by Toni Aleo
She gave a little wave as she said, “You, too.”
Something felt off. The hairs on Erik’s arms felt like they were standing on end, and the air was crackling around them. Piper wouldn’t look at him, which he didn’t understand. She always looked right into his eyes. He liked when she did that. This was the first time since their night together that he had even talked to her. The last time he saw her was four months ago, at Harper’s house. She only stayed for a little bit, though; she was sick, if he remembered correctly. He did remember wishing she hadn’t left. Even if he didn’t want to talk to her, he still wanted to look at her, and wished for the millionth time that he wasn’t so fucked-up.
“How are you?”
Piper smiled as she looked away from him again.
“Okay, you?”
“Fine. I’m surprised to see you, though.”
“Yeah, sorry again. I know it’s late.”
Erik shrugged his shoulders.
“Like I said, no big deal. So what’s up? Do you want to sit down?”
She shook her head. “No, thank you. I came over because we need to talk.”
Erik nodded. “Okay? About what?”
Piper looked up again, her eyes meeting his, and he saw how tired she looked. Her face was fuller than the last time he had seen her. She looked different but she was still the same gorgeous girl he had bared his soul to. That alone was dangerous and the sudden need to run rushed over him. He had never told a girl about his parents, only Phillip knew, but he told Piper while lying naked against her small, delicious body.
“We haven’t talked much since that night.”
Why was she bringing up that night? He might think of her and that night, but he didn’t want to talk about it.
“Nope, and I like it that way. Is that why you’re here? It’s been a while since then, Piper, and nothing has changed. We can’t be together. I’m sorry about that but that’s the way it is.”
“Actually, a lot has changed and we need to talk,” she jeered.
He was confused. What did she mean? Nothing was said for a moment, until finally he asked, “Like what?”
“I’m pregnant.”
Erik choked, “Yeah? That sucks.”
He watched as Piper’s shoulders dropped, her face flushed with anger. She took in a deep breath as she muttered the words that for some reason he knew she was going to say. “It’s yours.”
Erik paused. His body stiffened as a sudden coldness filled him completely. He felt dizzy and his body felt like it was tingling everywhere. What the hell was going on?! This was a joke, a cruel, funny joke. Erik let out a loud nervous laugh and with a shaky voice said, “Yeah, right. We haven’t been together since December.” Man, he was feeling like he might pass out.
Piper nodded. Erik then watched as she pulled her shirt tightly against her, revealing a bump in her middle, and Piper didn’t have one of those before. His eyes were wide as he looked down at her.
She rolled her shoulders back and said, “I know, I’m almost six months.”
Suddenly, Erik wasn’t sure he was breathing.
Chapter 3
“Pregnant?”
Piper nodded. Her heart was pounding, and she could feel her hands shaking against her growing belly. She looked at a wide-eyed Erik. “Yes.”
“You’ve been to the doctor? It’s a baby, right? Not like cancer?”
She blinked a few times. Was he serious?
“Yes, a baby, not cancer. Why the hell would you think that? I’m twenty-three weeks.”
“Twenty-three weeks,” he whispered as his eyes fell back to where her hands rested. “With my baby.”
Piper looked up at him again; she could see that he was freaking out. She had been doing the same thing since she had found out. She had no clue what she’d expected from this conversation, but it sure wasn’t going the way she had hoped it would.
“Yes,” she answered.
“Are you sure?”
Piper looked up at Erik incredulously. How dare he ask that?
“Yes, you’re the only one I’ve been with. For months and even longer than that.”
He stood there, his hands holding his waist so tight that she could see the white of his knuckles. Not that she was really paying attention to his knuckles, since he was only wearing boxers, for goodness sakes! Even with the severity of the situation, she couldn’t help the fact that her body still sung for him. It didn’t make sense and she hated herself for it. This man had dumped her, then had not even answered her calls or acknowledged her existence for the last six months. How dare he steal her heart and run. Then, he has the gall to question her about the paternity of their child?
Asshole!
“I’m not a liar, Erik. I may be a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them,” she said, her body heating with anger.
“I never said you were. Excuse me for being a little freaked-out right now; it’s a little much for me to take. I mean, you pop in here and say, ‘Hey I’m pregnant. Oh, and by the way, it’s yours.’ ”
“How do you think I feel? I’m freaked-out, too, but I’ve kept this quiet long enough. I’m starting to show. I’ve got decisions I need to make and I need to know if you want to be part of them.”
When she looked up, he was looking at where their child was growing. If he was to put his hand on her stomach, he would have been able to feel the baby move. Not that she was going to suggest that; she couldn’t even imagine him touching her right now, or ever again for that matter. She might be irritated, but there was no denying the sexual attraction she had for Erik Titov, even if he had broken her heart.
“I can’t believe this,” he muttered, running his hand through his hair. “Why did you wait so long to tell me?”
Piper held a finger up as she said, “I did try calling you, but you never called me back and I figured if you wanted to talk to me you’d call.”
“I’ve been busy. Leave me a message if it was that urgent! Also, I saw you like four months ago; you could have told me then.”
Piper said heatedly, “Oh, when I was puking my brains out? Yeah, I didn’t feel like talking.”
“There is no reason to be a bitch,” he deadpanned as he pinned her with a look.
“Oh, I’m sorry, let me be happy that I came here as you question the paternity of my child,” she said, crossing her arms.
This was going so bad. In a perfect world, Piper would have told him about the baby and Erik would have wrapped his arms around her, kissing the stuffing out of her, then ask her to marry him, and after this baby was born, they would have at least five more. It wasn’t as if she was truly expecting that, but she was expecting him to at least be a bit more compassionate. Nope, instead she gets Erik doubting if the baby is his.
Ass.
“Um, excuse me, but for six months you’ve kept the fact that you are pregnant with my alleged child! How do I know that you didn’t get knocked up by some other guy and now you are trying to pin it on me because that guy ran out on you?”
Oh, she was going to kill him. She was going to murder her child’s father.
“You jerk! I’m not like the whores you’ve been hanging with, claiming that they are pregnant just to get your money. I am a good person who made the biggest mistake of her life by going home with you. You would know that if you had given me the time of day. You ran out on me and left a prize behind!” she yelled, pointing to her stomach. “I don’t know how to handle this. I don’t know what to do. All I know is that I am pregnant. With your baby. And I thought maybe I should let you know. That you would want to know.”
Nothing was said for a few moments as they stood with their eyes locked on each other. Their chests were rising and falling in unison, as everything around them was silent. The only thing Piper could hear was her own heartbeat and Erik’s labored breaths.
“I don’t know what to say,” he finally said.
Piper shook her head. “Me, neither, but I thought I should tell you. I’ve already told t
hree people, and I thought it was time to tell the baby’s daddy. I’ve got to tell my whole family next; they need to know.”
He nodded. “So Audrey, Reese, and Harper know? Do they know I’m the father?”
One would think that she would have told her twin sister first, but Piper hadn’t. She didn’t want to hear the disappointment in Reese’s voice, or be scolded by her, either. She really hadn’t even wanted to tell Harper yet, but she needed to explain to her why she couldn’t be a surrogate for her and Jakob.
Piper shook her head. “No, Harper and Audrey don’t know it’s you; only Elli does.”
Erik’s head whipped up. “You told Elli?”
His voice had a little edge to it and his eyes seemed wider. Piper nodded as she said, “She was the first one I told.”
“Oh fuck,” he said, leaning over and bracing his hands on his legs. “You told my boss, before you told me?”
“Um, she is like my sister. I wasn’t thinking of you,” she shot back.
“Obviously, you haven’t thought of me at all. You didn’t give me any options in this. Nothing. You just did what you pleased and kept this from me. Are you crazy?”
Piper’s eyebrows shot up. How friggin’ dare he?
“Excuse me? I did try calling you, but some fucking ho always answered the phone. At least I finally came by and told you. I could have just kept it from you altogether. Maybe I should have.”
“If only! That would have made this so much better, but instead you go and tell my boss! I mean fuck, Piper. If you wanted to fuck me over, at least do it in private.”
Piper’s face was hot with anger and she was sure she was going to reach out and knock his head off.
“You made it very clear that you never wanted to see me or to fuck me again. I kind of understand you’re angry about my telling Elli, but get over it. She is only concerned about me, the baby, and how I am going to make it. She hasn’t even brought you up! Anyway, it really doesn’t matter who I’ve told. I’m not here to discuss that,” she said, shaking her head. Her anger was beginning to get the best of her. She was letting the fact that he hurt her and left her fuel this argument when really all she needed to know was what he wanted to do about all this. “I need to know if you are going to be involved. I know that we won’t be together, I get that, but I’m wondering if you’ll be in our child’s life. And I’m here to tell you now, I don’t care either way.”
Erik’s face scrunched up as he threw his hands in the air.
“Like I have a choice! We are family, our moms are best friends, and our dads play golf, Piper! My brother is married to your sister! The only way I could get out of this is if you don’t tell anyone that I’m the father. Oh, but wait, you told my boss, so I have no doubt that our whole family will know soon enough. You’ve fucked me all around. Not only is my family going to be livid with me, but this is going to affect my career!”
Piper felt like her blood was boiling under her skin. She was sure that at any moment her ears were going to explode with steam. Why the hell did she sleep with him? Why didn’t she make him use a condom so the only thing that could be left between them was a broken heart? No, she trusted her birth control and her drunken mind that it wasn’t that time of the month! God, she was a stupid freaking idiot! She was pregnant by the biggest jerk in the world!
She wanted to be outraged. She wanted to kick and scream at him, but instead she felt her eyes cloud with tears as her body felt like it was beginning to shut down. She had accepted that he didn’t want her. That was fine, but what was wrong with their baby?
Looking down at the ground, she whispered, “You want an out?”
“I don’t have that choice; you kept the baby, so I’m fucked.”
She looked up at him as a tear ran down her cheek. He looked away and she hated him for it. She wanted him to see the hurt he’d caused, to see how he basically destroyed her when he left. She wanted him to see how he was breaking her in two by rejecting not only her but their child, too, but instead he just looked away. Like the coward he was.
“Fuck you, Erik.”
She then turned and went out the front door, but before the door could shut, she heard him say, “You already have!”
Piper sobbed as she ran down the stairs and to her truck. Luckily, she made it out of the driveway before the tears came in full force. She felt like Erik had torn out what was left of her heart and then stomped on it. His rejection stung like a billion bees, and she knew it was because he wasn’t just rejecting her, but their baby, too.
She barely made it on the forty-five-minute drive to her home—well, Elli’s home—without stopping to sit by the side of the road to cry her eyes out. Now sitting in the driveway, her tears fell as she stared at the beautiful house and property. Piper had every intention of buying this from Elli. It would be the perfect place for her and the baby. She even thought it would be good for the three of them, but why she’d included him in her plans she’d never know. Piper now knew that he would never want to live with her, or even want to raise their child together. Erik had just made that perfectly clear.
What had she done to herself? Maybe she should have gotten an abortion, but that didn’t feel right. This was her baby, and it deserved a chance at life. Even if it was a life without a daddy. But that didn’t feel right, either. Maybe she should take Harper up on her suggestion and give the baby to her.
Piper was young. She still had a lot of living to do, and she wasn’t in a financially sound place to be able to raise a child. She didn’t have all her eggs in a row or even in a basket. She was alone, scared, and pregnant by a jerk. She could give the baby to Jakob and Harper and be a loving aunt like she was to Ally. But could she do that? Could she watch her sister raise her baby? A child that would look just like her and Erik?
Erik obviously didn’t want anything to do with them. She could get child support but she didn’t want a payout from him. She wanted him to be a father. What had she done? Not only had she brought heartache upon herself, but it was now upon her child, too. Because the day would come when the child would ask who their daddy was; Piper then would have to explain that Erik was their father and then try to explain why he didn’t want them.
Shaking her head, she placed her hands on her belly as she continued to cry, the tears landing on her swollen abdomen. Nothing was going as she had hoped. Not that life was ever easy, but this was one hell of a curveball. Piper had always thought she would be in a different place in her life right now. Since she changed careers every other month, her life was still evolving. But the one thing she never would have thought would have happened would be that she’d be single, alone, and pregnant. What was the point of being on birth control if it didn’t work?
What was her family going to think? Harper was pissed and disappointed in her and Reese would be, too. Her mom and dad would be beyond understanding.
She could hear her mom now: “Oh, Piper, why?”
But Piper wouldn’t have an answer for her. This pregnancy would just validate to her family that she was the family fuckup. The one that couldn’t stick with one thing, always changing her mind. Ah well, this was something she couldn’t change; this decision was a commitment for life, and she needed to make the right choice.
She had two options: either raise her baby and hope that at some point there would be a father figure in its life, or give the baby to Harper.
When the baby kicked, giving Piper butterflies, she decided that there was no way that she could give the baby to anyone. That was the easy way out and she had already quit on almost everything else in her life. She might be young and not financially stable but she was a loving person. This baby might not have been planned but this baby was a miracle. Her miracle. And if Erik didn’t want their miracle, fine.
One day their child would want to know him, and he could try to explain to them then how he had no desire to be a part of their life. Piper would be strong; she would love the baby for the both of them.
* * *
Erik sat on the couch with his elbows resting on his knees. Stanley, his English bulldog, sat between his legs, looking up at him as if he knew that Erik’s world was falling apart. Erik hadn’t moved from this spot since yesterday. Thank God, after Piper had dumped her bombshell on him Christina had promptly left in a huff, screaming at him for being the worst lay ever. Cami had left the following morning, giving him a weird look, obviously having heard of his lack-of-performance status, but he didn’t care. When Phillip left for his meeting with Elli, he asked if everything was okay, but all Erik could do was shake his head. He was still in shock. Something wasn’t clicking, something wasn’t registering. He was sure that what had happened with Piper was all a dream, but he could still smell her perfume.
Apple blossoms.
It was her favorite scent. He remembered watching her spray herself with some after they got out of the shower. He remembered running his nose along her collarbone, inhaling the soft fragrance. It had turned him on so much that he had picked her up and placed her on the sink before ripping her towel away to have his way with her. Was that when they conceived their child?
His child.
Shit. He never wanted children; he never wanted a wife or a baby momma. He was completely happy with the way he was living his life. That was why he cut it off with Piper. She was a forever type of girl, while he was a wanderer. He knew that if he stayed with her, he would end up like his father and that was not something he wanted. He didn’t want to be a drunk that hit his kid. He didn’t want to be so caught up in a girl that nothing mattered. He wanted to be Erik Titov. He liked who he was and didn’t want to change. At all. Even if there was a chance that he would be more like Cooper, his adoptive stepfather, he couldn’t take that chance.
God, what were Cooper and Alla going to think? They didn’t save him from hell so he could go out and fuck up his life. He should have known two years ago with only one glance that Piper Allen was going to be trouble. She was too beautiful, too sweet. She mesmerized him with those seductive blue eyes, a playful gap in her teeth, a banging body. And if she was holding a precious little baby in her arms? He should have ignored her from the start but he was completely ensnared by her. He needed to know her. Her likes, her dislikes, anything, he just wanted to know—fuck-shit-fuck! What the hell was wrong with him?