Highway Don't Care (Freebirds) (28 page)

  I smiled at the teacher who came to greet us.  The
teacher was in a bright blue t-shirt that had “Primary Colors” across the
boobs, and blue jeans.  She was young, brown-haired, and blue eyed. 
She was also giving my man googly eyes.

  “You must be Cora’s dad.  You look just like
her.”  The teacher said.

  “Yes, I am.  Did Sidney tell you the
situation?”  Gabe asked.

  She looked confused when she said, “What situation?”

  “I’m filing for joint custody.  I’ll be picking Cora
up every other Friday, as well as every Wednesday until we have it
settled.”  Gabe explained.

  “How awful, I’m sorry to hear that you and Mrs. Moran are
separating.”  Blondie said.

  Gabe didn’t answer, but went to stand to the side of the
table that Cora was at, and squatted down to Cora’s level.  He regarded
her for a second, and then reached out and ran his finger down the side of her
cheek.

  Cora giggled, and immediately held her hands out for him
to pick her up.  My heart soared when I witnessed this.  One of my
fears drifted away.  I was so worried that Cora would be scared of Gabe
since she’d never met him, but apparently, she didn’t have that “stranger
danger” mentality yet.

  Gabe leaned over and picked her up out of the
chair.  He put one forearm under her tiny little bottom, and the other
circled around her back to hug her to him.  His eyes closed, and my heart
melted.  This was perfect.  I couldn’t have asked for this to go any
better.

  We exited the daycare and hustled to the truck where I
strapped Cora into her new car seat.  Gabe watched on since he didn’t have
a clue how to do it.  We stopped by Subway to pick up lunch, and then
headed back to Free.

  Everyone and their brother (literally, because Max came
too) poured out of the front office to welcome us home.  I got out and
unbuckled her from her seat.  She was dead to the world, so I did it as
carefully as I could so I didn’t wake her.  Cora’s head fell limply to my
shoulder, and I closed the door quietly before turning to the gathering.

  The all looked on with adoration in their eyes, and
gathered close to get a better look at her.  Cheyenne raised up on her
tiptoes to give her a kiss on the forehead before backing off.  Blaine
repeated the process as well.

  “She’s beautiful, Gabe.”  Jack said gruffly.

  “Thanks, man.”  Gabe said before smacking him on the
back.

  Walking to Gabe, I passed Cora over.  He didn’t out
and out say it, but you could tell that he wanted to have her in his arms
again.  She transferred smoothly, and I grabbed the lunch out of the front
seat before walking in to the office.  I picked the chair next to the desk
so I could have somewhere to sit my lunch.

  Everyone followed, and took seats where they could. 
Gabe stayed standing, swaying back and forth.  Max snuck up behind me and
tried to grab a chip. 

  I smacked his hand away and mumbled, “Back off, bitch.”

  Cheyenne laughed and informed me that I wasn’t allowed to
say bad words anymore. 

  Yea right.  We’ll see how that goes.  I tried
quitting once; it was the worst seven minutes of my life.

  Ten minutes later Cheyenne’s mom rolled up with her twins
and Janie.  Her girls weren’t quiet little creatures.  They were
loud, obnoxious, disrespectful, and awesome.  I taught them with
everything I knew.  Janie was also my little creation.  I taught her
how to belch, give Wet Willies, and even how to play Candy Land.  When the
twins were old enough, and the same went for Cora now, I would teach them the
same things.

  Cheyenne’s mom looked about ready to puller hair out as
she walked in. 

  “I tried to shoot for nap time, but I just couldn’t
handle it anymore.  Janie watched the VMA’s last night, and she keeps
getting her teddy bear and dancing crazy like that Miley girl.  The twins
were copying her, and I just couldn’t handle it anymore.  She doesn’t
stop.” 

  I burst out laughing.  “So she was twerking?”

  “If that what you young kids call it these days.  I
remember when you and Cheyenne used to sing and dance to those boy bands. 
At least they didn’t do a bunch of butt shakes.  Lord knows I heard and
saw enough of them to last me a lifetime.”  Cheyenne’s mom said.

  N’Sync and Backstreet Boys were the bomb when we were
younger.  I used to have a picture of Justin Timberlake above my
bed.  Cheyenne had a picture of Nick off Backstreet boys over hers. 
We constantly fought over who was better.  To this day, we still argued
over it.

  “N’Sync!”  I yelled just as Cheyenne screamed,
“Backstreet Boys!”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I said James roll his eyes
in exasperation.  “They both blew, if you wanted my honest opinion.”

  I turned and glared into his direction.  “Well no
one asked you, Jamie.  Keep your opinion to yourself.”

  Cora chose that moment to blink her eyes open, smiling happily
at Gabe as she lifted her head from his shoulder.  There was a circle of
drool where her head had rested.  Although, he didn’t seem to mind.

  Sam interrupted the festivities and cleared his throat
for everyone’s attention.  “Alright, we need to start getting ready, how
about we take the kids out back, and then we can let them play while we
load.  Jack, why don’t you bring the auction bike around to the
trailer?  The trailer’s hooked up to the Suburban already.” 

  The next few hours we spent getting ready and loading the
Suburban with all the essentials that we needed to take.  Okay, well maybe
the guys loaded everything, and the girls all sat inside and watched Pitch
Perfect for the thousandth time.  Fat Amy sure was a trip; everything that
came out of that girl’s mouth was hilarious. 

  We were also given the privilege of seeing Janie
“twerk.”  Really, it was more of a bending of the legs more rather than
actual ass shaking and grinding that Miley had going on at the VMA’s. 

  We sent Hoochie home with Cheyenne’s mom for the
weekend.  She already had Cheyenne’s Mastiff for the same reason, so it
would be interesting to see how the two got along. 

  The car seat for Cora was installed, and James of course
didn’t have a problem with one extra in the car with him.  Pack and plays
were loaded for three children.  Bags, snacks, diapers, and finally the
kids.  I’ve concluded that kids require a ton of shit, and next time we
should just rent a U-Haul.  And, possibly some movers.

  We’d just loaded the kids into the car, and I was heading
to Gabe’s bike when he stopped me.  He’d grabbed me by the waistband of my
jeans to stop my forward movement.

  I looked at him curiously over my shoulder, and then
lifted a brow in question.  “What?”

  “I think you should ride in the Suburban.”  He said
warily.

  “Why?”

  He watched me warily for a moment.  “You’re pregnant
with my child, and I don’t want to put you at risk.  I would feel better
if you rode in a vehicle from now on.”

  Seeing the intensity in his eyes, I decided not to argue,
but instead gave him a small nod and a kiss on the lips before heading back to
the Suburban.  I glanced over my shoulder before I got in and saw him
standing there flabbergasted. 

  I gave him a small smile and blew him a kiss.

  He caught it with his hand and brought it to his mouth
before turning and straddling his bike.  He started it up with a roar, and
pulled up next to Sam to discuss something.  I buckled in next to Cora’s
seat and smiled down at her.

  She sure was a gorgeous baby.  She was a perfect
little version of Gabe, and she was going to grow up into a stunning woman.

  We were rolling out of the parking lot by two in the
afternoon.  Sam was in front, with Gabe a little back and slightly to his
right.  James was behind Gabe, and Blaine and Elliott followed behind us
in their own car.  Jack, James, and Max followed up in the rear

  “I think it’s time for some tunes.”  I called up to
the front seat.

  Cheyenne smiled at me conspiratorially and reached for
her iPhone.  We used to do this a lot when we were younger.  With us
being the youngest in both of our families, we always got our way. 
Especially if they had to listen to us whine while on a long car trip.

  As Backstreet Boys filled the car, James beat his head
onto the steering wheel.  “Oh, Jesus H. Christ.  Please don’t do this
to me.”

  Cheyenne thumbed her nose at him.  “You know how car
trips go, Jamie boy.  Just suck it up and be a man.” 

  Therefore, the next hour we listened to our favorite
songs of our childhood.

  It was going on an hour of driving time when I finally
couldn’t take it any longer.  “I have to take a wee.” 

  “Are you serious?  Janie is still holding it, there
is no reason you can’t hold it a little longer too.”  James said sounding
disgusted.

  “Actually, I need to go also.  Let’s stop at the
next rest station.”  Cheyenne declared.

  James gave up with only a little fight, and flashed his
lights to gain Sam and Gabe’s attention.  Gabe slowed down to see what
James needed, and nodded in agreement with some signal that James had relayed
that told him we needed to pee.

  We took the next exit, and barely stopped when I bailed
out of the car.  I was on the ground and running towards the bathroom,
because I honestly had to go much worse than I thought I did.

  You know that feeling where you have to go, and once you
get close to your destination, it suddenly hits you like a ton of bricks? 
Yes, that’s exactly what happened, and apparently, pregnancy exacerbates the
issue.

  I moaned as my bladder released itself of its minuscule
contents.  “Fuck that feels good.”

  “You sound like you’re having sex in that stall. 
You should try to control yourself a little better.”  Cheyenne said as she
followed suit.

  I was just buttoning my pants when a small fart escaped
from the next stall over. 

  “Oops.”  Cheyenne said sheepishly.

  I laughed and washed my hands.  I was inspecting my
stomach in the mirror, trying to see if I could define a baby bump when a loud wet
fart echoed off the walls of the bathroom.

  My jaw fell open and I turned to Cheyenne’s stall to
stare in surprise when her door opened and her eyes met mine.  They were
sparkling with mirth.

  “It wasn’t me!”  She mouthed silently.

  We both turned to the only other stall with a closed
door.  Just then another more disgusting sounding fart sounded,
reverberating the stall doors with its intensity.  Okay, well maybe it
wasn’t that bad, but it was still enough to hear it from outside the doors. 

  A knock came on the outside when we heard laughing
outside the doors, as well as a muffled voice asking if we were both all
right.  The farts were coming long and loud now, and we both doubled over
clutching our stomachs as we laughed.

  Cheyenne grabbed my hand, and we exited the door just as
a small explosion sounded behind us (and it had nothing to do with fire, if you
know what I mean.)  We both gagged and gasped.  Tears were rolling
out of our eyes as we laughed silently. 

  All eyes were on us as we went down to our hands and
knees laughing hysterically at what had just occurred.  James and Max were
both laughing as well.  Sam, Jack, and Gabe were still by the bikes, but
watching us as we laughed on the ground.

  I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the blue
sky.  “That was sick.”

  I also felt somewhat sorry for the poor woman who was in
there.  We’d all had those days where it couldn’t be helped.  It’s
just one of those things that you hope never hits you, but if it does you want
it to be at home.

  A pair of motorcycle boots came into my vision, and I
followed them all the way up the strong thick thighs, past the oh-so-beautiful
package, past the sculpted abs, beautifully defined chest, and finally to the
face that starred in my dreams.

 Gabe was staring down at me with an amused expression on
his beautiful face.  “Are you ready?  We kinda want to get there
before dark.” 

  I held my hand up to him and he hauled me to my
feet.  Just as I was about to reply, a dark haired beauty came exiting out
of the bathroom.  She didn’t make eye contact at any of us, but instead
walked past as fast as her three-inch heels would carry her.