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

Chapter 5

Erik could tell that Piper was mad as f**k.

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 f**ked. 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.”

Koey shouldered his bag of paperwork and as he turned to leave, he looked back at Erik and said, “It will probably be her, too. A scorned woman as your baby’s mother is going to make the next eighteen years of your life hell. Especially when you find the right woman that you want to settle down, get married, and have a family with. You really haven’t thought this through.”

With that Koey left. What was Erik supposed to do? Be traded to some crappy team and have zero opportunity of making the playoffs ever? Nope, that wasn’t going to happen. He would do everything he could to stay and he would also try not to hurt Piper. She knew the game plan and if they both stuck to it, things would be fine. They would even be friends at the end.

It would be fine.

As he turned to Phillip, his confidence faltered. Phillip had the same look that Koey just had.

“What? You agree?”

“Yes and no,” Phillip said. “I know that this had to be done to protect your career, but I didn’t realize that Piper had feelings for you.”

“She doesn’t. She hates me. It’s okay, I swear. I think she is just mad about the prenup.” Phillip was shaking his head before Erik finished his sentence.

“No, dude, really. She looked broken standing beside you, and when you didn’t kiss her, her shoulders fell and so did more tears. I think Koey might be right, but at the same time, what were you supposed to do?”

“Right!” Erik said, pointing to Phillip. “If I knew about all of this, I could have changed it.”

“Could have changed it?”

“Sure,” Erik said with a shrug. “I would have opted for an abortion. I don’t want kids.”

Phillip blinked twice.

“Are you serious? I don’t think you have much of an option when it comes to that—either the girl wants to have the kid or she doesn’t. You can give your opinion but I don’t think it matters so much when it comes down to it.”

“Yes, I’m serious. I don’t want kids, Phillip. I’m not even sure how being forced into this is going to work. How am I supposed to care for and help raise a kid when I am the worst candidate for that job? The kid would be better off without me.”