Page 83 of Devoured

Shut up, Ian.I gave the middle finger to the camera in the elevator.

“Lol,” he texted again.

I was pretty sure I would have preferred the bomb from Isabella.

Chapter 20

Monday

I could barely even see through the huge bouquet as I made my way back into my apartment. I set the vase down on the kitchen counter and turned to look at Penny.

"Are these from you?" she asked.

"No, Penny. I don't know who they're from." But I certainly had a guess.

"Probably my parents." She walked over and grabbed the envelope.

"Probably." I tried to keep my voice even. I stared at her as she opened the card.

What had she said that asshole said to her? Something about how if things are so hard between us maybe we're not meant to work things out.Fuck him.

Penny looked up at me, like she was trying to gauge my reaction to this.

But I wasn’t giving her anything.

She slid the card back into the envelope and set it down on the counter. "They're from Brendan."

No shit."A friendship rose kind of thing?" I raised my eyebrow.Wishful thinking.

Penny sighed. "No. He likes me. I'll talk to him..."

Fuck no you’re not going to go talk to him."Get dressed."

"What?"

"We're going out." I needed to get her out of this apartment before Brendan showed up. Because if he did, there was a high probability that I’d assault him.

"Okay."

I grabbed our dishes from breakfast. If I didn’t do something useful with my hands I was worried I might throw the vase against the wall.Breathe.

"James?"

I ignored her as I washed the dishes. I just needed a minute to calm down. And to think about where I wanted to take her.

She retreated into my bedroom.

I wanted to take her somewhere far away from here. Away from freaking Tyler and Brendan and anyone else who had a death wish. Somewhere we could go unnoticed. Somewhere we could just be us instead of a professor and his student.

I placed the last dish in the dishwasher. I knew exactly where to take Penny. I pulled out my phone and shot Ian a text: “I’m going to New York for the day.”

My phone immediately buzzed with his response. “Great, I’ll drive.”

“You can stay here.”

“Oh, right. Incognito. I’ll take a separate car and follow you there.”

“Or you can just stay here,” I typed back.

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