Page 82 of Devoured

"No, I'll come get it.” I didn’t want to drag anyone else into this in case it was a fucking bomb or something. “Thanks." I hung up and turned back to Penny. "You have a delivery."

"What? Here?"

"Apparently so." I was hoping she’d say she gave the address to her parents or something. But she seemed just as confused as me.Fuck.I walked into my room and quickly changed into jeans and a v-neck t-shirt.

I wasn’t scared of Isabella. Not really. But for some reason my heart was racing. If Isabella was off her meds, it was really bad. The way she was in high school was a little…murdery. I tried to shake the thought away as I walked out of my room.

Penny looked nervous too for some reason. "I haven't given anyone your address, Professor Hunter."

Yeah. This was definitely Isabella’s doing. "I know. It's rather curious." I kissed her forehead next to her stitches. Whatever this mystery package was, I knew it wouldn’t be good. I just wanted to have this one day where we could relax and be happy. Just us. And it was already falling apart. "I'll be right back."

I got onto the elevator. What if it was pictures of me from that night Isabella drugged me? I was pretty sure my stomach sank as the elevator descended.

My phone buzzed again with another text from Ian: “Be careful. The package could be from Isabella.”

Yeah.I stuffed my phone back into my pocket. We were on the same page. I nodded to the small camera that I knew was in the elevator.

If it was pictures…what were they pictures of? Could it actually be images of me fucking her? I felt like I was going to be sick. I didn’t want it to be true. I reached for the rubber band around my wrist, only to remember it was no longer there.

Breathe.

No matter how hard I tried to remember that night, I couldn’t. All I remembered was leaving Ian’s car and then waking up feeling like my head was going to explode.

It wasn’t the first time I’d blacked out. But it was the first time I’d done something I really regretted. All the fights back in college weren’t great, but at least I hadn’t fucked someone and not remembered it.

Breathe.

Dr. Clark said it was different than a normal blackout. Because I didn’t choose to overindulge. But I had grabbed the drink Isabella handed me. A drink I shouldn’t have been having because I’d been overindulging that whole week. In that sense, there was no difference. The blame was on me. And I didn’t want to fucking see whatever Isabella had sent.

The elevator doors parted and I made my way to the front desk. Ian was right. There were packages everywhere waiting to be picked up. And a huge audacious bouquet of flowers in the center of the desk. I eyed the packages warily, almost like I was expecting to hear a ticking noise.

“I was told there was a package for Penny Taylor?”

The guy looked in his notebook. “Yup.” He pointed to the ugly bouquet. “I guess someone has a secret admirer.”

Wait, what?“I was told it was a package.”

“Sorry,” he said. “Should have said flowers.”

I just stared at him. “You’re shitting me.”

“What?” the guy said.

Fuck my life.“Who are they from?”

“I didn’t look at the card,” he said.

I sighed. I didn’t actually need him to look. Penny’s admirer wasn’t a secret. Because there was some dick in my building making passes at her. Brendan. It had to be him. No one else knew my address. Seriously, who the fuck was this Brendan guy?

All I knew was that he was rich, or he wouldn’t be living here. And despite his stupid flower arrangement, he did have good taste. Because he was after my girl.

I grabbed the vase and headed back to my apartment.Brendan. I needed Ian to run a background check on this asshole. I shot Ian a text as I got back onto the elevator.

“Brendan who?” Ian asked.

“I don’t know his last name. Some asshole who sent Penny flowers. He lives in this building.”

“Lol. Another guy sent her those flowers?”

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