Blue Lines: The Assassins Series: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance (3 page)

“Why not? I would do it for you.” Harper’s shock at Piper’s statement was obvious,
as was the hurt in her voice.

“And I would do it for you if I could, but I can’t,” Piper said quickly, her heart
pounding in her chest.

“Well, why the hell not?”

Piper’s tears began to fall and without much more thought, she said what she should
have said five months ago: “Because I’m already pregnant.”

Erik Titov didn’t feel good about this.

Something was off. He should have known something was up when his boss’s assistant
called him that morning to schedule an appointment for a meeting. He had a feeling
that meant it wouldn’t be just the two of them discussing his career aspirations and
the option for him to become the alternate captain. Alex Welch was on the injured
list with a concussion and the probability of him returning for the rest of the season
was slim. Erik had been very vocal the past few days about wanting Alex’s job for
the interim. But as he walked into the meeting room and saw not only Elli, but also
his agent, his coach, and Elli’s uncle, who also owned the team, he developed a nasty
feeling in the bottom of his stomach.

Shit, what have I done?

As Erik moved his thumb along the palm of his hand, he searched his brain for a reason
for this impromptu meeting as he confidently walked into the conference room, closing
the door behind him. His contract wasn’t up yet, so that couldn’t be it. Plus, he
knew that Elli wouldn’t trade him, at least not with the way he was playing right
now; he was doing a damn fine job, if he did say so himself. Besides all that, the
Assassins were known as a team that thought of family first. And Erik was family … at
least he thought he was.

No, he had to be. There was no questioning that. When Jakob and Shea Adler, the team’s
co-captain, became friends, Erik had always thought of Shea as an older brother, too.
Shea would do anything for Jakob and Erik; he was that kind of guy. When Shea married
Elli and Jakob married her best friend, Harper, Erik became part of this huge loving
family and he needed that. Elli knew how important that was to him, too …

Right?

Pushing aside his nervous thoughts, he said, “Afternoon, everyone.”

No one smiled, not even Elli, as she pointed to the seat at the end of the table.
“Have a seat, Mr. Titov.”

Oh fuck, this is not good
, Erik thought as he inhaled deeply. He sat down like he was asked and noticed that
his agent, Koey Lefeber, wouldn’t even look at him.

Yup, not good at all
.

“You’re probably wondering why you’re here,” Elli said in her thick southern accent,
causing Erik’s nervousness to subside some. Since the day he met Elli, he always loved
how country she was, and the thicker the accent, he learned over a short time, the
better her mood. Erik liked her as a boss and a friend and always felt comfortable
around her.

“Well, Mrs. Adler, I am,” he said, receiving a pointed look from her.
Hmm, that’s not good
. Maybe he shouldn’t have greeted her so formally.

He hadn’t called her Mrs. Adler a day in his life; it had always been
Elli
—all of this formality was putting him on edge.

What was going on?

“It’s simple, really,” she said before coming around the table with her arms full
of what looked like books. It wasn’t until she threw down each magazine in front of
him and as each landed with a loud thud that he realized what this was all about.
Looking up at him were tabloid pictures of himself with the various girls he’d been
with over the last few months, hanging all over him as he drank it up with his wingman
and best friend, Phillip Anderson.

“Nine magazines, Erik. Nine.”

Erik looked from the covers to his boss and smiled. “What can I say? I’m a popular
guy, Mrs. Adler.”

Elli glared before smacking her hand onto the table, causing him to jump in surprise.
“You are giving off the wrong image! I shouldn’t have to come in here and do this.
You should be an adult and professional enough to understand this type of behavior
is frowned upon. I should be at home with my children right now, not here chastising
you for being a man-whore!”

“Hey, that’s a little harsh,” Koey said from behind her.

Elli quickly turned and pinned him with a look, which prompted Koey to shut his mouth.
Then the look traveled back over to Erik.

It didn’t bother him, though. She couldn’t be too serious about this. He wasn’t the
only guy that had a little fun—girls were available and what else was a guy to do
while on the road and in a strange city, trying to waste away time after a game? Shrugging
his shoulders, he said, “I’m having fun, Elli.”

“You are my starter, my lead scorer, one of the best on the ice. You are playing on
a line with the greatest defensive duo in the league, alongside two other great players!
I understand that
you are having fun and I know as a young star hockey player you are flattered by all
this attention, but Erik, you have the hockey world watching you and you are out of
control!”

“So?” Erik said with another shrug of his shoulders. “People expect this from me.
I’m just doing what I’m supposed to.”

Elli glared and said, “You are hurting the team.”

“How? By having fun?”

“You are giving off the impression that this is a party team and not a serious, hardworking
one!”

Erik scoffed. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

Elli glared back. “Erik, you don’t get it. It is a big deal because I say it is, understand?
I say your behavior is just wrong. Three girls have said the baby they had was yours
and two others have made claims that you also are the father of their child.”

Erik rolled his eyes. “All of them were proven wrong through DNA tests, and that last
girl got Phillip and me confused. On top of it all, Phillip said he wore a condom,
so I don’t know if that claim is sound, either. What other girl said I got her pregnant?
Not that it matters, because I always wrap my stuff up.”

Well, not always, but that had been almost six months ago. It wasn’t his greatest
decision, but that night with his brother’s sister-in-law was one for the books and
thankfully nothing came from that, either. Too much happened in that room, and he
was glad to bury his face between the legs of the many females who followed, just
to forget
her
. Not that it worked all that well, as he still thought about her way more than he
should.

Redirecting his thoughts from his brother’s hot sister-in-law and back to his boss,
he saw that she was not too pleased with him as she shook her head saying, “Don’t
you get it? That’s one too many! The media and NHL are accusing me of not doing my
job because I’m letting you do what you please, but no more! This has gotten way out
of hand. I thought you’d correct this yourself after time but you’ve not slowed down
your behavior one bit, and I can’t wait any longer to address this.”

She moved away from him and walked toward the front of the table. Erik watched as
she picked up a file before sliding it down the center of the table. “You are on probation.”

“Probation?” Erik said, shocked, as he reached for the file and looked down at it.
Surely he’d heard her wrong.

“Yes, for the rest of the summer. You are a free agent, Erik. I can either let you
go or keep you. There are loads of reasons why I shouldn’t keep you.”

“What?” he asked incredulously.

When he looked up to meet her sad green eyes, his gut fell. She didn’t want to let
him go as much as he didn’t want to leave. This was her team, her image, and if he
was honest with himself, he had been careless the last couple of months. What she
didn’t understand was that he was trying to forget, trying to cloud his mind. He didn’t
like the feeling he got when he thought of
her
, Piper.

“What does this entail, Mrs. Adler?” Koey asked as he reached for the file and started
reading.

“It means that if he messes up one more time, he is gone.”

Her gaze held his as his brain tried to comprehend her words. Surely this wasn’t happening.

“You’re bluffing,” Erik said with scorn. “You wouldn’t get rid of me. I’m one of the
best on the team. Come on, Elli, you can’t be serious.”

“The best or not,
Mr. Titov
, you are tainting the image of the Assassins,” Michael Fisher said. Erik’s eyes cut
from Elli’s to the primary owner of the team. Michael Fisher was older now, and looked
every one of his sixty-nine years. His green eyes were still sharp, and Erik knew
from the anger shown on his face that he was in deep shit. “I didn’t start this team
with talent. I started this team with hardworking, good men. If we don’t feel you
fall into that category, you’re gone.”

Erik inhaled a ragged breath before looking over at Koey. “What the hell, man? I mean,
is this fair?”

Koey laid the file down before looking up at Elli, Mr. Fisher, and Coach Bacter. “Excuse
us for a moment. I need to have a word with my client.”

For fuck sakes!

Erik followed his agent out of the office and shut the door behind them. Koey quickly
turned around with a worried look on his face. “I told you to calm it down.”

“What? I’m not that bad! Phillip is worse!”

Koey took a step closer, moving his hands in conjunction with every word that came
out of his mouth. “No! He has kept a low profile. He doesn’t do anything to provoke
the paparazzi. You, on the other hand, do anything you can to get their attention!”

Erik shook his head in denial.

“I do not. I’m only having a good time. This is stupid. Fine, if she wants me off
the team, move me to New York. I’ll be closer to my parents, at least.”

Koey looked up at the ceiling before letting out a long breath. When his blue eyes
met Erik’s, he knew something was terribly wrong. “I hate to tell you this, but no
one wants you, Erik. You’ve tarnished your reputation to the point that no one wants
to deal with your shenanigans.”

The air rushed out of Erik as he braced himself against the wall. How could he be
so out of touch with all that was going on? “What?”

“Elli’s been at me for the past six months regarding your behavior. I’ve told you
to cool it and you’ve just continued with the drinking and females. She is pissed,
and has apparently been talking to the other teams about your performance. Hell, they
can pick up a tabloid and see for themselves!”

“My performance has not been affected by my partying.”

“Not yet, but it will be. But what has been affected is your reputation, and that
I can’t fix. I don’t know what you want me to do.”

Erik threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. “Fix it! Make this probation shit
go away!”

“I can’t,” Koey said with a shake of his head. “You either sign it, or she’ll let
you go and more than likely you’ll get picked up by some crap-ass minor team somewhere
far from your family.”

Erik covered his face with his hands, his heart banging against his chest as he took
in long breaths to calm himself down. This couldn’t be happening. Why would Elli do
this? So what if he had been in and out of the media a lot lately? If he remembered
correctly, Shea and Jakob used to be just as bad. Plus, what about Phillip? He may
have calmed it down a bit but there were still women leaving their house at all hours
of the night.

“This is insane,” he muttered.

Koey nodded, running his hands through his thick hair before looking up at Erik. “Yeah,
but you brought it on yourself. Stop messing with crazy chicks and stay out of the
clubs or you are going to be out on your ass, Erik.”

No, he wasn’t. He wanted to play for the Assassins. He loved Nashville. He loved being
close to his friends and to his brother’s family. Everything was good here. The women
were plentiful and man, were they hot. He liked it that way and wasn’t going to change
because of some damn probation. If he needed to stay out of the public eye, he could
do that. No problem. But that didn’t mean he was going to change his ways. He was
happy, and he’d be damned if he was going to change that.

Nodding his head, he looked down at his agent and said, “Okay, no problem.”

“So you’ll stay out of the clubs? Away from the cameras?”

“Yeah.”

“And away from the women?”

“Not entirely, but I’ll be more discreet.”

“Cool, come on, let’s get this signed. But keep in mind, if you don’t abide by Elli’s
rules you are out and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Erik and Koey entered the room and saw that Elli was the only one sitting at the table.
She looked tired and part of him felt guilty for causing her so much stress. But the
other part was mad; he was being punished for being a guy who liked to have fun. How
was that fair?

Elli stood when the door shut behind them, and then crossed her arms. “Gentlemen?”

Erik wanted to roll his eyes, but instead he asked, “Where did Mr. Fisher and Bacter
go?”

“They had other things to do,” she said briskly before coming down to their end of
the table and laying a pen on the folder with the probation paperwork. “Sign it, Erik.
And don’t make any more mistakes.”

“I don’t plan on it,” he said through gritted teeth, reaching for the pen. He signed
his name and rolled his eyes as he leaned back into his chair.

“I don’t want to do this; you know that, don’t you?”

Erik looked up at Elli and saw that she meant what she said. She was a good person,
and a loving woman. He knew that she cared for him, but it still didn’t lessen his
anger. “I know, but it doesn’t change the situation, now does it?”

Elli shook her head. “No, but hopefully you will.”

“What?” he asked, confused. “Change?”

“Yeah, because the way you’re living will get old. I can promise you that. I just
want you to be happy, safe, and the best you can be for the team and for yourself.
Maybe I am interfering with your private life, but when your private life is messing
with my team, then, I’m sorry, but
we have an issue.” She paused, then sat down by him, her eyes never leaving his. “I
care about you, and I don’t want to let you go, so please do right by this contract
and …” Elli paused again and Erik felt like she wanted to say something more, but
instead she said, “Just please, don’t mess up.”