Page 68 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 5
I turned to look at him. I’d studied his face a lot over the last several days. But I’d never seen that expression before. He looked wary of me. “No.” What was there to daydream about? I was supposed to go with Matt, but we were no longer an us. I was supposed to go with Felix, but he’d stopped speaking to me. I was looking forward to going with Kennedy, but it wouldn’t be the same. It would be the first homecoming dance I’d ever goneto. I’d been looking forward to it for weeks. I just thought it would be more magical than this.
“Not even a little bit?” asked Miller.
“I wish you could come with me,” I said.
“I’ll be there.”
I propped myself up on an elbow. “What?”
“Mr. Pruitt doesn’t want me to let you out of my sight. I have to be there.”
I wanted to make some joke about how he didn’t even let me out of his sight when I was sleeping. But it didn’t feel right. “Why is he watching me so closely?” It was the one question I couldn’t get a straight answer about.
There was that look again. Maybe he was just wary of the awkward situation. “You know I can’t talk to you until you sign the papers.”
“I signed them.” I bit the inside of my lip. “I just need to give them back to Mr. Pruitt.”
He sighed and sat up, his ab muscles tightening in a delicious way. “We’ll talk about it again after you give them back.” He stared at me, searching my face. “You read all of it then?”
“Yeah,” I lied. I’d had homework to do, Cupcake revenges to plot, texts from Matt to ignore, plans to go over to avoid Isabella whenever possible, and of course my daily fifteen-minute crysession after school. When would I have had time to read that monster of an agreement?
“You’re sure about that?” he asked.
I hated when he treated me like a child. “Of course.”
He nodded and then turned away. “We should head out a little early so we can swing by and grab Kennedy before the football game.”
I almost forgot about the homecoming game. I could feel the smile stretch across my face. “Really? Can she get ready here too?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.” I leaned over and kissed him.
He caught my hipbone in his hand and pulled me closer. “You should go. Before you get caught.” He reluctantly let go of my waist.
I climbed out of his bed. “Maybe if I get caught, they’ll throw me out.” I pulled on my white puffy robe over my pajamas.
“And where would you go if that happened?” asked Miller.
“I don’t know.” I looked at my mother’s dress hanging in the closet. “Somewhere far away from all this.”Home.I turned back to him and he was frowning. “What?”
“I assumed you were no longer planning on running away.” He grabbed his watch off the nightstand and strapped it in place on his wrist. “They’ll be up soon.”
He was right. I didn’t have time for this conversation right now. But I didn’t want to leave it like this either. “You’re right. I’m not leaving. This place is finally starting to feel like home.” And by this place, I meant specifically Miller’s room.
He smiled.
“I’ll see you in a bit.” I looked both ways before leaving his room and then hurried off to my bedroom. I thought I was in the clear, but as I rounded the corner to the staircase, I saw the whole family sitting at the dining room table.
“There you are,” Mr. Pruitt said. “Where have you been? We were all worried.”
I saw Isabella roll her eyes.
Think of something to say. Think.“I was just exploring.”
Mr. Pruitt raised both eyes. “Exploring? Haven’t you been given a proper tour? I’ll have to talk to Miller about that.”
“No, it’s not his fault.” It felt like I was digging my own grave. Or maybe Miller’s. “I just get so easily turned around.”
