by Toni Aleo
“Oh, Mom, come on. It isn’t about that. It’s just that I freaked, and didn’t want any of it. I went on a—excuse my language—a screwing spree and it always came back to her. I missed her, I guess, in a way, I don’t know, but my mind always went to her, and now that I’ve convinced her to stay with me and marry me, I don’t want to be anywhere else.” God, I said that too easily for it to be a total lie.
Jakob started to laugh and Erik glared over at him. “That,” Jakob declared, “is the biggest crock of shit I’ve ever heard. What the hell is going on? Give it to us straight so we can help you. Is she bribing you?”
“Jake, that’s your sister-in-law!” Alla shrieked.
“And he is my brother. I don’t think Piper would do that, she is a good girl, but Erik isn’t going to give up all the females in the world for one. He isn’t that guy; we all know this and have accepted it.”
“She’s worth it.”
Erik looked down at the ground and rolled his shoulders as everyone’s gaze fell on him. Any other time, he would have given it to Jakob straight, told him the truth, but Erik knew that once he did, Jakob would rush to Harper, who would go to Elli, and everything would blow out of control. The only way to keep the peace was to lie, but the line that came out of his mouth wasn’t really a lie. Piper was the one girl he would give everything up for if he wanted to do that, but he didn’t. In just a couple of months things would calm down and Elli would get off his back. Then he could go back to his life, because there was no way he wanted to live as a one-woman man for the rest of his days.
Not even for Piper. He was too messed up for that.
“Erik, are you sure? We’ll help you any way we can,” Cooper stressed.
Erik nodded as he smiled.
“Everything is fine. It’s new and maybe I wasn’t ready to settle down before, but I am now. We are going to be fine; we are going to raise our child and we are going to be happy. If it doesn’t work out, at least we tried, and I know that we’ll always be friends.”
Alla shook her head before saying, “Oh, Erik, I’m so proud of you right now.”
She then wrapped Erik up in her arms and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek.
Guilt washed over Erik as he held Alla. He was a dirty, despicable man for lying to the three people who loved him unconditionally, but before he could even think of telling them the truth, Alla said, “Well, thank God we are moving here, huh, Cooper?”
“You are moving here?” Erik asked.
“Yup, Cooper is retiring and of course we wanted to be close to you boys and Ally. We were going to tell everyone inside but I’m not even sure I am welcomed in this house,” Alla said. “I can tell that the Allens are not very happy with you, but that will all change in time. They’ll love you just as much as we do.”
Cooper nodded as Jakob stood shaking his head. Jakob saw right through Erik, and that made him nervous, but he had bigger things to worry about. Alla and Cooper were moving to Nashville. Fuck, now more than ever, Erik needed this to work. He also needed to keep clear of Jakob because Erik couldn’t risk Elli ever finding out the truth.
Bottom line: He owed it to Alla and Cooper to at least try, but most of all, he owed it to the kid. It wasn’t the kid’s fault he came into all this, or that Erik was fucked in every way imaginable in the parenting department. No, the kid was an innocent little person who was going to have a great mom, two great sets of grandparents, and a bundle of aunts and uncles, but what kind of dad would Erik be?
He wanted to laugh, because he had thought this was all going to be so fucking easy.
What a bunch of bull hockey.
Chapter 7
“Why’d you tell everyone that you knew about the baby for the last six months?”
Piper was looking out the car window as the question left her lips. She watched as the bright green trees passed by quickly. Erik was driving at his normal speed, which was bat-out-of-hell fast. It didn’t bother her, though; she was too busy replaying the whole dinner with her family. It had gone as disastrously as expected and then some. Her father didn’t say two words to her, while her mother gave her a look of extreme disappointment the whole time.
At twenty-six Piper thought her life would have been more stable, in her job and in her relationship, but things weren’t horrible. The illustrating was coming along nicely and she was going to be the best mom she could be. The relationship would either work or not, and she was going to do everything she could to make it last. Everyone needed to get over it; people younger than her had babies and got married every day. Hell, Piper’s mother was nineteen when she had Harper. Why the double standard for her daughter?
Maybe it was Erik. No one talked to him after their announcement. But then again, no one really talked at all except for Alla and Erik; they had a wonderful conversation while everyone else just sat and ate. Alla was completely fine with their marriage and the pregnancy. She was asking questions and wanted to know everything. Piper played her part well but enjoyed discussing the little things, like when she was due, and what she was hoping to have, a boy or girl. It bothered her that her mother and sisters didn’t ask her about the baby at all. They should have been the ones asking, but they weren’t.
Even with all that happened tonight, all Piper really cared about was why Erik had lied. He had no reason to lie, so why did he cover up for her? When she glanced over at him, he was looking straight ahead, his fingers dancing on the wheel as he drove. He had unbuttoned the first couple of buttons to his green shirt, and she could see a little of the tattoo that stretched from his shoulder across his chest. She wished she could see the whole thing, but soon she was distracted by him shrugging his shoulders and clearing his throat.
“Why does it matter?”
“Because I want to know.”
He glanced over at her and then back at the road as he let out a long breath.
“When this is all said and done, I want everyone to hate me. Not you. You’ve helped me out tremendously, even after I put you through hell, and when this is over, it isn’t going to be easy. People are going to take sides and I’m okay with everyone hating me.”
Her eyes widened at his answer. She found herself kind of speechless. Erik was hard to read so she never expected that answer and that was probably the sweetest thing he could have said, in a fucked-up sort of way. Before she could say anything, even though she had no clue what she was going to say, her phone rang. By the “Party in the USA” ringtone, she knew it was Audrey, and that meant Audrey was back in town.
“Hello, Ms. Parker!” Piper cooed.
“Blah, I hate that name. I want to be Mrs. Oooooder so bad!” Audrey whined, causing Piper to laugh out loud. “But hey! Don’t distract me! How dare you email me that you are pregnant and then not answer the hundred emails I sent you back!”
“I figured we’d talk when you got home. You were supposed to be enjoying your trip!”
“Oh, I did. I was with Tate, for goodness sakes!” she said with a girly giggle. “But I still worried about you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Obviously! Pregnant? Sheesh! You have some questions to answer, lady! But you know what, I know this is a selfish thought, but after I got over the bomb of your pregnancy, I was like, ‘Well shit, all three of us will be pregnant at my wedding!’ ”
Piper laughed along with her because she had thought the same thing. Audrey and her older sister, Fallon, were only weeks apart in their pregnancies, while Piper was actually ahead of Audrey by three weeks. By August they would all need the waistbands let out on their dresses.
“Yup, we’ll be big and beautiful in the pictures!”
Audrey laughed, but then she paused.
“Wait, Fallon and I will be but you’ll be barely showing at four months, not big at all.”
“Actually,” Piper said, clearing her throat, “I’ll be thirty-five weeks.”
There was complete silence on the other end of the line. Then Piper could hear Tate asking Audrey what wa
s wrong, but she didn’t answer him. “I’m sorry, what?” Audrey asked.
“I’ll be almost nine months. I’m due the twenty-first of September.”
More silence, and then suddenly Audrey screeched, “You’ve been pregnant since before me and I’m just now hearing about it?”
Piper giggled nervously. “Audrey, I don’t know if you remember but you were in the hospital, and then in physical therapy and then you went to Sweden! You’ve been a little busy!”
Piper hated that it had taken her so long to tell her best friend, but like she said, Audrey had been through a lot. After getting beaten up by her ex-boyfriend, Audrey spent a long time in the hospital in a medically induced coma, and after that she went through rounds and rounds of therapy. Piper didn’t feel that her drama and news were that important; Audrey getting well mattered a whole lot more.
“I can’t believe it. Who in the world—OH MY GOD!” Audrey paused and Piper knew that she knew. “Piper, who is the daddy?”
“My husband?” Piper asked sheepishly.
“Your what?!?!”
Erik grunted beside her, and Piper couldn’t help but shoot him a dirty look. His best friend knew what was going on; she was going to have to lie to hers.
“Yeah, a lot has happened.”
“Oh my God, for real! You’re married? This is insane, but what’s more insane is that I’m pretty sure, your husband is the same guy who blew you off after one night with him. This I’m guessing primarily by the process of elimination, since you’ve not dated anyone else. Please tell me I’m wrong.”
Piper didn’t say anything. She sat wondering how this was going to go. Tate and Erik were great friends, and Audrey liked him in a way, but hated him in another since she was a loyal friend to Piper. Now though, what would she think?
“Um, hello?”
“I can’t tell you you’re wrong,” Piper said softly. “I married Erik.”
“Oh my goodness! Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“I am speechless.”
Piper laughed. “It’s no big deal.”
“Um, yeah, it is, but craptastic. I gotta go, I just pulled up at the cupcakery and already I see something wrong. I’ll see you tomorrow, right? At the party? With Erik?”
Piper answered, “Yeah, we’ll be there.”
“Awesome, but know, Mrs. Titov, you have a lot of explaining to do!”
Piper laughed nervously. She wasn’t the best liar and it scared her that Audrey might see right through her.
“Yeah, I guess I do.”
They said bye and Piper hit end before tucking her phone back into her purse. She leaned back against the cool leather seats of Erik’s expensive car and took in a shallow breath. This was going to be hard. She didn’t like all this lying. She had always thought of herself as a very up-front and honest person. Then Erik comes into her life and she is hiding her pregnancy from everyone and now lying about being happily married. She had no problem saying she loved him, because she did, but there was no way she was happy.
How could she be happy when the person she loved was counting the seconds until this marriage was over?
The car ride home was quiet, and Piper was glad when she saw their turn for Sweetbriar. The little town that Elli had lived in most of her adult life was now Piper’s haven. Turning off the main road and onto the back road that would take them to Piper’s home, she leaned against the window and closed her eyes. It had been a tough day, and all she wanted to do was go to bed. She wished that when she woke up in the morning all this would have been just a bad dream but she knew it wouldn’t be. Tomorrow, Erik would probably be playing his video games all day and would completely ignore her until it was time to go to the grand opening of Audrey’s cupcakery.
Erik pulled into the driveway behind her tattered truck and shut off the car as she got out. She couldn’t get out of the car fast enough; Erik was an overwhelming presence. Shaking her head, she made her way up the sidewalk to Elli’s cute little house. She loved the bright yellow shutters against the dark brick and the porch was spectacular. It was so big, and held the custom-made beach chairs her neighbor had made for her as a housewarming gift.
This was now her home, and she couldn’t wait to bring the baby home.
Resting her hand on her tummy, Piper opened the front door and almost lost her balance when Stanley came barreling out into the yard. The dog turned out to be the best thing about Erik moving in with her. Stanley was a great dog and she loved having a pet, even if it would only be for a short time. She laid her purse on the counter in the kitchen and got herself a drink of water as Erik entered the house.
Piper watched as he took off his shirt and threw it down on the back of the couch. His body was covered with tattoos, something that Piper loved on men. His back was covered with a large red heart with black wings that covered his shoulder blades, making their way around to his chest. He also had a bunch of intricate images of skulls and tribal art that ran along his arms. The ink on his arms stopped right where his shirt sleeves would end, and along one arm he had an interesting tattoo that she was sure meant more than she realized: Nothing lasts forever.
Those words should have been warning signs when Piper first saw them, in bed with him that night, but they weren’t. She was too busy running her mouth along the two large black stars that sat on his pelvic bones. His thighs were inked to look as if the flesh was being torn away, giving the impression that he was a cyborg beneath his skin. They were all pretty badass, in Piper’s opinion.
When Erik dropped into his chair and began gaming, Piper headed to her bedroom. If she didn’t, she knew she’d stay in the kitchen watching his every move. Closing the door she began changing for bed, grabbing her favorite shirt an old tattered black tee that read, “Buffalo High Bull Dogs.” Sliding it over her head, she wondered if that was the reason that Erik loved bulldogs, since her old favorite shirt was originally his. Although the shirt was getting a little tight around her midsection, it wasn’t uncomfortable. Whatever; she would wear his shirt until she couldn’t, which she hoped was never. This shirt and their baby were the only things she had left to keep from that night.
Oh, and her broken heart.
Lying on her back, she lifted the shirt back over her belly and ran her fingers softly over her extended flesh. It blew her mind how much she had started showing within the last couple of days. It was as if the baby were saying, “Hey! I’m here!” She wondered what she was having: Was it a girl with gorgeous dark eyes and dark hair? Or a little boy with dark hair and light eyes like hers? Would Erik’s features win in the genetic pool, or would hers? In a way, Piper really didn’t care; she just wanted the baby to be healthy. When she felt the slight kick along her ribs, her eyes pooled with tears.
She wanted to be the best mother in the world, but would she fail at that, too? When the next kick came, she knew she was about to have a long, unbearable night of tears. She hated when she did this to herself, but lately her self-esteem had taken a turn for the worse. She was always second-guessing herself about being a good mother. Financially she wasn’t struggling by any means, but she didn’t have that extra cushion. And being a single parent would ultimately be a challenge since she knew deep down that Erik would take off faster than he had come in, and then she would be raising a child all by herself with minimal help from him, if any at all.
Rolling over, she wrapped her arms around her belly, pulling her knees up as far as she could get them, as the tears began to fall. Closing her wet eyes, she wondered when the pain would stop. Would it be when he finally was gone for good?
Or would she always have this ache in her chest for Erik Titov?
* * *
Erik watched as Piper closed the door behind her, then heard the click of the lock, and it was only then that he let out the breath he was holding. She made his skin prickle with awareness and it bothered him that he was so affected by her. It was torture wrapping his arms around her at Jakob and Harper’s house as the
y played their roles, trying to convince their families of their undying love for each other. The strangest thing was, he swore every time he looked into her eyes that he wanted her, and that was driving him mad. Piper had that “kiss me” kind of smile and he had to fight everything inside himself not to. He’d have to be careful while playing this charade, to limit himself to kissing only her cheeks and forehead, despite the fact that his body yearned to make a detour to devour her mouth.
God help him when he would actually have to kiss her!
His body shook with the anticipation of their mouths meeting, while his brain chastised him for stupidly getting himself into this mess in the first place. How in the world did he think this was going to work? She was hurting; that was easy to see. She hated lying to her family and friends, and so did he, but he couldn’t risk his career. He was going to have to deal, and if he couldn’t, he might as well start packing.
The whole ride home, listening to her breathy laugh on the phone made Erik feel as if he were in a sanctuary of hell. He wanted to pull the car over to the side of the road, drag her onto his lap, and bury himself deep within her. His body wanted her, there was no denying that. When Piper got up from the dinner table to use the bathroom, he found himself watching her as she walked down the hall, those short shorts she had on riding up her butt, allowing a glimpse of her red and black bow tattoos.
It was like she was mind-fucking him with her exquisite body.
But Piper was completely and utterly off-limits. Even if she was so fucking vivacious that she made his dick harder than a frozen puck, he had to stay away. He couldn’t hurt her any more than he already had. If he gave in to his desires for her, there was no telling what would happen. He knew it wasn’t in his genetic makeup to be a one-woman man and he wouldn’t put her through that. He couldn’t.
Leaning forward into his game chair, he dropped the controller and let his face fall into his open hands. He sat like that for a long time as he tried to regulate his breathing. Any other female, he could fuck them and leave them, no problem at all. But ever since he sank himself into Piper’s body, a day hadn’t gone by where he didn’t think of her. It scared him to his core, and it made no sense.