Ride or Die (Rejects Paradise 4)

Colton searches around, trying to figure out how this is going to work before peeling off his shirt and laying it down on the dirty ground. “Here,” he says, offering me his hand. I instantly take it and squeeze the living hell out of it as another contraction rocks through me.

Getting out of the car is easily the worst pain that I’ve ever experienced, and after everything that I’ve been through over the past year, that’s saying a lot.

Not being able to bend to get down to the ground, Colton has to pick me up and physically lay me down. The second my back is flat, the pain eases, but not by much.

“Okay,” I say, meeting his eyes over the top of my wide open legs. “What do we do?”

He shakes his head, looking panicked until he swan dives through the car and grabs his phone to call for an ambulance. He gets the operator on the phone, who instantly starts talking him through it.

Colton’s hands reach down between my legs, and I honestly can’t even think about what he’s telling me. All I know is that when the next contraction tears through me, I start pushing, grabbing into my thighs, and desperately trying to get this thing out of me.

I scream out, never having felt anything like it before. “Keep going, Jade,” Colton encourages. “Harder.”

He starts counting to ten, and I listen to the sound of his voice, following exactly what he’s telling me to do as I tear my body apart. I take a quick breath and then push all over again as my eyes and jaw clench, in complete agony.

“Okay, okay, okay,” he rushes out. “Stop, stop. stop. The head is out. Now what?”

The guy on the phone tells him exactly what to do, and as I lay here panting, we hear a car coming to a screeching stop before two people start rushing in toward us.

Bryson and Rebecca suck in shocked gasps but instantly fall in beside Colton, doing anything and everything they can to help. Rebecca takes my hand, letting me squeeze it until she loses feeling while Bryson somehow finds a water bottle and a cloth and presses it to my face.

Colton checks the cord isn’t wrapped around the baby’s neck, and when he glances back up at me, there’s nothing but pride shining through his eyes. “Alright, Jade,” he murmurs. “You’re nearly there. On the next contraction, you’re going to get this baby out.”

I nod and as if on cue, the contraction comes back, and I give another devastating push. Pain rockets through me, and with tears in my eyes, I finally bring Rebecca and Bryson’s new baby into this messed-up world.

Tears stream down Rebecca’s face as Colton holds this precious little baby in his arms, looking somewhat shocked that this just happened. He glances around holding the baby while trying to figure out what the hell to do with it. It’s covered in all sorts of shit, but all I can do is gape. That thing just came out of me.

Bryson is quick to jump into action, peeling off his own shirt, and helping Colton to wrap the baby. Then in a moment that equally kills me while also filling me with the most incredible amount of love and joy, Colton hands the baby to Rebecca.

With the cord still attached, Rebecca has to move closer to Colton, but I don’t mind as it gives me a better view of this perfect little angel that just came out of me.

She takes it eagerly, and I struggle to take my eyes off them. “Is it a boy or a girl?” I whisper.

Rebecca shakes her head, having absolutely no idea. She adjusts the baby and shuffles around Bryson’s shirt before a bright smile tears across her face. She glances back at me. “You were right,” she whispers, her bottom lip quivering. “It's a little baby boy.”

Colton reaches out and takes my hand, wanting to give me all the love in the world. “You did great,” he says as we hear the familiar sound of the ambulance in the distance.

“You really did,” Bryson says. “We’ll never be able to thank you enough for this incredible gift. It’s … I have no words to describe just how thankful we are.”

I give him a tight smile before looking back at the little boy who I’ve just spent the last nine months with, knowing that I did something great. “Just give him an incredible life, and if it’s not too much to ask, maybe a photo on his birthday.”

“Of course,” Rebecca says with tears of joy in her eyes as she holds her sweet little boy. “Every year on September 20th, look out for an email. I’ll send you a whole collage with videos included.”

A wide smile spreads across my face and as Rebecca leans down to show me his perfect little face, tears fall from my eyes. “Does he have a name?”