Page 423 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1
"No, I'm good." I kept walking.
"Are you okay?" He put his hand on my shoulder.
"I'm fine." I wiped my tears away.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Let me drive you wherever you're going."
I didn't want to go to my parents' hotel room crying. I didn't want to go to Melissa and Tyler's. Not when James thought I still had feelings for him. I couldn't go to Bee and Mason's. "You don't work for me, Ian. You made that clear the other day." I pulled away from him.
"And I said I was sorry. Please, just let me take you."
"I don't have anywhere to go. And you need to be here in case James comes down. He's drunk. So, don't let him go anywhere. I don't want him to hurt himself."
Ian frowned. "Is everything okay between you two?"
I couldn't tell James that Isabella was the one who had given me Tyler's bank account number. That she had orchestrated this fight between us perfectly. And even if I did, he wouldn't believe me. He trusted her way more than he trusted me. She had him wrapped around her finger. And James had said some awful things to me. He was drunk, but that didn't excuse it. It was like I was hearing how he really felt about me for the first time. And it wasn't what I had wanted to hear. James and I certainly weren'tgoing to fix this overnight. The wedding wasn't going to happen. I grabbed my key out of my purse and the credit card that James had given me and handed them to Ian. I didn't need James' money. I never needed it. I only needed him. "Can you give these to him for me please?"
"Penny, what's going on?"
"We're done." I shook my head. "I'm done. Just don't let him go anywhere while he's drunk. I don't want anything to happen to him."
Ian nodded his head. "I'll still take you wherever you want to go. As a friend."
"It's okay, Ian. I just...I'll walk." Where the hell was I going to go?
"Where will you stay?"
"I'll figure it out. Just don't let anything happen to him." I walked away before he could ask me any more questions.
Eruption - Chapter 29
Thursday
I knew I'd love James until the day I died. That's what hurt the most. He could say as many horrible things as he wanted to me. It didn't change the way I felt about him. And I still wanted him to be happy. Even if I wasn't the one that could make him happy.
Sex.That's what it came back to. That was my biggest fear. That he was addicted to sex. I was just a good lay. Did he really mean that? I felt so cheap. James had lashed out at me before. He was good at pushing people away because he didn't think anyone could love him. So he didn't want to fall for anyone.
I hated that I was walking through the city streets of New York, a city that wasn't my home, feeling bad for the person who had just dumped me. But I did feel bad for him. He was so broken. I thought I could heal that wound. I thought I was enough. But I was just a good lay. I was just an escape from his reality. I was a drug. And he was ready to move on to the next thing.
The most ironic part was that Isabella had warned me it would happen. She had actually been right. Isabella had acted like a good friend to him the whole time she was torturing me. She won. And I didn't want to spend my whole life fighting her. I had a sick feeling that James was running to her right now, falling into her trap. Hopefully Ian would listen to me and not take him anywhere. If he wasn't going to be with me, he needed to find someone that actually made him happy. I didn't want him to revert back to her because it's all he knew.
I pulled out my phone and called Rob who was in town for the wedding. He could take care of James and make sure he didn't get back with Isabella. Rob hated her just as much as I did.
"Cashing in on your last lay as a single woman?" Rob said. "I thought you might call."
"Rob, can you go check on James?" I asked, ignoring him.
"Absolutely. I was just on my way over to hang out with you guys. Are you not there?"
"No. I'm...James can explain. Just take care of him okay? Promise to take care of him for me?" It suddenly hit me hard that I was losing all of James' family and friends too. Rob really had become one of my best friends. More like the brother I never had. I wouldn't be able to hang out with Bee and Mason anymore either. I'd never get to see Jen again. I was losing the love of my life and my new family.
"What's going on?" Rob suddenly seemed to understand that I was serious.
"I'm...the wedding's off, Rob."
