by Toni Aleo
This was crazy. Who marries a guy who doesn’t even want to be with you? One who won’t even kiss you after the vows are spoken? A guy who hasn’t talked to you, or even acted like you are alive, for the past six months! Or even better, a man who doesn’t want his child? Piper was plain stupid. That was the only explanation. This was by far the biggest mistake she had ever made, and Lord knows she’d made a lot of them.
Piper felt like a zombie as she climbed out of her truck, then made her way into the house and straight to her room. With a sob, she slowly lay down on the bed, snuggling tight into her body pillow. Tears slid down her cheeks onto the bright green pillow as she took in shuddering breaths. She never second-guessed herself; she was always confident and knew what she was doing.
But this, this was purely an act of desperation. Deep down she was hoping that maybe if Erik was around her and the baby, he might actually fall for them. He might want to be a father, maybe even her husband.
But he wouldn’t even kiss her!
Plus, he asked her to sign a prenup. A prenup! She wanted nothing from him. She didn’t need the flashy shit his money would bring. It was the little things that made her happy.
Closing her eyes, Piper hoped and prayed that sleep would take over and she’d wake up to a real marriage with someone who loved her. Her mind was going at a hundred miles an hour, thinking of every scenario that could get her out of this mess. She could call Erik and tell him she changed her mind, but that wasn’t right. She stood by her word, her vow, and she would honor him until the end of the relationship.
Piper knew that she was being naïve but a part of her believed Erik when he said he wouldn’t cheat on her. She could see in his eyes the need for this marriage to work. He needed her, and the sick, stupid part of her loved it. She wanted to be needed by Erik; she only wished that what he needed was to have her love, not to keep his job.
With a huff, Piper rolled slowly out of bed and made her way to the living room and her illustration desk. Piper was working on illustrations for a book by Emmaline Hayes, a children’s author, who also was one of her really close friends. They had met in college, when they were roommates. Emmaline was an English major and Piper wanted to be a teacher. The two clicked instantly and became inseparable. But like everything else Piper tried to do, the goal of being a teacher soon evolved into something else; now she wanted to be a veterinarian—she never really stuck to one major. They kept in close contact after college, and last year Emmaline had called Piper and asked her to illustrate a children’s book for her.
Piper had always been an amazing artist. She had done the mural for Ally’s bedroom, and in Elli’s twins’ room Piper had drawn a kid’s hockey rink on one of the walls; all the art in Reese’s dance studio was hers, too. Piper loved what she did, and now to get paid for it on top of that was badass, in her opinion. So for the past year Piper worked hard on The Piggy’s Pig. It was a heartfelt tale of how Piggy lost his favorite stuffed pig. It was a New York Times bestseller, and kids loved it, although it was a difficult book to illustrate. Piper hated the story, and that darn pig still haunted her dreams.
Luckily, though, Mrs. Octopus’ Eight Tentacles was a lot more fun to draw. The colors were magical and the story was actually really good. It was a story about the eight things Mrs. Octopus couldn’t live without. It was fun and fresh, and Piper was having a blast drawing the different scenes. She had felt like things were finally clicking for her, but recent events had curbed her creativity.
Picking up a bright blue pencil, Piper cleared her throat and got to work. She had plenty of time until Erik would arrive. She wanted to get a page halfway done before she began cooking dinner. She knew she was crazy to even care, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to cook the most amazing meal he had ever eaten.
Shaking her head, Piper got back to work. A couple of hours had passed and she was completely lost in the intricate detail of Mrs. Octopus’s third tentacle when the doorbell sounded. Looking up, she could see that it was Erik, with his arms full of stuff. She took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly before she got up and headed for the door.
Well, here we go.
She reached the door, and pulled it open to find not only her new husband, but also a dog.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing down at the dog.
It looked up at her with its big bug eyes and snorted.
Erik looked down and then back up at Piper before saying, “Stanley, my dog.”
“You didn’t tell me you had a dog,” she said, looking back down at Stanley. He had his tongue out of his mouth and was still snorting fairly loud. “Is he sleeping?”
Erik chuckled. “Naw, that’s just the way he breathes. So yeah, is he a problem?”
Disgusted, Piper looked back up. “Does he always sound like that?”
Erik’s smile fell. “Yeah.”
Piper found herself looking back down at the dog. He was so ugly, he was kind of cute. He was a light brown bulldog with white patches all over his body. He had the cutest little nose, and was fatter than she thought a dog of that breed should be, but what the hell did she know about bulldogs? Shrugging her shoulders, she moved out of the way so that Erik could enter with his snorting dog.
“Thanks,” he mumbled back at her as he walked past. She shut the door behind him and followed him down the hall to the living room, where he dropped his bags.
“So where is my room?”
Piper crossed her ankles, resting her hands on her stomach. It was becoming a habit, resting her hands on her tummy, and she liked it, but she couldn’t think of that right now because it just dawned on her that there was no place for Erik to sleep.
Looking everywhere but at Erik, she said, “Well, the couch will be your bed, and I guess you can store your clothes and stuff in my office.”
“The couch?” he asked, deadpan.
“Yes,” she answered with a nod. “I need my office and besides, there is no room for a bed in there. The other room is the baby’s nursery.”
“Okay, then I’ll sleep in your bed.”
Piper almost choked on her laughter. “Cold day in hell, Erik. You will never find yourself in my bed, ever again.”
Erik’s eyes narrowed to the challenge of her comment before his mouth curved in a devilish way.
“You think so?”
“Oh, I know so,” she scoffed. “I live every day with the constant reminder of what happened the last time we slept together.”
Erik’s eyes fell to her stomach before looking back at her. His eyes held her in a heated gaze before he looked away and nodded.
“Fine, I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Well, that was easier than she thought.
* * *
For the next hour, she and Stanley watched as Erik brought in all his stuff. He stored most of his things in the office while leaving a box or two in the living room. She wondered what was in the boxes and hoped that he planned to unpack them, since she thought it was tacky to have brown boxes just lying around. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Erik started to unload the boxes. From her desk, she watched as he proceeded to set up the ultimate in gaming equipment. She was in awe at all the things he had for his entertainment, and when he went out to his truck she almost snorted in laughter when he came back into the house with a bright purple chair.
“So you’re a gamer?”
Erik glanced back at her and nodded. “Yeah.”
Wow, this marriage was getting better by the second. Her twenty-eight-year-old husband was a gamer. Man, she really knew how to pick ’em, get pregnant by ’em, and then marry ’em. Shaking her head, she went into the kitchen to start dinner. The only sound in the house was Stanley and his loud snorting. At least he was breathing, though.
Piper was transferring some chicken from the pan to the oven to finish cooking when loud music started blaring through the house. Stanley went crazy, barking and trying to catch his breath as Piper glared over at Erik.
“Excuse
me!” she screamed.
He threw a hand up as if to say, “just a minute,” and then suddenly the noise was gone. He then slid a pair of black headphones on and fell into his gamer chair. As he started to play some sort of shooting game, she watched for a moment before turning and shaking her head.
This was not happening.
Piper closed her eyes tight, hoping that when she opened them this would all turn out to have been a dream, but when she opened her eyes, there Erik was: playing his game with his huge dog sitting beside him.
What the hell had she done?
Feeling the urge to cry, Piper decided to try to distract herself with making a salad. It was hard, though. Erik was screaming out obscenities every few seconds and it seemed that Stanley was barking some of his own. It also bothered her that he hadn’t even unpacked or put his clothes away. He had immediately fallen into his chair and started playing. He sat that way the whole time she cooked, not even taking a break for a drink or to use the bathroom.
It was mind-blowing.
After placing everything on the dining room table, she looked back over at him, unsure if she should bother him. He had to be hungry and it would be rude to start eating dinner without him. Why was this so hard? This must be why people dated before they got married.
Clearing her throat, she yelled, “Erik, dinner is ready!”
“Cool,” he said over his shoulder.
Piper picked up a dish of asparagus and headed for the dining room, placing it next to the chicken, grilled potatoes, salad, and biscuits. It was one of her favorite dinners and she hoped he liked it. Sitting down at one end of the table, she waited for him as he placed his controller and headphones down and made his way to the dining room. When he didn’t sit down, Piper watched in awe and confusion as he proceeded to make himself a plate.
Okay, that’s fine, he wasn’t used to her way of things. She always said grace before serving herself, but he would learn; all she needed to do was say something. But before she could even mutter a word, he grabbed a fork, gave her a nod, and said, “Looks good,” then walked off toward the living room.
That did not just happen.
“Um, excuse me?”
Erik turned the fork in his mouth and said, “What?”
“You’re not going to eat at the table with me?”
“No, I’m in the middle of a game.”
“Can’t you just quit so we can eat?” she asked patiently.
She had the urge to chuck her plate at him, but instead she decided that he knew no better. He had been living as a bachelor; they probably ate off the carpet and thought nothing was wrong with that.
Erik laughed and dropped down in his seat. “No way, but don’t worry, I can still eat and play. I won’t make a mess.”
“That’s not my point,” she snapped back.
He glanced back at her annoyed. “What is your point?”
She took in a deep breath, annoyance written all over her face as she said, “My point is that we should eat at the table as a family would.”
He turned back to the TV, then with a low voice added, “We aren’t a family, Piper. Don’t forget that.”
She didn’t understand why that hurt, but it did. She wanted to start screaming at him, but she knew that would not make their situation any better. With a heavy heart, Piper bowed her head. She began her prayer, asking for patience and even for Erik to see that maybe they could be a family. Even if he was an asshole, she did care for him. She knew it was stupid to hope for that, or even to pray for it, but it didn’t stop her from doing it anyway.
As she reached for the asparagus her phone started to ring. Piper got up just as Erik started screaming more obscenities. Finding her phone on the counter, she noticed that it was Harper.
She probably shouldn’t answer, but she knew she had to or else Harper would jump in the car and drive out to her house. That was the last thing Piper wanted.
“Hello?”
“Hey, you’re still coming tomorrow right? For Alla and Cooper?”
She nodded even though Harper couldn’t see her.
“Yeah. I’ll be there.”
“Okay. How are you feeling?”
“Okay. I’ve had an interesting day,” she said, leaning on the counter watching Erik’s back.
“Really? How so?”
“Well, my baby’s daddy decided he wanted to be in the baby’s life.”
Harper paused, then asked, “Why are you saying that so nonchalantly? You are acting as if you’re baking a cake. This is huge. I thought this guy was an ass.”
Oh, he is, she wanted to say, but instead she said, “Ah, ya know, I was angry, and hurt. We are working things out. We are coming tomorrow.”
“Who is it?” Harper asked. Piper could tell she was stunned.
“You’ll see tomorrow.”
“Do I know him?”
Piper replied, “Maybe?”
“Tell me.”
“No, just wait. He’ll be with me tomorrow.”
“I don’t like this,” Harper said in warning.
“I know, but it’ll be okay.”
“Are you happy with him?”
Piper glanced back at Erik. She hated that she was about to lie to her sister. She guessed she had better get used to it because the next three months would be full of lies. Just then Erik let out another slew of cuss words and threw his controller across the room at the wall, then screamed even more obscenities.
Gritting her teeth, she said, “Oh, I’m ecstatic.”
Chapter 6
Piper hadn’t said two words to Erik.
He was beginning to think this was the way the next three months would be. If she continued with the silent treatment it would be that much easier to end this charade when the time came. He should be happy about that, but he wasn’t. What the hell had he done? Why was she so quiet? He knew he’d probably pissed her off already.
Glancing over at her, he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. She had dressed up to meet his parents and she looked beautiful. She had on some short shorts that were hot as hell and her hair was loose and curly; he loved it when she wore her hair like that. Piper’s hair was so long it just passed her ass, and what a great ass she had.
“What’s wrong?” he found himself asking. They were in the car on the way to Jakob’s so she had to talk to him or else be rude, and Piper didn’t “do” rude.
She glanced over at him with a surprised look on her face.
“What?” she asked.
“I asked what was wrong. You haven’t spoken to me since yesterday,” he said, feeling extremely stupid. Why did he care if she was mad, hurt, or upset with him? He had more important things to worry about, such as the fact that he was about to walk into his brother’s house and face two sets of parents that might very much want to kill him. Nervousness pulsed through him, but in a way, this conversation was thankfully a good distraction.
“Oh, well you’re an asshole and I have nothing to say to you.”
A smiled pulled at his lips as he shook his head. God he loved her sass.
“I’m pretty sure you have a lot to say to me, Piper, and I get that. Remember I told you a very long time ago that I wasn’t the nicest guy, so don’t say I never told you.”
“Whatever. You’re a poser, that’s what you are. You think that if you’re an asshole that makes you hard, but let me tell you something, it doesn’t. It just makes you a jerk.”
Erik had to laugh at that. She was a little spitfire.
“I thought you had nothing to say to me.”
“You poked the tiger and now I have a lot to say, so listen up, bub,” she said, turning in the car seat to look at him. The hairs on his arms stood to attention, and of course so did the muscle in his pants. She turned him on and that was bad, very bad, because if she turned him on when she was bitching him out, there was no telling what would happen if she said something sweet to him. “First of all, I am not some gold-digging ho, so I don’t understand w
hy you felt the need for a prenup!”
“You’re still mad about that? I thought it was because I wouldn’t eat with you last night,” he said with a laugh. “Piper, I have to protect myself. Besides, that was more my agent and lawyer’s suggestion. You think I’d think of that shit?”
“That’s fine, and understandable, but you could have talked to me about it. Instead you just throw the damn thing on the table and say sign this. Oh, and the dinner thing: You are lucky I didn’t stab you with my fork. I am beyond pissed about that,” she shrieked. “It is common courtesy to eat dinner with your housemate.”
“I’m not eating at the table, so if you want to get a gamer chair and pull it up beside me so we can eat together, more power to you, and I am sorry if my delivery of the prenup wasn’t what you expected, but I think your delivery of the news of our child wasn’t that great, either, so we’ll chalk both those up as a loss and move forward.”
He glanced over at her and swore she was about to jump across the gear shift and gouge out his eyes. Looking back at the road, he listened to her labored breathing and wished like hell she did not want to continue this conversation, because all it was doing was making him want to smother her with kisses. How in the world did it make sense that he wanted her when she was shrieking about him being an asshole?
He needed help, he already knew this, but this moment in the car with his new wife proved it.
“There is no arguing with you. You sit there with this arrogance about you. As if you are the hottest thing since fire! It’s so frustrating because I know you are not this person that you portray! Where is the person I went home with six months ago? The man who held me until the sun came up, the man who told me he saw me and wanted only me?”
Feeling like she had stabbed him in the chest, he looked over and saw that she was getting ready to cry. He was an asshole, but he had to be. He couldn’t let her in any more than he already had.
In a low, cold voice, he said what he needed to say: “It was a lie.”
“You think you’re good at lying, huh? Well, let me tell you, you aren’t! You think you’re good enough to make both our families believe this is real? Because I don’t. You wouldn’t even kiss me yesterday! How the hell are you going to make anyone believe this stupid freaking lie of a marriage?”
