by Frost, Sosie
I knew I was in trouble, but it wasn’t like Piper would understand what tortured me.
The suspension didn’t piss me off. It had been the meeting, and the way the league, the Monarchs, and her own father spoke to her. She didn’t deserve their condescension, their sickening insults.
She should have defended herself. Instead, this beautiful, stubborn, wonderful woman tried to help me. And I refused her. Repeatedly. And all because…
Because I couldn’t let her see the real me.
Because I was too terrified of losing her.
…Because I was in love with her.
The thought was like a kick to the gut.
Not the time to realize it. Four-hundred pounds of weights rested on my shoulders as I bent in mid-squat. Love was the one force in the world that could bring a man to his knees. A panicked drop in the middle of the rep would be what broke his knees.
The weights clattered against the bench, locked into place as I collapsed against the ground. I dumped water over my head and waited for the room to stop spinning.
Leave it to Piper to knock me on my ass.
I had no idea it was even possible for me to love someone. Whatever warmed in me for Piper was inspired by a heart that hadn’t beat for anyone or anything…ever.
And the baby?
God, I missed the meatball.
By this time in the day, she was usually tossing herself at the weight room’s baby gate Walking Dead style. She’d press against the plastic mesh, reach her fingers through the holes, and babble about her day, her favorite shapes, and tried to count out ten reps for me.
I might have been miserable without Piper, but I was goddamned lonely without Rose.
My life of quiet and solitude was shattered, and I couldn’t have been happier. I liked what I felt for Piper. That warmth. The confusion. It quelled the beast and excited the man and proved that I could be…
Normal.
I showered and dressed, popping up the stairs two at a time to find Piper.
But something was wrong.
It had been weeks since she first paced in the foyer. She peeked between the curtains and grew more and more frustrated as whoever she tried to reach on the phone refused to answer. Her voice cracked with a boiling rage.
“Jasper, I don’t care where you are or what you are doing. Call me back this instant.”
Her panic crushed me. She ended the call, waited ten seconds, then dialed again. Her hands trembled as much as her bottom lip. She was on the verge of tears, and that was a swipe of salt poured over my wounds.
I took her hand. “What’s wrong?”
She pushed me away, but her fingers curled in my shirt before she freed herself. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
I didn’t let her get away. “Piper.”
“I’m handling it.”
Yeah, not well. “What’s happening?”
She swallowed the hesitation in her voice, eyes wide and wild. Her hand tangled in the curls that escaped from her ponytail.
“Jasper isn’t back with Rosie yet.”
I checked my phone. “It’s not even seven o’clock.”
“He was supposed to bring her home at five.”
That prickling rush of heat and adrenaline returned.
Blinding.
Consuming.
Piper called Jasper again, and she searched out the window for the imaginary car that’d pull up the driveway. It didn’t come, and he didn’t answer. She ended the call and gripped her phone under her chin. She faced me again, her expression crippled with fear.
Fuck. I had to help. I had to do something. My knuckles cracked as my hands twisted into fists.
But getting angry wouldn’t fix anything. She needed to be comforted. Someone to support her. Someone to reassure her that everything would be okay—that I would make everything okay.
“He’s two hours late. Hasn’t called. Hasn’t texted.” Piper shook her head. “I have no idea where he is with her. What if something happened?”
“Nothing happened.”
“She’s still so little, and he doesn’t understand that she’s just a baby.” Her voice hardened. “She might have choked on her dinner.”
I wasn’t letting her freak out over hypotheticals. “The kid inhales her food. Choking would mean missing the meal, and you know she’s not gonna do that.”
“What if she’s hurt?”
“I’ve seen her swan dive off the couch and bounce. She’s not hurt.”
Piper nodded, too much, stalked by panic.
“What if he took her?” she whispered.
Five little words that would have us piss ourselves in terror.
No. No way. I wouldn’t let Piper suffer such thoughts.
“What if he’s just an asshole and is stuck in traffic?” I guided her away from the window and into the den. She sat on couch, but she refused to stay still. I knelt before her and took her hand. “He’ll bring her home soon. I promise.”
“I could just kill Jasper.”
Not if I got there first. “If we don’t hear from him in a few minutes, we’ll talk about our options.”
Piper probably thought I meant going to the police. I had a better idea, one that included driving to the bastard’s house and ripping him apart, asshole to mouth.
No one upset Piper. No one threatened her baby.
I’d get Rose back to her momma, no matter the cost.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to tape my knuckles. Twenty minutes later, the security system chimed with an alert of an approaching car. Piper leapt off the couch, scrambling so goddamned quick even I couldn’t have caught her.
She raced outside and nearly ripped Jasper from the driver’s side window.
I recognized his type—and it wasn’t Piper’s.
He wasn’t a bad looking man, and he knew it. Popped collars and gold jewelry didn’t disguise his cheap ass taste. He had money. Not a lot of it, but more than most. His Mercedes was a couple years old, and his sunglasses were worn just for the designer name. Piper’s skin was a shade lighter than his, but I still saw more of him than I liked in Rose.
He grinned at Piper and leaned against the car, arms outstretched, like he expected her to fall against his chest.
Piper slapped him instead.
“I told you five o’clock!”
As satisfying as letting her go momma-bear might have been, the baby wailed, red-faced and miserable in her car-seat. Rose needed her mother to stay calm. I pulled her back before she regretted anything she did to Jasper.
“Sweetheart, I said I’d bring Rose home in the evening.” Even his smile was slime. He held up his phone. “Besides…look how much you called me. You couldn’t wait to see me.”
“You ignored my calls?” She clawed the arm I held over her waist, either trying to punish Jasper or to get to her shrieking baby. “Do you know how worried I was? I swear to God—”
“Calm down, Sweetheart. Daddy took care of things.”
My blood pressure spiked. “Let Piper take the baby, and get off my property.”
Jasper edged his sunglasses down his nose. “So you’re Cole Hawthorne?”
“Yeah.”
He snickered. “I thought you’d be bigger. You don’t look so tough without your pads—or a penalty flag at your feet.”
I’d snap him over my knee.
I didn’t, but I imagined the sound.
My voice stayed even. Raw, but contained. I wasn’t losing my shit yet. Not when Piper needed me.
“Let her get the baby,” I said. “Unlock the door.”
A heavy moment passed. Jasper tried to hold my stare. He didn’t know the mistake he was making. Didn’t realize the danger he was in. I didn’t move, flinch, blink, or threaten. I turned solid as a statue and just as unbreakable.
And he knew better than to fuck with me.
His sunglasses popped back up. He looked away.
“She wouldn’t stop screaming all day.” He unlocked the car. Piper dove into
the backseat to get to Rose. “If I were you, I wouldn’t be so happy to have her home.”
The kid wailed. Her little hands reached out, and she screamed a heart-rending, bone-crushing cry for her momma.
It would be the last time that child ever made that terrified sound.
Piper held Rose on her hip, but she pulled her hand away from the diaper. Soaked.
“Jasper, did you change her?”
“She didn’t need it.”
“All day?”
He shrugged.
An absolute fury darkened her features. “She’s soaking wet and covered in…” Her words shuddered. She blinked, ready to cry. “I can’t even look at you, Jasper.”
I could, and I didn’t like what I saw. A baggie of white powder was stashed in his cup holder. The asshole was probably high.
This ended now.
“Take the baby in the house,” I said.
Piper bounced Rose. It didn’t soothe her. “I can handle this, Cole.”
No. She couldn’t. She was too upset, trembling and holding the baby in her arms. I ordered her again—gently, so I wouldn’t terrify the kid.
“Take the baby into the house. Get her cleaned up.”
Piper raged, but she stayed silent. She cuddled Rose close and stormed into the house, slamming the door behind her.
And then it was just the three of us.
Jasper, me, and what remained of my conscience.
I lunged for him, grasping him by the lapels of his douche-bag suit coat over a t-shirt. I slammed him against his car to silence his shouts. He struck the car hard enough to keep his attention fixed on me, but not hard enough to hurt.
No matter how much I wanted to break him.
“If you ever pull this shit again…” I held him firm. “If you ever make that baby cry…if you ever upset Piper again…we won’t be talking like civilized men.”
He acted tough even though his feet didn’t touch the ground. “You threatening me?”
“You bet your fucking ass I am.”
Jasper tried to twist from my grip. He didn’t have the strength to get away.
I might have hurt him. Split him in two with my bare hands or bashed him into a goddamned powder against the pavement.
But then I’d have a mess to clean up instead of a woman and baby to comfort.
“Get the fuck off of me.” Jasper spat on me.
Big mistake.
“Who do you think you are?” He yelled. “That’s my baby. I’ll do whatever the hell I want with her.”
Bigger mistake.
I flung him to the ground, preventing him from moving with a foot to his throat.
“Oh, now you want to play daddy?”
I wiped the spit from my cheek, staring at a man I might have killed with just the press of my boot.
“Where the hell were you when Piper needed money to buy that kid a decent crib? Where were you when she didn’t have the savings to stay in her apartment? Where the fuck where you when that little girl had an ear infection and needed a nighttime story and hug to feel better?”
Jasper reached for my foot. He wasn’t getting away. “I offered to marry Piper. It’s not my fault she didn’t want me.”
“Can’t imagine why.”
“I knocked her up, all right? What the hell do you want from me? We fucked up.”
Rose was a lot of things, but she wasn’t the result of a fuck up. I stepped into his throat. He choked.
“Do you want that baby or not?”
“What choice do I have? If I give up any custody, that kid will cost me an arm and a leg a month.”
“How much?”
“Like eight hundred dollars!”
The baby was worth so much more than money. If he couldn’t see that, he didn’t deserve her.
“I’ll write you a check for eight hundred a month—fuck it, I’ll send you the ten grand it’ll cost in child support for the year. You take it. You cash it. You send it to Piper.” I lowered my voice. “And you don’t tell her a goddamned thing about where the money came from, you get me?”
Jasper nodded, staring at me wide-eyed. “Fine. What do you want?”
“You. Out of the picture. Give up the rights. You’re done with Rose.”
“Yeah. Sure. Whatever.”
He didn’t even fight for his kid. I regretted ever touching such filth. I left him in the dust and stood.
“Get off my property before I decide I’ve been too damn compassionate.”
He didn’t waste time. Jasper crawled to his car, diving inside and locking the doors. He peeled out, leaving tire tracks on my pristine, white driveway.
Asshole.
I still fumed, still ached with adrenaline and a blitz of testosterone.
I should have hit him. I wanted to hit him.
But I was glad I didn’t have to waste time washing his blood from my hands.
I went inside and climbed the stairs. The baby wasn’t crying anymore. A relief. But Piper didn’t have her in the nursery. I stalked to the west wing, pushing open my door.
Piper cuddled with a freshly-bathed, exhausted, smiling toddler on my bed.
And nothing had ever looked so perfect.
I didn’t hesitate. I climbed onto the mattress, wrapping my arm over Piper and letting the kid settle between us. I didn’t even care that Rumpleass joined us on the pillows.
Piper rested her head on my shoulder. I kissed her temple.
Rose babbled, wiggling to her feet. She scaled the space between us, stumbled over me, and kicked me square between the legs. I grunted, but she landed on my chest and hugged me.
I saw stars, and I was glad I was laying down, but nothing on earth would have moved me from Piper’s side or Rose’s hug.
But even I knew that moment couldn’t last forever.
20
Piper
I ended the call with the Monarchs and checked the time.
8:55 PM.
Cole had three hours and five minutes remaining as an Atwood Monarch. He could either be traded, or he’d be cut.
I sighed, head in my hands. I couldn’t let him destroy his career.
I knew he’d hate it. He’d fight it, but I could handle him at his worst.
I didn’t control Cole Hawthorne. I worked with him. I understood him. I helped him. I wanted what was best for him.
That should have made it easier.
So why was my heart-breaking?
Cole was on baby-duty, watching Rose while I took the Monarch’s call. I heard her giggle from the hall, but my steps slowed as he laughed.
“Up!” Rose commanded. “Up!”
I peeked through the door. Bedtime was a slow progression tonight—in that it didn’t seem to be happening at all. Rose wasn’t near the crib. Hell, she wasn’t even changed into pajamas yet. She still wore her little Monarch dress, perfect for all the baby princesses who cheered their favorite team.
It looked ridiculous—a fluffy poof of sparkles and gold. But she loved it. She wiggled around Cole’s feet and reached for him, as high as her little fingers could go.
Cole plucked her from the ground and settled her along his hip.
Her smile killed me. She’d never looked at her father like that, not when Jasper came to pick her up and certainly not when the asshole dropped her off.
I hadn’t wanted to get involved with Cole, but I couldn’t deny how much he meant to me. It had been easier to keep my distance and protect my heart before Rose started looking at him so sweetly. She trusted him.
Maybe I could have ignored my feelings if he hadn’t looked at her in the same way.
“Up!” Rose tugged on his shirt. “Up!”
“You are up,” Cole said. “You can’t get anymore up.”
She wiggled her head and shoulders. “Up!”
“Oh.” Cole watched her wiggle and twisted the earbuds coiled around his neck. “You want to dance.”
Rose nodded, her little puff ball pigtails bouncing with her. “Dance!”
<
br /> “All right. But don’t tell anyone. I got a reputation to maintain.”
Cole thumbed through his playlists. Most of the tracks were just static—the white noise he used to focus and stay calm. He scanned to a special playlist and flashed the image to her. She giggled and recognized the Disney songs.
I watched as that monster of a man shimmied and bounced a little girl to the beat—their own perfect waltz. She giggled as he dipped her, but she yawned the instant he pulled her back to his chest. Rose snuggled close as he rocked her.
Cole gave me a sheepish shrug, but I tapped my finger against my lips. Rose rested with her head against his shoulder and sighed.
I had no idea how this man could so easily put my toddler to bed, but I wished he’d teach me his secrets.
She conked out pretty quickly. Cole rubbed his hand over her back. The gold glitter from her dress flaked everywhere, but he didn’t seem to mind.
“Did you talk to the team?” His voice was low.
I nodded.
“What’d they say?”
I shook my head. He understood.
He said nothing else, but he danced with Rose until the song was over, holding the baby tight against him. He settled her in the crib before I could get the gold dress off of her. That was fine. She could sleep like a princess tonight. He made sure Mr. Bumpybottom was tucked next to her in the crib.
“Cole—”
He took my hand. “Not yet.”
“But we have to talk.”
He pulled me from the room, pausing only to let me turn off the light and pocket the baby monitor. I followed him to the kitchen. He sat at the counter, and I offered to get him a drink from the baby-proofed fridge.
“Water?” I asked.
“You tell me what I need, beautiful.”
I gave him a bottle of beer instead.
“That bad?”
“You know what we have to do, Cole.”
He didn’t answer.
“All you have to do is agree,” I said. “Agree, and at 12:01 you’ll become an Ironfield Rivet. Everything has been arranged—a place for you to stay and a rented car for the week. You’re still suspended for another two games, but they can give you the playbook. They’ll let you watch some films and start training.”
“If I don’t agree to the trade?”
