Page 57 of Loved

“You want to know what they’re saying, don’t you?” Ian asked.

“Fuck yes.”

“They’re just talking about Rob visiting this weekend. Speaking of which, is he coming tomorrow or Saturday? Or is it Sunday? Ellen wants to know.”

“I don’t know, he just said this weekend. Actually he said this weekend-ish. So who knows. Let me text him.”

I stayed on the call with Ian and sent Rob a text.

He responded right away: “I’m banking on the fact that you’re willing to break your co-ed rule for one night to celebrate my homecoming. So I’ll be there early enough for you to take me to the best party on campus tomorrow night.”

Well that’s not happening.I read it out loud to Ian.

He laughed. “You haven’t told him about Penny yet? Or anything that’s going on?”

“Nope. I thought it would be a fun surprise.”

“Absolutely. I can’t wait to watch the whole thing.”

Of course.

There was a knock on my door.

“I gotta go, Ian.”

“I’ll text you if there’s a naked pillow fight.”

I laughed.

“Oh wait. It’s actually Melissa at your door.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” I hung up just as Melissa poked her head in.

“I just wanted to say goodnight,” she said. “And to thank you for having me over.”

“Of course.”

She looked over her shoulder and then back at me. “And thanks for making her happy,” she said a little quieter, so Penny wouldn’t overhear.

Yeah, maybe Melissa really was a good friend. “That’s my job.” Actually, it was my only job. And I was going to take it very seriously.

She smiled. “I guess so. Goodnight, James.” She closed the door behind her.

That felt like progress to me. I stared at the top right drawer of my desk. If I destroyed the hard drive, thatwould be progress too. I opened the drawer and stared down at it.

But Penny on her knees… Oh, and when she crawled to me? How was I supposed to permanently delete that? It was fucking art.

And I could feel myself getting hard just thinking about those videos. I kind of wanted to make a new one right now.

I slammed the drawer shut. Making another video sounded a hell of a lot better than deleting the others.

Chapter 16

Thursday

"There you are." I wrapped my arms around Penny and kissed the back of her neck. I’d been looking all over the apartment for her. She’d wandered into the billiards room and was staring at the only picture I had hanging up in the whole apartment.

"When was this picture taken?"

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