Blue Lines(22)

She looked up at him again and he knew he had her. He wasn’t lying, or trying to manipulate her. He meant every word. He wanted them to be civil and mature. He wanted them to get along for the baby’s sake, because more than likely, he was going to be a shitty father and would need Piper to be a good, devoted mom.

Whispering, she said, “Please don’t make a fool of me, or at least any more than you already have. I have my pride, too.”

Erik nodded. “I promise.”

“Okay,” she said, taking in a deep breath. “Bring in your people; let’s get this started.”

Erik couldn’t control himself; he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly in relief. When he parted from her, she was looking up at him with sad eyes. He sort of felt guilty but at the same time he knew he had to do this.

“Thank you. I promise this will go easy.”

Piper looked away and nodded.

“I only hope it will be easy when you leave.” She left the kitchen and started walking down the hall. “I need to use the bathroom. I’ll be back.”

He hated how sad she looked. She was worried about their future and he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t, too. When he left, it wouldn’t affect her at all. She would be glad to see him go. He had to make sure of that. He had hurt her enough.

However, Erik hoped that when he left, he wouldn’t be affected, either.





Chapter 5



Erik could tell that Piper was mad as fuck.

Her face was red and she couldn’t keep her hands still as the judge went on about the sanctity of marriage. He didn’t understand why she was mad. Her anger started when his lawyer brought out the prenup. Did she really think he would marry her without it? He had to protect himself. She had to understand that.

“Do you take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife?”

Erik gave Piper a sideways glance and then nodded. “I do.”

Well, that was easier than he thought it would be. He was sure he would have choked on those two words.

“And do you take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?”

When more than a few seconds went by, Erik gave Piper another sideways glance. Her eyes were flooded with tears, and her chest was rising and falling quickly.

Say yes. Say it!

She slowly nodded her head and he barely heard her quiet response. “Yes, I do.”

Erik let out a breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding. She made him so nervous, setting him on edge. He didn’t know what she would do next; she could say to hell with all this and he would be fucked. As the judge made his way through the ritual of marrying them, worry ate at Erik’s stomach. What was wrong with her? She was fine before they came in here; maybe a little upset but she was still okay. Why was she crying and breathing so hard? This wasn’t a big deal; the marriage would be over before she knew it. The ceremony and the marriage would end up just memories; in less than a year they’d be separated and divorced.

“I now pronounce you man and wife. Mr. Titov, you may kiss your beautiful bride.”

Erik licked his lips before turning to find Piper looking straight ahead. Looking back at the judge, he shook his head and said, “She doesn’t like PDA, sir; we are fine.”

The judge’s bushy gray eyebrows came up and he shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m not exactly sure what that means, son, but I’m assuming she’d rather not kiss you and that’s fine with me. I wish you two a long, happy life together.”

Erik wanted to laugh out loud but then noticed that Piper had already turned and was heading for the door. He looked over at Phillip and saw that his best friend was watching as Piper left the courtroom. Glancing over at Koey, Erik found him shaking his head as he collected some papers.

“What?” Erik asked Koey.

“You’re an idiot.”

“Why?” Erik asked, as Phillip laughed.

“I don’t know how you got her to agree to this, but this isn’t going to be easy, Erik. I think you should have accepted Elli’s wrath because you are only going to hurt that girl, and she seems like a nice enough person. You are being selfish.”

“She kept a pregnancy from me; she put me in this position. I wouldn’t need to ask her to do this if she would have told me about the pregnancy a while back.”

Koey shook his head again.

“No, you put yourself in this position. If you weren’t throwing yourself at every female all over Nashville, this would have never happened. This is going to blow up in your face; it isn’t going to end well.”

Koey looked down as he said, “Hopefully you won’t ruin your career, but I can guarantee you that someone’s heart will get broken.”