Blue Lines: The Assassins Series: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance (38 page)

“I miss him,” Piper whispered. “But I can’t keep on the way we were. Me giving everything
I can, while he just gave me pieces here and there. If I would have known what to
do to convince him I would be here for him always, I would have. He is the most amazing
man when he wants to be, but then he shields himself and doesn’t let me in. It hurts
me and I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

“I know honey,” Alla said, taking her into her arms and holding her tight. “I know.”

* * *

“So you’ll be fine for the wedding, right?”

Piper nodded even though Audrey couldn’t see her. She had been making some beef and
broccoli for dinner when Audrey called. With the phone cradled between her face and
shoulder she started preparing the sauce. “Yes, I’ll be fine. I promise. I’m doing
great.”

“Oh, well that’s good. I’ve been worried.”

“Nothing to worry about, I just ate something bad,” Piper said as she transferred
some broccoli to a hot pot of water. “I’ll be okay.”

“Okay, so I’ll see you guys at two on Saturday?” Audrey asked, and Piper could hear
the worry in her voice.

“Yup, I’m so excited!” Piper gushed, hoping to reassure Audrey with her enthusiasm.
She didn’t want her worrying about her; the wedding was days away.

“Me, too,” Audrey squealed.

After saying goodbye to Audrey, Piper laid the phone on the counter. She could feel
her tears wanting to fall but she couldn’t allow them. She had shed enough tears for
Erik Titov and she refused to let any more fall. Pouring some rice into the pot, she
leaned against the counter, playing on her phone as she waited for her food to cook.
She was in the middle of checking her Facebook page when Elli’s picture came across
her phone.

Piper bit her lip as she tried to figure out if she should answer it. By the third
ring, she decided she would. “Hello?”

“Hey, is Erik there?”

Piper paused. “No, he isn’t.”

“Crap, okay, he isn’t answering his phone. I need him to go check on Phillip for me,”
Elli said quickly, and Piper could tell that something was wrong.

“What’s wrong with Phillip?” Piper asked.

“His sister died. He says he’s fine but that was his sister, you know?”

Piper was shocked. She didn’t even know she had been sick. “Oh my goodness, that’s
horrible. You can’t get ahold of Erik?”

“No, can you try? Do you know when he’ll be home?”

Piper bit her lip. Had he not told anyone that they weren’t together? Apparently only
Alla and Cooper knew. Why hadn’t he told anyone? Confused and not knowing what to
do, Piper said, “Um, I’m not sure. I’m pretty sure he is with Phillip, but I’ll call
and make sure.”

“Great, let me know what happens; thank so much,” Elli said as a baby started to screech.
“Owen is angry about something. Call me back when you hear anything.”

After they hung up, Piper knew she had to call Erik and tell him to check up on Phillip,
but for some reason she dialed another number.

“Hello?”

Piper’s heart softened at the sound of his voice. “Phillip, it’s Piper. How are you?”

“Hey, I’m okay, you?” he asked.

“I’m good. I was calling to check up on you.”

“Elli called you?” he asked with suspicion in his voice.

She smiled. “Yeah.”

“I’m fine, I promise,” he said, but even Piper could tell he was lying. With a heavy
heart, she tried to think of something else to say but she had never had anyone die
that was close to her. She didn’t know what to say other than that she was sorry,
but she was sure he had heard that plenty already. As the timer for her rice went
off, an idea struck her.

“Will you be home in the next couple of hours?” she found herself asking.

“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere tonight.”

“Can I come over? I was going to bring you some dinner, maybe some cake, too, if I
don’t eat it all.”

Phillip laughed, sounding a bit like his old self. “Sure, that would be great.”

“Great. I’ll be over in a bit.”

“Cool. Thanks, Piper.”

“No problem, but”—she took in a deep breath, then resumed—“is he there?”

Phillip was quiet for a moment. “Nope.”

“Cool. See you soon.”

Piper’s heart raced as she hung up the phone and looked around the room. She might
have acted calm when she was on the phone but she wasn’t at all. Erik might not be
there now but she knew there was a chance he would show up while she was there. She
wasn’t surprised when Alla told her that he had gone back to live with Phillip. That
was his best friend and where else would he have gone? He could have stayed with his
parents or even gotten his own place like a regular grown man, but he hadn’t; instead
he chose to go back to the life he had before Piper. It hurt and did nothing but make
her think that he really didn’t want their life together. She could still see him
grinning at her, holding her in his arms as his lips brushed over hers. She still
believed that he cared, that he even loved her, but his choices made it so hard to
keep believing.

After packing everything up, she got dressed and was soon on the road to Phillip’s
house. With every mile bringing her closer to her destination, her fears grew as she
sang louder and louder to the music of Adele. There are two ways she could do this:
Drop off the food, give Phillip a quick hug, and then leave. Or she could go inside
and sit with Phillip a bit; if Erik showed up she would force him to talk with her.
Oddly enough, she would like to see Erik one last time. Maybe she’d finally get it
into her head that he just didn’t care.

When she arrived she sat in the car a bit looking for Erik’s Aston Martin but it wasn’t
there. Maneuvering herself out of her car, Piper got out the food she had brought
for Phillip and walked up the short driveway. Relief and disappointment filled her
as she knocked on the door. When Phillip opened it, she put a smile on her face as
she gave him a sideways hug.

“Hey,” she said as she entered his home.

“Hey, thanks for bringing me food,” he said as he took the bags from her, but she
wasn’t listening.

She heard him before she saw him, and soon Piper was on the floor with her arms wrapped
around Stanley. She squeezed the dog so tight tears filled her eyes. Stanley licked
and barked happily as she continued to hug him.

“Oh my goodness, Momma has missed you, Stanley. Have you missed me?” she cooed as
she held him close.

“Wow, he usually doesn’t like girls who come through here,” she heard Phillip say.
“We
have to lock him in the room.”

“I’m not some girl, huh, buddy? I’m Momma. He misses his momma.” Stanley barked, licking
any part of her as he struggled for air. Poor thing was going to have a heart attack.
“Goodness me, calm down, buddy,” she said, petting the dog softly.

Piper stood and followed Phillip to the kitchen. She watched as he opened the boxes
and threw a piece of broccoli in his mouth. He smiled over at her and nodded. “It’s
good; thank you again.”

“Any time,” she said, leaning against the bar. “So you sure you’re okay?”

He flashed her one of his killer smiles, one that made all of the girls swoon. It
did nothing for Piper. He was a gorgeous man, just not the man she wanted.

Pushing back her tears, she let him talk. “I’m good, I promise. My sister and I weren’t
close. We were almost fifteen years apart and never really connected. I mean, I’m
sad, but I’m mainly sad for my niece, Claire. I’m going up to see her after our game
in Minnesota. She is staying with my aunt.”

“How old is she?”

“Sixteen. I haven’t seen her since I left home to play for a team in downtown Minneapolis,
but I try to keep in touch. My sister was a bitch and kept her from me. So we’ll see
how it goes,” he said before stuffing his mouth with some rice.

“Is she going to stay with your aunt?” Piper asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she is taking custody. She’s good people. Claire will be happy
there.”

“That’s good,” Piper said.

“So how have you been?” he asked.

Piper shrugged her shoulders. “Okay; it’s been kind of hard.”

Phillip’s eyes softened as he gave her a small half smile.

“Yeah, but hey, looks like the little guy wants out.”

He nodded his head to her stomach and she smiled as she backed away from the counter,
looking down at her belly, but just as she was about to say something, she backed
into a hard, hot body. When a pair of hands, ones that had held her in more ways than
one could imagine, rested against her hips, she turned around and looked up into the
pair of dark eyes that she missed so much.

“Erik,” she gasped as she took another step back, taking in his gorgeous body.

He was wearing only those damn athletic shorts. When she looked up at his face, noticing
the thick, dark beard and the sad eyes, all the air rushed from her. Every single
touch, smile, stolen kiss, everything; every single memory of them came back in full
force, playing like a movie in her head. She wanted to wrap her arms around him, snuggle
her nose under his chin, and sleep for days. She wanted to scream that she still loved
him, that she would always love him, and that she missed him so much.

Piper swallowed loudly before biting into her bottom lip. She looked away as she cleared
her throat and said, “I thought you weren’t home.”

She was so fucking beautiful it hurt.

Erik had spent the last week aching for her, and now seeing her in the flesh, seeing
that she had changed so much since the last time he saw her, almost broke him. He
could see her belly button protruding, indicating that she had gotten bigger, and
it killed him that he wasn’t there to watch it happen. She wore her hair up in a mess
on the top of her head; she even wore a little makeup, her lips bright and shiny,
but he couldn’t help but notice the sadness in her beautiful blue eyes.

God, he missed her.

He watched as she cut Phillip a glaring look. “He wasn’t here when you called.”

“She called?” Erik asked.

“Yeah,” he said, as if it wasn’t a big deal. Erik had been waiting to talk to her
for weeks and Phillip didn’t think it was important to let him know that she called
or that she was coming over? Glaring, Erik watched as Phillip filled his plate. “She
brought me food.”

“You brought him food?” he asked, turning to look back at Piper.

She nodded. “I did. That’s what people in the South do when there’s a death in the
family.”

“I, for one, love Southerners,” Phillip said with a grin as he walked to the couch,
plopping down before digging in. “Mmm, this is really good, Piper.”

“Thank you,” she said softly, bringing Erik’s attention back to her. He wanted to
tackle her, kiss her naughty little gap-tooth mouth, and tell her how much he missed
her. He wanted to tell her that he was a jackass, a complete idiot, but before he
could even utter a noise, she said, “Why haven’t you been putting lotion on Stanley’s
nose?”

His face scrunched up as he looked down at Stanley before bringing his eyes up to
hers. “I haven’t heard or talked to you in a week and that’s all you have to say?”

“What else would I say, Erik? You left me, remember? I came over here to drop off
some food to our friend. I didn’t come over here to see you or even talk to you.”

“I know what I did,” he snapped, his anger getting the best of him. “But we still
need to
talk. You could have called and told me you were sick. I’ve been worried.”

“If you were so fucking worried about me, Erik, you would have come to check on me,
but you didn’t. Instead you moved back in with your best friend, back to your old
life, not worried about anyone but yourself.”

“That’s not true. I’ve tried to get ahold of you,” he said.

She scoffed. “Oh well, sorry, but I’ve been busy.”

He shook his head, knowing that she was being stubborn. “I don’t want to fight with
you. I just want to know if you are okay.”

And he wanted to hold her, feel her skin against his.

“It was a lie. I only told everyone that so I wouldn’t have to deal with seeing anyone.”

His brows came together as anger took over his body. “Why would you lie about something
like that?”

She glared up at him and said, “I’ve been a little heartbroken, in case you didn’t
know. You did leave me. What did you expect, for me to be cheerful?”

He had been heartbroken, too, but he didn’t know how to say that. He just wanted to
hold her, apologize for being an idiot, and hope she would take him back, but he knew
that it wasn’t going to be that easy. “Piper—”

“No, I don’t want to hear it,” she snapped. He could tell she was holding back the
tears; her eyes were glazed over and her bottom lip was quivering. “I just want to
know how we are doing this. Apparently you haven’t told anyone but your parents that
we’ve split up, so what is going on? When are you going to tell people?”

Erik hadn’t told anyone, because he was hurting. He went to practice, came home, went
to bed. He didn’t do anything, unless it was with his parents. It had been a rough
week. Sometimes the pain of missing her was so unbearable, he wouldn’t move. He would
try to call or text her, hope that she would answer so they could talk. He figured
that if they started talking, maybe his feelings would come out easier, but she never
gave him that chance. And now he couldn’t get the words out.

Looking down at the ground, he said, “I figured it would come out at the wedding this
weekend.”

“Okay, sounds good to me. I gotta go,” she said, picking up her purse off the counter.

“Can’t we talk some more? I don’t want you leaving like this. I think there is a lot
more
to say,” he said softly, moving toward her, but she took a step back.

“Do you love me?”

He was stunned by her question and just blinked as she looked up at him with tear-filled
eyes. He knew the answer to her question, but he couldn’t seem to say it. His mouth
wasn’t moving, and when she started to shake her head, he wanted to grab her because
he knew she was about to leave, about to give up on him again, and he needed her to
keep still for a minute. He needed a moment to gather himself, to know what he was
saying was true and heartfelt, but before he could do that, she said, “My point exactly.
There is nothing to talk about. My lawyer will be in contact and when the baby comes,
I’ll make sure to send you a text.”