Page 102 of Devoured

I took a deep breath. I didn’t need to keep beating this point over his head. He knew he’d fucked up. I sat down on the couch. “It’s just a fucking mess. Before I woke up she told Penny God knows what.”

“Well then look,” Ian said. He pulled out his phone and sat down next to me. “If that’s what you’re actually upset about…”

“No, I’m pretty damn pissed at you too.”

He shrugged. “Well, let’s just see the footage okay?”

Oh. Right.I nodded. I’d been full of this panic and rage that I hadn’t been thinking clearly. Of course I could see what the two of them spoke about. I stared down at the video on Ian’s phone.

Isabella had been sitting alone in my dining room for a long time by herself. Sitting there so still it barely even looked like she was breathing. The smile on her face looked like it was glued on. Nothing about her looked real. Like if she turned her head, her neck might crack. And it was the first time in a long time that staring at her reminded me of the way she’d been in high school.

But the weirdest part about her sitting there so still was that she was staring directly at the camera. Like she knew it was there. And I didn’t like that at all.

“It looks like she knows about the cameras,” I said.

Ian shook his head. “That’s not possible.”

I knew that. And he knew that. But we both stared at her staring.

“I’ll change the passwords just in case,” he said.

I nodded. That would give me piece of mind.

The tape showed Penny finally emerging out of my bedroom. At first, she didn’t notice Isabella. But then Isabella cleared her throat.

"How did you get in here?" Penny’s voice was barely a whisper. She looked terrified. Did she know who it was sitting there? Probably. She’d looked up pictures of Isabella online.

"I'm his wife."

Well, if Penny wasn’t aware, she was now. I couldn’t think about a more awkward situation. What a fucking mess.

Penny tugged on the hem of the t-shirt she was wearing. It was one of mine. And I could tell how uncomfortable she was. This was exactly the feeling she told me she wanted to avoid. She finally opened her mouth. "I..."

"Don't embarrass yourself. I know all about you, Penny. I like to keep track of who my husband is currently screwing."

Penny glanced at the bedroom door, probably hoping I’d wake the fuck up too. I wish I had.

Isabella pulled a manila envelope out of her purse and set it on the table. "Don't flatter yourself. James definitely didn't mention you the last time I saw him. He was occupied by other, more pressing matters."

Oh fuck you, Isabella.

Penny didn’t say a word.

"Oh, did he not tell you? You were together at the time, weren't you? It was only a week ago." She put her elbows on the table. "I know exactly how he works. I know exactly what he wants. And clearly you can't give him what he needs. If you could satisfy him, he wouldn't have come crawling back to me."

"He did tell me."

"So let me guess," Isabella said, ignoring Penny’s comment. "You've given him quite the chase. Or is the fact that you're a student enough?"

"What do you mean?"

"He only wants what he can't have. You must see that. As soon as you say you'll stay, he'll leave you."

That wasn’t true. Okay, fine. Maybe it used to be true. I loved the chase. But my life was different now. I was different now. And I wasn’t fucking going anywhere.

But Penny had nothing to say to that. Isabella’s lies were manipulating Penny. Just like Isabella’s lies in the tabloids had. And I hated witnessing this shit.

"You do see it,” Isabella said. “I can see it in your eyes. You just realized that this..." she waved her hand around the apartment, "...is all a lie."

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