Page 427 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1
Rob shook his head. "Penny, I care about you. You're like a little sister to me. An annoying little sister who likes putting herself in danger. What were you thinking?"
I looked out the window. We really were in the middle of nowhere. It was strange how once you left the city, you couldn't tell you were close to it. I didn't want to disappear. I just wanted to see something familiar. "I wasn't thinking. I just...it's not like I have anything worth mugging anyway."
Rob didn't laugh.
"Can you take me to Newark instead?"
He looked over at me, but didn't say anything.
"Rob, did you go see him?"
He nodded.
I looked down at my hands. That's why Rob wasn't joking around with me. He thought I was a horrible person too. "It's not what you think."
"So you didn't steal 20 million dollars from James and give it to your ex?"
"I think I actually did do that. But I didn't know that's what I was doing. And I didn't have a choice."
"And you told James that?"
"I tried to. Rob, I..." I put my face in my hands and started crying again. "He doesn't believe me. I thought he trusted me. I thought...I mean, we were going to get married. It was all a lie. He never loved me."
"I believe you. I know you wouldn't hurt him. But he's hurting anyway. He's..." his voice trailed off. "You need to go talk to him..."
"Did you leave him alone?"
"Mason's with him."
I nodded my head. "I can't see him, Rob. He made it very clear that he doesn't want anything to do with me."
"That's not what it looked like to me. It looked like he was fucked up and needed you more than ever."
"If you're going to make me feel guilty, you can just let me off here. James kicked me out. Do you think I don't want to be there for him? That's not fair, Rob. You don't know the whole story. And he might need me, but he sure as hell doesn't want me."
"Okay. Newark it is then." He put on his turn signal and drove toward the highway. He put his hand on my shoulder. "How about you start from the beginning?"
***
The elevator doors opened into Rob's apartment. He had changed a lot of things from when it used to be James'. James and I had visited a lot, but not that recently. I ran my hand along the marble countertop.
Rob seemed to believe everything I had told him. He was wondering why I hadn't come to him sooner, since Isabella had never mentioned going to James' friends. And I didn't have an answer. It all happened so fast.
"If you want to take a shower, just use the master. I don't have any shampoo or anything in the guest bathroom."
"Actually, a shower sounds great." My clothes were still a little damp. "Do you have something I could change into after while my dress dries?"
"Yeah."
I followed him into the master bedroom. The bed was in a different spot and the sheets were black instead of white. It hadn't felt like a bachelor pad when James lived here, but it did now.
"Here," Rob said and tossed me a pair of black yoga pants and a white tank top. "Those should fit."
I looked up at him. "I don't even want to know why you have these clothes."
"Women sleep over a lot. I'm a snuggler." He shrugged. "They leave things."
"I never pictured you as the type of guy that let women spend the night."
