Page 48 of Loved

"I'm not defending him, I'm telling you the truth."

"He's not who you think he is."

"Yes he is." Her face was flushed. And for the first time it wasn’t because she was embarrassed or turned on. She was…angry. She was losing her temper.

"He's a predator, Penny. And you're the prey. Don't you see that? Those two other girls were his prey too. Who knows how many others didn't come forward? You're probably one of a dozen. You can't hide from the truth. He seduces students. He's not a good man."

I’d thought that before. That I was the hunter and she was my prey. But only withher. Only ever her. I knew I’d crossed the line as her professor. I knew I was fucked up in the head. But it was only ever her.

"Get out of my apartment,” Penny said.

I wanted to go out there and hug her. She’d called this apartment ours. And she was defending me. Even though part of what they were saying was true.

"Your apartment? Is that the deal then? The gifts, the apartment? Is that to keep you quiet?"

"You're terrible detectives," she snapped.

"We're trying to protect you."

"Protect me? I don't need your protection. I wanted this relationship just as much as he did. I love him." She put her hand on the center of her chest. As if they shouldbe able to so clearly see her heart. Too bad they were blind.

"He doesn't love you."

"Yes he does."

“Arrogant assholes,” Ian said through a mouthful of popcorn. “It’s obvious that the two of you are in love if they spend two minutes watching you.”

I tried to focus on the screen.

"Do you even know anything about him?” the detective said. “Do you know that he has a criminal record? Do you know that he's spent time in jail? This is the kind of thing he does. This is the kind of thing that a bored man with too much money and no sense of morals does."

"If you both don't leave right now, some of your detective buddies will actually have a crime to solve."

Oh, fuck. Penny. Don’t threaten them.

Ian coughed on his popcorn. “She’s as bad as you.”

Yeah.Penny looked so pissed. I smiled at the screen.That’s my girl.

"Did you just threaten us?" Detective Reed stood up. "You do know that it's illegal to threaten a police officer?"

"Oh, I didn't realize you were police officers. I really couldn't tell. All you're doing is throwing out accusations without any evidence."

Ian and I both laughed.

"Consider this a warning, Miss Taylor. We will be in contact again. This is far from over."

She didn’t respond. She just watched them walk over to the elevator, step in, and disappear.

“That was kind of amazing to watch,” Ian said. “Uh oh.”

“What?”

“She’s heading to the freezer. Women going to the freezer means ice cream. Which means she’s upset.”

Yeah.I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on. How did the detectives know about Penny coming to my office? And who the hell were the other girls that came forward with those lies?

“Nope,” Ian said. “She’s more upset than ice cream. That’s not good.”

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