Page 252 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1
"I'm fine," I mumbled with my mouth full.
"Penny, you know you can talk to me. That's what friends are for."
I shook my head. "It's so stupid. All of this is so stupid."
Tyler just stared at me.
"I know he didn't do those things. He told me he didn't. I trust him. So I'm not sure why I feel so...so..." I put my face in my hands.Three. Three girls?James had slept with Isabella when he said he needed space. I thought he had broken up with me. But he told me he had never broken up with me when he finally started talking to me again. So if he hadn't broken up with me, that meant he knowingly cheated on me with her during our break. It had been in the back of my head, bothering me. James said he did it because he was trying to get over me. Which made sense. But maybe that wasn't the only thing he did to try to get over me. Maybe there were more girls. Maybe there were exactly three more girls. I didn't want to think that. I didn't want to think that it was possible. But wasn't it?
"Penny." Tyler put his hand on my arm. "Please just talk to me. I hate seeing you upset."
I lifted my face out of my hands. "What if they aren't lying, Tyler? What if he...what if he did the things they said he did?" I felt guilty as soon as I said it. It was fine to think those things. But I shouldn't have said them out loud. And especially not to Tyler.
Tyler kept his hand on my arm. "Then I'll kick his ass."
I laughed and moved my arm slightly to remove his hand. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that. Clearly those girls just wanted As. They weren't doing well in his classes. They're just dumb so they did another dumb thing."
"Girls can do pretty dumb things."
"Yeah." I knew he was talking about me. But I wasn't making a mistake by being with James. Tyler was amazing. And he'd be anamazing boyfriend for someone else. I looked up at him. "What did you say in your last speech? You never told me."
Tyler smiled. "It wasn't a great speech. I was really worried about you."
"Yes, I'm very dramatic."
He laughed. "I chose to major in economics because a major in business seemed like a logical choice. A safe choice. And I added on a second major of finance because it was easy to get both at the same time." He shifted in his seat. "I was upset after you stormed out of class. I kind of lost my cool during my speech too."
"You did?" I couldn't picture him doing that. He always seemed so calm and confident when he did his speeches.
"Yeah." He scratched the back of his neck with his hand. "You didn't see Professor Hunter's reaction after you left. But I was sitting right behind him. It all started to come together. I think I already realized what was going on between you two before I even saw your phone. I was really pissed. So I said I chose the majors I did so that I could eventually be rich. And have any girl I wanted fall in love with me."
"That wasn't why I fell in love with James."
Tyler laughed. "Yeah, I know you're not a gold digger, Penny. Like I said, I just snapped during my speech. I didn't understand. Hell, I still don't understand." He scratched the back of his neck again.
"So what do you really want to do after you graduate? That didn't exactly answer the question you skipped."
"I just want to be happy."
I was the one that was making him unhappy. "Do you think we can ever just be friends, Tyler? Really?"
"We are friends. We were always friends."
"I don't want to be the reason that you're unhappy."
"That's not what I meant, Penny. If all you'll give me is friendship then that's what I want. I want to be a part of your life. I want you to be happy too. And if Professor Hunter makes you happy, then I'm glad that you're with him."
Maybe I was reading into the things he said too much. He was right, we had always been friends. "So what do you think you'll be doing after you graduate that will make you happy?"
"Actually, I'm interviewing for a job next week."
"For what?"
"I think I want to be a business reporter. I love business. More than I thought I would, actually. But I think I like writing even more. And I had fun giving speeches in class."
"Tyler, that's awesome."
"Yeah, I'm really excited about it. I think it could be a perfect fit for me. I'm so nervous about my interview."
