Page 162 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10

Tuesday

“And how did relieving that night make you feel?” Dr. Clark asked.

I gripped my cell phone a little tighter. “It made me want to fix my relationships with my friends. And Rob. Starting with Rob. Which is good since he’s visiting this weekend.”

“That’s fantastic. Tell me more.”

“I miss them.”

“I can tell. You’ve isolated yourself in Delaware. And you think it’s time to stop doing that. I agree with you. That it’s time to move forward.”

“You do?”

“Well, earlier in the story, I wouldn’t have been as sure. The four of you together are trouble.”

I laughed. “Yeah.”

“But later in the story? You finally showed me the other moments. The ones I was digging for. The hard ones.”

“The end of the night is always shittier than the beginning.”

“But what if none of it has to be shitty?” Dr. Clark asked.

I nodded. “You mean with Penny?”

“James, were you happy in college? Truly happy?”

I took a deep breath. “No. I was miserable. Yes, I had fun with my friends. But I was drowning. I didn’t know what I wanted. I was…aimless.”

“And when you’re aimless, you…”

“Reach for vices.” I swallowed hard. Yeah.

“And now? How do you feel right now?”

“Sober.”

Dr. Clark laughed. “Besides sober. How does Penny make you feel?”

I smiled. “She makes me so happy. I don’t remember ever really feeling like this before. Ever.”

“So to answer my question from earlier. Now that you have the perspective of your own college years in the forefront…would you have given it all up? To be with Penny?”

“I would have traded it all to be with her. One hundred percent.”

“So you weren’t truly happy until you met Penny. And it might be the same case for her. If that’s true…the two of you can go anywhere and face anything and be okay.”

“You really think so?”

“I do. As long as you continue to be open and honest with her. Which includes having a hard conversation. Talking about her sophomore year and how she’s feeling before and after meeting you.”

“I don’t think she felt like she was drowning before she met me.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t make her happier, James.

That’s the key here. You said something near the end of that night you were reliving.

About how no one’s ever loved you. We’ve talked about this before.

About how you feel like you don’t deserve love.

That because of your past mistakes you’re unlovable.

But James, your friends love you. Even if you’ve drifted apart over the years, the four of you are bonded.

That doesn’t just fade away. And Penny loves you. ”

I swallowed hard. I knew that. I felt guilty for even thinking that back then. But now? I wouldn’t think it about Penny. I knew Penny loved me. Even the dark parts. I’d shown her every side of me. And she wasn’t running away. She was sleeping soundly in the other room. I yawned.

“Am I boring you?” Dr. Clark asked.

I laughed. “No, not at all. I just realized that I actually want to go to bed for once. Because she’s waiting for me in my bed.”

“Well I won’t hold you up. But when you wake up tomorrow, I want you to talk about all this. I want the two of you to move forward as a team. Do you think you can do that?”

I nodded. And then I realized he couldn’t see me. “Yeah. I can do that.” I wanted us to be a team. “But…” my voice trailed off.

“Spit it out, James.”

“You just said that when I’m aimless I reach for vices. If I’m forced to resign tomorrow after telling the dean the truth…I’ll be aimless again. I’ll slip.” It hadn’t been that long since I’d slipped the last time, and we both knew it.

“No you won’t. Because you’re going to focus on Penny. She’s helping you, James. And we both know it. You’ve been different since you met her. You’ve been better for her.”

I wasn’t sure why, but I felt myself tearing up. “That’s what I wanted. To be better for her.” I’d been so worried for so long that I’d break her because I was broken. But maybe I had it all wrong. Not about being broken. I was a fucking mess. But I wasn’t breaking her. Instead, she was healing me.

“And you told me you were focusing on a new business venture too, right? I think you’ll be plenty preoccupied. No matter what the two of you decide together.”

“Thanks, Dr. Clark. For that. And for taking my call so late.”

“Any time, James. And call me if you need to talk after the meeting with the dean. I have to admit, that I’m rather invested in how this is all going to unfold.”

I laughed. “Will do.”

“Have a good rest of your night, James.” He hung up.

And in the weirdest way, it felt like everything reset as soon as Dr. Clark hung up the phone. I’d promised myself that I’d be a better man for Penny. And…I was. Even Dr. Clark saw it. And now that I’d come clean about everything, I could be even better.

I pressed my lips together as I stared at the camera in the corner of my study.

Okay, maybe I hadn’t come clean about everything.

There was still the issue of the cameras.

But I’d tell her about those too. I’d get everything out in the open.

We’d be on equal footing. And we’d make a decision together, weighing all the options before we did anything.

I stood up and walked out of my office. I knew it was past midnight. But Penny would want to have this conversation. I walked into the bedroom and smiled at the smell of cherries.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the light. I sat down on the edge of the bed and pushed a strand of red hair out of her face.

I don’t think I’d ever seen her look so beautiful.

She looked ethereal in the moonlight peeking through the windows.

And I felt it again. That she was healing me.

Even touching her warm skin made it feel like the darkness was being chased out of me.

“I love you,” I whispered as I traced her freckles with my thumb.

My lawyer didn’t believe in us. But Dr. Clark did. Ian did. Ellen did.

And most importantly…I did.

Penny and I were a team. And we were going to get through this together. If I had to quit my job, she wouldn’t let me slip. Maybe we’d move to New York. Maybe we’d stay here. All that mattered was that we were together. And that we decided our future together.

I put my hand on her shoulder.

She moaned in her sleep and I smiled.

“Penny,” I whispered.

She moaned again and moved her head about, but she didn’t open her eyes.

I wondered what she was dreaming about.

She moaned again and I smiled. I had a feeling she might be dreaming about me. I couldn’t even count the times that she’d made appearances in my dreams. Ever since the first time she fell into my arms.

“Penny,” I whispered again. I was just about to nudge her awake when my phone buzzed. My hand fell from her shoulder. I grabbed my phone and stared down at a text from Ian.

“James, can you head back to your office for a minute so I can call you? Something’s come up.”

I frowned. I stared back at Penny still sleeping peacefully. Whatever Ian needed, it could wait. Penny and I wanted to come clean to the dean in the morning. We needed to discuss this. I texted Ian back, telling him I’d call him in the morning.

But he immediately texted back: “It can’t wait until morning.”

I frowned and stood up. Ian wouldn’t keep texting me if it wasn’t important. I glanced once more at Penny peacefully sleeping in my bed and walked back out into the hall.

I hit Ian’s name on my phone as I walked into my office.

“James,” he said. “I’m really sorry.”

“What’s going on?”

“I already tried everything I could.” There was a long pause. “It’s bad.”

My heart started racing. “Just tell me.”

“It’s Isabella.”

For fuck’s sake. Would this woman ever just let me be?

“She’s…she’s done something. And you’re not going to like it.”

I shook my head. “What could she have possibly done? The papers are signed. It’s done.

It’s over,” I added, as if that would make it true.

But my stomach was already twisting into knots.

All I could think about was Penny sleeping back in my bed.

I just wanted to ignore whatever Isabella had done, climb into bed, and pull Penny into my arms.

“Ah, fuck,” Ian said, delaying whatever horrible thing he was about to tell me. But then I heard him typing. And I realized that maybe something else had just come up. Like a string of bad events. Each one worse than the last.

For some reason my eyes landed on the invitation on my desk.

It was the key to my fresh start with my friends.

Hopefully a clean slate. But neither Matt nor Mason had signed it.

And honestly, it didn’t look like something they’d send.

They wouldn’t have sent anything at all.

They would have just texted me or something.

I couldn’t stop staring at the strange invitation. And then it hit me. I knew why the address sounded familiar. Mason had asked me and Matt and Rob to go there once to check out some real estate he was interested in. But Isabella showed up too and we’d all gotten into a huge fight.

So either Mason had finally bought that real estate and the invitation was to the grand opening of his sex club or something… Or Isabella sent that invitation as part of some crazy scheme to destroy my life. And I was scared that my friends might be collateral damage.

She was off her meds. And I knew what that meant. Rob, Matt, Mason, and I all knew what that meant. But I hadn’t warned them. If something happened, it would be my fault.

I’d finally felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders earlier today. Like I was free. But now it was back. Isabella preferred for me to stay in hell.

Penny was safe, fast asleep in my bed. That itself was a relief.

But I had no idea where the fuck my friends were.

And I had no idea what new game Isabella was trying to play with my life.

All I knew was that when I saw her earlier, I recognized that hollow look in her eyes.

And the last time I’d seen it, someone had wound up dead.

I took a deep breath. “Tell me what Isabella has done.”

***

What has Isabella done now?!

James Hunter has finally found happiness. But he’s still plagued by his past…and Isabella.

It’s time to move forward. It’s time to make amends.

James thinks of himself as a monster. But even monsters deserve to be loved.

Volume 11 of Forbidden Billionaires includes three novels: Loved , Scarlett and the Kiss Thief , and Scarlett and the Fake Boyfriend .