Toni Aleo - Blue Lines

Erik’s face scrunched up as he threw his hands in the air.

“Like I have a choice! We are family, our moms are best friends, and our dads play golf, Piper! My brother is married to your sister! The only way I could get out of this is if you don’t tell anyone that I’m the father. Oh, but wait, you told my boss, so I have no doubt that our whole family will know soon enough. You’ve fucked me all around. Not only is my family going to be livid with me, but this is going to affect my career!”

Piper felt like her blood was boiling under her skin. She was sure that at any moment her ears were going to explode with steam. Why the hell did she sleep with him? Why didn’t she make him use a condom so the only thing that could be left between them was a broken heart? No, she trusted her birth control and her drunken mind that it wasn’t that time of the month! God, she was a stupid freaking idiot! She was pregnant by the biggest jerk in the world!

She wanted to be outraged. She wanted to kick and scream at him, but instead she felt her eyes cloud with tears as her body felt like it was beginning to shut down. She had accepted that he didn’t want her. That was fine, but what was wrong with their baby?

Looking down at the ground, she whispered, “You want an out?”

“I don’t have that choice; you kept the baby, so I’m fucked.”

She looked up at him as a tear ran down her cheek. He looked away and she hated him for it. She wanted him to see the hurt he’d caused, to see how he basically destroyed her when he left. She wanted him to see how he was breaking her in two by rejecting not only her but their child, too, but instead he just looked away. Like the coward he was.

“Fuck you, Erik.”

She then turned and went out the front door, but before the door could shut, she heard him say, “You already have!”

Piper sobbed as she ran down the stairs and to her truck. Luckily, she made it out of the driveway before the tears came in full force. She felt like Erik had torn out what was left of her heart and then stomped on it. His rejection stung like a billion bees, and she knew it was because he wasn’t just rejecting her, but their baby, too.

She barely made it on the forty-five-minute drive to her home—well, Elli’s home—without stopping to sit by the side of the road to cry her eyes out. Now sitting in the driveway, her tears fell as she stared at the beautiful house and property. Piper had every intention of buying this from Elli. It would be the perfect place for her and the baby. She even thought it would be good for the three of them, but why she’d included him in her plans she’d never know. Piper now knew that he would never want to live with her, or even want to raise their child together. Erik had just made that perfectly clear.

What had she done to herself? Maybe she should have gotten an abortion, but that didn’t feel right. This was her baby, and it deserved a chance at life. Even if it was a life without a daddy. But that didn’t feel right, either. Maybe she should take Harper up on her suggestion and give the baby to her.

Piper was young. She still had a lot of living to do, and she wasn’t in a financially sound place to be able to raise a child. She didn’t have all her eggs in a row or even in a basket. She was alone, scared, and pregnant by a jerk. She could give the baby to Jakob and Harper and be a loving aunt like she was to Ally. But could she do that? Could she watch her sister raise her baby? A child that would look just like her and Erik?

Erik obviously didn’t want anything to do with them. She could get child support but she didn’t want a payout from him. She wanted him to be a father. What had she done? Not only had she brought heartache upon herself, but it was now upon her child, too. Because the day would come when the child would ask who their daddy was; Piper then would have to explain that Erik was their father and then try to explain why he didn’t want them.

Shaking her head, she placed her hands on her belly as she continued to cry, the tears landing on her swollen abdomen. Nothing was going as she had hoped. Not that life was ever easy, but this was one hell of a curveball. Piper had always thought she would be in a different place in her life right now. Since she changed careers every other month, her life was still evolving. But the one thing she never would have thought would have happened would be that she’d be single, alone, and pregnant. What was the point of being on birth control if it didn’t work?

What was her family going to think? Harper was pissed and disappointed in her and Reese would be, too. Her mom and dad would be beyond understanding.

She could hear her mom now: “Oh, Piper, why?”

But Piper wouldn’t have an answer for her. This pregnancy would just validate to her family that she was the family fuckup. The one that couldn’t stick with one thing, always changing her mind. Ah well, this was something she couldn’t change; this decision was a commitment for life, and she needed to make the right choice.

She had two options: either raise her baby and hope that at some point there would be a father figure in its life, or give the baby to Harper.

When the baby kicked, giving Piper butterflies, she decided that there was no way that she could give the baby to anyone. That was the easy way out and she had already quit on almost everything else in her life. She might be young and not financially stable but she was a loving person. This baby might not have been planned but this baby was a miracle. Her miracle. And if Erik didn’t want their miracle, fine.

One day their child would want to know him, and he could try to explain to them then how he had no desire to be a part of their life. Piper would be strong; she would love the baby for the both of them.

Erik sat on the couch with his elbows resting on his knees. Stanley, his English bulldog, sat between his legs, looking up at him as if he knew that Erik’s world was falling apart. Erik hadn’t moved from this spot since yesterday. Thank God, after Piper had dumped her bombshell on him Christina had promptly left in a huff, screaming at him for being the worst lay ever. Cami had left the following morning, giving him a weird look, obviously having heard of his lack-of-performance status, but he didn’t care. When Phillip left for his meeting with Elli, he asked if everything was okay, but all Erik could do was shake his head. He was still in shock. Something wasn’t clicking, something wasn’t registering. He was sure that what had happened with Piper was all a dream, but he could still smell her perfume.

Apple blossoms.

It was her favorite scent. He remembered watching her spray herself with some after they got out of the shower. He remembered running his nose along her collarbone, inhaling the soft fragrance. It had turned him on so much that he had picked her up and placed her on the sink before ripping her towel away to have his way with her. Was that when they conceived their child?

His child.

Shit. He never wanted children; he never wanted a wife or a baby momma. He was completely happy with the way he was living his life. That was why he cut it off with Piper. She was a forever type of girl, while he was a wanderer. He knew that if he stayed with her, he would end up like his father and that was not something he wanted. He didn’t want to be a drunk that hit his kid. He didn’t want to be so caught up in a girl that nothing mattered. He wanted to be Erik Titov. He liked who he was and didn’t want to change. At all. Even if there was a chance that he would be more like Cooper, his adoptive stepfather, he couldn’t take that chance.

God, what were Cooper and Alla going to think? They didn’t save him from hell so he could go out and fuck up his life. He should have known two years ago with only one glance that Piper Allen was going to be trouble. She was too beautiful, too sweet. She mesmerized him with those seductive blue eyes, a playful gap in her teeth, a banging body. And if she was holding a precious little baby in her arms? He should have ignored her from the start but he was completely ensnared by her. He needed to know her. Her likes, her dislikes, anything, he just wanted to know— fuck-shit-fuck! What the hell was wrong with him?