Page 6 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Wednesday

Kristen ran over, stopping way too close to me. She was wearing a sports bra that was definitely a size too small, because her breasts were practically pouring out. She wiped some sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

I silently cursed in my head. I’d been thinking about my stalker earlier and it was like I’d just willed her into existence again.

She gave me a sad smile. “I heard what happened. I can’t believe it. Are you alright?”

Am I alright? I wasn’t the one she should be worried about. I’d broken the rules. I’d slept with a student. I was the monster in this situation. It didn’t matter whether I was alright or not. I just stared at her.

“Some women, am I right?” She touched my shoulder.

I wasn’t sure if she was talking about Isabella or Penny. And I didn’t really care. I shifted my shoulder back so Kristen’s hand would drop. The last thing I needed was for there to be a picture circulating of me talking to Kristen. I looked around at the other students staring at us.

And no one looked mad at me. They looked more like Kristen. Sympathetic. And I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. They weren’t blaming me for this. They thought this was Penny’s fault. For fuck’s sake.

The article was pretty damning against me. And yet…I’d been worried about this. That some people would blame Penny. People really were ridiculous.

“I’m good, Kristen. If you’ll excuse me.”

“Well if you need anything.” She placed her hand on the center of my chest. “Anything at all. Even just a workout buddy to get rid of some of the stress of all this.”

Did she mean an actual workout buddy? Or like a…workout by having wild sex? By the way she was staring at me, it was definitely a sex thing. I’d slept with a student, yes. But it was singular. Why did everyone just assume that I’d slept with a ton of them?

Kristen had been pursuing me ever since I’d stepped foot on campus. She was probably shocked that I’d slept with a student that wasn’t her. But she just wasn’t my type. Her hair and figure reminded me too much of Isabella. I preferred the shy girl in the back row.

“I’m good,” I said again.

“Okay, Professor Hunter .” She said it in such a sultry way.

But it wasn’t the way Penny said it. God, I really loved the way Penny said it. Had Kristen missed the part of the article where I also said I was in love with Penny? She really needed to move on from this crush. “I’m not a professor here anymore.”

“Wait, what?” Her eyes grew round.

“Now if you’ll excuse me.” I walked past her and climbed into my car.

I was half expecting her to force herself into my passenger seat. But I was glad that she turned around and continued on her run. Hopefully she’d find someone more suited for her soon so that I could stop worrying about her popping up all the time.

I took a deep breath before pulling my car out of the parking lot. I wished Penny had skipped class. I hated picturing her in class all alone. Or in class next to Tyler. My fingers tightened around the wheel.

There were more news vans and paparazzi outside my apartment building now. But I somehow managed to evade them and pull in the parking garage. I shot Ian a text to meet me in my apartment. When I walked in, he was already helping himself to something from the fridge.

“What a mess,” I said with a sigh and tossed my keys onto the kitchen counter.

Ian put some leftovers in the microwave and turned around. “A lot of people are trying to reach you for a comment.”

“It’s still a no. I just want this whole thing to blow over.” I sat down and stared at him.

“At least they didn’t print that she was a minor.”

I nodded. Yeah, that was the one win. Ian thought they were going to say that in the story.

“So…are you going to tell me how your meeting went? I thought you’d be with Penny the rest of the day.”

“She wanted to go to class.”

“Really? Why?” The microwave beeped and Ian pulled out his plate. “Want some of this?”

“I just ate breakfast.”

“But it’s lasagna.” He sat down and started eating.

“You’re ridiculous.”

He laughed. “You didn’t answer my question. Why did Penny go to class? Isn’t that going to be…well…the worst?”

I pressed my lips together. “I think she was probably mad at me. Maybe. Actually, no. She was definitely mad at me.”

“Why?”

“Because I resigned.”

Ian just stared at me.

“I don’t think she was mad that I resigned. More so that I didn’t tell her I was going to before the meeting. I already had my resignation letter ready. And she was trying to figure out solutions for me to keep teaching and I kept shutting them down in the meeting.”

“So you left her in the dark?”

“She had to have known that’s where this was leading. And Joe didn’t give me much of a choice. Either I could keep my job and stop seeing Penny. Or quit and keep seeing her. It was an easy decision.”

“But you didn’t talk to Penny about it.”

I shook my head.

“Well no wonder she’s pissed at you. She liked banging her professor, and now you’re not her professor anymore.”

I glared at him.

“I’m joking. But in all seriousness…you gotta talk to her about this stuff, James. She’s not your employee. She’s your girlfriend.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Which part?” Ian asked and took another bite of lasagna.

“Do I do stuff all the time without explaining it to you first? You’re acting like I’m a bad boss.”

“You are a bad boss.”

“What? No I’m not.” Where was this coming from?

“You threw a bottle of scotch at me once.”

“One time. Years ago.”

Ian shrugged. “Fine. Whatever. You’re a great boss. I just meant that you can’t just tell her how things are. You’re a team.”

Had he been talking to Dr. Clark too? “I was going to talk to her. About everything.”

“Even the cameras?”

God the fucking cameras were going to get me in trouble at some point. “Mhm.”

“That was very unbelievable.”

I laughed. “I’m going to tell her. It’s for her own safety. Speaking of which…how is the new addition to the security system going?”

“I already installed it. No more surprise Isabella visits. I promise.”

I nodded. I thought about his comment about my being a not-so-great boss. “I am sorry about last night, Ian. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. Of course it wasn’t your fault that the story got leaked to the press.”

“But Isabella was only here because…”

“Because the security system wasn’t perfect yet. Which is on me. I was just upset and I took it out on you.”

Ian smiled. “Like when you threw that bottle of scotch at me.”

“That was one time!”

He laughed. “Well, I am sorry you lost your job. I know how much you loved being a professor. Do you think you’ll be able to find a new teaching position somewhere else?”

Penny was here. I wasn’t going anywhere else. Besides… “Resigning pretty much put a nail in the coffin on that. I look guilty. No one’s hiring me again. I was lucky enough that Joe gave me a second chance here.”

“Sorry, man.”

“It’s fine.” I actually did feel okay. Calm. In control. It was going to be okay.

Ian didn’t look like he believed me.

“Really, I’m good. I thought I’d have to spend the rest of the day with Dr. Clark, but I’m okay.”

“If you say so.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out. I was hoping it was a text from Penny telling me she was coming home.

But it was from Mason: “I’m good, man. Excited to see you in a couple weeks.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. So the strange invitation was from him. I held up my phone for Ian to see. “The invitation was from Mason after all.”

“I thought you already knew that?”

“Last night when you called, I couldn’t get the invitation out of my head. I thought Isabella had maybe sent it. That she was fucking with my friends or something.”

“Ah. That explains why you asked me if your friends were okay. I would have asked you more about that last night but…I was preoccupied with the imminent shit show.”

“Well, one less thing to worry about.” I slid my phone back into my pocket. “I’m excited to catch up with them.”

“So will you just go to New York for the day?”

“Probably. Penny still wants to go to school here I think.”

“You think?”

“She was freaking out about possibly losing her scholarship this morning. She was happy she just got two strikes on her record instead of being expelled. And she seemed eager to get back to class and out of that meeting.”

“James Hunter,” Ellen said firmly as she walked out of my bedroom with a load of laundry. “What on earth are you doing?”

I glanced at Ian.

“You’re in so much trouble,” he said.

I turned back to Ellen. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“You’re bulldozing that girl. You’re not putting her feelings first. You’re making all the decisions without consulting her.”

“That’s what I was saying,” Ian said.

Jesus, why were my employees acting like my therapist right now? One therapist was plenty. “I resigned for her. That is putting her feelings first.”

“How was it for her if she didn’t tell you she wanted that?”

“Because it was the only way for us to stay together. And I was going to talk to her about all this. There wasn’t time. But we’ll talk about it all now.”

“When?” Ellen set the laundry basket down and put her hands on her hips. “Tell me when.”

“Penny’s coming back for lunch.”

“She’s in the lion’s den and you’re planning lunch? And you didn’t even tell me! What am I supposed to make? I might need to head to the store because Ian’s just finished the lasagna.” She gestured angrily to Ian.

“Sorry,” Ian said around his last forkful.

“We need a team meeting,” Ellen said. She walked over to us and sat down at the kitchen counter too. “Penny is the best thing that’s happened to you in a long time, and you’re going to ruin it. And of course she went to class this morning because she was mad at you. Obviously.”

“So you were eavesdropping on the whole conversation then?”

“Yes,” she said. “Grabbing laundry isn’t loud. But you two are with your gabbing.”

Ian laughed.

“And what is this about cameras?”

Ian’s laughter died in his throat.

“It’s…security,” I said.

“Are you filming Penny without her consent?” Ellen raised her eyebrow at me.

“It’s not like that.” But honestly…it was a little like that. Because I’d saved some of the footage and watched it. I’d watched it a whole lot while Penny and I were on a break. It was some seriously hot footage.

“It’s kind of like that,” Ian said.

I glared at him.

“You made me save…”

“Enough,” I said. “I’m going to fix this. You two have nothing to worry about.”

Ellen just stared at me. “You still haven’t told me when.”

“At lunch…”

“No, not lunch. She’s in your class without you. Can you imagine what people are whispering or saying to her face? The women are always the ones to blame. You need to go to her. Right now. And talk all of this out before you do irreparable damage.”

I glanced down at my watch.

“Now, James.”

“Okay, okay. She’s in class right now, but…I’ll catch her when she’s leaving.”

“Good. Go.”

“But class doesn’t end until…”

“Now,” she said again more firmly. “You’re acting like you’ve never been in a relationship before. Pull it together.”

Well, I’d never been in a healthy relationship before. “You know, I planned out this morning perfectly. I came appropriately prepared. And Penny should have let me handle it.”

“Get out of here with that,” Ellen said.

I glanced at Ian.

“I’m siding with Ellen,” he said.

Of course you are. “Okay. But just for the record, Ellen, the cameras aren’t any worse than you eavesdropping.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again. “I beg to differ.”

I smiled. She knew it was the same. “Okay, I’m going.”

“Don’t bulldoze Penny again. She’s soft spoken. Take a deep breath and hear her out.”

That was where I knew for sure I could handle this situation without the help of Ellen’s meddling. Yes, Penny was soft spoken. But not around me. She was feisty and passionate. And had no problem speaking her mind. Hopefully she’d be easier on me than Ellen had been.

“And now I’m actually going,” I said. Even though I’d told Joe I’d lay low on campus, I did need to go to Penny. She had no idea what she was walking into. But she’d know now. After facing Comm, the worst was probably over. But I needed to be there for her.