Page 71 of Joyride
Jen steps back to let Dr. Smith take over.
“The gel might be a little cold,” she warns before squirting the gel on Wren’s belly. Dr. Smith spreads the gel around with some probe like thing and hits a few keys on the keyboard, causing an image to pop up on the screen. “There’s your baby.”
My heart swells at the sight. Our baby. “It looks like a jelly bean.” I tease. Wren’s eyes are welled up with tears and haven’t moved from the screen.
“How far along am I,” she asks.
The doctor presses some more buttons. “Baby measures at eight weeks, two days.”
I do the math in my head. Eight weeks, that was the middle of July. That’s when Wren and I had sex for the first time. Which means, she was pregnant before Zack raped her. Wren’s eyes shoot to mine as she comes to the same conclusion as me.
“Would you like to hear the baby’s heartbeat,” Dr. Smith asks.
“Hell yeah.” I’m bursting at the seams with excitement.
“Please,” Wren adds. I chuckle, giving her and Dr. Smith an apologetic smile. The doctor turns a knob and the room fills with the thumping of our baby’s heartbeat. It’s an oddly satisfying sound. Wren squeezes my hand as a smile breaks out across her face, tears sliding down her cheeks.
We talk with Dr. Smith for another twenty minutes. She gives us a few sonogram pictures to share with our families and we head home.
“How are you doin’, Little Bird?” She hasn’t stopped smiling since we found out the baby is mine.
“I’m great.” She glances at me. “How are you?”
“Happiest man alive.” I can’t fight my grin. Wren is the best thing to ever happen to me and she’s giving me something I’ve always dreamed of— a family of my own.
Epilogue
Rascal
May 2020
Saint,Clutch, Diesel, and I are spending Memorial Day weekend on a run to Colorado. I hadn’t made this trip since I came back in March when Shade raced in the underground circuit. That shit was badass. Shade sure knows how to handle cars. He and three other guys were handed the keys to Audi R8s. Shade made winning that race look like a piece of cake.
We got into Denver late last night, and we’re crashing at Ace and Nitro’s place. These guys will be recruited into the Savage Riders before the end of the year. Along with a couple of their buddies, Breeze and Zero. We’re looking to expand into New Orleans soon, too.
Walking into Higher Zen, a bell above the door signals to Blaze or whoever, we’re here.
“Welcome to Higher Zen,” a female’s voice calls out from the back room. Not just any female— Marley. She walks out from behind the colorful tapestry that serves as a door to the back room. She’s still rocking the partial dreads. I’ve never seen a chick who can pull off any kind of dreads like Marley can. I can’t stand the chick, but I can appreciate her beauty.
Her smile fades when her eyes land on mine. “Oh, it’syou.”
“Miss me, Princess?” I smirk at her.
She scoffs. “Yeah, in your dreams, Romeo.”
Typical Marley response. I grin. “Nah, in my dreams you’re . . .”
“Don’t fuckin’ finish that sentence, Rascal,” Blaze warns. Saint snickers behind me, and I shoot him a glare over my shoulder. Blaze is practically Marley’s older brother, so him getting on me is no surprise. She dishes it out as much as I do, though. When I see her, that is. I only come out here once a month but it’s like she makes a point not to be here when I am.
Blaze narrows his eyes at me, and I hold my hands up in defense. “We’re just havin’ a lil’ fun, Blaze,” I tell him.
“It’s gonna be real fun when she’s ridin’ back to Texas with you.” He grins like a cat who caught the canary.
“What?” Marley and I shout in unison.
“There’s no way I’m riding in the same car ashim,” Marley spits out.
“It’s not like I want to share that small of a space with you either, Princess,” I say to her.
