the car.
 
Please, God, don’t let me poop in Colin’s hands!

“Ooooohhh Goooood!” I cry.
 
And then my air is cut off as I bear down, pushing with everything I have.
 
“Aaahh!” I scream as I feel something stretch too far, to the point of tearing apart, and then …
 

Kachow!

The baby is zooming out of me and into Colin’s hands.

I can breathe again.

I’m burning something fierce down there, but the pressure is gone.

I’m crying and laughing and trying to gasp for air all at the same time.

“It stinks in here,” Jersey says.
 
“Pewey.
 
Somebody farted.”

“Oh my god,” Teagan says in a really high, silly voice.
 
“You just had a fucking baby in my Beetle!
 
Holy fuck of all fucks.
 
What the …”

“Hold her up!
 
Hold her up so I can see!” Quin yells next to my head.

Colin looks up at me and smiles, his eyes filled with tears.
 
“You just had a baby and I caught it.”

I smile at him, suddenly very tired.
 
“Thanks for being there for me.”
 
I loosen my grip on their arms and hold out my hands.
 
“Can I have her?”

She’s covered in all kinds of goop.
 
Blood and creamy white stuff are smeared everywhere.
 
And this giant purple and white, lumpy-looking cord is still connecting her to me.
 
She is so very beautiful.
 
I can’t stop crying.

Colin settles her into my arms and I stare down into her puffy face.
 
She looks like she’s trying to open her eyes, but it’s too bright or something.
 
I carefully brush the goo away from her lids.
 
The tears are hot on my face.
 
I’m so deliriously happy.
 
And I’m in pain.
 
More contractions are coming, bringing goop and God knows what else with it.