“Not you, too!” Georgia kept right on hissing. “What is wrong with you Pena’s? Obviously, Nikki has the right way of it, finding a man to get her the hell out of this fucked up family.”
Nico laughed, as did Nila.
I, though, froze. Was she talking to Georgia about getting married?
I hadn’t actually thought much past the summer, but the thought of being with Nikki forever really made me happy.
Like, manic happy.
Which also worried me.
I didn’t want to marry her yet.
We needed time to get to know each other.
She’d never even witnessed any of my manic/depressive episodes.
I, at least, needed to get through this winter with her, then I could think about marriage.
Right now, I was just happy having her in my arms, knowing she’d be there when I woke up.
“Michael?” Nikki called to me.
I looked over to see her parents and her studying me.
I turned and walked away from the arguing siblings, offering my hand to Sol, once again.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
He smiled.
“You did a good job, keeping this from her. I was just telling her that you were the one to organize all of this,” Sol said.
Nikki looked from her father to me.
“You’re good at keeping secrets,” she teased. “I’m usually the first one to talk my family into opening the presents. Next time I’ll have to pay attention for the signs of you hiding something.”
I snorted. “You’d never figure out if I was hiding something from you. You, on the other hand, are an open book.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
I nodded.
Then her eyes narrowed. “I’m good at keeping secrets, though.”
Then Memphis and Downy walked up, effectively ending our conversation.
“Lolita! Did you bring me some tamales?” Downy asked loudly.
Lolita blushed. “No, my Downy, I didn’t. But I’m making some tomorrow, so I’ll be sure to bring you some by the station.”
Downy grinned.
“Score!” he said, pulling his arm down quickly from head height. “Make ‘em hot! You know how I like ‘em!”
Lolita rolled her eyes, and I turned to Memphis, only to see her looking at Nikki oddly.
She was staring at the glass of champagne in Nikki’s hand like it was a viper.
“What?” I asked her.
Memphis turned and looked at me with wild eyes.
The first thing I noticed she saw was my bare arms, causing her eyes to widen further.
“Holy shit!” She announced loudly. “You got a new one!”
I looked down at my bare arms and grimaced.
I’d gone without the long sleeves tonight for Nikki.
I knew she liked when I showed them off.
And, although I did it for her, I wasn’t comfortable with it.
I didn’t like explaining why I had so many tattoos. Because with that explanation came the explanation of the fact that I suffered from depression and I was bi polar.
Which only launched into more conversations that I didn’t want to have.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nikki turn to place her champagne glass down on a nearby table and turn to me.
I raised a brow at the move, but she only winked and walked away, talking to even more of her friends and family, leaving me to explain to Memphis something that I didn’t even want to get into.
***
Two hours later, the champagne dilemma was brought up again.
“Nikki, why aren’t you drinking any champagne? I bought it specifically for you!” Georgia asked, thrusting yet another glass at her.
Nikki once again waved it off. “No, I’m not interested in champagne tonight. I want to enjoy this night, not forget it.”
Somewhat mollified, Georgia took the drink to her lips and sipped, keeping her eyes on Nikki, studying her.
I studied Nikki, too.
She’d not had a drink in a very long time, now that I thought about it.
Why?
Making a note to question her later, I turned back to the conversation at hand.
“So they’re making budget cuts? Where? Are they going to take away our new body armor? The vehicles that they promised? The overtime pay that they force us to take?” Nico asked in outrage at hearing what Luke had just said.
Luke shook his head. “I’m only telling you the rumors I’m hearing, and explaining why I’ll be attending the town hall meeting.”
“Well, how about they lower the amount of pay the mayor makes, or some of the city officials? Why not take the budget cuts out of the fuckin’ flowers that they plant in the middle of the road. Or the new red lights they keep putting up that only do more problem than good,” Nico muttered darkly.
Luke held his hands up in surrender.
“That’s why I mentioned it. I want y’all to go to the meeting with me this Friday,” Luke said.
After a few grunts of confirmation, Luke turned to me.
“I’ve also wanted to talk to you today, too, but I could never get you. Have you heard any more about those murders?” He asked.
We all knew which ones he was talking about.
Everyone did.
It was now public information after the fourth one in forty square miles and two weeks happened.
“Wolf is up and talking, but he’s only been able to give the minutest of details. He can attest to the black clothes, the black hoodie, and the black boots. We know he had black hair, and he was about five foot nine or ten. Whipcord lean. About one hundred and eighty pounds,” I told them. “But y’all already know that. Parker and Elliott aren’t sharing much else yet. Wolf is getting released on Monday, though. And, hopefully, he’ll be approved to adopt Nathan like he’s looking to do since he has no other family,” I informed them.
Luke nodded.
“I heard the boy’s finally doing better,” Downy said around a mouthful of cake. “When’s he get to go home?”
I shook my head. “Only time will tell with him. He’s got some swelling on his brain that’s causing him to act a lot differently than he was before, so they’re waiting for that to go down some more before they make any plans of him getting released.”
“Fuck,” Miller said, pulling his beer up to his lips and taking a sip.
My sentiments exactly.
“You’re pregnant!” Noel crowed. “That’s why you’re not drinking.”
My heart froze in my chest at the declaration from Nikki’s little sister, and I started to pay a little more attention.
“What? No! I’m not!” Nikki shook her head savagely.
Even though she denied it immediately, I started to connect some dots.
Throwing up.
No period that I’d seen as of yet.
And I would’ve noticed any of the million times we’d fucked in the past month and a half.
Weight gain.
Why she needed new pants at the mall today.
Why her nipples were so fuckin’ tender lately.
I’d barely brushed them in the shower this morning, and it had her begging for me all over again.
“’Scuse me,” I muttered, eyes connecting with Nikki’s.
Her eyes widened slightly, flaring with something I couldn’t read, and then disappeared before she schooled her features.
Then she excused herself from her friends and followed me out of the restaurant, then further outside.
I didn’t stop until we were in the shadows along the side of the building.
I could hear Nikki’s flip flops flapping against her feet as she walked behind me.
The wind from the impending storm flapping her skirt as she hurried to catch up to me.
But my strides were too fast for her.
She didn’t catch up to me until I stopped in shadows so deep that I couldn’t tell she was standing in front of me before I moved my arms out to catch her before she slammed into my front.
“Now’s not the time for lying, Nikki,” I said breathlessly.
I was breathless because I was freaking the fuck out.
I was a doctor for fuck’s sake.
I knew the signs.
I was also smarter than I’d been acting.
I guess I wanted so bad to give Nikki the benefit of the doubt that I ignored the signs.