Page 47 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Wednesday

All of the places we’d already seen were close to Penny’s new campus.

I thought it would be nice if she didn’t have to sit in half hour traffic every time she went to class.

And even though I was used to being on the Upper East Side, I didn’t necessarily think it would be a good idea to live there again.

I hadn’t been my best self there. And I didn’t want to ever slip into old habits.

Besides, Isabella still lived there. I didn’t want to run into her ever.

This was Penny and my fresh start. Together.

And that meant somewhere new for both of us.

But Rob had vetoed all of the nice places near NYCU.

For a variety of reasons. One had a tub that was too small.

He said the walls in one of the apartments were too smooth.

Whatever the hell that meant. He didn’t like the color granite in the kitchen of the next.

He vetoed another because he wanted key cards instead of actual keys.

And then he vetoed the next because he wanted actual keys instead of keycards.

He couldn’t make up his mind. He was…an annoying son of a bitch.

And I could accurately say that because my mom was a bitch.

There was only one apartment left. Penny stared out the window as we drove farther north.

Closer to Central Park. Closer to the New York City I was used to.

And for some reason my heart started racing.

We’d visited NYC once before. And I’d been fine.

Happy. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little concerned about my control slipping in this environment.

Dr. Clark would probably tell me that avoidance wasn’t helpful. Or something like that.

But I’d wanted Penny to choose something really close to campus. And honestly, I didn’t even know if she’d liked any of the places because Rob’s opinions were very loud.

Penny stepped out of the car before Ian or I had a chance to open her door for her. She still wasn’t used to being taken care of the way I wanted to take care of her. I grabbed her hand.

“I’m sorry Rob hated all those places,” I said. “I was really hoping for us to be close to campus so it would be an easy commute for you. If you liked any of them we could go back and look just the two of us…”

“I want your brother to want to visit. He makes you so happy.”

I shrugged. I just wanted Penny to be happy.

“So where are we now?” she asked. “I’m all turned around.”

“We’re about halfway between campus and Central Park.”

She smiled up at me. “Blive Tech was close to Central Park, right?”

I nodded.

“Do you think when you start your new company you’ll want another office around there?”

“Maybe.” It depended on a lot of things.

How in-control I felt. How good I was. If I could convince Dr. Clark to move to New York.

I had an idea for that. I wanted to offer him a permanent position at my new company.

An on-site therapist. Mainly for my sake.

But it would be a nice perk for employees.

And he’d have a hard time turning it down because I was going to pay him whatever he wanted.

In the meantime, I could talk to him on the phone.

I’d been doing that a lot recently anyway.

“Well, wouldn’t a place in between campus and your new office be perfect then? Let’s go see it.” She intertwined her fingers with mine.

I always felt better when our skin touched. The concierge was nice at this one. And it had a garage beneath with direct access up to the penthouse apartment, just like back in Newark. In case I didn’t want to see anyone. I rarely wanted to see anyone.

“Key cards,” Rob said. “I like this place already. We’re going to need three,” he said to Evelyn.

“We don’t know if we want this place yet,” I said. “And we’ll only need two keys.”

“Three keys,” Rob whispered to Evelyn, loudly enough for me to hear.

Rob could visit whenever he wanted. But no key. I didn’t want him to walk in on me and Penny. I had a bad habit of taking Penny’s clothes off as soon as we were alone. And Ian watching was one thing. Rob was another entirely.

We walked into the apartment. Light was actually filtering into the main living space. It had a view that overlooked several other buildings. It felt open and spacious. And I breathed a little easier when I wasn’t staring at a wall outside my window.

“Wow,” Penny said and looked up the stairs.

It wasn’t quite a second story. There was only one bedroom up there. But it was nice to have the separation. There was an office. Two guest rooms. A place to put my pool table. And not a single cockroach. It was about the same size as my place in Newark. It felt…right.

We walked into the kitchen.

“Now this is more what I was expecting,” Rob said and ran his hands along the granite.

Penny smiled as she turned around in a circle. She turned toward me and her face grew serious. “It’s not quite cozy,” she said.

Oh. I tried to hide the disappointment on my face. For a second, I’d thought she loved it too. I didn’t really know what to say. We’d spent all day looking.

“But it will be,” she said and her smile cracked through. “Once we decorate.”

“Yeah? You like it?”

“I love it.” She was practically beaming. “And it’s perfect that it’s right in between my school and your soon to be offices. Could we walk to Central Park do you think?”

“It’s a couple miles away, but yeah. We could. Or we could get Ian to give us a lift.”

She couldn’t stop smiling.

So I couldn’t stop smiling. “It’s the one right?”

“If you love it,” she said.

“I really do. But I only want it if you do too.” It was close to her campus. And far enough away from the Upper East Side that I’d still be able to breathe easily. It was perfect. But only if she was all in.

“I love it too,” she said and clasped her hands behind my neck.

I could feel the metal of her engagement ring against my skin. She was mine. I ran the tip of my nose down the length of hers.

“Don’t you want to know what I think?” Rob asked.

“This really isn’t about you, man,” Ian said.

Rob sighed. “Bros before hoes, Ian.”

I cleared my throat and glared at him.

Rob lifted his hands. “I wasn’t calling Penny a hoe. You know what I meant.”

Penny laughed. “It’s fine. What do you think, Rob?”

“I think my bedroom is the perfect size for entertaining.”

“No,” I said firmly.

“We’ll talk about it later,” he said and winked at me before turning to Evelyn. “It’s the one. We’ll take it.”

“How much is it a month?” Penny asked. She bit her lip as she braced herself to hear the amount.

But Penny was not working while she was in school. And she didn’t need to know how much the place cost. I wanted to take care of her. We’d found a place we both loved. And I wanted to start our future right here.

Evelyn looked at her notes. “It’s…”

“Rob’s right,” I said, cutting her off. “We’ll take it.”

Penny looked up at me. “James. I…”

“Just help me make it our home, Penny.” I cradled her face in my hands. “It’s us against the world now, baby.”

Tears started welling her eyes. “I love you so much.”

“I love it so much!” Rob yelled and hopped up on the kitchen counter.

“It’s actually us and your brother against the world,” Penny said. She laughed and I held her tighter.

The smell of her cherry perfume surrounded me. I never had to wake up another day without her by my side. I closed my eyes and breathed her in. I wasn’t sure why I was so worried about being back in town. Penny grounded me. She was all I needed.

***

The next few days were a whirlwind of packing and goodbyes.

Well, goodbyes for Penny. Everyone I knew was coming with me.

Except Dr. Clark. I still hadn’t convinced him yet.

But he’d seemed intrigued when I offered him a permanent spot at my new company.

Once everything was up and running, he wouldn’t be able to resist.

But Penny’s teary goodbyes with her friends made me nervous. What if she missed Melissa too much? What if NYC never felt quite like home?

“Take care of my girl,” Melissa said and gave me a hug.

“I will. I promise.”

She nodded like she believed me this time. She went back over to her boyfriend, Josh. He put his arm around her. She turned her head to hide her tears.

I felt like I was pulling Penny away from happiness. But we’d talked about it. We’d decided to move together. I tried to let go of the guilt gripping my chest.

Slow goodbyes were never a forte of mine. “Penny, we should go if we’re going to beat traffic.” Traffic was always bad. But it was especially bad this close to the weekend.

She nodded. “Just one more thing.” She walked over to Tyler.

I tried not to eavesdrop on Penny saying goodbye to Tyler. But their hug lasted a beat too long for my liking. He kissed the side of her forehead and I turned away. I wanted to pull Penny over my shoulder, throw her in the tub, and scrub off any remnant of Tyler from her skin.

We waved goodbye and climbed into my car. Ian pulled away from the curb. Ellen would be meeting us in New York. She was just making sure everything was “packed right” by the service we hired. I had no idea what she meant by that. Weren’t the guys we hired the experts? But she’d insisted.

“I’m going to miss everyone,” Penny said.

“Melissa can visit whenever she wants.”

“I know. And at least Tyler will be coming to New York after graduating,” Penny said and rested her head on my shoulder.

Right. Oh joy. The little prick was not going to be hanging out one-on-one with Penny in NYC. Over my dead body. Breathe.

Rob turned around from the front seat. “It’s weird that you’re friends with a guy, Penny. Haven’t you ever heard that guys and girls can’t be just friends?”

Penny laughed. “You and I are just friends, Rob.”

“ Are we though ?”

“Yes,” she said firmly.

I tried not to laugh.

“Well, it’s only because of bros before hoes,” Rob said.

“Dude, stop saying that,” Ian said as he hit his turn signal. “It’s disrespectful.”

“You know what’s disrespectful? You hitting on our sister.”

“I haven’t been hitting on your sister.”

“Mhm.” Rob cleared his throat. “Oh, hey, Jen,” Rob said in a very good impersonation of Ian. “Yeah, we’re coming back to New York. So when you’re in the city I can drive you around again. Or pick you up from the airport. Or anything else you need .”

“How is that hitting on your sister? I always used to drive Jen around. I’m being helpful.”

“Car sex is a thing,” Rob said. “We’ve all done it. And you’re car sexing our sister, Ian.”

“I am not.”

“I’m pretty sure you are.” Rob cleared his throat again to impersonate Ian. “Jen, let me show you how to drive my stick.”

“You’re the disrespectful one,” Ian said. “Talking about your sister like that. I’m sure Jen already knows how to drive stick real well.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Rob said.

Ian laughed. “I was just kidding.”

Rob turned around to look at us. “Can you believe this guy? I think we should hire Brendan as your driver instead, James. Brendan gets me. And he only hits on Penny, not our sister.”

“It’s a pass from me,” I said. I did not need Rob and Brendan around hitting on Penny all the time. “And if Ian says nothing is going on between him and Jen, I believe him.”

“It’s not,” Ian said.

Rob shook his head. “Lies. I’m calling it. They’re shagging.”

I cleared my throat, trying to think of something to change the subject.

“Want to play a game?” Penny asked, helping me out.

I smiled down at her.

“Let’s play I spy. I spy with my little eye…something…blue.”

I stared into her blue eyes. I knew that wasn’t the thing she was spying. But it was easy to pass the time staring into her eyes.