Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,255

worse.

How was I supposed to live with this kind of rage? A blinding, uncontrollable, painful anger squeezed my chest and tore through my veins. It hurt. It pissed me off. It exhausted me.

And it endangered everyone who dared get close to me.

I left the facility. That’d probably get me reamed out later, but at least I wouldn’t blackout rage in the safety of my own house.

I hoped.

I hid in my weight room for the afternoon. Most sane and rational people would have let me be, let me seethe around my machines and weights. Most normal women would have avoided me until I was too exhausted to care about anything but dragging my ass to bed.

Not Piper.

The woman didn’t have an iron will, she had brass fucking balls.

And she was pissed.

This wasn’t going to be good. Piper tapped the baby monitor in her hand. The kid was napping. Christ only knew what would happen now. The best and worst moments of my life occurred the instant Rose fell asleep.

“You’re the only man I know who gets angry after sex,” she said.

“And you’re the only woman who’d confront me about it.”

“After the first night we spent together…you took off without a word. Without even a goodbye before you left for the game.”

“Okay?”

“Then yesterday, out of nowhere, you fuck me, drop me, then insult me.”

“I’m not a compassionate kind of guy after my balls are drained.”

“Oh, but you’re very eloquent.”

“I never made any promises about sweet nothings in your ear, did I, beautiful?”

Mistake. Piper was a five-foot-tall firecracker, and I just lit the fuse.

“I wasn’t looking for flowers or candy, thank you very much,” she said.

“Just wanted to get off on the biggest cock you could find?”

“No.” Piper stared me down. “I wanted to get off on your cock. And I did.”

I didn’t want to think about what that meant. “Then unless you’re looking to make the third time the charm—”

“I’m not here to fuck you.”

“And I’m not in the mood for company.”

I settled onto the bench and prepared to lift. Piper slammed the baby monitor on a rack of weights next to me. Great. Now my ears strained to hear. Was it static or was the kid crying?

Just interference, but I couldn’t relax.

“You’re making my life exceedingly hard, Cole.”

“What did I do? I haven’t even seen you today.”

“You got in a fight in the locker room.”

I brushed the powder off my hands in preparation for the lift. “Come here to scold me? If you want to play mommy, go take care of your baby.”

“You are such a jackass.” Piper fumed. “Do you want me to leave? Just say it. Believe me, Cole, you’re not giving me much of a reason to stick around—in your house or as your agent.”

“Did I ask you to leave?”

“No, but you’re acting like a jerk. Like you don’t care about anything, even your own career. Do you have any idea the problems a fight with Tim Morgan can cause you?”

I wasn’t an idiot. “Tim ran his mouth.”

“He’s the face of the Monarchs. He’s the one the team will protect, not you.”

“Think I don’t know that?”

“Stop this pissing contest with him. Measure your dick some other way.”

And let that jackass dishonor her? Insinuate her baby was anything but a goddamned miracle of smiles and giggles?

I should have knocked him out cold.

I said nothing. Piper lost her patience.

“Don’t you get it? The Monarchs only need a reason to cut you. It doesn’t have to be at the end of the season. They could call me right now.”

“Don’t tell me you want a trade again.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to risk everything because Tim Morgan is an asshole.” Piper paced the room, ready to blow. “I had a sponsorship deal lined up for you—the cover of League 2017.”

Oh. Fuck. Since when did she score endorsement deals?

“Forget it,” she said. “It’s done. The fight was already mentioned on Twitter. Give it until seven o’clock when Ainsley Ruport picks up the story, and the game will drop you.”

“Then I lose a sponsorship. So what?”

“It’s a million-dollar deal!”

“Do I look like I need another million dollars?” I sat up, loving how Piper couldn’t resist a glance at my abs. “There’s probably rooms in this house you haven’t even seen yet, beautiful. Why don’t you go get lost?”

She seethed, but she wasn’t an idiot. She stared at me, beyond the muscles and sweat, headphones crackling with white noise, and my scowl meant to drive her away.

“You’d do anything to avoid attention, wouldn’t you?” she