Boomtown

by Lani Lynn Vale

  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 witho
ut 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?”

  “Yes. We’ll do it as soon as you can set it up.” I answered. “Just tell me when and where.”

  She gave a long suffering sigh and muttered “Very helpful.” and then fell asleep in my lap.

  I laid her down gently, and got up to use the bathroom. I came back stripped off my pants and laid down next to her. I watched her for quite a while, thinking. When I was younger, I had always wanted this. This woman was perfect for me. There was never a dull moment with her. Today had also proven that I was in love with her. My heart ached when I thought about hearing Jack say that she had been hurt. I was already fiercely protective of her. I’ll be damned if I was going to let that little fuck Malcolm ruin this dream for me.

  Chapter 17

  ONE WEEK LATER

  "Open the fucking door." Sam growled.

  "No." I said back bitchily.

  I was extremely pissed. It was a week after I found out I was pregnant with Satan's spawn. We had just had the biggest argument of our entire relationship.

  It all started when Sam made a passing comment on the way to the bedroom after I made breakfast. I was cleaning the frying pan I’d used when he stopped and turned back to me

  "You need to make arrangements with your team to find your replacement. You won't be returning to the team until after the babies are born." He said like he didn’t just drop a bomb in the middle of our kitchen.

  I froze. Of course I had already arranged with the team, and they already replaced me. I wasn't stupid. I would never put our children in danger, and with roller derby being such a physically demanding sport, it posed a danger to me, and I knew I wouldn't be playing again for at least another year.

  However, I didn't like being treated like I was an imbecile. Nor told what I needed to do. I threw the sponge down into the sink, turned off the water, and turned around to face him.

  "Now, why should I be doing that?" I asked sweetly.

  His eyes narrowed and he said, "Because I don't want our children hurt. And if you continued playing that is exactly what would happen."

  "What if I don't want to?" I said.

  "You don't get a choice. You won't like my methods if I have to tell them. Now go get your shit ready. Your doctor appointment is in less than an hour." He said before he left the room.

  I'm pretty sure if I looked into the mirror right now I would see steam rising from my hair. Who did he think he was?

  I stomped into the bedroom and started slamming drawers as I extracted shoes, a shirt, and socks. I took it all into the bathroom with me and slammed the door. I hastily yanked off Sam's t-shirt and threw it to the floor. I stomped on it for good measure.

  Rat bastard.

  I yanked on my clothes, brushed my teeth, and put my hair up in a knot on the top of my head. I skipped the makeup because I was in no mood to impress the little shit. I took my phone from the inside of my bra where I kept it when I didn't have any pockets and sat down on the toilet seat and opened up my kindle app. I planned to sit here for another twenty minutes until he was ready to go.

  And I was going to give him the silent treatment until he apologized, or I blew up.

  I started reading a Janet Evanovich book because I could always count on her to give me a good laugh and lighten my mood. I sat there for a good fifteen minutes before the no good bastard interrupted me.

  Sam tapped on the door informing me he would be outside and to meet him outside when I was ready to go.

  I sat on the toilet and cracked up for another fifteen minutes before I exited the bathroom and headed outside. Sam was leaned up against my truck with his arms crossed over his rock hard chest. He was wearing his usual outfit of faded blue jeans, black shirt, and aviator glasses. Except today he had on a black baseball cap that made my mouth water. It wasn’t the first time he had worn a baseball cap, but he did it so rarely that it was a treat when he did. The look in his eyes showed that he knew what my reaction would be.

  My mind strayed and I started wondering how his ass would look in baseball pants when I heard the end part of his question.

  "- done pouting?" Sam asked.

  "Fuck you.” I said to him.

  Oops. I forgot I was going to do the silent treatment. He walked over to the passenger side of the truck and opened th
e door for me. I gave him a look, but hopped in. I slammed my hand down on the lock and then lunged to the other side and locked his door too just to piss him off. He had the keys in his hand, but as long as I kept my hand on the lock he wouldn't be able to get in.

  Arriving at the driver’s side he tried the handle but I kept my hand covering the lock. He gave me a look, but I smiled a sweet smile at him and ignored the silent demand he was giving me.

  And here I was now. Five minutes later and he was getting pissy. Good. I wanted him in a bad mood.

  "If you don't open this door right now you will regret it.” he said to me.

  I gave it another full thirty seconds before I laughed and took my hand off the lock, scooting back to my side of the truck. I would have kept doing it, but I didn't want to be late for the appointment. I know it was childish, but it alleviated some of the anger that was still roiling in my tummy.

  "I already quit the team. I don't need you treating me like I'm a dumb ass. All you had to do was ask nicely, and not tell. I would have told you that I had arranged it already.”

  “I love you, Cheyenne. I know I can be a little over bearing, but I don’t think I could handle it if something happened to you. I would do anything to keep you from hurting, and if that is pissing you off then I would do it in a heartbeat.” Sam said cupping my cheek.

  “Whatever.” I said rolling my eyes, but I was smiling inside. I loved hearing Sam tell me he loved me. It made my insides feel all gooey.

  We arrived at the doctor’s office with around two minutes to spare, and were asked to sit in the uncomfortable waiting room until my name was called. We waited around forty five minutes, and I was getting annoyed and was about to go complain when a nurse called my name.

  “Cheyenne Allen.” A cute blond bitch called. Her eyes widened when they landed on Sam, and I decided I was going to hate her. She didn’t look like she weighed over a buck twenty, and I was going to have to hop my fat ass up onto a scale and have my weight checked in front of her. Yay.