Page 3 of Loved

"I should have. It's my job to protect you." And Isabella had done shit like this before. I should have known. I fucking should have.

"It isn't. I made my own choices. I knew I was breaking the rules. I kept pursuing you. I wanted to be with you. I knew there might be consequences. I can face them."

"Itismy job to protect you." Didn’t she see that? I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on top of her head. She was the only good thing in my life now. For so long I’d thought of teaching as my fresh start. But I didn’t really feel better until I’d met her. She was my fresh start. And I should have done more to prevent her from getting hurt by all this.

She sighed and leaned into my chest. "The worst that can happen is that you get fired and I get expelled."

It sounded like she was okay with all of that. How was she so calm right now? "I don't care if I get fired. I just don't want you to get expelled."

"I have good grades. I can get into a different school."

This was what I’d wanted to talk to her about last night. But the conversation was different now. Because we didn’t have a choice. And I wasn’t sure if she was saying this because she had no other options now or because she really didn’t care. Either way, it wasn’t that easy.

"It's a scandal, Penny. Other universities may not see your grades as valid." And if Penny was allowed to stay at the University of New Castle…things wouldn’t be easy for her. I knew how fast rumors spread better than anyone. And I knew how people would perceive Penny if they believed Isabella’s side of events. They’d think Penny broke up a happy marriage. They wouldn’t care about the facts, only the idea of a scandal.

"James," Penny said. She leaned back so she could look up at me. "If I could go back, I'd do it all over again.”

There was a lump in my throat that I couldn’t get rid of.

“Even if I knew I'd be expelled,” she said. “You make me so happy. I want to be with you. That's all that matters.”

I didn’t deserve her. I didn’t. But I was never letting go.

She scrunched her mouth to the side in that adorable way I loved. “If anything, I should be apologizing to you. You told me to forget about you. On multiple occasions. I didn't listen..."

"Stop, Penny.” This wasn’t on her. It was on me. “I couldn't leave you alone either. And I didn't want you to leave me alone. I never meant it. I can't even imagine not being with you."

She took a deep breath. "So we'll face it together."

"Mhm." I smiled down at her. Even though the conversation was different than what I’d wanted, we’d still kind of had it. Maybe we would have come to the same conclusion. Maybe we wouldn’t have. But all that really mattered was that we were facing this together like she’d said. “I'm not used to having a partner in crime."

"Well get used to it. You're getting me kicked out of school, so you should probably stick with me for a while. It's the right thing to do."

I laughed. "You should probably call your parents." Hearing this from her would be better than reading about it in the paper.

She finally looked as horrified as I thought she’d be about all of this.

“I'm sorry, Penny."

"I think I'm dreading that discussion more than talking to the dean."

"I'm sorry,” I said again.

"Please stop apologizing. James." She put her hands on the sides of my face. "I love you. That's all that matters."

I smiled down at her. I hoped that was enough. I hoped we’d be able to make it through this. I was used to the press, but Penny wasn’t. All I could do was try to be her rock through this. "I love you too."

"So will you please come to bed now?"

"Mhm." I leaned down and kissed her.

She laughed as I scooped her up into my arms.

Chapter 2

Wednesday

The alarm started beeping at 6 a.m. I winced. We had a meeting with the dean in an hour and I wasn’t ready to face all this.

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