Open Wheel

by Shey Stahl

  My heart tugged at his words. “You’re protective…it’s cute.”

  “I’m more than protective,” he added, raising an eyebrow. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you guys.”

  This side of him was so different from the side of him I was given last year. But I loved it.

  THE MORNING OF February fourth, Casten, Hayden, Gray, Rosa, and I decided to make the hour and half drive from Volusia Speedway to Disney World. Rager and Axel stayed behind because they had a sponsorship appearance for Atry Sunglass.

  Yeah, fucking Atry Sunglasses. I wanted to burn that company and the goddamn model girl. I mean, really, screw her. Easton already had. No way did I want Rager around her. Anyone could have probably understood why.

  “Oh hell no,” I said to Rager when he told me they wanted him to make an appearance. “They’re not sponsoring you.”

  He laughed it off. “They already did. That’s not up to me. It’s up to your dad. Besides, it’s not like I’m going to talk to her.”

  Still doesn’t make me feel any better, dude.

  “I think I need to be there, then.”

  “I think you should go relax today.”

  Rager did everything in his power to make sure I worried about nothing during these last few weeks of my pregnancy. Even suggested I not take the job my dad offered me, but he knew how much I wanted to do it.

  Shoving a change of clothes into a bag just in case I peed myself, again, then reached for my sunscreen. Being pregnant with twins, if I sneezed, I peed myself. Worst experience ever. So far.

  Turning to face Rager, I jabbed at his chest with my finger. “I hardly classify going to fucking Disney World as relaxing. Keeping an eye on my boyfriend, yeah, that’d be fucking relaxing.”

  “No it wouldn’t…” And then he smiled widely like I’d just offered up sticking it in my ass.

  “What are you smiling at?”

  “You called me your boyfriend.”

  “So?” Throwing my bag over my shoulder, I headed for the door with Rager following behind me, his keys and sunglasses in one hand, his wallet in the other.

  “You haven’t called me that before.”

  At the door, I twisted around to face him, scanning his face; I watched the emotions play out. Reactions that told me he held pride in that statement. “Well, that’s what you are, right?”

  “You and I both know I’m more than a boyfriend.” Blinking, he played it cool and placed his sunglasses on the top of his head. “But for now, it’s nice to hear.”

  “You’re also my baby daddy,” I pointed out. “Back to this appearance, will she be there?”

  Rager shrugged, pocketing his cell phone that was on the table near the door. “Hell if I know…and I wouldn’t talk to her if she was,” he replied, so matter-of-factly that I didn’t doubt him.

  Shaking my head, I knew I was making a big deal out of this, but could you blame me?

  “I don’t like this…”

  “You’re being possessive, and it’s turning me on.” Rager was entertained by this and smiled, the kind of smile that was higher on one side, indicating he was trying to play it cool. Reaching up, he scratched the side of his jaw in a manner that was both sexy and sigh worthy. “Are you worried because you think I’m going to pay attention to her?”

  “No…I’m worried because she slept with my ex-husband and she’ll try you out too.”

  “Try me out?” His smile was higher on one side. “I’d have to offer up a ride. And that’s not happening.”

  “But still.”

  “Still what?” He raised an eyebrow. “You trust me, right?”

  “Yes. I do.”

  “Then you have nothing to worry about.”

  Opening the door to the room with my bag in hand, I was just about out the door only to have Rager’s arm jet out, palm flat to close it.

  Pointing at him and scowling, my finger touched his nose. “You start acting like Easton and wearing those aviator sunglasses all the time, and I will shove them right up your ass!”

  His shoulders literally shook with laughter. That was how serious he took me.

  “Or I could stick—”

  “Shut the fuck up.” I shoved him only to have him come right back at me, pinning me against the wall.

  “Jesus, you have a dirty mouth.” He groaned, wrapping his arms around my waist like he wanted to have a go at it, teeth nipping playfully at my neck. One hand moved to his belt, undoing it. “And it’s fuckin’ hot.”

  So we did. I needed him to know what he had waiting for him while everyone else waited on me in the lobby.

  I wasn’t really that self-conscious to think Rager would be attracted to someone like Genevieve Paris. All right, I was, but I knew he’d come back to me. Rager had pointed out many times he liked something to grab onto, and let’s face it, I had plenty to grab onto now. Like twenty extra pounds.

  I knew one thing, if Genevieve even so much as brushed her body against Rager, I’d attempt my first homicide and then sell her organs on the black market. I was almost positive Cole would be able to help me with that.

  AFTER LEAVING THE hotel room, I passed by my dad in the lobby, handing a sleeping Gray over to Hayden. The thought of waking Gray from a nap was terrifying to anyone. Imagine waking a bear.

  Dad smiled at me, the nerve of him. Had he not realized my feelings over Atry?

  Glaring, I placed my hands on my non-existent hips, feeling my nerves still blazing. “Fucking Atry Sunglasses? Why? Why did you do that?”

  At first he didn’t understand what I was upset about. And then it hit him. He laughed, much like Rager. “It’s just a sponsor, Arie. We need them to race.”

  “So unreasonable.”

  I understood completely why Atry Sunglasses was now a secondary sponsor on both Rager and Axel’s cars, but still, I didn’t like it.

  “I’ll tell you what’s unreasonable.” Casten glared at me. “I’ve been waiting on your ass for a half an hour.”

  He was so impatient lately.

  “So what?”

  Casten snorted, rolling his eyes. “Sex induces labor, Arie.”

  I panicked a little and looked at Hayden and Bailey for confirmation. They both smiled, a silent nod given.

  That wouldn’t be good.

  In the lobby, we argued over how we would get to Disney World, which was south of the track, when Casten became frustrated with all of us and stole the keys to the Expedition Dad rented.

  Lily walked by with the boys, and I decided I wanted to include Lily in today because I felt like, despite what happened between her and Axel, he was happy and loved her. She was trying, so I would try as well.

  “Do you want to come with us?” I asked when I saw her in the lobby with the boys and Savannah at her feet all snuggled up in her car seat wearing a tiny bikini.

  Smiling, she glanced down at Savannah and then to my mom who came up behind her. “No, that’s all right. We’re gonna take the kids to the pool for the day.”

  Mom looked to be in heaven with Jonah and Jacen attached to her legs, their matching swim trunks on and floaties in hand. Last year was tough. The boys had been with Lily nearly all year in Indiana, and she didn’t allow them to see my parents. I was glad that was changing now.

  “Have fun.” Reaching forward, I hugged Lily.

  “Take it easy today. Walking that much might not be good.”

  I waved my arm around, pointed to the parking lot where Casten had pulled the Expedition up to the doors. “I’ll be okay.”

  I SLEPT MOST of the drive down there, as did Rosa on my shoulder, but the moment I woke up, I thought about Rager. Reaching for my phone beside me, I sent him a text message.

  Me: Is she there?

  It took him another five minutes before he replied with: Should I lie and say no?

  Me: Ugh! She’s there, isn’t she? Has she talked to you?

  Biting down on my nails, I felt like I was back to being sixteen and obsessing over everything and
everyone around me.

  Who am I these days?

  Gray’s arm flopped over in my face. Turning my head, I looked at her. “What?”

  “Can I play a game?”

  She wanted my phone. Last time I gave it to her, I had two hundred dollars in roaming charges. “What’s wrong with the iPad on your lap?”

  She pushed it off her lap and onto the floor. “What iPad?”

  My phone chirped with a message from Rager.

  Rager: We talked for all of two seconds. She needs to eat a fucking cheeseburger. I was introduced and then walked away. She asked if my eyes were real. Easton is here too. Want me to punch him?

  Me: Do you WANT to punch him? And tell her to back off my blues. I’ll eat the cheeseburger if she doesn’t.

  Rager: No, not really. I already got my aggression out on your pussy earlier. I can smell you on my fingers. ☺ You smell better than a cheeseburger.

  Me: What the fuck?!

  Rager: See? You forgot all about model girl.

  Me: True. I keep you around for something.

  Rager: You keep me around because you want it in your ass.

  Rosa placed her chin on my shoulder, her sigh blowing my hair in my face. “He’s dirty.”

  Startled that she’d just read those messages, I jumped so far off the seat I dropped my phone on the floorboard. And then I couldn’t reach down to get it.

  Gray frowned. “Now look what you’ve done.”

  “If you show me a picture of him naked, I’ll reach down there and get that for you.” Rosa smiled, waggling her eyebrows and then winked, sitting back in her seat. “Come on, I know you got one on that fancy phone somewhere.”

  “I don’t have one.”

  Rosa straightened out in her seat, tugging against the constricting seatbelt, and then crossed her arms over her double D chest. “No phone for you then.”

  DISNEY WORLD WASN’T the happiest place on Earth as far as I was concerned. The commercial and billboards lied. It was filled with long lines, overly expensive bottled water, crying toddlers, and ridiculously animated cartoon characters that felt the need to touch my stomach.

  After punching Mickey Mouse in the stomach, we started the morning with breakfast with the Princesses. Abigale enjoyed that while Gray, she looked as if she wanted to knock Sleeping Beauty out a couple times. I was right there with her and hoped like hell my little girl wasn’t going to be into this type of shit.

  My luck she would be.

  Being very pregnant and waddling around, I was working up a sweat and not allowed on any rides. They usually took one look at me and probably thought I couldn’t fit on the rides.

  Either that or they were afraid the babies would fall out.

  Which was also a fear of mine.

  I found myself standing in the middle of Hell, also known as the Magical Kingdom. When we came out, throngs of people everywhere, Hayden pointed to the food carts. “I’m starving. Please tell me you are too, so I don’t look stupid for wanting food again.”

  “Nope. I’m right there with you.”

  I ate an elephant ear, a corn dog, and then polished that off with a large Root Beer. Like I needed all that, but the kids said I did.

  It wasn’t long after that and I felt like we had walked around to every single ride imaginable and then some. This place honestly felt like it was a thousand acres of fairytales.

  Bailey was in heaven. She apparently wanted to be a princess when she was younger. I knew where Abigale got her prissiness from now. They were quite the pair, and Hayden and Gray were the complete opposite, rolling eyes and huffed breaths at the sight of a new ride.

  Abigale and Gray went to Cinderella’s Royal Table, with Casten and Bailey. I couldn’t go with them, but by the time they returned, Casten looked annoyed.

  “How was it?” I asked the girls, trying to be enthusiastic and not laugh at my brother wearing a tiara

  “Amazing.” Abigale gleamed, her magic wand waving in the air, smacking Casten in the face when he leaned down to adjust Gray’s.

  “Boring,” Gray remarked, ripping her tiara out of her hair the moment Casten turned the other direction.

  Facing Casten, I elbowed him. “That seemed to have gone well. The tiara fits your personality.”

  He pointed to Humpty Dumpty. “Are you two related?”

  “Are you okay? Your cheeks are really red and you’re sweating.”

  Fanning myself, I rested one hand on my knee and the other on my stomach, which felt as hard as a rock. “It’s hot out here.”

  With her little clinger on her hip, Bailey took one look at me and put Sawyer down in his stroller. “Uh, you don’t look so hot.”

  My eyes widened because just as she said that, my stomach felt like the babies squeezed my bladder and then punted it.

  Oh God, what was that? Are they fighting?

  “You’re in labor.” Bailey smiled, her hand on my tightening stomach. “Those are contractions.”

  “No.” I waved my hand around, trying to let them know I was fine. “It’s just the heat.”

  “It’s barely eighty out here,” Casten noted, seeming uninterested for the most part as he held Gray on his shoulders. She stared down at me, wide-eyed, like I was some kind of alien.

  “How long has your stomach been that hard?” Bailey placed both hands on my stomach, her brow scrunched.

  “All day.”

  And then I peed.

  “What if the babies aren’t ready to come out?” I asked, looking at the puddle. It was a valid fear of mine because I had it in my head I had to be forty weeks pregnant, not thirty-six.

  Casten swallowed hard, staring at the wet pavement. “Oh, I think they’re ready,” he scoffed.

  “Oh, my God! My water broke.” You would have thought I would have noticed that. “What do we do? Someone call Rager,” I blurted out in a string of incoherent words. Or at least they seemed incoherent to me at the time.

  A woman with darker skin—who looked to be Mexican—wearing a straw hat and white Capri pants approached us. “Are you all right, ma’am?”

  Did I look like I was dying or something? I bet a lot of people did fake their own death in this place just so they didn’t have to come back.

  Rosa took one look at the woman and said, “Get your own family!” and then turned back to me, “Pull yourself together. It’s embarrassing.”

  I did pull myself together, for the most part, until we couldn’t find the car. “I know I parked it over there,” Casten would say, leading us one way only to backtrack the other way. I was at the point where I wanted to lay down in the parking lot and get these kids out.

  “Too bad Willie isn’t here,” Rosa noted, her arm around mine as she and Casten helped me back to the car we couldn’t find. “We could have used his handicap pass.”

  Twisting my head, I gave her a serious look. “How does he have one of those?”

  “For his finger. They hand them out like condoms these days.” And then she laughed, as did Casten, seeming to know where she was taking that next. “And it appears you and the bad boy didn’t use one.”

  “We did too. He has Outlaw Super Sperm.”

  Rosa’s eyes lit up. “I bet he does.”

  “Casten,” I groaned as another contraction hit me. “Where did you park? I swear, if you don’t find the car I’m going to kill you.”

  “If you kill me, you’ll never get there. Shall I go get Mickey? Y’all seemed like good friends, maybe he’ll deliver the babies.”

  “When I find a spork,” doubling over in pain, it took everything Rosa and Casten could do to hold me up, “I’m going to stab you.”

  “Oh look, the car!” Casten announced, clicking the button to unlock it.

  The moment we made it inside the car, or rather found the goddamn thing, I called Rager. “I’m in labor!” I shouted when he answered.

  “What? Really? No way.”

  I let out a grunted groan. “My water broke. I’m on the way to the hospital.” />
  “Which one?” His words and the voices around him seemed rushed, like he was running out of wherever he was.

  “Which hospital, Casten?” I practically yelled though he was right in front of me.

  “Celebration Hospital.”

  Rager heard that and groaned. “Arie, that’s an hour away. I can’t get there that soon.”

  “Leave now. I’ll close my legs.” To me, that seemed simple. I could do that and get away with it.

  “I’m nervous,” I told Hayden and Bailey beside me when we were in the car on the way to the hospital. “How do you know what to do?”

  “It’ll come naturally to you,” Bailey assured, rubbing my back calmly.

  “So you say.” Hayden snorted, giving her a look that could only be described as, you’re-full-of-shit.

  When another, stronger, contraction hit me, I knew closing my legs wouldn’t exactly stop the labor.

  Leaning forward, I huffed a breath on Casten’s neck, clawing at his shoulder. “You better drive faster.”

  “Keep your legs closed,” Casten instructed, acting like he wasn’t comfortable having me back there screaming in his ear.

  IN NO WAY did I want my brother present when I gave birth. Most could understand why. Just look at him. He was standing there in a black t-shirt that said: The Man, and pointed to his face, and then: The Legend, and pointed to his junk.

  I mean, don’t forget this was the same guy with a tattoo across his lower stomach that read: Don’t Laugh.

  Idiot if you asked me.

  The first nurse we encountered took one look at Casten and smiled at his shirt.

  “Don’t let the facial hair and tattoos fool you,” Hayden said, rolling her eyes. “He’s a child.”

  “Who cares about him?” I leaned forward, eye-to-eye with the nurse and both hands on my stomach. “Today is all about me!”

  “Not technically.” Casten stepped closer, his face in mine. “It’s about them.”

  It may have been inappropriate, but I really blame the medical personal at Celebration Hospital for their lack of care when leaving sharp objects, like pens, on the counter for women in labor to use as a weapon.