Limitless (Journey Series)

by C. A. Williams

  “Into the bathroom now.” A plastic bag was shoved into my hands and Ally was behind me pushing me down the hallway. “Let’s just get this over with, Leah. Nothing’s going to change if you put it off, better to know now rather than later on.”

  I could understand what Ally was saying but she wasn’t the one in my shoes. I emptied the bag out onto the bathroom counter and a quiet laugh escaped when I saw she had bought five different tests. How in the hell was I laughing right now? Clearly, this was not a laughing matter.

  The door creaked open just as I was standing up to set the stick on the counter. “Mommy, why are you peein’ on a stick?” Caleb peered onto the counter, looking quizzically at the test. I was probably just about as confused as him, so I ignored his question.

  I looked at my watch, watching the seconds tick away until the three minutes were up. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted kids of my own, Caleb really was enough for me to handle. I knew Chase wanted kids, but we really didn’t need them now. I know he liked things to move quickly, but I don’t think this was one of those things.

  The door flung open all the way and Ally came in to peer over my shoulder just as the little digital hourglass disappeared on the two tests that I had taken and the word pregnant replaced it. I swear my heart literally stopped when that popped up. Ally let out a squeal and started jumping and down behind me.

  “C’mon Leah, you have to be a little excited, right?” She grabbed onto my wrists to spin me around where my feet had been frozen into place, and proceeded to bounce around the small confines of the bathroom. Pretty soon, Caleb joined in clapping his hands together, even though he had no clue what was going on.

  After the two of them finally calmed down, I pushed Ally out the front door. “You need to leave. I need time to process this and I can’t do that with all of your squealing.” She was way too bubbly about this and I really needed to have as much peace and quiet that I could get before Chase came home. What in the hell was I going to do?

  Chapter 11

  Chase

  The house was unusually quiet when I came home from work. I was already a little nervous to tell Leah about what exactly had happened at school today, and the silence really wasn’t helping my nerves. Normally, Caleb was running around like crazy and Leah was cooking dinner on her nights off. I quickly found Caleb in his room with a stack of books, reading to his favorite stuffed animals and Tootsie. I swear, that dog had some patience and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the story about the little bugs that I had heard about a hundred times.

  “Hey buddy, did you have a good day?”

  His brown eyes flicked up for just a second before going back to being glued to his book. “Yup, me and Mommy played all day after she picked me up from school. Then Auntie Ally came over but Mommy kicked her out. She told me it was quiet time now.”

  “Cool, little dude.” Leah kicked Ally out? Obviously, the little man was over exaggerating, which he tended to do. I walked over and fluffed his hair before crouching down to kiss him on the forehead.

  The big weekend was coming up when he would be gone at Roy’s and I wasn’t looking forward to it. It was definitely going to be strange. I had planned to keep Leah and I pretty busy, so we could keep our minds off it. “Where’s Mommy at?”

  “I think she’s in bed. She was in a bad mood after she peed on the stick. She came in a little bit ago to check on me and then went back to your room.”

  Peed on a stick? Ok-ay. Kid just keeps getting weirder and weirder every day. “‘Kay bud, I’ll go check on her and then fix us some dinner.”

  I walked down the hallway towards our room, the door was open but the room was dark. “Baby?” I slid across the bed and wrapped my arm around her waist, where she was lying face down buried in a pillow. She slightly lifted her head and looked up at me through swollen eyes. I reached out and pushed back her matted hair, swiping at the one lone tear that was rolling down her cheek.

  Leah normally wasn’t a crier, so something was definitely up. I guess my little bit of bad news could wait, no reason to upset her anymore. I wanted to wrap her up and take away whatever the hell was wrong, but she didn’t look like she wanted me to. Actually, she looked like she was sort of pissed at me.

  “What’s wrong, Leah? Just talk to me, whatever it is will work it out.”

  She let out a loud huff, burying her head in the pillow once again, and mumbled something incoherently. I leaned down so I was right next to her and gently moved her head to the side so I could cradle it between my hands. “You know I didn’t hear you, so just spill it.”

  “Ugh, Chase.” She scrubbed her hands over her face and peeked out between her fingers. “I’m pregnant. And it’s your entire fault,” she added at the end with a groan.

  “What?” I jumped up to my knees, grabbing at her hands to pull her up with me. “Seriously?” I was going to ignore the little fact that she was blaming this all on me. Pretty sure, it took two to tangle and she had no problem with that.

  She nodded her head, squeezing her eyes shut and sniffling. “I knew you would react like this.”

  “Of course, what did you expect? I’m happy as hell, our baby is in there.” I splayed my hands across her flat stomach and leaned down to kiss it.

  “You’re not excited about this?” My smile faltered just a little when I looked at her miserable expression. I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised. Any kind of life altering changes usually freaked Leah out. We hadn’t really talked about having kids much and I knew we were still pretty young, especially Leah, but if it was meant to be, so be it.

  “I don’t know, Chase. The timing just seems so off. I’m already busy enough as it is between school, work, and Caleb. It’s just a little overwhelming.”

  “We’ll make it work, I promise. Whatever I have to do, I’ll do it. This will be one of the most exciting times of our lives, just wait, you’ll see.” She let out a loud groan and collapsed against my chest. “Why does everyone have to be so damn happy about this?”

  **********

  I promised to keep Leah busy the weekend that Caleb was gone to keep her mind off the fact that he was gone, and for the most part I did. I think she cried pretty much the whole ride back to our house after we dropped him off with Roy. We both had gone in to check out his house when we dropped him off.

  Roy’s house looked like he had went out and bought every single item under the sun for baby proofing, even though Caleb was almost four. He really didn’t need that stuff anymore, but we were both glad that he was putting in the effort. He had also went and bought every kind of boy toy and filled his spare bedroom to the brim. Caleb was in heaven.

  I knew Leah was upset about the whole situation, but I’m sure pregnancy hormones were thrown in to the mix as well. I had been around my mom enough through her pregnancies that I knew all about the highs and the lows. Fun times.

  Leah worked Saturday, so I hung out with the guys before one of their performances. When Teddy found out we were going to my mom’s for family dinner on Sunday, he couldn’t help but invite himself.

  I still hadn’t talked to her about the whole situation at school, but I was planning on it tonight before Caleb came back home. There really was no telling how she would react.

  “Leah, I’m so excited to see you!” The front door burst open and my mom rushed out to meet us as soon as I pulled my truck into the driveway. She wrapped Leah in a tight hug and then pulled back to lightly rub her stomach. Way to keep your mouth shut, Mom.

  Leah’s eyes widened at the touch of my mom’s hand and her mouth fell open. “You already told her? No offense Mary, but we haven’t even been to the doctor yet. I don’t even have a clue how far along I am. Your son doesn’t know how to keep his lips zipped.”

  Teddy laughed and I slapped him in the head when Leah turned her steely gray eyes to him. “You told him too? I guess I should ask, who didn’t you tell?” She crossed her arms over her chest and lightly tapped her foot, waiting for my answer, but trut
hfully, I couldn’t answer. I had even told the cashier at the grocery store last night when I went out to grab a case of beer.

  “Leah, he’s just so excited.” My mom patted her on the back and ushered all of us inside. Instantly, I was assaulted by the mouthwatering smells coming out of the kitchen. I loved coming to my mom’s for dinner, there was nothing like it, even though Leah’s cooking was starting to come pretty close.

  We were attacked by all of my younger sisters as soon as we walked in, all of them chattering about the new baby and what names they already had picked out. From the death stares coming from Leah, I knew I was going to be getting serious shit from her later about this.

  When we sat down to dinner and the conversation still hadn’t changed, I decided to bring up another topic. “So Ted, you excited about the tour? It’s coming up pretty quick.”

  He nodded his head in between shoving mouthfuls of mashed potatoes in and dropped his fork when his plate was finally cleared. “Yup, should be awesome man, too bad you aren’t coming along. It’s gonna be epic.”

  Leah cleared her throat, a small smile finally on her face and it was actually directed at me. Maybe I was earning some points back at changing the subject. “I heard Remy and Ally are going too, that should be fun.”

  Teddy visibly stiffened when Leah mentioned Ally, I think she was hoping for that effect. I saw the way he looked at her and he was fucking jealous over the fact that she was with Tyler. I tried to bring it up more than once but he always brushed it off saying that he could care less, pulling the next girl in the long line onto his lap.

  “Yeah, should be a ton of fun. Different city, different girl or should I say girls.” Leah rolled her eyes at Teddy’s cocky smirk and my mom who was sitting on the other side leaned over and nudged him with her elbow.

  “Now, Theodore.” Teddy’s smirk disappeared when my mom used his whole name; I think she was really the only one ever to do it. I knew his own mother, who could give two shits about him, didn’t. I think that’s one reason he acted the way he did, he was just looking for the attention his mom had never given him. “You should always be respectful to women. Don’t go messing around with every girl throwing herself at you while you’re out on the road. It will just lead to trouble.”

  Teddy’s eyes cast downward and he answered with a quiet, “Yes, ma’am.” I knew Teddy had barely any relationship with his own mother, so he looked up to mine as his own. Maybe her words would actually stick in that thick head of his. Yeah, probably not.

  We dropped Teddy off on our way home. Leah had been quiet since we left my mom’s house, but she slid her body across the seat, latching the middle belt across her lap and laying her head on my shoulder. Apparently, she had forgiven me a little for opening my big mouth. I just couldn’t help myself.

  “I think I want a girl,” she said quietly right before we pulled into the driveway. I didn’t say anything back, but inside I was jumping up and down like a little kid jacked up on sugar. Maybe she was finally starting to accept this whole pregnancy thing. “I mean, I would be happy either way, but I want to do all the girly stuff that I get to do with Belle. Do her hair, buy pink clothes, and play with baby dolls. I think that sounds like fun.”

  “I’m glad, baby.” I opened up the door and scooped her out of the truck, carrying her to the front door. “Whatever that little baby is, it will get spoiled like crazy.” She giggled when I set her down to slide the key into the lock and before I scooped her up again to carry her inside, I leaned down to place a kiss on her stomach.

  I deposited her onto our bed and slowly removed each piece of clothing. I gazed down at her beautiful naked body before quickly removing my own, while the whole time she looked up at me with that look that was solely meant for me. I kissed every inch of her body, hovering over her flat stomach, imagining how it would look in a few months.

  Her hands moved to the back of my head and she pulled me down to her, pressing her lips against my jaw and working her way to my mouth. I slid inside of her slowly, taking my time, making love to my wife like I always should. We both found our release and lay there together in each other’s arms for what felt like hours.

  She fell asleep, lightly snoring and I kissed her belly one last time. “I love you, babies.” I slipped into the shower and when I came back out, wrapped in a towel, she was awake propped up on her elbow. “What are you doing awake? You looked like you were passed out for the rest of the night.”

  “Yeah, I thought so too but I’m starving.” I smirked when she flopped back onto her pillow and rubbed her stomach.

  “I’ll get you something, I’ll be right back.” I grabbed a million different snacks before heading back to the bedroom and setting the tray down on the bed. “So, I needed to talk to you about something.”

  “Okay, I’m listening,” she mumbled in between chews of a cookie. I blew out a breath, hoping her nonchalant attitude wouldn’t change, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

  “So, you know how I told you about that one student, Brittany, who is always staying after class and flirting with me?”

  She nodded her head at me, so I just continued. “Well on Friday, I got called into the office by the principal and a few of the school board members. Apparently, Brittany is claiming I made a few inappropriate remarks and made the moves on her.”

  I stopped to take in her reaction and she burst out laughing. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, that was how hard she was laughing. Not what I was expecting.

  “Oh my god, I knew your sexiness would come back and bite you in that fine ass of yours someday. I told you how you have that whole bad boy vibe, and then you wear those black rimmed glasses on top of that. Who couldn’t resist you? I just don’t understand why she would try and get in you in trouble. Doesn’t that kind of throw her whole game off?”

  “Leah, I don’t think this is something to laugh about. This is serious, I could lose my job over it. I’m not suspended right now, but I’m under investigation by the school board.”

  She took a deep breath and grabbed onto my wrists, the laughter finally disappeared and her face grew serious. “Chase, you didn’t do anything wrong, you and I both know that. She probably just got mad that you weren’t returning the flirting, even though you’re her teacher and it’s highly inappropriate. The truth will come out in the end. We just have to believe that.” She leaned up and kissed each corner of my mouth before pulling back and placing a hand on my cheek.

  “For now, maybe you should start wearing a paper bag to school, with your sexy face covered up they won’t want to flirt as much.” A laugh escaped between her lips before I gently tackled her down to the bed and pinned her arms above her head. “I’m glad you find this so funny.”

  “You have to admit it is, just a little,” she breathed out. The towel slipped from my waist as I adjusted my body above her, and her eyes dropped down. “Yeah, I don’t think the whole paper bag thing will work. You need like a full body suit made out of paper bags if you want the girls to leave you alone.”

  “Mmhm,” I murmured against her neck. I arched my hips into her and she let out a gasp, the laughter finally dying down. Serves her right.

  Chapter 12

  Leah

  It was finally here, graduation day. I couldn’t believe that the time had passed so quickly. The semester had flown by between studying, work, Caleb, and getting used to the idea of being pregnant. When I went to the doctor, they confirmed my pregnancy and had told me that I was newly pregnant at four weeks.

  After the next couple of appointments, we finally got to see the baby on the ultrasound and I think that was when it really sank in, I was going to be a mom. I mean, I knew for all intents and purposes I was already a mom to Caleb, but it was so weird to think I had this little human growing inside of me.

  Chase handled me like a delicate flower and wanted me to quit working at Gino’s right away, but I put my foot down. We needed the extra money, and after I graduated who knew when I would put my
degree to use. Who wanted to hire someone when they were almost five months pregnant?

  “You look so cute, look at your little baby belly.” Ally stood back and looked at me in the deep blue dress that she had helped pick out. “And now we have to go and make it all ugly with this bag.” She tossed me my graduation gown and I carefully pulled it over my hair.

  “I don’t know, she still manages to even make that look pretty sexy.” I smiled when I turned to see Chase standing in the doorway, his hands latched at the top of the doorway, just giving me the briefest glimpse of his hard stomach. My pregnancy so far had been pretty uneventful; the one thing that I really noticed is that I constantly wanted Chase…like constantly.

  “Uh-oh Chase, she’s giving you those eyes, you need to get out of here now.” Ally pointed towards the door with a stern look on her face and Chase backed up reluctantly. “Don’t even think about following him, me and you need some alone time before I leave tomorrow.”

  Ugh, she just had to bring that up. I thought maybe me being pregnant would change her mind about going on tour with the band, but it didn’t. She promised to catch a flight back the minute I started having contractions, but it wouldn’t be the same and Remy was leaving too. Now I would just be stuck with a bunch of boys.

  “So, are you excited? I talked to Remy earlier and she was practically bouncing off the walls. You’re pretty calm about the whole thing. What gives?”

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged my shoulders and picked at the hem of the hideous gown I had on. “I am excited, I just feel like it’s not such a big deal because I’m not going to go out and find a job right away like I planned to.”

  “I know honey, but you have Chase now and you know he loves to take care of you and Caleb. I know you don’t like being taken care of, but just let him. By the way, how’s the whole situation at school going for him, have you guys heard anything new?”