Blue Lines: The Assassins Series: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance (18 page)

“I hate cupcakes,” Phillip stated as he walked up to where Erik was standing.

Erik laughed. “They’re okay.”

Really, Erik didn’t care for the mini cakes but everyone in the store seemed to.

Glancing over at Piper from where he stood he saw she was looking over at him. Without
really thinking about it he chucked his chin at her. She smiled and he saw the little
gap between her teeth and for some fucking reason his heart kicked into high speed.

What the hell was wrong with him?

“Things are going well, I see,” Phillip said.

Erik rolled his eyes at Phillip.

“She got mad at me because I didn’t help her out of the car. I mean if I didn’t call
her after we have sex all night, then what made her think I’m gonna help her out of
the car?” Phillip laughed.

“This is true, but you did ask her to marry you, and also, she is carrying your kid.
You might need to help her out a little.”

“Yeah, I guess. I told her I would.”

“That’s good,” Phillip said with a slap on Erik’s shoulder. “Moving in the right direction.
Soon you’ll be wrapping your arms around her, telling her you love her.”

Erik grunted. “Cold day in hell.”

Phillip laughed as he said, “You never know.”

“No, I do know, and I have three months tops before I am out that door and I’ll have
to see her every other weekend when I get my kid.”

“Actually four, but ah, who’s counting right?” A small voice said from beside them.

Phillip’s eyes went wide as Erik looked over to confirm who had spoken: Piper. Erik
wanted to be anywhere but right there at the moment. He never meant for her to hear
that, and with one look, he knew that his stupid statement had hurt her feelings.

Fuck.

“How are you, Phillip?” Piper asked, ignoring him.

Phillip glanced up at Erik, giving him a sympathetic look, before looking back down
to Piper and saying, “Great, Piper. How are you?”

“Ah, pregnant, and tired. I was actually coming over to steal your best friend away
and ask him to take me home.”

Phillip smiled.

“He’s all yours.”

“This is true, but only for three more months, and then you can have him back,” she
said with a little sass in her voice.

She turned to look up at Erik with cold eyes and said, “I’ll be outside.”

Both men watched as she made her way to Audrey, probably to say goodbye. Phillip was
shaking his head with a stupid grin on his face.

“You’re stupid, dude.”

“Why is that?” Erik asked, taking a swig of his beer.

“Because that girl is not only smoking hot, but also real. You aren’t going to meet
another girl like her. She doesn’t deal with your shit, she is a nice person, and
even though you are a complete dick, she still has those girly feelings for you.”

Erik shook his head, wishing he could put his fingers in his ears and sing out,
lalalalalala
.

Knowing he couldn’t, he said, “She doesn’t have any feelings for me.”

“She has more feelings than you could ever fathom. Like right now, even though you
just cut her down to size, she is still looking over at you, longingly.”

Erik was about to protest that statement and prove Phillip wrong, but when he glanced
over at Piper, he found her watching him. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and
while her face and body said she was pissed, her eyes said something totally different,
that she was hurt. How did he not catch this before? He had ignored that she had real
feelings for him. Looking down at the ground, he muttered the only thing that was
on his mind: “What am I going to do?”

Phillip chuckled. “We all know what the old Erik would do, but maybe a new Erik is
in there?”

Erik rolled his eyes as he looked up at Phillip.

“What if he isn’t?”

“Then our sweet little Piper will be heartbroken. I think she knows that there is
a chance that will happen, but I also think she sees right through you like I do.”

“What does that mean?” he snapped. “What do you think you see?”

“I see a decent guy who is hiding behind this dick-ass attitude. You aren’t a dick,
you just act like one to keep people away, and I’m telling you, I don’t think she
is the one that you need to keep away from.”

Okay, Phillip was starting to piss him off.

“How do you know? When the hell did you become so fucking philosophical?”

Phillip laughed. “Whoa, buddy, this is coming from your friend, remember? No need
to be an ass. I’m just telling you the way I see it.”

“Well, maybe the way you see it is bullshit,” Erik snapped, before downing his beer.
“Maybe it isn’t, and that’s why it’s bothering you.”

Erik paused mid-swig and then slammed the bottle on the table, before wiping the corner
of his mouth.

“Yeah? Well, fuck you.”

With that he turned and started for the source of his problem. Then he heard Phillip
call out, “Nice talking to you, Erik. Love ya, buddy!”

He cringed as he finally met up with Piper at the door.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said simply as she turned and went out the door.

Erik followed behind her, pissed as hell because maybe Phillip was right and Erik
didn’t like that. Once the valet brought the car around they both got in.

As they reached the highway, he turned down the music and asked, “So why were you
mad?”

He felt her eyes on him as she said, “When? Before or after you made the comment about
leaving in three months?”

“We both know I’m leaving, so I don’t understand why that would make you mad.”

“It makes me mad because you seem happy about it. I’m sorry that I am so fucking terrible
to deal with, and that you hate your life because of me.”

She was fucking crazy!

“Did I say that? No, all I said was that I would be gone in three months. Stop jumping
to conclusions.”

“So you are happy?”

“Fuck no, I want my life back!”

Looking over at her, he found her crossing her arms across her chest with a huff.

“Just like I said,” she muttered, and he wanted to kick himself in the balls.

He hated to hurt her, he didn’t want that, but he couldn’t seem to think around her.
She jumbled his mind and things just flew out of his mouth without much thought. He
knew that was the wrong thing to say, it wasn’t nice and also not the entire truth,
but that was him trying to push her away. That was the way he was programmed. He pushed
people away, and maybe that was a good thing. He would never be that man for her,
so why tell her what he was really thinking or feeling when he could mask it with
what he had been telling females his whole adult life?

When she didn’t say anything else, he turned the music back up and wanted to scream
in frustration at how fucked-up his feelings were. He wanted to wrap her up in his
arms and apologize for being a douche, while the other part of him wanted to keep
saying mean things just to keep her away. What was wrong with him? Was he mentally
fucked-up?

“What’s the shit about you loving me?” he found himself asking once they got close
to Sweetbriar.

“Excuse me?”

“I heard Audrey say it. Is it true?”

Piper laughed and shook her head.

“Like I would ever admit that or deny it. I’m done talking to you, Erik. Completely
and utterly done with you. We are going to get through the next few months and that’s
it if for no other reason than I stand by my word.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Don’t. I don’t give a shit.”

“Piper,” he said softly, “stop. We can be adults about this.”

“What’s there to be adults about, Erik? You don’t want to be with me. You don’t want
to have this baby, and you for sure don’t love me, so what else is there? We are just
two people living in a house together, putting on a show for the world. The end is
near, don’t worry, then you can go on with your amazing life with a different girl
every night of the week, but until then,
keep your dick in your pants and keep the hell away from me.”

He was dumbfounded. How the fuck did she get so mad?

“You are being childish.”

“Childish would be me smacking you upside your head and telling you to fuck off. Instead,
I did not hit you, though I more or less told you to fuck off.”

Erik couldn’t believe what had just happened, but then again, this could be a good
thing. Maybe this would soften the blow for her in the end.

However, something wasn’t sitting right. What the hell did she mean she didn’t want
to talk to him? That was ludicrous given their situation!

“Can we still talk about upcoming events?” he found himself asking.

She let out a groan as if it pained her to say, “What do we need to talk about, Erik?”

“I have the NHL awards next week. We have to leave Monday for Las Vegas.”

“And why would I have to go?”

She didn’t, really, but Koey thought it would be good for Erik’s image. And now Erik
just wanted her there. Her anger made him uncomfortable and if they were apart for
a week it would make it even harder to make amends. And again, why he wanted to fix
them was beyond him.

“Because all the wives go, plus Elli is going to be there.”

“Fine.”

Fine? That was it? That’s all she was going to say? She drove him insane!

“I’m so glad you are excited about this,” he muttered.

“Oh, I am excited,” she said turning to him with a condescending smile, “about the
slots, of course.”

Yup, Erik was fucked.

It was a beautiful hot summer day, and Piper had been out working in the yard all
morning. Even though they were supposed to be flying out that afternoon for the NHL
awards, she decided that she needed to get rid of some of the frustration that was
building up inside her. With all that had been going on the last weeks she had been
neglecting her yard. Slamming the shovel into the ground to break up the dirt was
awesome, and it also helped her relieve the tension and the ongoing obsession she
was developing to gouge out Erik’s eyeballs.

God, she was so mad at him.

She had been so naïve, so stupid, thinking that maybe he was starting to care, when
the evidence to the contrary was right there. He was counting the days until he was
out the door. Nothing between them was real except for their child. She was livid
with him, and with herself, because a small part of her still thought maybe he would
change. Maybe when he saw the baby during the ultrasound or when he held it for the
first time, he would realize that this was the life he wanted.

Sometimes he made her feel like she was nothing, like when he made that comment to
Phillip about leaving, and when he yelled about wanting his life back. But then sometimes
when he would look into her eyes she felt like she was the only person in his world.
He confused the living shit out of her and she just wished he would do what he truly
felt, and stop hiding behind those walls he’d built to protect himself. God, it was
so frustrating because she could see his potential. He could be a great guy, but instead
he chose to be this insensitive jerk!

Ahh! How was she going to make it without killing him?

Piper was elbow-deep in dirt, slamming her shovel into the soil when her phone rang.
It was Reese, and since Piper hadn’t talked to her in a couple of days, she hurried
to get the phone out of her pocket.

“Hello?”

“Hey, what are you up to?” Reese asked.

“I’m working in the yard; what are you doing?” Piper asked, falling back onto her
haunches before wiping the sweat off her forehead.

Reese let out a long breath. “Did you forget about me?”

Piper paused as she thought really hard. Did she forget what? “Huh?”

“Are you not coming to the studio today to help me out?”

Shit! Reese was about to get really mad at her and that wasn’t good; with all that
had been going on things seemed to be a bit strained between them.

“Shit, Ree. I totally forgot, I’m sorry. What time do you need me?”

“Eleven to three.” She sounded annoyed.

Piper pulled her phone from her ear to check the time, and saw that she had to leave
in the next twenty minutes. Ugh, with her plane leaving at five that would give her
no time to pack.

“Shit balls, okay, I might be a tad bit late, I’m leaving for the NHL awards at five
today and I haven’t packed, so I’m gonna take a quick shower, throw a few things in
a bag, and then I’ll be there.”

“Whatever,” Reese said with a snappy little attitude.

“Whoa, I don’t have to come at all, thank you. I’m sorry that I have a lot on my mind.”

Reese let out another annoyed breath and said, “I know you do, and it pisses me off
that I’m at the bottom of your priorities. You are the only one who can help me with
this. I depend on you.”

“Okay, and I’ll be there; I can learn the dance in an hour before the girls get there,
relax.”

“All right, see you soon.”

“Bye,” Piper said as she tried to hop up.

Hopping didn’t work very well at this stage of her pregnancy, so she stood up slowly.
She really didn’t know how she was going to help Reese with choreography when she
couldn’t even get up off her knees. With a shake of her head, she headed inside to
be greeted by Stanley. He barked happily at her as she moved past him, giving him
a little love before going to the kitchen to wash her hands. As always, Erik was engrossed
in his game and paid no attention to her as she moved around him collecting the things
she would need. Going into her room, she packed up a few dresses, some matching heels,
and a few casual clothes, too. They would be there for a few days and she was just
as excited about this trip as she would at being scheduled for a barium enema.

She did not want to play nice with Erik; it was too painful knowing it was all a façade.
She’d rather just stay at home and go on as they had been for the last few days. He
would play
his game, while she would work or read. When she would cook dinner, he’d fill his
plate and would go into the living room to eat and play his stupid games. It was manageable;
not what she wanted but it had only been a few nights that she had cried herself to
sleep. It was all just so hard because she didn’t want it to be like this. She wanted
them to get along.