Eruption (The Hunted Series Book 3) (24 page)

Sierra's face turned more and more red each time Tavon spoke.

"So, everything's good in paradise then?" Zach
asked me.

"Really good, yeah."

"Good. You know guys, the bathroom always works
too," he said, joining in Sierra and Tavon's conversation.

I shook my head. I really didn't think there was much of a
chance that Sierra was going to hook up with Tavon.But I never thought that I'd
hook up with my professor. And I never thought Tyler and Melissa would get
together. Sometimes you found love in the most unexpected place.

Tavon stretched. "I could use a bathroom break right
now, actually. If you wait a minute to follow me, no one will suspect
you." He winked at Sierra.

Sierra shook her head back and forth, but I watched her stare
at Tavon as he walked away. I couldn't help but think she was in way over her
head with him.

Thursday

I woke up to the sun streaming in through the window. James
was still sleeping peacefully. We had gone to bed after a shared shower, and
his hair was slightly curly in that way I loved. It reminded me of being in the
rain with him.

The past few days had been amazing. I was finally able to
focus on how excited I was about the wedding. I bit my lip. I was incredibly
nervous about the vows. We hadn't talked about it again, but I was pretty sure
he was going to say his own. I needed to come up with something. But no matter
what I wrote down, I felt like it wasn't good enough. Like he was going to be
grading me on my response. I shook the thought away. He wasn't my professor
anymore.

I wanted to run my fingers down his abs, but I stayed still.
I'm
marrying James Hunter.
I suddenly felt incredibly giddy.
This is really
happening.

My mom was coming tonight for my final fitting. James was
putting my parent's up in a hotel near our new apartment. I wasn't sure why he
always insisted on paying. Probably because I made him feel guilty for not
inviting them to stay with us. I guess it was a little weird that my parents
knew we were sleeping together. James still felt a little uncomfortable with
the dynamic. But now that I was out of school, the age difference mattered even
less. When we became husband and wife everything would be even less awkward.
And my parents both loved James. He just wasn't used to having that in his
life.

He slowly opened his eyes and smiled. "Were you watching
me sleep again?" He grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to him.

I laughed and rested my head against his chest, breathing in
his heavenly scent. "I can't help it. It's hard not to stare at you."

He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Two
more days."

Two more days!

***

Today was my last day of work before the wedding. And I was
excited to get it over with. I just wanted to be able to focus on the wedding.
Melissa had called me last night and said she'd come to my dress fitting too.
She finally seemed excited about being my maid of honor. Maybe she was just
happy that I was tying the knot so I wouldn't run off with Tyler. I laughed to
myself. I really hoped that Tyler and her made each other happy. I rested my
back against the side of the elevator.

"What are you thinking about?" James asked and
squeezed my hand.

I leaned closer toward him and whispered, "That I'm
excited this is the last time I'll walk into your office as Penny Taylor."

He smiled down at me. "Do you want to go out to dinner
with your parents tonight? I can get us a reservation at that new Thai
restaurant near Kleinfeld's."

"Actually, we're going to be around so many people the
next few days. Could we maybe stay in tonight, just us? Maybe we can rent a
movie or something? I just wanna relax."

He looked even happier than he had a second ago. "That
sounds perfect. I'll let Ellen know we'll be there for dinner."

The elevator doors opened. James kept his fingers intertwined
with mine as we walked off the elevator. He stopped right in front of his
office door. "I have a lunch meeting today that I couldn't get out of. And
I'm slammed with last minute things that need to be finished before I take all
of next week off. But I'll see you back home for dinner." He leaned down
and kissed me.

I didn't care that he was kissing me at work. I was never
going to take another moment with him for granted. When he pulled back, my face
was flushed.

"Have a good last work day as Miss Taylor." He ran
his thumb over one of my rosy cheeks.

"Have a good last work day as a single man."

He laughed. "Don't worry, my friends aren't going to
kidnap me again. I'll see you tonight, baby." He kissed me once more and
then disappeared into his office.

I felt even giddier than I had back at the apartment. I made
my way through the maze of cubicles toward the marketing interns' desk pod. As
soon as I saw my desk, my smile disappeared. There was a manila envelope
underneath the picture of James and I at the beach. Why couldn't Isabella just
leave us in peace? I lifted up the new frame and grabbed the envelope.

"Did you see who dropped this off?" I asked Zach.
He was the only one there. I wanted to know who Isabella's minion was. Maybe it
was just Austin. They deserved each other.

"No, no one's been over here. Maybe someone dropped it
off last night?"

"Yeah, maybe." I sat down and looked over my
shoulder to make sure no one was around to see whatever was inside. I pulled
out a new stack of photos. There was a post-it note covering up the first
picture:

The truth doesn't seem to bother you. It's your life. I can't
stop you from marrying him. But I can get you to give me what I need.

I lifted off the sticky note and swallowed hard. They weren't
pictures of James. This time, they were pictures of me.
Fuck.
The first
one was of me hugging Tyler outside of Kleinfeld's. Then of him holding my hand
inside that diner. The rest were from my bachelorette party. Me talking to guys
at the bar, touching some random guy's abs, and dancing. There was another
post-it note on top of the last picture:

Wire 20 million dollars to my account number below. I'll go
away forever. I'll stop calling James. I'll stop interfering with his parents.
I'll be out of your life forever. And if that isn't enough motivation, I also
won't show the pictures to James. You can finally have the happily ever after
that is your immature vision of reality. You have until the bank closes at 4
o'clock.

There were some numbers at the bottom that must have been the
bank account number. I lifted up the last sticky note. The last picture was of
Austin kissing me, right before I shoved him off. I bit my lip.
That bitch.
I took a deep breath. All these photos were taken out of context. I could
explain them to James. And it just made me realize even more that the pictures
she had given me of James were only half the truth.

She was like an evil villain, but she was a bad one. And I
wasn't going to fall for her games anymore. She would never get another dime of
James' money. I pushed the pictures and notes back inside the envelope and
tossed it into the trash.

I turned around again. It felt like someone was watching me.
I guess someone was. Or else these pictures wouldn't exist. Neither would the
ones of James. I had been so happy a second ago, and now I felt like I was on
edge.

"So, are you going through with it?" Zach asked.

"What?"

"Marrying your abusive boyfriend?"

"He's not. And you're awfully judgmental. You don't know
me or him."

"We're all trying to get to know you."

"Fine. You want to know what I'm going through? His ex
wife hit me. That's why I had a bruise on my face. And she's been harassing me.
And threatening me. She's doing everything she can to make me call off the
wedding. So I don't appreciate you hounding me on this. I don't need anyone
else against me. It's exhausting."

"I just meant like, where did you grow up?"

I laughed.
God, I'm such a mess.
I took a deep breath
and turned my computer on. "I grew up in Wilmington."

"Isn't that where Fight Club was filmed? What an
interesting coincidence. So, did you at least hit her back?"

I looked back up at him. "No."

"You should fight back, Fight Club."

"I have no intention of joining the dark side."

"I'm just saying...it's easier to fight fire with
fire."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I just want her to
disappear."

"I never said to kill her."

I laughed again. "That's not what I meant."

"I don't know. Rich people make people disappear all the
time."

"I'm not rich," I said.

"You're about to be."

I shook my head. "You're ridiculous. Don't you need to
go catch up with the tech department in the bathroom?"

"Maybe you should join us. You need to relax. So what if
Hunter has a psycho ex? You won. He's marrying you."

"Thanks. But I'm going to pass on your enticing
offer."

"I want in on whatever you two are talking about,"
Tavon said and plopped into his seat.

"We were just talking about how Zach gets high in the
bathroom," I said.

"Shit, you told her about that? What the hell is wrong
with you? She's sleeping with the boss, man."

I laughed.

"What, did you already tell him?" Tavon asked.

"I guess you'll never know." I hadn't yet, but I
would eventually. I was pretty sure that James started his first tech company
as a way to distract himself from his drug problem. And he spent most of his
twenties getting over that time in his life. He wouldn't be happy to know that
his employees were lighting up in the bathroom. It wasn't a conversation I
wanted to have with him two days before our wedding.

"You deserve to be fired, Tavon," Sierra said and
sat down at her desk. "I'll tell Mr. Hunter myself."

"Oh, come on," Tavon said. "You knew what
saying yes to a date with me would mean."

Sierra's face turned red. "I did not know. Where I'm
from, people don't sleep with each other on the first date. You're disgusting.
Tell him, Penny."

"I..." my voice trailed off. I had slept with James
before we had even officially had a date. And he was my professor. I wasn't the
one to lecture Tavon for being forward. "I mean, you have to read the
situation."

Zach laughed.

"Oh my God," Sierra said. "Did you sleep with
James on your first date?"

"Um, kind of?"

"Okay," Tavon said. "Tell us the whole story.

***

The rest of the morning I spent laughing and bonding with the
other marketing interns. They were all really nice. Extremely nosey, but nice.
And I didn't blame them. I kind of did have the inside scoop on their boss.

Before lunch, Andy stopped by with an ad idea he wanted us to
go over. They were teaming up with Mason and Bee's advertising agency for it,
and it was fun going through the idea knowing that we'd be handing it over to
Bee afterwards. Although, I'd be on my honeymoon when it was passed onto them.
The afternoon flew by as well.

I was just about to shut down my computer so that I'd be in
time for my dress fitting, when I got an email alert. I clicked on the box that
had popped up:

You only have half an hour until I give James the pictures.

I deleted the email and shut off the computer. My heart was
racing even though I knew the threat was empty. The pictures didn't matter. I
didn't even talk to James about the pictures Isabella had sent me of him, and
we were fine. It was just creepy that she knew my email.

"See you in a few weeks, guys." I stood up and
grabbed my purse.

"I still can't believe you didn't invite us to your
wedding," Tavon said and put his hands behind his head.

"I didn't know you when I sent out the invites. And we
already gave them a headcount. I'm really sorry."

Tavon sighed. "It's fine. Want to go out with me on
Saturday?" he asked Sierra.

"I don't think so." She turned to Zach. "Would
you like to hang out Saturday night?"

Zach smiled. "I'd love to."

"Asshole," Tavon said. "I called dibs."

Zach shrugged. "Our bromance isn't strong enough to
honor your dibs. Besides, Sierra clearly doesn't like you."

"She's just playing hard to get."

Sierra laughed. "No, I'm not. Congrats, Penny. And I
hope your dress fitting goes well."

"Good luck," Zach said with a smile. I was glad
that he had finally let go of his theory that James was abusive.

"Break a leg." Tavon laughed. "Just kidding. I
don't know what to say. You're too young to get married?"

"Thanks for the support, Tavon."

"Don't listen to him. He's just jealous that you found
your person. And he can't even get a date," Sierra said.

"Bye, guys," I said with a laugh. "Take care
of James' company while we're gone." I felt a little guilty walking away
from them. If I hadn't been such a mess when I first started the internship, I
would have bonded with them sooner and could have given our wedding planner an
updated headcount. I tried not to think about it as I made my way toward James'
office. I wanted to say hi before I went to my fitting.

Right before I grabbed the handle my phone buzzed. I pulled
it out of my purse and looked down at the text I had just received:

"If you go to James I'll leak all the photos."

Jesus.
How did she have my phone number? This was
crazy. I needed to tell James right now. He'd know how to handle her. I didn't
want to deal with this alone anymore.

I reached for the handle again as another text came through.
This one was a picture. But it wasn't one of the ones she had sent me this
morning. It was of James and I having sex. On his desk in his office.
Holy
shit.
Another one came through. And then another. And another.

I put my face in my hand. What was wrong with me? Obviously
she had planted a camera in there if she had gotten that picture of her kissing
James last week. I was such an idiot. I didn't think at all. My phone buzzed
again, but this time there was a message:

"You thought I was talking about the other photos from
this morning? Aw, Penny. You underestimate me. These photos will be leaked to
every sleazy tabloid if I don't see the money in my account in 20 minutes. And
don't you dare run to James. If you do, I'll leak the photos. If you call the
cops, I'll leak the photos. We're ending this right here, right now. And
there's more pictures where that came from. You're quite flexible."

You sick fuck.
This wasn't just some petty game. She'd
ruin James' reputation. My hands were shaking. James was the C.E.O. of a huge
company, he was well respected, he was a freaking philanthropist. He was a good
person. These pictures would make it seem like he didn't have control. I
stepped away from James' office and looked back toward the cubicles. I had
tossed out the envelope that had Isabella's account information in it, but I
could dig it out of the trash. Would she really leak the photos if I went to
James? I had already tarnished his reputation once. I didn't want that to be on
my hands again.