Page 7 of Loved

Penny looked angry yet defeated at the same time.

I squeezed her knee. "Really, it's fine."

But she didn’t look fine. And that made me feel…

My hand shook and I let it fall from her knee. I took a deep breath.Get a grip.I couldn’t have a panic attack right now. Penny was relying on me.

Breathe.

All I could do was fall on my sword and try not to drag Penny down with me. And I could do this. I tookanother deep breath. I was good at negotiating. I rarely lost. And I’d already lost when it came to this article. Today would be a win.

I grabbed my hand so Penny couldn’t see it shaking.

Breathe.

I always got what I fucking wanted.

Chapter 3

Wednesday

Penny was staring at me like I’d lost my mind. And hell, maybe I had

"I'm coming,” she said firmly.

And I could hear my therapist’s voice in the back of my head, telling me that Penny and I needed to be a team. To work through things together. Dr. Clark was right. And so was Penny.

I nodded. "Well, we need to get going soon if you insist on coming, so eat."

She picked up her fork and took a bite of the eggs.

I swallowed hard as I watched her. There was just something about the way she wrapped her lips around a fork that did something to me.

"Ellen, these are fantastic,” she said.

Ellen smiled over at us. "I'm glad that you like them. Eat, James."

I hadn't realized that I was just sitting there.

"Are you okay?" Penny asked.

"Yeah." I smiled at her and began to eat too. We ate in silence. And it felt so…normal. Like we’d done it a million times before. Like we’d do it a million times more.

When Penny finished, I stood up and stared down at her. It was time to leave our bubble. But I still wanted to protect her from all this. "Do you want to wear a hoodie or something?” I asked. “I don't want..."

"I want to be with you. No more hiding. Besides, everyone already knows."

Fair point.But she wasn’t used to being photographed leaving her home. This wasn’t going to be easy. I knew we were a team, but I still wanted to take care of her. "I'd really prefer if you let me do this by myself, Penny. There's no reason why you should be there."

"I'm going to get in trouble too. I have to be there."

I lowered my eyebrows. "You won't.” I wasn’t going to let her get expelled. “But if you insist, let's go do it then." I held out my hand for her and she immediately grabbed it.

"Good luck," Ellen said to us as we stepped onto the elevator.

When the doors closed Penny looked up at me. "I like her. She seems really nice."

"She is."

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