Page 192 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10
I slowly climbed out of bed, making sure not to wake her. I was in a daze as I brushed my teeth and showered. Last night had been perfect. And there was probably just enough time for a repeat before classes started. I came out of the bathroom, but the bed was empty.
“Penny?” I called as I made my way out into the kitchen. But she wasn’t there or in the living room. “Penny?” I turned around. She was gone. And for a moment it felt like my heart stopped beating. She’d left. She’d left and I didn’t even know the specific reason. Because there could have been a million reasons why. And all of them were my fault.
Obsessed - Chapter 32
Tuesday
I grabbed my phone. Penny probably just left because she didn’t want to be late for class. That was it. I sent her a quick text: “I would have driven you home. Persuading you to miss two classes would have been way too irresponsible." I smiled. I loved being irresponsible with her.
I stared at my phone for a minute, waiting for her to text me back. But…she didn’t. She was probably just getting ready for class.
I put my phone down. She’d text back soon enough. I tried not to think about it as I finished getting ready. But the minutes ticked by and no response came. When I went to grab a pair of shoes, I found all her clothes still in my room. Even her flip flops. I pictured her walking home in my t-shirt and nothing else. Not even a pair of shoes. What the hell? Something was definitely wrong. I shot her another text: "Did you get back to your dorm okay? You left your clothes here..."
Fuck.I ran my fingers through my hair. I had a class to get to. But all I could think about was why? Why had she left? The list was endless. And I’d expected it eventually. But not yet. It couldn’t be over yet.
***
“Three pointer!” Ian pretended to make a basket with an invisible ball. “Called it!” He held up his hand for me to high-five.
I lifted my hand and he slapped it. But I wasn’t paying attention to the game. My eyes kept gravitating back to my desk where I’d left my phone. We were watching the game in my office and I was hoping it would distract me or my work would distract me, but…nothing did. All day long all I could think about was Penny. She’d never texted me back. I wanted to drive over to her dorm, but I couldn’t just show up and try to walk in when someone walked out. Any student could recognize me. And she knew it. She knew there was no way for me to come see her.
“You okay, man?” Ian asked.
“Fine.” Ian had sent me the footage of Penny getting safely back to her dorm. But she’d been barefoot in nothing but my t-shirt. The image infuriated me. She’d run. She’d run and I didn’t even fucking know why. Was she seriously not going to text me back? She couldn’t avoid me forever. I was her fucking professor. I’d see her tomorrow in class. But waiting that long to figure out what was wrong felt like torture.
“You don’t seem fine. Check your phone, maybe she’s texted back.”
I stood up and grabbed my phone. But there were no missed calls or messages. I typed out another text. "Penny, I had a wonderful day with you. And a wonderful night. If there's something that I've done to upset you, I'll fix it. Just tell me what it is."
“Please tell me you didn’t just text her again,” Ian said.
“Maybe?”
He laughed. “That’s an amateur move. You’ve got it bad.”
I did. I had it so bad that I was finding it hard to breathe without her. It was a familiar feeling. This deep need. The kind of feeling I paid Dr. Clark good money to help me avoid.Fuck!I ran my hand down my face.
“You really have no idea what you did to piss her off?” he asked. “Oh, nothing but net!”
I let my eyes gravitate back to the screen. “Not a clue.” Our night really had been perfect. She was perfect. And I’d fucked it all up.
“Do you want me to figure out where she is right now? I could just…”
“No. Relationships are built on trust.”
Ian raised his eyebrow. “Since when have you believed that?”
I shrugged. I didn’t. But it was what Dr. Clark wanted me to believe. Besides, if Ian found Penny and she was with another guy? I didn’t want to go to jail for killing some limp dicked college student.
Breathe.I stared at the game without really even seeing it. Really, why had she left without even a note? Was it the conversation about how many women I’d slept with? She seemed fine after that. It had to be something else.Breathe.But I couldn’t seem to focus on my breath no matter how many times I told myself I had to. I clenched my hand into a fist. If I’d still been wearing a rubber band around my wrist I would have snapped the damn thing in half.Breathe.
“I have an idea,” Ian said.
I looked up at him. God, at this moment I’d do anything if it meant talking to Penny.
“You could text her again,” he said with a laugh.
Asshole.“Ha. Ha.” Maybe Dr. Clark had a point about employees being different than friends. Because right now Ian was acting more like a friend, and it was driving me nuts.
