Page 66 of The Fine Art of Faking It
It was nice to be normal for a little while.
The sheriff and Nikolai Vulkov arrived together minutes later. Niko shrugged out of his leather jacket and made a mad dash for alcohol.
“Emma can’t drink,” he said by way of an explanation as he reverently picked up a beer.
“Meaning?” Davis asked, watching him swallow two-thirds of the glass’s contents.
“Meaning I can’t drink either,” Niko said, pausing for a breath and then polishing off the rest of the beer. “Ahhh, I’ve missed you,” he crooned.
Carter smirked. “Why don’t you just tell Emma the truth? That you’re cheating on her with a frosty blonde.”
“It’s called being supportive,” Niko said dryly. “I’d think a father of twins would know what that was.”
Jax held up a piece of popcorn chicken, and Beckett nodded and rose. Jax gave the chicken a toss, and Beckett caught it in his mouth, shooting his arms up victoriously.
“A father of twins knows what support looks like,” Carter shot back, amused.
“What? A vasectomy?” Niko teased.
“If that will make Summer’s life better, I’m not afraid of getting snipped.”
“My buddy back in L.A. went with a bunch of his friends. They all got them done together. Like a really painful spa day,” Jax told them, chucking another piece of chicken at Beckett.
“Are you guys done with two?” Niko asked Carter.
Carter shrugged. “I think so, but every time one of you jackasses has a baby, Summer sniffs them and starts talking about how much she misses the baby stage.”
Beckett rolled his eyes. “I’m currently in the baby stage, and I’m very much looking forward to Lydia going off to college. She’s getting molars or growing a tail and isn’t sleeping.”
“Not making me look forward to next year, guys,” Niko confessed. “I’m already terrified that I’ll screw this kid up somehow.”
“Oh, you will,” Carter told him cheerfully.
“Should have just adopted a couple of older ones,” Jax said smugly. “Ours came potty-trained and with all their teeth.”
Jax, the youngest of the Pierces, had just over ten years on the daughter he and Joey were adopting.
“What about you two?” Beckett asked Donovan and Davis. “Now that you’re settled down, has the f word come up?”
“Family,” Jax explained.
“Ah. Well, Eden and I just started dating,” Davis hedged. “We’ve got time to figure that out.”
“How about you, Cardona?” Jax asked. “You working on a pack of baby sheriffs?”
Donovan sucked his beer down the wrong pipe and choked. But it was the stupid grin on his face that alerted everyone to the real issue.
“Are you kidding?” Niko asked. “You guys are having a baby?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Donovan said, looking over both shoulders as if worried that his tiny wife would appear and murder him for spilling their secret.
“Holy shit! I can’t believe Emma didn’t tell me,” Niko said, reaching for a glass of wine.
“Emma doesn’t know.No oneknows. We found out after the wedding. Like ten minutes after the wedding,” Donovan confessed.
“That’s what you were doing in there?” Carter asked. “We all thought you were having sex.”
“That, too,” Donovan grinned. “But seriously. None of you can say a word to anyone, especially your wives. And when Eva does decide to tell you, you have to pretend to be surprised.”
