She slammed the door and it felt like she had slapped him across the face. She might be mad, and he might not know how to fix it, but he’d be damned if that was the end of their argument. Jumping up, he followed her into the house, slamming the front door to let her know that he was right behind her. She turned around, wiping her face as she pinned him with a look.
“You don’t know anything about my parents, or me, for that matter, so stop putting me on a pedestal. It’ll do nothing but hurt you in the long run.”
“I believe in you. I believe in the person that your parents raised. Jasha and Katria are not your parents; they don’t deserve that title,” she spat back at him, making his blood boil.
“You don’t know what you are talking about,” he said, his heart pounding against his chest. Why didn’t he walk away? Why was he pursuing this argument?
“I know that your dad beat you, that he killed your mom and then himself.”
It was like the world stopped. Rage filled him and he soon found himself backing her into the wall. “How the hell do you know that?”
“Alla told me,” she said, and he could see that she was nervous. He took a step back. How dare Alla tell his business, especially to the one person he didn’t want to know?
Shaking his head, he said, “That was none of your business.”
“Well, I know and I don’t believe you are that man.”
“I may not be now but I could become him.”
“You won’t.”
“Really?” he asked, his hands coming up to hold her in place. He wanted her to look right into his eyes. He wanted to make sure she heard what he said next. “You don’t know what it is like to be beaten by a man just because you can play hockey and he can’t. To be beaten to a bloody pulp because your brother got a scholarship to play hockey in America, or to have someone break your arm because your mother left him all of the time. You grew up with good people, people who loved you. I bet they hardly ever spanked you.”
Piper shook her head, her mouth in a straight line as she took in deep breaths. Her eyes were wide. He didn’t want to make her cry, and it killed him to see those tears roll down her face, but he wasn’t done. Taking a step back, he lowered his voice. “You don’t know what it is like to have a gun held to your head and to have the trigger pulled. To hear the click on the gun go off, but not die. To watch your so-called mother get shot in the throat when she tries to stop the beatings; her blood splattering all over you. Hearing the cries and rage come from a man that beat you for so many years, before he turned the gun around and blew his own brains all over the wall. You don’t know what that feels like, or what that does to a person. I know.”
Tears started to rush down her cheeks, but her eyes never left his. He felt like crying himself, which was weird, because he hadn’t cried about what had happened since he was a teenager. He could see the sympathy in her eyes and he hated that she felt sorry for him. He had never told anyone because he didn’t want that look. Especially from Piper; he didn’t want to seem weak in front of her. Taking another step back, he let out a long, frustrated breath before softy saying, “Is this the man you want to be there for? A potential monster? A man so fucked-up that there is no fixing him?”
Piper wiped away her tears, her chest rising and falling in time with his heart. “Erik, you are no monster, not even a potential one. You are a good man, and I believe that. I want to be there for you, and I’m not going anywhere until you walk out that door and tell me you don’t want me. You need someone to love you and you need to know that you deserve that love, and I want you to let me be that someone.”
Erik scoffed as he shook his head. Had she even been listening to him?
“You are delusional.”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “You are just terrified, and until the moment you are ready to take what I’m offering, you’ll never feel complete.”
With that, she turned and walked away. Erik watched until she shut the bedroom door and then he collapsed against the wall. He wasn’t used to someone fighting for him like that and believing in him. Cooper had been the only person to ever do that, and he didn’t understand why Piper was. He was worthless, not the man she needed. So why did she care so much?
And why did he want to believe everything she said?
Chapter 18
It was almost one in the morning when Piper heard her door creak open. She didn’t have to look to know that it was Stanley. The dog was louder than a freight train. As she dangled her hand off the bed, Stanley came over and rubbed his head along it before giving her a loving lick. Smiling down at him, she watched as he lay down on the floor. Jeez, she loved this dog something fierce. She was about to close her own eyes and try to sleep, but she felt her bed dip and the warmth of a body beside her.