Gen Pop

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  I deflated. “That’s awful.”

  “It wasn’t all bad news,” Rue said softly, coming up behind me and placing her hand on my shoulder. “It made my baby want to be a baby doctor. He loved the doctor that took care of me. Even years later, he’d speak about him as if he was his best friend. That changed all of our lives.”

  I smiled, feeling a renewed sense of happiness flow through me at her words.

  That was really sweet.

  “Do you miss it?”

  That came from Rue.

  Zach sighed, placing his hands in his sweatpants pockets—and oh my God, when had he put on sweatpants?—before saying, “I don’t know. At times, yes. Other times, not so much. I’m still getting to do the medical part, which is what I was kind of transitioning to after the failed practice attempt.”

  “Failed practice attempt?” I asked curiously. “What?”

  Zach grimaced. “My ex-partner was arrested for indecency with a few patients. After that happened, I decided to fold the practice and sell it off before I had anything associated with him affect me. It was enlightening and made me realize that even the people that I thought I knew well could hide things from me.”

  I shook my head. “As much as I want to talk to you more about this, I have to go run. That food is making my stomach growl, and I want to eat it.”

  Zach tossed me something, and I caught it, frowning at it.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  He walked to me and opened up the slim box, revealing a brand new Garmin watch. The one that I’d been looking at for a week now but hadn’t actually pulled the trigger on buying.

  “Oh my God!” I said excitedly. “I love the color!”

  It was baby pink, and the cutest thing I’d ever seen in my life.

  “You’ll love it,” Cleo said. “Though, I wouldn’t have gone with pink. Such a girl color. You want to go run?”

  I put the watch on my wrist and got it ready to go, then looked at the older version of my man standing next to me. “Considering I’m a girl, I think it’s great.” I stuck out my tongue at him, causing him to grin. “How far are you going?”

  He shook his head. “Likely nowhere near as far as you. I’ll turn around way before you do, I’m sure.”

  I walked to the sink and picked up my glass of water from last night, then chugged it.

  Once I was done, Cleo was already outside waiting for me.

  After stopping by my man for a kiss, I grabbed my AirPods, shoved them into my ears, situated my phone into the little pocket on the side of my leggings, and then headed outside to Cleo.

  We started off at an easy pace, and surprisingly, he was much faster than I gave him credit for.

  By two and a half miles in, I had sweat pouring down my face, and I was laughing at how Cleo was able to hold a conversation and run at the same time.

  We’d talked a lot, or he had anyway, and by the time that he was turning around a quarter of a mile later, I had a lot of new stories to get to know my man by.

  Turns out, Zach was a sweetheart covered in a tough outer shell that protected him from the world.

  And according to Cleo, I was in.

  His boy loved me, or we would’ve never met him and Rue.

  I was so lost in thought that by the time I turned around a mile later, I hadn’t even realized that I’d run that far—or intended to.

  The run back seemed to crawl by, however, and didn’t seem anywhere near as easy as the first half.

  Cleo had distracted me from the god-awful hills, and I definitely noticed them more as I made my way home.

  Home.

  To Cleo’s parents’ place.

  Not my home… but I hoped that I’d be visiting a whole lot in the years to come.

  I looked at my new watch and grinned, loving the color, and loving even more that the man that’d given it to me knew me so well.

  I’d have never bought it on my own.

  I just wouldn’t have.

  Not when it was so expensive.

  But Zach knew me well, and he’d gotten it for me knowing that I would use the hell out of it.

  And I found out it kept a pretty good pace, meaning I knew when I slowed down on the hills even better than I would’ve known without it.

  Not only could I feel the difference, I could see it, and it made me push through even though I’d rather walk and cry.

  Pushing through meant getting better and getting better meant that Melody wouldn’t win this time.

  Except, as I ran, thoughts about how last time had ended for me, the failure that I had felt, started to creep up on me.

  Which meant, when my music suddenly died, I missed a step and nearly plummeted to the ground.

  Luckily, I was able to right myself.

  Unluckily, my AirPods died, and I inwardly cursed.

  “You stupid son of a bitch,” I growled, pulling them out of my ears and nearly chunking them into the woods.

  The only thing that stopped me from doing that was the knowledge that it would be considered littering.

  I’d had nothing but trouble with the stupid things, and I half wondered why in the hell I’d bothered buying more when they kept breaking on me.

  Sadly, they were the only ones that fit really well in my ears and didn’t feel like there was a suction cup to my ear canals when I was running.

  Now, all I had to listen to was my breathing and the creak and crack of my ankle bone.

  I was about a half mile away from Zach’s parents’ house when a small whimper caught my attention.

  My heart pounding, I came to a stop and looked around.

  That sounded like a pained whimper.

  Or a scared one.

  I wasn’t sure which because I’d been so focused on how awful I sounded when I ran.

  Shouldn’t I sound better if I was an experienced runner?

  Instead, I sounded like I was huffing and puffing and about to blow the house down.

  Another whimper sounded, and I paused my watch, then accidentally stopped it, causing me to curse.

  “Shit,” I grumbled as I started to go through the prompts on the screen.

  I smiled then, happy with my pace, even if I wasn’t happy with the way I’d just turned the damn thing off.

  Another whimper, this one sounding closer.

  I looked up in time to see a brown furball dart back into the brush.

  I frowned and moved toward it, then groaned when I saw the dead coyote in the tall grass just off the side of the road.

  I groaned. “Awww, you poor thing.”

  She must’ve gotten hit by a car and had died there.

  Which also indicated that the little furball was likely its baby.

  “You poor thing,” I said as I talked quietly to it. “Do you need some water?”

  The cute little furball poked his head out from between two leaves, and my heart melted.

  “You’re just so stinkin’ cute.”

  Sadly, I was not going near it.

  At least, I hadn’t intended to.

  I was going to come back and bring it something to drink, though.

  When I finished my run.

  But, since I was already semi-cooled down, I decided to walk back to Zack’s parents’ house, and at first, didn’t pay attention that I was followed.

  I was just turning into their driveway when a whimper caught my attention.

  The little fluffball had followed me.

  I looked at the fluffball that disappeared into Rue’s bushes, knocking several flowers off in the process, and winced. “Oops.”

  “Oops what?”

  I jumped at the sound of Zach’s voice coming from directly behind me.

  I turned to look and found him with a weed whacker in his hands, and his father sitting on the same tractor that Zach and I had sex on last night.

  My face flushed, but luckily you couldn’t tell seeing as I was already really sweaty and red from my run.

  “Umm,” I hesitated. “Nothing?
”

  That’s when a howl sounded from the bushes.

  I whistled and looked away, hoping that the sound would go by unnoticed due to the low hum of the tractor that Cleo was sitting on, and the rumble of the weed eater in Zach’s hands.

  No go.

  They both noticed, and they both looked at me accusingly.

  Zach’s weed eater shut off, followed shortly by the tractor.

  I opened my mouth to explain when Zach started to make his way toward me.

  Only, the pup behind me took offense, I guess to the aggressive move he made because he came darting out of the bushes like he was actually going to accomplish something and started to howl.

  My mouth fell open.

  Zach stared at me in surprise.

  Cleo started laughing.

  And a large man I hadn’t noticed until now said, “Is that a fuckin’ coyote?”

  I turned to see Ford, the police officer that’d pulled me over a few days ago, standing there with his wife in tow, a baby in his tattooed arms, and a curled-up smile on his face.

  “Hey, Ford?” the beautiful woman at his side said. “You remember that time when we convinced Zach that the coyotes were going to come eat him when he was seven? And he said, ‘no they’re not’ and we said, ‘one day you’re going to regret not paying them a tribute?’ and then for the rest of our days we teased him about coyotes? Isn’t it fuckin’ funny that there’s a coyote protecting the woman he loves?”

  The woman that he loves.

  My head whipped around to look at Zach, expecting him to contradict her statement, but he said nothing. Only stared at the little pup that was now quietly sitting at my side, staring at Zach like he was the real threat.

  “What did you do?” he asked me, completely ignoring the woman and the man.

  “I was,” I hesitated. “Just running. I swear. And my AirPods died,” I showed him the dead AirPods like that would help my case. “And where I stopped, there was a dead momma coyote on the side of the road. But I swear, I did not call him toward me or anything.”

  “She,” Cleo said, looking at the puppy. “Pup is a she.”

  I looked down at the ‘girl’ pup in question. “How do you know?”

  “Because when she ran into the bushes, I got a good look at her very much there girl parts,” he explained, grinning.

  “Oh my God.” I heard a woman’s voice from behind me. I turned to find another woman standing next to Rue, along with a very tall, sexy version of the police officer standing right next to him. They both had different colored eyes. “What is that?”

  “It’s a coyote,” I said. “And I swear to God, I did not invite her to follow me home.”

  The man standing next to them laughed.

  Then I had a baby in my arms and the police officer, Ford, was bending down to look at the pup.

  I blinked in surprise at the cutest little bundle of baby I’d ever seen.

  She blinked open her eyes, and I gasped.

  “Ohhhh,” I said quietly. “She has blue and green eyes like your dad!”

  “He does,” the officer said. “Like my mom, too.”

  “Ford,” the woman called. “Introduce us.”

  Zach appeared at my side. “Baby,” he murmured. “This is Ford, the officer that pulled you over when you were in nothing but a t-shirt the other day. That’s Ford’s wife, Ashe. The baby that you’re holding is their newborn son, Chevy. Those on the porch with my mom are Trance and Viddy, Ford’s parents.”

  I would’ve waved, but I had the baby in my hands, and he was all I could look at.

  “Ooh, I want one of these.” I sighed.

  And I did. I wanted three or four of them, actually.

  Hell, I’d take an entire football team of them if Zach wanted to.

  “I’d like five, just like my baby,” I heard Rue say. “But make sure at least one is a girl. I didn’t ever get one of those. I can’t wait to buy all the dresses.”

  Viddy snickered and bumped Rue with her hip.

  I looked up to find Zach looking at me with an intensity that was startling.

  “You want kids?” he asked.

  I blinked. “Of course.”

  “How many?” he wondered.

  I licked my lips. “As many as you want to give me.”

  CHAPTER 19

  If you haven’t cried in a walk-in cooler, you really shouldn’t bad mouth a food-service worker.

  -Crockett to a customer

  CROCKETT

  Seeing Zach dressed in apparel that he could use while dirt-biking was sexy.

  Seeing Zach wearing that clothing while also holding a little tiny baby? That was debilitating.

  The rest of the afternoon was spent riding dirt bikes in Cleo’s back yard while Rue, Ashe, and I spent the day drinking sweet tea, eating like utter shit, and cooing over said baby.

  Only, about twenty minutes ago, that baby had been taken from my arms and Zach had picked him up.

  “I wanted him to be delivered by Zach,” Ashe said quietly. “I’d always intended for him to. Even if it was a little weird. I just wanted the best. I wanted everything to go perfectly. And it didn’t. The birth was traumatic. I wish I could’ve gone right into that prison and delivered him right in the middle of Zach’s cell. If he ever leaves again, and I’m due, we’re following him.”

  I blinked. “What happened?”

  Ashe sighed.

  “Well,” she started. “It all started out great. My water broke. I was two days early. I go to the hospital. Then the hospital shuts down because of a possible gas leak, so everyone has to go. At that point, I’m five centimeters, was seconds away from getting my epidural.”

  I groaned. “No.”

  She nodded, eyes serious. “So we get to the hospital in Longview. Get checked in, I’m still a five. My doctor can’t go to that hospital because he’s not able to practice there because he refused to get his flu shot last year. So they find me a new doctor. Only, this one doesn’t, for some reason, like Ford. Like, at all. Something happened with a family member and Ford, and he refuses to help me. He said it was against his religion or something. So okay, we wait for another doctor. Only, my Chevy isn’t one to wait when he’s supposed to.”

  “Like his father,” Rue snorted. “You three were crazy little hellions.”

  Ashe grinned. “That we were.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I go from a five to a ten in the ten minutes it takes for another doctor on staff to get there. I’m already pushing away by the time he walks in just in time to catch the baby.”

  “Literally, all he did was catch him,” Viddy said. “One second it took him to slip on gloves. It was the craziest thing.”

  “It was,” Ashe agreed. “And all was really well with Chevy. He was great. Me, not so much. The bleeding wouldn’t stop. My uterus wasn’t contracting, meaning that the bleeding couldn’t stop. I have what they call postpartum hemorrhage. My blood pressure tanks. I pass out. The room goes fuckin’ nuts according to Ford, and I wake up to a baby breastfeeding, my body feeling all light and floaty, and pumped full of so many drugs that it’s unreal.”

  “But you’re okay now?” I asked, encompassing her body with a sweep of my hand. “Everything’s okay? You can have more?”

  That was my worry. That they’d had to do something drastic.

  She smiled softly. “I’m fine. Now. But then? No. So after they get my uterus to start doing its job, Chevy turns out to be jaundiced. So he spends four days in the nursery under the bili lights. Then, while that’s going on, I can’t even get up to see him because I have the headache from hell. What they call a spinal headache.”

  I groaned. “You just didn’t catch any breaks, did you?”

  “Nope,” she said. “So after that, I vowed that I wouldn’t have another kid until Zach was home to deliver it. I was convinced that it was all because he wasn’t there.”

  I softened. “That’s sweet. But you know that all could’ve happened if Zach was there, right?”
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br />   She shrugged. “I know. But in my head…” She tapped her forehead with one finger. “It all makes sense. Yes?”

  I grinned, my eyes trailing back to the man of the hour.

  He was now standing next to Ford, and the two of them were looking down at the baby in Zach’s arms as if it was the answer to all of life’s prayers.

  “So, when are you having babies with Zach?”

  I grinned and turned back to the three women who were staring at me intently.

  “I’d like to get to the marriage part, first.”

  Rue’s eyes sparkled. “I have it on good authority that that’ll happen soon.” She paused. “I should’ve maybe not mentioned that. But, just sayin’, planning ahead would be a good idea.”

  CHAPTER 20

  I just want to say to anyone I may have offended yesterday, you can go fuck yourself today, too.

  -Zach’s secret thoughts

  ZACH

  “Hello?”

  Laric didn’t waste time getting straight to the topic at hand.

  “Fuck, man.” Laric blew out a breath. “I’ve been trying to reach you for a couple of hours.”

  My stomach sank. “I’ve been out riding dirt bikes with my friend. What’s up?”

  Laric blew out a breath. “All fuckin’ hell broke loose in the neighborhood. You need to come home.”

  My stomach sank. “What are you talking about?”

  “Just come home, then we’ll talk,” Laric rumbled.

  He didn’t sound good at all.

  “Okay.” I paused. “We can be there in a couple of hours.”

  “I’ll be here.” He hung up, and left me with a phone to my ear, and fear in my heart.

  There was so much that ‘all hell broke loose in the neighborhood’ could be.

  It could be Crockett’s family.

  It could be Zakelina.

  It could be that weirdo stalker that couldn’t take a hint.

  “Something wrong?”

  I looked up at Ford and nodded quickly once. “Gotta go, man. I’m sorry to hold him and run.”