Rowdy(32)

“I’m pregnant. I’m not supposed to be, but somehow, as usual, Rule doesn’t do things the way he’s supposed to and now we’re having a baby.”

Holy shit! The ultimate wild child having a child of his own. Oh, how the times had changed on all of us.

I walked over to her and wrapped her up in a rib-cracking hug. “Congratulations. You two are gonna make a beautiful baby, but why are you all crying over it?”

Cora lifted her eyebrow at me. “Happy tears. It’s exciting.” She pointed at Shaw and her mouth kicked up in a half grin. “I knew it wasn’t a stomach bug.”

Shaw shoved her hands through her long hair and sighed. “I just didn’t believe it for a long time. I mean we just got married. I still have to get through school and I’m not even close to doing a residency yet, but I’m already trying to imagine how any and all of that works with a baby. Rule was the one that kept saying I was probably pregnant but I thought he was out of his mind.” She shook her head and laughed again. “We’re always careful, but it’s just like him to make his own rules and have that not matter.”

Cora reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’ve got all of us around to rely on. You’ll be fine and I’d pay a million trillion dollars to see Rule as Mr. Mom. It’s going to be fantastic. If his brother can take to fatherhood like a duck to water, the younger Archer will be fine. Those boys have more love in them than they know what do with. They were made to be daddies.”

Ayden looked like she was going to cry again and I was suddenly very aware of the fact I was the only person in the room with a penis.

“I can stay. If you need me here, I’ll stay.” Ayden whispered the words to her best friend and her voice broke. Ayden and Shaw were in tears again and then they were hugging and sort of rocking together.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I hate that you aren’t with Jet, too. It’s where you’re supposed to be.” Shaw would always have a heart the size of my home state.

I looked at Cora like she might be able to help, but for a pretty tough chick she looked like she was going to break apart again as well.

“Well, damn. I didn’t mean for any of that to happen. You all know I’m usually better around the ladies than this.”

Cora walked over and hooked her arm through mine and rested her head on my shoulder.

“It’s okay. She would’ve had to break the news eventually. It’s just a lot to take in. Those two are tight. It’s gonna be hard for them to adjust to not having the other right around the corner for every little thing. Honestly, we all saw this coming. Ayd needs to be where Jet is and Jet needs to be where the music is. It’ll be fine. It always is.”

“I can’t believe Rule’s gonna be a daddy.”

We both sort of laughed and she turned her head to look up at me with her multitoned eyes.

“Would serve him right if she ends up having twins.”

I barked out a laugh that had the other two girls pulling apart and scowling at us. Cora moved out of striking distance as Ayden stalked over and punched me solidly in the gut. I grunted a little and caught her up in a tight hug as well.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to spill the beans.”

She just shook her head and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Probably better it came from your pretty face than from me anyway. I would have screwed it up.”

“You’ll be here when she needs you.”

She nodded her silky hair under my chin. “Always.”

“What are you doing here anyway? Why aren’t you at the Marked?” Ever the busybody, Cora would have to be the one to point out I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.

“My last appointment canceled, so I thought I would swing by and see what was going on.”

She snorted. “You thought you would swing by and get Salem all riled up. I don’t know what the two of you have going on, but it’s like watching two boxers circle each other in the ring. One of you is going to get knocked out by a sucker punch sooner or later.”

Ayden made a noise and pulled away from me. “A sucker punch called love. Rowdy likes her. Jet told me he hasn’t been with anyone else since Salem showed up, so we know it’s serious. You never keep it in your pants for very long.”

I fake-growled at her and stepped away from the girls. “Salem and I have history, is all. She used to matter a lot to me and now that she’s back we’re just trying to figure it out. The then and the now can be a little bit tricky.”

“Does she know you swore off ever getting serious about another girl because of her sister?”