Force Of Nature

Chapter 33

The next morning I woke up with nervous anticipation. It was race day, and I was a bit anxious. I was not a big fan of super speedway racing. The speeds were so fast and the cars bunched so tightly together. When they wrecked, which was always inevitable, the wrecks were huge. Last time we were in Talladega, Ryan and I were not together, not even in our fake relationship yet. I had been unknowingly pregnant with his child at that time, but we were still merely coworkers. We were a real couple last Daytona race, but Ryan had won that race.

I shook off my nerves and began to prepare breakfast for us. Ryan was in the shower as I could hear the water running. I needed these few moments to pull myself together because I did not want him to see just how anxious I was. He would worry about me, and I needed him to keep his focus.

"Good morning sweetheart. Smells great." Strong arms wrapped around me from behind, one hand lingering on my swollen belly as he placed a kiss on my temple. I turned my head slightly, my lips meeting his.

"Good morning babe. I hope you're hungry." I chuckled, looking at the mountain of food I had prepared. Eggs, bacon, pancakes. Good thing Megan and the kids were coming early.

"You always take such good care of me." His lips were now on the side of my throat, and the hand that was on my belly had now found it's way under my shirt to cup my sensitive breast. I sighed contentedly as his finger circled my nipple. I could feel my earlier tension melting away beneath his skilled fingertips. God I wanted him to take me back to bed, but a sharp knock on the door quickly erased that thought from my head.

There were excited greetings all around, and Jamie and Emily's non stop chatter and eager questions were a welcome distraction. We ate breakfast and soon, Ryan had to leave to meet with his team, and the kids happily played with Max and Sturgill.

"You okay?" Megan asked, her voice laced with concern.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm a little on edge because this kind of racing makes me a little nervous, but having you and the kids here helps tremendously."

"It's gonna be fine." She said soothingly. "Your guy is one hell of a super speedway driver."

"He is." I agreed, but that didn't mean he couldn't get caught up in someone else's mess.

We hung out at the bus for a while until it began getting close to time for driver intros. We got to the pit box, and Ryan asked the kids if they would like to go out with him for the intros and they eagerly agreed.

As Megan and I were about to climb into the pit box, a familiar voice behind us made my blood run cold. "Hi Meg. How are you?"

"What the hell are you doing here Justin? Are you following me?" She snapped, angrily.

He had the audacity to look surprised. "I'm here as a guest for the 11 team." He replied.

"How did you know I was here?" She demanded.

"I saw your Instagram story." He shrugged. "I just wanted to say hi to the kids. I had no idea you and your sister made up though. Hello Tristyn. You're looking well. Congrats on trapping some poor, unsuspecting guy with a baby." He smirked, and I fumed.

Before I could go off, Megan spoke. "You are finally concerned about your children, considering you have not seen them in over four months. Four fucking months Justin. They finally stopped asking about when they are going to see you, and you have the nerve to show up here. You're only going to get their hopes up and then you are going to disappear from their lives once again for who knows how long."

"I'm sorry Meg. I've been a shitty father, but I want to make up for that. Can we talk about it? Please?"

I could see Megan begin to cave. I actually couldn't blame her. I knew how persuasive Justin could be.