Phillip was right: He couldn’t run out on this kid. He might have been a dick to Piper but he didn’t want to be that way to his kid. His stepfather would be so disappointed and Erik would hate to do that to him. Cooper was his saving grace and Erik owed him everything. He didn’t want to be anything like his real father, Jasha. Would being of Jasha’s blood overcome what Cooper had worked so hard to instill in Erik?
What about Piper? What was he supposed to do about her—she scared him because she was the one and only girl he’d been with that he still felt something for. She had a way of making him open up and he hated that, because the people he cared about most always left. The only people who had ever stayed with him and supported him were his family: Jakob, Alla, and Cooper. What if he allowed himself to fall for her, to go for the white picket fence—God, what was he thinking—it didn’t matter. It would never happen. This was a marriage of convenience and it would be over in three months’ time. Besides, he was no prize; he was a mess and he wasn’t sure Piper even wanted him, even if it was only temporary. He needed to convince Piper that this was a good idea.
Looking up, he found Phillip watching him. Taking in a deep breath, he said, “Okay, I’ll do it.”
“You’re going to call her? I think you should do it in person,” Phillip told Erik, who was picking up his phone off the couch.
“No, I gotta call Koey first, have him call the lawyers to draw up the papers and get everything ready. This will have to happen fast. Especially so neither of us has time to change our minds.”
Phillip looked over at him questioningly. “She hasn’t said yes, though.”
Erik nodded. “No, but she will.”
He’d make sure of it.
Chapter 4
Erik had called four times.
Piper sat at her drawing desk with her pencils now neatly organized. Not because she was a neat freak but because Erik calling had put her on edge. She had rearranged her desk, checked and rechecked her email, and done just about anything else to keep from answering his phone calls. What the hell did he want? It had been two days since she had seen him. Had he changed his mind? Did he want to be in their child’s life? Surely not. He was probably calling to yell at her some more.
But when he called her cell for the sixth time, Piper decided she couldn’t ignore him any longer. She didn’t like it when he did that to her, and she believed that you treat people the way you want to be treated. Even if that person is an idiot. She’d rather break his kneecaps with a hockey stick than talk with him again.
Asshole.
“Hello?” she answered on the third ring.
“Hey, is this Piper Allen?”
“Ugh, yeah,” as if he didn’t know what number he was calling. What an asshole.
“The pregnant one, right?”
“Seriously? You’ve been with more than one Piper Allen?” she asked, and for some reason this wouldn’t have shocked her if it was true—he was a man-whore.
“No, but apparently I saved three different numbers under your name. Sorry,” he said quickly, he then went quiet; all she could hear now was his nervous breathing.
“Hello?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Okay? What do you want?”
“Oh yeah, sure, sorry. Um, so how are you?”
Piper rolled her eyes. Be nice, she reminded herself.
“Fine, and you?” she asked sarcastically.
“Still a little freaked-out, but it’s not like I can change any of it.”
Oh, she wanted to kill him.
Biting her lip, she asked, “Yup, so what did you need?”
Piper hated being rude, she was normally such a sweet person, but Erik Titov had a death wish where she was concerned. He brought out the anger in her.
“Why are you being a bitch? I haven’t done anything wrong here,” he snapped.
Piper could not believe he said that.
“Um, yes you have! You questioned if the baby was yours. Why would I lie about something like that, especially with our families as close as they are?”
“Really, you’re mad and acting like a bitch to me because I was making sure the baby was mine? If you would have told me about this when you first found out then I wouldn’t have questioned it!”
Touché … okay, maybe she was being a little irrational here.
“Fine, we are both in the wrong.”
“No, you are in the wrong.”
She glared at the phone, picking up a pencil and stabbing the closest notebook, wishing it was Erik’s head.
“No, I was trying to figure things out and it wasn’t like you gave me a chance to tell you. You wouldn’t even answer my calls!”