Rodeo & Juliette - Jules Gets a Surprise!

Four Years Ago

There’s a knock on the stall door, but I can’t even drum up the energy to lift my head off the toilet seat. Thankfully, I managed to throw down one of those paper covers just in the nick of time. Who knows what sorta cooties might be lingerin’ ‘round here. My only saving grace? It’s Sunday brunch, which means these toilets were scrubbed last night and the crowd is small this morning.

“ Juliette, it’s me.” The sound of Gran’s voice has a whimper slipping from my lips at the same time shame sends a flush to my cheeks. 

Mama would be bad enough—her mother hen routine always consists of cucumber eye patches and essential oils—but Gran is the kinda woman to handle shit and take no prisoners. I’ll be chuggin’ some sort of homemade concoction that tastes like grass and kumquat while wishing I had died right here in this lonely three-by-five box.  

“Shay, I’m gonna kick your ass when I pull my head out of this toilet bowl,” I growl.

Admittedly, it sounds weak even to my ears. 

“Girl, you know I had to call in the big guns. You haven’t even had a lick of whiskey, yet you’re puking your guts out. Plus, you’re taking up one of only two bathroom stalls. Have a little decency and help your sisters out.”

With a deep sigh, I peel my head up and lean over to unlock the door. There’s barely enough room for it to swing open, but I know the second they get their first glimpse of me because their grimaces are answer enough. Then they share a knowing look.

“Okay. Let’s get you outta here,” Gran murmurs softly, stepping in and helping me to my feet. “What made you even come here this morning?”

She leads me over to the sink where I rinse my mouth out and splash some cold water on my cheeks. When I look in the mirror, my pale face stares back at me, right along with the concerned looks of Gran and Shay. 

“I was tired of moping around at home. Thought I’d come out, grab the Sunday breakfast special, and have a Bloody Mary while my good friend Shay here cheered me up. Just never made it that far.”

Shay snorts. “Hun, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I’m more likely to hand you your ass on a silver platter than give you a pep talk.”

“Don’t lie. You’re all hat and no cattle.” She wants to act all tough, but her inner circle gets to see the big ol’ softie buried deep down inside.

“Keep telling yourself that, Callahan,” she mutters. 

My belly flips, but thankfully, with a deep breath and an exhale, I get it to settle again. 

“C’mon. Let’s get you home.” Gran guides me out of the restroom and through the bar. 

“Leavin’ so soon, Jules?” Old Man Morris asks. 

“As if you care,” Shay retorts, side-eyeing the old geezer. “You just want all my attention.”

“Damn straight. It’s like I ain’t even here when Jules is around.”

“That so? Then how did that whiskey end up in front of you?”

He looks down at the glass in his hand as Shay rounds the end of the bar. “Immaculate liquorization.”

I laugh, then immediately regret it when my stomach heaves. 

“Fuck me,” I moan.

“Breathe through your nose, dear.” Gran pats my back. “Thank you for calling me, Shay. I’ll take good care of her.”

“You got it, Rose.” She gives me a smirk full of sass and just a smidge of sympathy. “I’ll be waiting for that ass kickin’ and a thank you.”

Rolling my eyes, because I don’t have the energy for much else, we make it out the door and to Gran’s car. Thank God it’s parked right in front of the Saloon. She helps me get seated, then settles into the driver seat and starts the engine. 

I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this lousy in my life. Of course, being left in the middle of a heat didn’t feel all too great either, but that was at least par for the course—going through a heat alone, that is. The despondency left in the wake of my fleeting encounter with the Alpha, however? Yeah, that hurt like a bitch. My instincts were stuck on a perpetual whine, and my entire soul felt the loss so keenly, it was hard to get out of bed. 

Of course, that reminds me of another time and another man—or boy rather. The moment my friendship with Kash Ford was done for good nearly broke me.  

Now this? What the hell was up with my luck?

In minutes, we’re pulling down the drive of the Callahan estate, and all I want is to get out of these jeans and climb into bed. I’ll sleep the day away and hopefully feel better in the morning. 

The car stops, but when I go to get out, Gran stops me. 

“Take this.” 

Looking down, I see a brown paper bag in her hand. 

“You get me breakfast, after all?”

It's her turn to roll her eyes. “Hell no.” She shakes the bag. “Open it.”

The crinkle of the paper is loud in the interior of the car, but I do as she says. The second I peer down, the baggie falls from my fingers. Bile roils in my gut, and my eyes dart up to hers. 

“You said it yourself. You didn’t use protection.”

Her words bang around in my head until I feel like I’m either gonna pass out or upchuck all over her leather upholstery.

“Juliette Callahan, get out of my car this instant if you’re gonna toss your cookies. I just had it detailed.”

Staring down at the brown sack, tears well up in my eyes. 

No. No! No way am I pregnant. I’ve just got a stomach bug. That’s all.

Without another word, I rush out of the car, into the house, and down the hall to my suite. The second I was eighteen, Gran remodeled the west wing of the house to give me a space of my own, complete with a sitting room and bathroom. It got me out of my parents’ house on the property, giving me space away from my father and breathing room from my mama’s glitter bombs. 

The click-clacking of Gran’s heels follows behind me, but I don’t stop. With my heart in my throat, I quickly pee on the little stick, cap it, and set it on the back of the tank. Suddenly, the simple task of washing my hands feels like it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. My mind reels at the implications, seeing all of my hopes and dreams and hard work go up in a plume of smoke. 

I don’t even know his full name. 

Beck. That’s it. The Alpha who rutted me through the start of my heat. 

An image of him plays through my mind—dark hair, the scruff along his jaw, his massive shoulders, the spattering of hair on his solid chest, thick thighs, gorgeous dick.

A whine slips free, echoing off the tile walls, and I lean against the nearest one and let my head drop back. 

“Juliette?” Gran calls from the other side of the door.

“I’m… I’m fine. Just. Give me another second.”

After months of drowning myself in alcohol and Betas, I’d only just managed to get myself together enough to start training again. Trying to put the guilt and the sorrow behind me, I was focusing on what Marie would’ve wanted, and that was for me to get back in the saddle. I’d almost gotten there until Bryant ruined it all and sent me into the arms of an Alpha who didn’t even have the decency to leave me a way to contact him before he snuck out of the hotel room. 

But let’s be honest. It’s not Bryant’s fault. It’s not even Beck’s. I’m the one that promised one night after all. This one’s on me. 

My eyes drop to the little stick that holds my entire future in its grasp. Straightening, I walk over and lift it up like it’s a grenade. I take a deep breath, exhale, then repeat. 

When I’m finely brave enough to look down, the two tiny pink lines staring up at me steal my breath away. 

Two pink lines.

Positive. 

I’m pregnant!

On autopilot, I walk over to the door, twist the handle, and pull it open. Gran’s waiting, and the look on my face must tell her the truth of it all.

“Oh, Jules,” she whispers, her own tears springing free as I walk over and collapse into her arms. One warm hand rubs my back as the other trails over the back of my head. A sob tears from my throat. She does her best to soothe it away, but there’s no point. 

I’m going to have Beck’s baby, and he’ll never even know. My heart breaks a little because I imagine he’d make a damn good daddy. 

I’ll be a single mom, my rodeo career in ruins, tethered to my family’s estate because what pack is going to want to take on an Omega with another Alpha’s baby? I can already hear the gossip around town. See the snickers and the judgmental looks. Feel the shame of what I’ve done like it’s a scarlet letter on my chest. 

“My life is over, Gran,” I choke out.

She tsks. “Now, none of that. Your life is not over. I will be here with you every step of the way. You hear me?”

“I can’t even tell him about the baby. What are Mama and Daddy gonna think? The town? Hudson? I’m such a disappointment.”

“I’m sure it feels like hell has swallowed you whole, child, but maybe someone knew this is what you needed to heal that hurt deep inside your heart. Now, you get to bring a new life into the world. Someone to love and cherish, that will love you right back. I’m sure your future won’t look the way you always expected it to, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be just as great.”

“Y-you’re just t-tryin’ to make me f-feel better.”

“Well, of course I am. That’s what I’m here for.”

Pulling back, I stare into her eyes. This woman has been beside me through thick and thin, ups and downs. Daddy and Mama too. If there’s anyone I can trust right now, it’s her. 

“What do I do, Gran?”

“You want honesty, or you want me to keep strokin’ your sensitivities?”

I straighten, running my forearm over my tear-stained face, then I push my shoulders back and exhale even though my heart’s pounding in my chest. “Give it to me straight.”

“I think you should go to the Omega Trauma Center. Work through what’s hauntin’ you so that by the time your little one gets here, you’re ready to take on a new role, Mama, without the past followin’ you any further into the future. It won’t be easy. In fact, it will be damn hard, but I know you. You’re strong and smart. This child could do a helluva lot worse. Imagine if it had Sally for a mother.”

A quiet chuckle leaves my lips, and my hand goes to my belly, where there’s zero evidence that a tiny little life is growing inside me despite the pink lines saying different.

I whisper aloud the one thought playing on repeat alongside the quieter ones in my head. “Will I ever compete in the rodeo again?”

“Girl, there’s nothing stoppin’ you but yourself.”

Something about that last statement hits right where I need it to. Gran’s right. I’m the only one in my way. And sure, single motherhood is knocking on my doorstep, and I’m fucking terrified, but I’ve been through worse. I need to do this, for me and my baby.

“Okay. Where do I sign myself up?”

She leads me out of the bathroom, sets me down at the kitchen counter with a glass of water and a basic sandwich, and grabs the phone to make the call that will take me out of Darling in order to bring me back whole again. 

It’s all for you, little one.