Highway Don't Care (Freebirds) (9 page)

  A medical kit was squeezed through the opening in the door,
and dropped to the floor at our feet.  Ember set Blaine’s head down gently
and reached for the kit.

  “I need the nose bulb, two clamps, and the scissors.” 
I said to her.

  Blaine was smiling sleepily at the baby I’d placed on her
chest.  Reaching over Ember’s head, I grabbed the baby blanket they’d
picked out only hours before, and ripped the tags off, tossing them down beside
me.

  Unfolding it, I covered the baby.  Ember handed me the
bulb, and I sucked the baby’s nose and mouth out quickly.  Once done, I
went to clamping the cord, and then cutting it.  I started an IV and hung
the bag off the cart’s handle.

  The placenta was delivered a short time later, and I tossed
it unceremoniously into the corner away from us.  We were a fucking mess
of blood and other things I didn’t care to think about, let alone
identify.  I was just about to reach for the towels Elliott was handing me
from above when I noticed blood starting to pour from Blaine.

  “Take the baby, and place him to Blaine’s breast.  Get
him to feed.  She’s hemorrhaging.”  I said to Ember.

  Blaine was quickly losing consciousness though.  She
put up no fight when Ember took the baby from her.  Ember got the baby
started feeding while I started massaging Blaine’s uterus.  Blood was
still pouring out of her at an alarming rate.

  “I need some Pitocin, now!”  I boomed to the
paramedics that were waiting for instructions.  I could hear Elliott
calling to Blaine, but tuned it out to focus on what I was doing.  A
syringe and small vial of Pitocin dropped down to me, and I quickly
administered a dose straight into the line of her IV.

  I continued massaging her uterus for the next minute, and
slowly the bleeding came to a stop.  Thank fuck.

  “It’s stopped.  We’re going to need a pint of O
negative.  She’s lost a lot of blood, but it’s stopped for now.”  I
said to the medic who was peeking in through the cracks in the door.  He
nodded his head and disappeared.  Ember was still holding the baby to Blaine’s
breast, but he wasn’t sucking anymore.  He’d finished, and was dozing
contentedly, unaware that he nearly lost his mother.  Ember was rubbing
his cheeks to try to get him to continue, but he was out.  I turned and
eyed the opening of the door again.  We were in between the first and
second floor.  The bar that was holding the doors open looked solid and I
came to a decision.

  “Elliott!”  I called.

  Elliott appeared at the opening seconds later.  I moved
into his line of sight so he couldn’t make out the huge mess of blood that
covered the floor. 

  “I’m going to need to pass the baby to you.  He’ll fit
easily through the gap.  He’s tiny.”  I said to him.

  A smile graced his face, and he looked so eager, yet sad at
the same time.

  “Is Blaine okay?” he asked.

  “The bleeding’s stopped.  She’s still unconscious
though.  I think it’ll be best to hand the baby out to you because I need
Ember to help me get Blaine situated.  She’s going to need some blood.” 
I said back.

  He nodded, and held out his hand.  I clasped it with
mine, and then turned to take the baby gently from Ember’s arms.  She was
smiling, and gave a huge smile when she saw how my large hands engulfed his
tiny little body.

  “What’s his name, Elliott?”  I asked while turning
back to him.

  Elliott’s eyes trained on his son.  Bright with unshed
tears. 

  “Justin Douglas Masters.”  Elliott whispered.

  My throat clogged up a little bit, and my eyes started to
sting.  Must have been from sweat dripping into my eyes or
something. 

  “Welcome to the world, Justin Douglas.”  I said to
him.

  Carefully maneuvering towards the doors, I held the tiny
infant up to the crack in the door, and handed him off to his father’s capable
hands with no problem.  I could see Max, Cheyenne, and Sam crowd around
the bundled infant, and head off towards the waiting paramedics.  Another
paramedic arrived with a bag of blood and handed it off to me.  Turning
back around to my other patient, I now saw that she was making her way back to
consciousness.  Starting another IV in her opposite arm, I hooked the
blood bag up, and started transfusing.

  “Where’s the baby?”  Blaine asked groggily.

  I leaned down and cradled Blaine’s face in the palm of my
hand.  “His over the moon daddy has him.  He’s off spouting his mouth
about how he made a boy to Sam and Cheyenne.” 

  “Sounds exactly like him.”  She laughed weakly.

  I was in the process of cleaning Blaine up the best I could
on one end, while Ember kept her company on the other when the lights turned
on.  The elevator lights blinded us as they came back on.  The floor
beneath us jolted, and then hummed as the elevator made its way up to the
second floor, only an hour and a half too late.

  Elliott met us at the door with his new son bundled in his
arms.  I picked up Blaine, while Ember grabbed the IV and blood bag. 
I placed Blaine on a stretcher gently, and backed off as the paramedics made
sure I didn’t fuck anything up.

  Ember curled into my side, and I dropped my head so it was
buried in the crook of her neck.

  I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I’d been
holding.  Blaine, Elliott and little Justin were carted off downstairs to
the ambulance.  The storm was still booming overhead, but it was the first
time I’d heard it in nearly an hour. 

   Grabbing Ember’s hand, I made my way down the stairs
and didn’t look back.  This was one experience I didn’t wish to have
again.  It really shook me to see someone I cared about nearly die. 
Never again would be too soon.

  Little did I know that I would be experiencing it twice
more in the oncoming months.

  Moreover, it wouldn’t just strike someone I cared about; it
would strike someone that was my reason for breathing.

Chapter 6

I do like
killing the messenger.  Know why?  Because it sends a message.

-T-shirt
 

Ember

  “Gabe.”  I said.

  “What?”  He said distractedly.
  “Gabe.”

  “What?”

  “Gabriel.”

  “Huh?”  He said.

  His eyes were still glued to the TV.  I glared daggers
at his back, and there he was still ignoring me.  I’m surprised he could
even hear me.  He had these big chunky earphones on, and I could hear the
gunshots ringing out even with them planted firmly over his ears.  Max and
he were playing this stupid game called Modern Warfare Three.  They’d been
playing it for over three hours now.  I was beyond bored, and I was really
getting annoyed that he was ignoring me.  I was used to being ignored by
Max, but not from Gabe.  All I had to do was say something and bam, there
he was.  He’d been practically up my ass this past week since Blaine
delivered her son. 

  He seemed different.  He was a lot more alert. 
Almost like, he’s hyper aware of our surroundings, even at Free.  I wasn’t
even allowed to go take a tinkle without him knowing where I was going and how
long I planned to be gone.  I mean, I’ve never timed my bathroom breaks
before, but as of my last one, I was down to one minute and eighteen
seconds.  That was with washing my hands, too.

  We weren’t at the stage in our relationship where I could
do all those bodily functions in front of him, let alone even speak openly
about them.  Therefore, instead of answering him, I would roll my eyes and
leave without saying anything.  Yes, I’d let out a discreet burp here and
there, but nothing like the nice long belches that sounded like they came from
a four hundred pound man like I was used to doing.

  “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”  Max
said.  “I shot that fucker in the head with a shotgun.  His face
would be gone, he wouldn’t be able to get up and shoot me.”

  “Good thing you don’t have those slow reflexes in real
life.”  Gabe chuckled.  “We wouldn’t be here today otherwise.”

  “Fuck off, Ponch.”  Max shot back.

  “I do
not
look like that guy off of Chips!”  Gabe
said while shooting an assailant who tried to sneak up behind him and winning
the match. 

  “You totally do.  You’re the perfect match.  You
could be his twin.”  Max said while tossing his controller onto the couch
in a sign of defeat.

  “Just because I have dark luscious hair and beautiful,
darkly tanned mocha skin doesn’t make me look like him.”  He volleyed
back.  “Don’t be jealous.”

  To tell you the truth, he kind of reminded me of Uncle
Jesse from Full House, but bulked up with muscle, and a few tattoos and scars
to boot.  He had that beautiful smile with perfect white teeth.  He
also had a great head of hair, pitch black and straight.  Even his skin
color was nearly the same.

  “Jesus, get over yourself.  Want to go again?” 
Max asked.

  Gabe took his controller back from its perch on the coffee
table.  “Sure.”

  Men.

  If that were me, I would’ve been pulling hair by now. 
Still he’d yet to acknowledge that I was standing there waiting to ask him a
question.  I know he heard me, but he was doing his level best to ignore
the fact that I wanted to go do something, and he didn’t want to.  Well
screw that.  Just because I couldn’t leave the compound didn’t mean that I
couldn’t find something to do.  He should know better by now.  Just a
couple of days ago I got myself stuck on the lift in the garage for over an
hour. 

  Cheyenne and I had a bright idea.  We were bored, and
the girls were napping in their car seats in the back of Sam’s truck. 
We’d moved the truck into the garage, but couldn’t go far since they were still
sleeping.  I’d been playing with the nifty little levers that they used to
hoist the cars up into the air when Cheyenne dared me to get up and ride it to
the top.  Never one to turn down a challenge, I’d gotten all the way to
the top before we realized we had no clue how to get the thing back on the
ground.  Cheyenne had spent the next forty-five minutes looking for a way
to get me down.  You’d think it being a garage that they would have a
ladder of some sort, but no, not in this garage there wasn’t.  So there I
sat when Max and James walked through the door.

 It could have been anyone else, and it would’ve been
fine.  Nevertheless, when those two got together, I always ended up hurt,
crying, or worse.  It took them fifteen minutes of laughing and making fun
of me before they finally made a move toward letting me down. 
Regrettably, before they got me down, Gabe and Sam walked in.  They took
in the scene in three seconds, and immediately joined in on the teasing Ember
parade.  I was getting pissed.  I’d been up there for nearly an hour,
I had to piss, and I was yearning for a Snickers.

  I’d told them I was going to jump down if they didn’t get
me down.  Cheyenne immediately started to come let me down when James
grabbed her from behind and wouldn’t let her come.  She knew I wasn’t
bluffing.  Gabe was still having a laughing fit.  They were all less
than a foot away, so I pretty much said, “Screw it” and jumped towards Max and
Gabe.  I knew one of them would catch me.  One of them did, and it
was Gabe.

  One second he was doubled over, the next, I was in his
arms.  Air had rushed out of me in a whoosh when my body slammed into
his.  I made sure to smack Max with my elbow accidentally too.

  “Don’t ever do that again.”  Gabe said
angrily.  “What would have happened to you if I hadn’t caught you?”

  “Owww.  I tink you broke my nose.”  Max whined
nasally.

  I ignored him as he lectured me not to do anything stupid
anymore, but I couldn’t help it.  I had an innate ability to get into
trouble.  I was also plagued with being curious.  That’s why I’ve had
seven broken bones and twenty-seven stitches in total in my lifetime.  I
should know better, but never once did I stop to think that this was a stupid
idea until I was already in the throes of doing said stupid idea.

  Walking out of Gabe’s door, I headed into the direction of
Cheyenne’s house.  Sam was outside washing his truck.  He was
shirtless in jeans, a ball cap, and boots.  His stomach rippled, and his
arm flexed as he pulled a Mr. Miyagi with his “wax on, wax off” motions. 
I would’ve drooled a little if he wasn’t my best friend’s man.  Didn’t
mean I couldn’t look though.  I knew he’d clocked me as soon as I walked
out of the door, but he didn’t say anything until I got right next to him.

  “She’s in the garage.  Something about putting a new
sticker on a truck and needing a razor blade.”  He answered my question
without me even asking it.

  “Thanks.”  I said before turning and walking into the
garage.

  Cheyenne was in the back of James’ truck using a razor
blade to scrape off an old sticker off the back glass of his brand new Ford
F-350.

  “What are you putting on there now?”  I asked her.

  “A piss on Ford sticker.”  Cheyenne said nonchalantly.

  “Jesus Christ.  Don’t you two ever stop?”  I
queried.

  “I think it’s gonna be hilarious when he sees it. 
He’s the one who let all the air out of my tires the other day, and put a
broken down sign on it.  Sam didn’t question me at all, didn’t even ask
what kind of sticker it was.  He just told me where the razor blades
were.”  She laughed wickedly.

  Cheyenne and James had a fight once a week about what make
was better.  She was a Chevy girl all the way, and he was a Ford. 
They tried to one up the other, and it turned into a sibling war, which might
possibly start World War 3.  

  “Here, put this back in that tool box right there.”
 She said as she handed the razor to me.

   She gestured with her head at mammoth toolbox in the
corner, “I got it out of that black one right there.”

  I walked over to it and opened the first drawer, then the
next, and the next.  Wrenches.  Sockets.  Screw drivers.
 Air wrenches.  All meticulously lined in a certain order that made
no sense to me.  Why couldn’t they line these up in order of size? 
What it looked like was one side had one set that went from small to large, and
the other side did the same thing.  Seems to me that they would combine
the two and then line them all up in order of size.

  “Whose toolbox is this?”  I asked her.

  “Gabe’s.” she answered.

  A smile split my face.  A smile so wide that my face
kind of hurt.

  Feeling devious, I re arranged the first drawer that had
the wrenches in it.  Then moved on to the next and did the same thing
there.  Then when I got to the socket drawer, I took them all out of their
little holders and lined them up the way I felt they should go.  He was
probably going to have a shit fit, but it serves him right for ignoring
me.  Maybe next time he will have a little sympathy. 

  It was on the fourth drawer that I found a hammer, and a
box of metal rods that had a letter on the end.

  Curious, I took one out, inspecting it.  Then it
dawned on me what they were for, and I went about spelling, “I LOVE EMBER” on
the top of Gabe’s toolbox.  It looked pretty nifty if I did say so myself.

  Feeling as if I accomplished something, I wrote a note on a
pad that he had sitting on top of the toolbox, and set it on top of the
rearranged wrenches in the first drawer.  Cheyenne and I were just about
to leave when a little white Honda pulled up to the gate and pressed the call
button.  Jack came out of the office and walked to the gate.  A
little bottled blonde stepped out of the car, all long legs and ass.  Her
hair was perfectly placed.  She was wearing a white sundress and white
sandals on her feet.

  Immediately I recognized her.  This was the slut-bag
who I saw Gabe having lunch with the other day when he was supposed to be
having lunch with me.

  He’d called and canceled about fifteen minutes before, and
I didn’t pack my lunch, so I made a run to The Back Porch for a quick
burger.  There I’d seen the two of them together, walking out with his
hand on the small of her back, guiding her like a fragile flower.  I knew
instantly that I didn’t like the bitch.  She smiled up at him like the
fake she was and laughed the most annoying laugh I’d ever heard.

  They walked to Free’s work truck and got in together. 
He’d made sure to hold the door open for her and help her inside.  I saw a
flash of her white panties, and knew that he’d gotten a prime view as well.

  I was hot.  I went ahead and ordered my lunch, but
then decided that I was going to go ahead and give him a piece of my
mind.  Therefore, I drove to Free, getting more and more upset as I
drove.  When I got there, Gabe still hadn’t arrived.  Once I was done
talking with Cheyenne, I knew I had to leave before I made a complete fool of
myself.  I’d managed to ignore him completely until I’d been
attacked.  It never even registered in my mind that I was mad at him that
night.  I knew I needed him, and I knew he would come.  So, I called
him, never doubting for a second that he would be able to help me in some way.

  Now here that woman was.  She and Jack spoke for
another minute before he punched the code in the panel at the gate, and it slid
open.  She fell into her car, pulled it up to the front of the garage, and
turned it off.  My eyes never left hers.  She sat in the car for
another minute before her gaze found what she was looking for, and that was my
Gabe.  I didn’t realize that Jack called Gabe until I saw him rounding the
corner of the garage.  He saw me and froze.  Taking in the fact that
the woman who made us have a huge fight was there, and could possibly start
something again. 

  Of course, he was able to put the mother fucking X-Box
controller down for her.  I was totally going to kick his ass.  Maybe
even hide his controllers.  He was going to be frozen out tonight if I had
anything to say about it.

  The woman stepped out of her car and called out a greeting
to Gabe, but it fell on deaf ears.  He ignored her and walked straight up
to me.  He grabbed me and pulled me into a scorching hot kiss.  My
arms and legs automatically circled his body; fingers forked their way into his
hair and held on for dear life.  His kiss ravaged me.  I was
seriously on the verge of the Big ‘O’ when he pulled away.  I didn’t drop
my arms or legs though.  If he put me down right now, I would land on my
ass.  My legs felt like Jell-O.

  Leaning forward for another quick kiss, he leaned forward
and my butt found the tailgate of James’ truck.  Letting go of my death
grip on his hair, he backed slowly away from me and turned to regard the
woman.  She had a scrunched up face, as if she’d sucked on a sour
lemon.  I smirked at her and her glare got even more intense.  She
looked ready to claw my eyes out, and if she even took one threatening step
towards me, I was going to kick her ass.  Not that she had any ground to
stand on.  Gabe was mine, and she wasn’t going to take him away from me.

  “What can I help you with, ma’am?” he asked.

  I found that funny.  He only used ma’am when he
couldn’t remember names.  A small laugh escaped me, and he turned with a
raised eyebrow.  I shook my head at him, and he turned back to her.