Lightning In a Bottle {A Chase Elliott Story}

Chapter 27: Here's the Thing

Jess looked at Michelle's face and the look of shock that was now very noticeable across it.

"Wait, what?" she finally said.

"Can we talk about this later when we're not at work?" Jess asked.

"Absolutely," Michelle answered as they went back to their desks.

"Chase, we have a jammed packed week next week for the Roval," Chase's PR girl said as she sat opposite of him in the office at Hendrick Motorsports.

"What's on the agenda?" he asked.

"We have some charity events with fans all tied in with the charities we've been working with all year and then there's a gala on Thursday night to sum up the week." As those words resonated in his head, he wondered if that meant Jess would also be in attendance at these events since she had been covering the stories all season.

"Thanks," Chase answered. His PR girl left him so he could sign some items fans had sent in to get autographed. Now that he knew what was on the agenda for next week, all he could think about was Jess. Sure she had pretty much taken his heart and crushed it with a hammer, but then again he had done the same thing to her in the first place. In the two months since he'd seen her, he thought about her all the time, but knew he couldn't talk to her.

His phone beeped and it was Ryan. Lunch? The text read. Chase typed back that he'd meet him after he finished signing followed by another text from one of the girls Chase had hooked up with before Jess. She had recently begun texting him again and his head told him he shouldn't, but his manhood was saying something else. He knew better though and would ultimately leave her on read. He finished signing what he needed and headed off to meet Ryan for lunch.

"Found out something today," Chase said as he sat with Blaney at lunch.

"What's up?"

"Well apparently next week I've got a lot of charity events for the foundations we've been working on all year and well I think Jess might be there since she's the one who's been covering them all season."

"Holy shit. You haven't talked to her since Daytona right?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, what a great night that was," sarcasm dripped from his voice.

"Man, you've got to either let her talk to you when she's ready or just move on with your life. She seems to have feelings for you, but maybe she really can't trust you yet. Have you been with anyone else since you saw her?"

"I've thought about it, but no."

"Maybe you will run into her next week and maybe you two can talk, I mean it has been two months."

"Maybe..."

"Ok spill," Michelle said, sitting next to Jess on her couch.

"Well you know everything that happened in Daytona so I don't have to tell you how I got here, because clearly it was that trip back to the motorhome that got me in trouble, apparently in more ways than one," she said, putting her hands on her stomach. "Well I guess about a week ago I wasn't feeling myself, really tired and nauseous. I honestly thought it was the flu, but it kept happening and that was until I realized I was late and hadn't noticed. Went to the store and bought a couple of tests and well, those and one trip to the doctor, proved that I was indeed pregnant."

"Ok let me ask this since I'm your best friend. I thought you were on birth control, what the hell happened?"

"I guess it failed. I asked my doctor about it and she said it can happen. This wasn't a plan to trap Chase. This is the last thing I need in the Soap Opera of the Chase and Jess relationship. I know women do this, but not me and I really don't want him to think it either."

"Jess, you have to tell him. Even if you want to raise the baby on your own, he at least needs to know he has a child."

"Then he'll want to be around..."Jess started.

"Girl, you love the boy and you're just too much of a chicken shit to admit it. You're so strong, but you've got to cut the boy some slack. He said he was sorry and well now you have another factor playing into this. No matter what that child is Chase Elliott's and he deserves to know."

"I guess you're right," Jess answered, holding her little bump.