He shifted in his seat. "Only a few people. Joseph Moreno, the CEO of an online security company I had to fire for security breaches. He wasn't happy with the loss of the Blive Tech account, and made some disturbing promises that I hope he doesn't deliver on. Richard Sutton, who filed a lawsuit against me after he claimed I stole his idea. I didn't, by the way. Brian Vega, who founded a startup that I buried when I launched Hunter Tech. His technology advancements were outdated as soon as we launched. I've gotten death threats from him. AlbertDalton, who owns an oil company. One I definitely wasn't invested in. He sends me threatening letters sometimes about how I'm ruining the economy by looking for new energy sources. Marc Hatfield, a Harvard acquaintance who's always asking me for money. I actually have no idea who he is. I'm pretty sure he's crazy. And Kristen Dwyer. It's really not a big deal. It's just in case. I like to be proactive."
"Kristen Dwyer? Who is that?"
"Just a student I had that I thought was stalking me. I should probably remove her from the list. It was a long time ago."
"From New York or Newark?"
"Newark. I had her the same time I was teaching you actually."
"And you thought she was stalking you?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she was. But she has a boyfriend now and I really don't think she's a threat anymore."
"Did your private investigator find that out for you?"
"No, actually, I ran into her during my bachelor party."
"Did she follow you there?"
He laughed. "No, she was there for her friend's bachelorette party. By the way, did Rob tell you about Daphne yet?"
"Daphne? No. I was too self-absorbed last night. You know, crying everywhere and missing you."
He grabbed my hand. "Well, you're going to like her. I think she's coming to the rehearsal dinner tonight."
"Wait, Rob is dating someone?"
"You sound surprised."
"Of course I'm surprised. He never stays in one place for more than five minutes. He must really like her."
"I think he does. And she's good for him. She seems really grounded. He needs that."
I smiled. "I think you're right about that. Maybe he's finally ready for some roots. Is she from New York?"
"Yeah, she lives like fifteen minutes away from us.
"That's even better. It would be awesome if Rob moved to New York. Besides, the girls he was chasing on campus were much too young for him."
James laughed. "Maybe it's a Hunter thing."
I pressed my lips together and shook my head. "Maybe." I scooted over in my seat and leaned my head against James' shoulder.
He immediately put his arm around me.
"I love you so much, James."
He kissed my temple. "Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for giving me another chance. I love you too."
His arm had tightened around me when he spoke. Isabella had gotten into his head too. I could tell that he was still struggling with the fact that he thought his love was twisted with addiction because of her. But that was okay. We'd work through that together. I had my whole life to convince him that what we had was purely love. I had my whole life to convince him just how amazing he was.
Devotion - Chapter 7
Friday
"Penny!" Bee yelled as she jumped off a chair and tossed Mason the streamers. She ran over and threw her arms around me. "Why didn't you call me? I was so worried about you. I left you like a hundred texts."
It was so good to see her. I had convinced myself I had lost her friendship. I immediately hugged her back. "I just...I thought if James broke up with me..."