Page 45 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Wednesday

The next few days were full of celebrating and laughter and probably too much champagne for an addict and someone underage.

But I was too happy to care. Ellen seemed the most excited.

Followed by Dr. Clark. And I was pretty sure that Melissa was actually starting to not hate me.

Everything seemed perfect. But…there was one tiny problem.

Today we were going to New York City to hunt for apartments.

I wanted Ian to drive us. I was used to him driving me around.

But I still hadn’t told Penny about him.

Or the cameras. I was most nervous about the cameras.

I should have confessed everything before I asked her to marry me.

But I’d done what I’d done and now I just needed to rip the Band-Aid off.

“Are we all ready to go?” Rob asked.

I still wasn’t sure why he was coming with us. But…whatever. “Um, could you maybe give us a second alone?”

“Yeah, give us the room, Penny. James needs to talk to me bro-to-bro.”

Penny laughed. “I think James was referring to me and him.”

“Oh.” Rob shrugged. “Sure. I’ll just wait patiently on the couch.”

He plopped down on the couch, where he could still clearly hear us from the kitchen. I shook my head. But it didn’t matter, Rob already knew all this. And he’d just bug me for the details later anyway.

“I need to tell you something,” I said.

Penny leaned against the kitchen island. “Okay.”

An awkward silence hung in the air between us.

“Are you going to tell me what it is?” she asked.

I laughed uneasily. “Of course.” But still I didn’t say it.

“This reminds me a lot of the time when you said we needed to talk. And I jumped to the conclusion that you were breaking up with me because I watch too much T.V. Is this one of those situations? Or not? Because the way you’re looking at me makes it actually seem like whatever you’re about to say is bad. ”

“It’s not bad,” I quickly said. Even though it actually was.

“You’re kind of freaking me out. What’s going on? Are you having cold-feet about NYC?”

“No. Definitely not.”

“Okay…” she said again.

Fuck, how do I word this?

“James, just tell me.”

“Remember when I told you about how the elevator has a camera in it?”

“Yeah.”

Well…she didn’t seem upset when I’d first told her. And she didn’t seem upset now. Just rip the Band-Aid off! “The camera in the elevator wasn’t set up by the apartment.”

For a second she just looked confused. “Is there like a peeper problem in this apartment or something?”

Oh, fuck me. I’m the peeper problem.

Rob laughed.

Dude! I glared at him, but he was just looking at his phone, pretending not to listen.

“Should we call the cops or something?” Penny asked.

“Not unless you want me to go to jail.”

“Wait, what?”

“I put the camera in the elevator. They’re also all over the apartment. And a few scattered around campus. One might even be outside your dorm?” I said the last one like a question because each time I mentioned the location of cameras, her face looked paler and paler.

Rob laughed again.

Shut it, Rob!

Penny opened her mouth and then closed it again. “You’ve been watching me? The…the whole time?”

“No, not the whole time. It started at the country club…”

“You have cameras there too?!”

“For security reasons. I put them up purely for security reasons.”

“So you put a camera outside my dorm for security reasons?”

“We were on a break and I was worried about you.”

Her face softened. “James.”

“Yes?”

She gave an exasperated sigh. “What the hell?”

“You know I was tinkering with starting a new tech company. This technology is the start of it. The cameras are virtually undetectable, but the live feed is still really clear. It’s amazing quality.”

“So you’re watching me in high-def?”

“No. Well…yes.” This wasn’t coming out right. “Penny, I started working on it when we were dating. And then I got a little obsessed with it while we were on a break.”

“Obsessed with playing around with the tech? Or obsessed with watching me?”

“Both?”

“James.”

I tried to flash her that smile that she loved. “Penny.”

“You can’t get out of this by smiling at me like that.” She lightly hit my chest. “But at least you’re not recording it, right? You said it’s just a live feed?”

“I mean…there is a record feature.”

“Do you use it?”

I shrugged.

“James, do you use it?”

“It was never my intention to watch it back. But, Penny…I missed you.”

She didn’t look at all sympathetic.

“And…the footage is really hot.”

Rob snickered from the couch again.

Dude, seriously, stop! You’re not helping.

Penny opened her mouth and then closed it again. “Is there a camera in the bedroom?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

“Where else?” She looked up at the ceiling like she was trying to find one.

But of course there wasn’t one in the middle of the ceiling. It was in the corner of the kitchen. “There’s one or two in every room. To see all the angles.”

She just stared at me.

“And at the country club there was one in that private room we dined in.”

“You recorded our date?”

I knew what she was asking. Did I record her on her knees with my cock down her throat. God, that footage was my favorite. I nodded.

“But you’re the only one watching it, right?” her voice was hushed, but the words rushed out. She glanced at Rob who was still staring at his phone but definitely eavesdropping.

Fuck. She seemed a little perturbed about the cameras. But she seemed actually mad that someone else might be watching. And no, Rob wasn’t. But Ian definitely was. He was literally watching us right now and probably laughing his ass off.

“James,” Penny said. “Please tell me you’re the only one watching.” She nodded her head toward Rob.

Rob laughed again.

“Are you listening to this whole conversation?” Penny asked him.

“Of course I am. This is wildly entertaining.”

“Then if your brother can’t answer the question, you answer it. Is he the only one watching the video footage?”

“I’d pay top dollar for that footage,” Rob said.

Penny’s face turned bright red. “Does that mean you have paid for it? James, are you selling sex tapes of us?!”

“What? No. Rob, cut it out.”

“This isn’t Rob’s fault! He’s not the one filming me.”

“It’s for security reasons…”

“James, you haven’t answered my question. Are you the only one watching it?”

Rob laughed again. “You’re in so much trouble, man.”

Stop it! He was making this all sound so much worse than it was.

I was about to open my mouth and tell her about Ian when a ring sounded through the apartment, letting me know we had a visitor.

Thank God. I needed to figure out a better way to word this because she was clearly most upset about other people watching it.

“Saved by the bell,” Rob said.

I opened up the elevator doors and Ian stepped out.

What the hell? Hadn’t he been watching?! This wasn’t exactly a good time.

“This is spectacular timing, Ian,” Rob said. “Couldn’t be better.”

I looked over at Penny. Her cheeks were still flushed and she just looked…confused. Which made sense. Because this whole situation was fucked. “Um…hey, Ian,” I said. “Despite what Rob just said, it’s not a great time. We’ll be down in a few minutes.”

“I saw what was going on,” he whispered. “I’m here to help.”

How? “I don’t think you can help with this. Just give me a minute to tell her about you.”

He shook his head. “You’re floundering. I’ve got this.” He walked past me. “Hi, you must be Penny,” Ian said and stuck his hand out for her. “I’m Ian.”

“Hi,” Penny said and shook his hand. “I’m sorry, you walked in at a really weird moment.” She shook her head like she was trying to shake away all the questions she still had for me. “You said your name was Ian? How do you know James?”

“I was just about to tell you,” I said. “Ian is…”

“I’m his driver,” Ian said. “Just his driver. That’s my job description.”

Sorry…what?

“You’re James’ driver?” Penny looked back and forth between us.

“Yup,” Ian said. “That’s my job. I’m a normal driver person.”

What the fuck is he doing?

“He’s never mentioned having a driver,” Penny said.

“Ah, yeah, well he didn’t need my services since moving here. But he called me up and said that the two of you are moving to New York. So I came down for just the day to drive you two to the city…”

“And me,” Rob said. “I’m coming too.”

“To drive the three of you to the city, yeah.”

Wow. Lies on top of lies. I was trying to be honest here…

“So you worked for James while he was living in the city?” Penny asked. “And he just hired you back?”

“Yup. Because you’ll need a driver again there. Trust me, navigating the subway or taxis is a nightmare.”

She really shouldn’t trust him because he was lying through his teeth.

“Oh, okay,” Penny said. “Well, it’s great to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Really?” Penny blushed again.

“Mhm. James talks about you all the time. I feel like I’ve known you for weeks.”

Because you’ve been watching her…

Penny smiled. “Aw well that’s really sweet.” She turned her smile to me.

Wait, had Ian actually just gotten Penny to calm down about all this? But that didn’t matter. Because Ian had just added on more lies and I was trying to come clean.

“Well this has been a very interesting turn of events.” Rob got off the couch and joined us in the kitchen. “I’ll roll with it. Ready to go apartment hunting?”

“You really don’t have to come,” I said.

“Of course I do. I need to make sure I like my room. I get the final say.”

Was he being serious right now? We weren’t picking a place based off of the guest room.

Penny just laughed. “Okay, yeah, let’s go.”

She really seemed good. And Penny wasn’t great at hiding her emotions. Like when she’d basically yelled at me during one of her Comm speeches.

Rob escorted her toward the elevators.

Ian went to follow, but I put my hand on his shoulder.

“What the hell, man?” I said. “I was trying to come clean to her.”

“I know. And you were doing a great job,” he said sarcastically.

“And you think adding more lies on top of it makes it better?”

“She was already upset about the cameras. Imagine how she would have reacted when you told her a stranger was watching the live feed?”

I pressed my lips together.

“She’s not used to this lifestyle, James. For right now, she doesn’t need to know how much security is implemented into your everyday life. You don’t want to freak her out. This is all a lot to get used to. Especially when you add a big move on top of it.”

That was true… “So you want her to believe that you’re just our driver?”

He smiled. “I’ve always wanted to do undercover work.”

“I don’t know, Ian. I think just telling her the truth might be better.”

“Trust me on this. She’ll be more comfortable thinking I’m just her driver. For now. You can come clean about all this later once you’re settled into your new routine in NYC.”

He did have a good point. I slowly nodded. “I guess so. You really think this is a good idea?”

“Yeah. I think it’s for the best. Besides, I want her to like me. And if you immediately tell her I watch you guys have sex, it’s a bad first impression.”

He was probably right about that. I’d tell Penny eventually.

After she calmed down about the cameras.

Although…she already seemed pretty calm.

She was laughing about something with Rob in front of the elevator.

But she still probably had questions. I’d handle all this first and then tell Penny about Ian’s actual job title.

The elevator doors opened and Penny smiled at me over her shoulder. “Are you guys coming?”

I felt like she was still going to give me hell. But I couldn’t resist her when she smiled at me like that.