with my skirt,” Carolina lied. “And he was there, but then it got stuck on my shirt and the bathroom was right there and…”
So Carolina was bad at lying.
Good to know.
Connor looked at her with disgust.
“Who are you?” Connor asked me.
He knew who I was, just as I knew who he was.
Now that I could see his face, I knew exactly which brother he was.
“Saint Nicholson,” Carolina said. “And he works with you, so you probably know who he is. Don’t be a dick.”
Connor’s mouth twitched as if his words amused himself.
“You’re really named Saint Nicholson?” the other man that had likely gone into the bathroom with him earlier asked.
He was another baby cop like Connor.
They must’ve met in the academy or something.
They were both dressed alike, and both looking at me with not a small amount of hostility.
Carolina’s hand found mine and the cop next to Connor narrowed his eyes.
I couldn’t stop myself from squeezing her hand and pulling her into me.
My arm went around her shoulder and Connor’s eyes narrowed right along with his friend’s.
“Colby,” Carolina said. “Why would I introduce you to him as ‘Saint Nicholson’ if that wasn’t really his name?”
Carolina’s words had my mouth tipping up at the edges in a smile.
The door behind us opened and a waft of noxious air followed Louis out.
“Yo, Colby Wolby,” Louis said as he pushed past them, all but shouldering Colby bodily out of the way and putting distance between Colby and me. “Let’s go, you two. We’re about to do the white elephant game.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” she asked, tugging lightly on my hand.
It was in that moment that I realized I’d been kidding myself.
I couldn’t make the decision for Carolina. I had to tell her everything and let her decide for herself.
Which was why I tightened my grip on her hand and said, “If you’ll follow me after the way I’ve treated you the last couple of days.”
She smiled at me softly. “You will tell me everything after we get home tonight.”
The thought of going home or anywhere with her sounded like my idea of heaven.
“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t really know what a white elephant exchange is, and the entire team and their wives make me really uncomfortable.”
Carolina rolled her eyes. “They’re a lot to get used to. But they’re lovable, and the greatest group to have at your back when you need it. Let’s go.”
The SWAT team had decided to do a white elephant exchange at the Christmas party, and honestly, I couldn’t say that I was all that excited about it.
I did, however, buy a present.
It was supposed to be funny, and I’d had to rely on Amazon telling me it was funny to really know if it was funny or not.
When we arrived at where the SWAT team had gathered, I pulled Carolina down with me into a seat that was, sadly, right next to Louis and his wife, Calloway.
Carolina immediately leaned over and started to talk to Calloway, which reminded me that the lot of them had all been known as the first-generation SWAT kids.
Rowen, Derek, Ares, Louis, Calloway, Booth, Bourne, Samuel Adams, Sierra and Carolina had all been children of the original Kilgore Police Department SWAT team—Luke, Downy, Nico, Bennett, Miller, Foster, and Michael.
Sometimes, when I was around the kids, or hell, even the adults, I felt like I was on the outside looking in.
The other men on the team generally seemed to just understand each other better. Louis, Derek, Booth, Bourne, and Samuel could practically talk to each other through telepathy.
“Carolina!” Ares called out, clapping her hands. Then her eyes widened into what resembled saucers. “Are you two together?”
Her eyes bounced from me to Carolina and back again.
Carolina looked at me, almost as if she was unsure what to say.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s been brewing for a while. Yes, we’re together.”
Ares squealed and clapped her hands.
“Now, if you just get pregnant like me, we’ll have our babies at the same time, and we’ll raise them to be best friends like we all talked about.” Ares fist pumped the air.
Louis groaned. “Y’all are such fuckin’ weirdos. You, Sierra, Calloway, and Carolina always used to talk about having babies together. It was annoying as fuck then, and it’s annoying as fuck now.”
Calloway pinched her man on the arm.
“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Calloway drawled. “But isn’t everyone here pregnant, has a newborn already, or in a seriously committed relationship? That’s how you get babies at the