“This is true, but like I said, I had a come to Jesus moment and realized that Piper was the girl for me.”

Jakob started to laugh hysterically, causing Erik to glare at him and ask, “What?”

“I see right through you, dude. Mom and Dad may not, but I do. Stop this before someone gets hurt.”

“Jake, leave it be. Nothing is wrong; everything is great.”

They shared a long look until a hard slap came down on Erik’s shoulder. Turning, he saw his captain.

“Hey, Shea.”

“Hey, Erik. I think congratulations are in order, from what I hear. Wow, marriage and a baby, I am totally stunned,” he said with a grin on his face.

“Yup, we are really excited.”

“I bet. Kids are a blessing, and Piper is a wonderful girl. She worked at the jewelry store where I bought Elli’s engagement ring; she was the one who helped me pick it out. Piper seems like a great gal; you really are lucky.”

Erik nodded again, and smiled.

“I am.”

“Well, come on, let’s get back to the ice. The Titov boys need to step it up a bit, slowing up the rest of the team,” Shea joked as he put his helmet back on.

Jakob laughed as he strapped his helmet after Shea skated off, then pinned Erik with a look.

“When you’re ready to tell me what’s going on, I’m here, but I’m not going to beg for the truth. Eventually it will all blow up. Remember, this is my family you’re screwing with. Don’t f**k her over; leave before you do anything stupid.”

With that, Jakob skated off as Erik stood there, buckling his helmet. He didn’t intend on doing anything stupid. He was going to do his best to keep this marriage with Piper until the baby was born. If only Jakob knew that he was doing this to avoid a trade and keep the family together, maybe he wouldn’t be such a jerk. Erik had always idolized his older brother, but at that moment, all he wanted to do was check him into the boards.

Erik loved his brother but growing up in Russia while Jakob was off in the United States playing hockey took a toll on their relationship. Jakob was fortunate to have been absent from Jasha’s abuse, which Erik took the brunt of. Even though Jakob was great at keeping in touch with him during those years, it wasn’t the same, and now that Erik had the chance to be near his brother, he didn’t want to lose it.

With another squirt of Gatorade, Erik threw his bottle down and then skated back out onto the ice for the rest of the Assassins’ torturous practice.

* * *

Erik was a little slow moving; his body ached from the tip of his toes to the top of his head. He was pretty sure he was going to have a huge-ass bruise on his ribs from where Lucas Brooks knocked him into the boards.

He made his way to his locker room and sat down on the bench to rest before removing all his gear. As he undressed for the showers he noticed Phillip coming back with his towel swung low. Curious as to what Phillip had planned for the night, Erik asked, “Want to get lunch at Dave and Buster’s? Play some games, drink some beer?”

Phillip shook his head.

“Sorry, man, I got two hot babes coming to the house.”

Erik’s libido kicked in; he and Phillip had the same taste when it came to women, so if Phillip thought they were hot, then they were.

“Must be nice.”

“It is. You can have one if you’d like.”

Yes was on the tip of his tongue, but he shook his head.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Good man, Erik, I’m proud of you,” Phillip said, pulling his jeans up. “You have a gorgeously hot wife at home; go bang her.”

“No banging, remember?” Erik said sadly.

“Well, that’s not cool; you need to change that rule. Someone as gorgeous as Piper needs some lovin’ and if you aren’t going to do the deed, pass her over to me.”

For some reason that statement bothered Erik, igniting an unbelievable need to knock Phillip’s teeth to the back of his throat.

“Not going to happen,” Erik muttered as he stood and made his way to the shower.

Over his shoulder he called, “See ya later.”

“Later.”

Erik let his towel drop before he stepped under the stream of hot water. Steam filled the shower and Erik found himself leaning against the tile as the water ran over his tired body. Like always, his mind went to her, and he wondered what she was doing. In the last two days of being around Piper he noticed that she drew a lot, and also liked to read and sleep. She was in bed by eight and woke at six each morning. She had a weird routine, compared to his, anyway, and he found himself wondering what she was thinking about most of the time. Most of the women he knew did not care for Stanley; they told him his dog was disgusting looking and loud. Piper seemed to adore him and would take him out to play with his ball. When she sat on the couch to read she’d bury her feet underneath Stanley’s fat as Erik would try to play his game, which was practically impossible to do when Piper was anywhere near him.

Moving his hands through his hair, he closed his eyes and let the water hit him in his face. It was going to be another couple of hours until they had to go to Audrey’s thing, and going home to that small house of Piper’s that smelled like apple blossoms was unbearable. He needed to stay away, even if he didn’t have anything to do. Usually he enjoyed being home, but being in the same space with Piper was getting to be really hard. His body wanted hers bad.

After washing up, he wrapped a towel around his waist and headed back to his locker. It looked like the guys had already cleared out, except for Shea, who was still there tying up his shoes. Erik tossed the towel aside and pulled on a pair of boxers, then jeans, just as Shea cleared his throat.