Page 201 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1
I wasn't hungry. I couldn't believe he wasn't mad. I was mad for him. I picked up my fork and took a bite of the eggs. They were probably the most delicious eggs I had ever eaten. "Ellen, these are fantastic."
She smiled over at us. "I'm glad that you like them. Eat, James."
I hadn't realized that James was just sitting there. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." He smiled at me and began to eat.
The dynamic between James and Ellen was pretty clear. She was very motherly and caring. She was the mother he never had. I appreciated her even more because of that. When I finished my eggs and toast I pushed my plate away.
James stood up but hesitated. "Do you want to wear a hoodie or something? I don't want..."
"I want to be with you. No more hiding. Besides, everyone already knows."
"I'd really prefer if you let me do this by myself, Penny. There's no reason why you should be there."
"I'm going to get in trouble too. I have to be there."
He lowered his eyebrows slightly. "You won't. But if you insist, let's go do it then." He held out his hand for me and I grabbed it.
"Good luck," Ellen said to us as we stepped onto the elevator.
When the doors closed I looked up at James. "I like her. She seems really nice."
"She is."
I looked down at my shoes. "Are you nervous?"
"Not really. I have everything that I want. Teaching doesn't define me. Like I told you on our first date, I don't think we're doing anything wrong. This feels right to me."
"It feels right to me too. It's weird, you know. I never in a million years thought I'd be in this situation. I didn't even have my first kiss until last semester. And now I'm embarking on this big scandalous affair with my professor. I'm not even sure my parents will believe me."
James laughed. "You should have called them already. This is just going to get worse as the day goes on."
"I'll call them later. I need to know what the dean says first." I squeezed his hand. I was procrastinating. I was dreading that phone call. "What did you vandalize?"
He laughed again. "There was this professor I hated. I had him for an 8 a.m. The night before one of his classes my friends and I broke into the classroom and drew...vulgar things all over the chalkboard."
"With chalk?"
"Yeah."
"Is that really vandalism?"
He shrugged. "I didn't think so. And I didn't get arrested for it either. It was a harmless prank. Hilarious, but harmless."
"So another lie."
"Mhm."
"And were you arrested for underage drinking?"
"I got a warning. They had a three strikes policy like they do here. I only had two strikes, one for that and one for the chalkboard thing. I was never arrested while I was in Harvard."
In Harvard?I didn't want to press him about it right now. The doors opened and we walked over to his car. He opened up the door for me.
"Well, you're lucky I don't hate you. Or maybe I would have pulled a prank like that on you. I wonder what you would have done if you came into class and there were obscene things all over your chalkboard?"
"I probably would have thought you were giving me suggestions of what I should do to you next." He raised his eyebrow at me and then pulled the car out of the parking spot.
