Page 70 of Pretend
“I guess we could add penalty fees,” Eric said with a heartfelt sigh that had her narrowing her eyes on him as she climbed off the bureau and-
“Wait!” Morgan said when she suddenly found herself thrown over his shoulder. “You didn’t give me a chance to run!”
“Now, about those penalty fees…”
EPILOGUE
Present Day
“I’m not eating that until I see the money,” came the magical words that had Eric slowly backing up and pushing his six-year-old sons’ bedroom door open to find his three youngest sons standing around a bowl of what he was really hoping was dirt.
“What are you doing?” Eric asked as he watched the twins share a look seconds before Joshua stepped in front of the large mixing bowl so that Mason could shove it under his bed and-
This was just fucking sad, Eric thought as his gaze shifted down to find Jacob trying to crawl through his legs and make his escape. Sighing heavily, Eric reached down and grabbed his ten-year-old son by the back of his pants and picked him up as he shifted his attention back to the twins to find them sitting on the bottom bunk, doing their best to look innocent.
“What did we talk about?” Eric asked as he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he wondered, not for the first time, where he went wrong.
“To get the money upfront,” Jacob said, making his lips twitch as he dropped his hand away.
“Do I want to know what’s in the bowl?” Eric asked as he watched Joshua struggle to bite back a wince and failed miserably while Mason went for a hopeful smile.
“Probably not,” Jacob said with a heartfelt sigh as Eric tossed him over his shoulder.
“Where’s your brother?” Eric asked, moving to step back into the hallway to see if Nicholas was in his room when he saw it, the devious look in the twins’ eyes.
“Please tell me that you didn’t do what I think you did,” Eric said, sighing heavily as he turned around, not bothering to wait for an answer, knowing that it was pointless.
“He should have run faster,” Jacob said with a heartfelt sigh against his back.
“Is there a reason why you felt the need to gang up on your brother?” Eric asked, slowly exhaling as he considered his options.
“He knows why,” Jacob mumbled as Eric glanced from one end of the long hallway to the other and-
“Tell me that you didn’t do what I think you did,” Eric said, already heading downstairs, careful of the furry little bastard that had it out for him asleep on the stairs. Carefully stepping over the cat that Morgan had affectionately named Demon, Eric made his way down the grand staircase that had taken him a month to meet his wife’s exacting standards and into the large foyer.
“I would, but you told me that lying was wrong, Daddy,” Jacob said, making his lips twitch.
“I also told you that tying your big brother up was wrong, but that doesn’t seem to stop you,” Eric said as he made his way to the den that he’d turned into an office for Morgan when she was pregnant with Noah.
“Because it’s fun,” Jacob pointed out with a heartfelt sigh that had Eric’s lips twitching as he walked into the office to find Morgan working quietly at the desk that his cousin Devin built for her last year.
When she saw him, Morgan sent him a questioning look as she pushed her glasses back up her nose, only to sigh when she spotted Jacob hanging over his shoulder. With a grumble, Morgan pushed her chair back and headed for the bookshelf next to her while Eric stood there, running his eyes over his beautiful wife, taking in the light green dress that had him licking his lips, noting the way that it accentuated every generous curve and-
“Why?” Morgan asked, sighing heavily as she drew his attention to find her standing in front of the closet that he’d turned into a secret hideaway for her years ago to give her an advantage when she was playing hide and seek with the boys to find his two oldest sons standing there, tied up with what looked like balled-up gym socks shoved in their mouths. When they saw him standing there, they gave up trying to wiggle their way out of the closet and leveled a glare on their little brother.
“Was there a reason why you felt the need to tie up Noah, too?” Eric asked as he placed his son down on the floor.
“He got in the way,” Jacob said with a firm nod that had Noah’s eyes narrowing on him as he stood there, waiting for his mother to finish untying him, and once she did…
Jacob cleared his throat, nodded slowly with a mumbled, “Fair enough,” and turned around before he made a run for it. That was followed by Noah ripping the sock out of his mouth and going after his little brother while Nicholas waited his turn and once he was free…
“Put the superglue down!” Morgan said, forced to jump on their fifteen-year-old son’s back.
That was followed by a grumble, a muttered, “Fine!” and Nicholas tossing the tube of superglue back on her desk and-
“No stapler either,” Eric said, sighing as he reached over and plucked the stapler out of his son’s hands.
“Fine,” Nicholas said, slowly exhaling as he waited for his mother to climb off his back and once she did, he muttered, “I’ll use my hands.”
