Eruption (The Hunted Series Book 3)

by Ivy Smoak

  "Are you okay?" he asked.

  I had gotten lost in my thoughts. I nodded my head and smiled. "Yeah. I'm just feeling a bit tired. I'm going to go take a nap."

  He nodded.

  I walked into the building. The wave of air conditioning made me shiver. It was freezing. It felt like I was in the middle of a New York winter.

  "Penny!" Cliff called as I made me way to the elevator. "I have a package for you."

  Oh God. But when I turned around, it was a box sitting on the counter, not another manila envelope. I let a sigh escape from my lips as I walked over to Cliff and lifted up the box. "Thanks, Cliff."

  As I stepped onto the elevator, I looked down at the box. My momentary relief completely evaporated. It was addressed like the last envelope had been, with just my name and no address. The elevator dinged. I absentmindedly walked into our apartment. My heart was racing. I set the box down on the counter. I had this weird, all consuming fear that there was going to be a bloody limb in the box. Part of me wanted to laugh it off, but the other half of me was wondering just how crazy Isabella really was. She followed James to Rachel's. She had gotten someone to take pictures of her in James' office in order to capture her kissing him.

  I shouldn't look in the box. But it was like I had no control over my body. I tore off the brown paper and looked down at the shoebox. There was a post-it note on top of the lid:

  He's not good at forever. His words are as empty as the promises he can't possibly keep because his love is as fleeting as his addictions.

  James talked about a forever with me before he had even officially divorced Isabella. He jumped into a life with me head first. But it was because he had never experienced something so real before. It didn't matter what Isabella said about Rachel. He loved me more than he ever loved her. And he definitely loved me more than he loved Isabella. James kept his promises to me. Always. He was good at forever because he was my forever.

  But I still opened the lid of the shoebox. I wasn't scared of Isabella. Whatever was inside couldn't take away the fact that I knew he was the love of my life. And that he meant every word he ever said to me.

  Inside there were dozens of handwritten letters and short notes. On top of the jumbled up letters was another post-it note:

  Love is something to hold onto when your past is dark. When you need an escape from your reality. When you're an addict.

  Fuck you, Isabella. She didn't know him. She never did. James was in control of his own fate. He wasn't addicted to me. And he was certainly never addicted to her. I picked up the first letter that was underneath her note:

  My beautiful Isabella,

  Today we start our lives together. There's nothing I want more than to fall asleep with you in my arms and to wake up to your smile for the rest of my life. I've been dreaming of this day my whole life, the day you'll finally be mine, the day we finally become one. Marriage, starting a family, growing old together, I want everything with you and only you. You are the love of my life. You are my heart and soul. You are my happily ever after.

  I'll love you always and forever,

  -James

  I could picture him writing this to me on our wedding day. He had even said some of these things to me before. Almost word for word. This was how he had felt the day they had gotten married. His words were so full of hope. They were so full of love. I felt a tear fall down my cheek.

  He had made it seem like he never loved her. Like he was forced into it. But he had said he tried to make it work. He had wanted it to work. That letter didn't make it seem like he was trying to love her. It made it seem like he did. I sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen counter and reread the letter.

  Maybe I was wrong. His words were so heartfelt. Had he actually been in love with her when they got married? That wasn't what he told me, though. I pulled out the picture from my purse and stared at the two of them kissing. He wasn't pushing her away. Maybe he still loved her.

  I grabbed another note from the box.

  My love,

  You love me despite my flaws. You understand me better than anyone else ever has or ever could. The best decision I ever made was marrying you.

  Yours,

  -James

  I could feel my heart beating in my throat. I picked up another note and read one after another.

  Isabella,

  Your eyes sparkle in the sun. I get lost in them every time we're together.

  Love,

  -James

  To the sexiest woman I know,

  When we're not together I dream of you. My lips against your soft skin. My fingers in your silky hair. The taste of you drives me crazy, baby. I'll never get enough of you. I can't wait for this business trip to be over. Not having you every night is torture. I feel like a teenager again.

  Thinking of you,

  -James

  My beautiful wife,

  I can't wait to have children with you. I can't wait to start our family. You're going to be a wonderful mother. You're so loving and caring. I'm ready to try. A bunch of little yous running around would make me the happiest man in the world.

  Love always,

  -James

  I couldn't read anymore. All the words were blurry because of my tears. He loved her. He loved her so much. These were sweet notes written to a woman he was head over heels for. He wanted to start a family with her.

  And he didn't want one with me. I put the notes back in the box and closed the lid. He was ready to have children four years ago, but he wasn't ready now. It didn't seem like he ever wanted kids with me.

  James meant everything to me. He was my whole world. And now it felt like my whole world was crumbling in front of me.

  The pictures could be explained. He went for closure with Rachel. Isabella kissed him, not the other way around. Those could all be logically excused. But these notes? He lied to me. James had loved Isabella. He didn't have to lie to me about that. He could have said he loved her. And that she cheated on him and it broke his heart. The only reason you lied about a divorce was for one reason: if you were still in love with the person. And you wanted to convince yourself you weren't.

  I wanted to grab a box of notes James had written for me, get lost in them, and forget about everything he had ever said to Isabella. But I didn't have a box of notes from James. I mostly had emails and texts. And the few handwritten notes I did have weren't anything like this. They were telling me he had gone for a run. Or to remind me about a dinner we had to go to.

  James was my first love. He was my only love. But I wasn't his. He had made it seem like I was. At least his first love like this. A great love. The kind you see in movies and read about in books. But it didn't seem like I was.

  I didn't know him at all.

  Chapter 22

  Saturday

  I wasn't sure how long I stood there, staring out the window. The sun had set over Central Park and the lights were coming on, lighting up the walking paths. It was so beautiful that it didn't even seem real. That was the same conclusion I had come to about my relationship with James too. It was too good and too perfect to be real.

  I knew he was out of my league. But I thought he loved me. I knelt down in front of the window and pressed my forehead against the glass. I closed my eyes and savored the feeling of the cool glass on my forehead. There weren't any tears left inside of me. I had tried to call James a few times, but it always went straight to voicemail. It wasn't his fault, but each time he didn't pick up it just validated all my fears.

  This was how Isabella wanted me to feel. She had won. It hadn't been a fair fight at all. I touched my cheek where she had slapped me. She had even warned me. I shook my head. No. Isabella had said she had two weeks to win James back. If she was sending me this stuff, I didn't even want to know what she was doing to him. I already knew she had kissed him. Maybe that wasn't the end of it.

  My phone started buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out. Mason. I quickly answered it. "Mason!"

  He laughe
d. "Hey, Penny. Having a good weekend?"

  "Can I talk to him?"

  Mason laughed again. "Jumping right into things, then? So, about that...you need to stop calling. You're distracting him from having fun."

  "I'm sure he's having quite enough fun."

  My comment was greeted by silence.

  "Where are you guys?"

  "Costa Rica."

  What the hell were they doing in Costa Rica? "What hotel?"

  "Nice try, Penny. I'm not telling you where we are. You're not allowed to infiltrate his bachelor party."

  "Mason, I really, really need to talk to him."

  "Umm...I would hand the phone over, but he's currently indisposed."

  "Indisposed? What have you been doing?"

  He laughed. "I'm just kidding. He's taking a shower."

  I breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't matter how upset I was, I would always worry about him. "Has he been getting packages? Or any mail there?"

  "No?"

  "Has he been acting weird?"

  Mason laughed. "He's not getting cold feet, if that's what you're worried about."

  "Okay." Well, that's good. Isabella probably didn't know where they were.

  "I promise I'm taking good care of you fiancé. You don't need to worry. I'm not going to let him fuck up the best thing that's ever happened to him."

  That was sweet. It was also apparently untrue. "That's not what I'm worried about."

  "Are you okay, Penny? You can talk to me you know."

  Talk to James' best friend about this? No, I can't. "I need to talk to him, Mason."

  "I'll give him a message for you."

  "That's okay. I'll just...see him tomorrow night. Right?"

  "I'll have him back before midnight. I promise."

  "Okay. Bye, Mason"

  "Wait. There was a reason I was calling."

  I didn't say anything.

  "I think Bee's phone died. I haven't heard from her all day. Could you go over there and see if she's okay? And tell her to call me?"

  "So you want me to tell Bee to call you, but you won't let me talk to James?"

  "Yeah."

  "You're a terrible person." I couldn't help but laugh at the irony.

  "And that's why you love me."

  There was some noise in the background.

  "Rob's back," Mason said. "I have to go. Please check on her, Penny." The line went dead.

  ***

  Even though I wasn't allowed to talk to James, at least I knew he was safe. That was the only reason I had walked over to Trump International. And because Bee's phone had gone straight to voicemail when I called her.

  I paused in the lobby, remembering the day that James had brought me here when he was still my professor. It had been perfect in every way. I laughed to myself. This was also the first place I had ever met Mason. I remembered how his stare had made me uncomfortable. It was almost like he could see me. Really see me. But he was probably just sizing me up for his side business.

  Bee worked hard. She had probably just fallen asleep early in front of the T.V. or something. I got onto the elevator and listened to the fancy elevator music playing. It was strange that Bee and Mason lived in a hotel. But they had made their apartment very homey. I always felt comfortable there. Besides, living like you were in a hotel was kind of fun. Even though their apartment was technically classified as a condo in the hotel, they could still order room service whenever they wanted.

  I stepped off the elevator and made my way down the hallway. The sound of music blaring got louder and louder as I got closer to Bee's apartment. I stopped outside her door and knocked. The door flew open.

  "Welcome to your bachelorette party!" Bee screamed. "It's about time you got here." She grabbed my arm and pulled me into her apartment. "I was starting to think Mason forgot to call you."

  Bee, Kendra, Marie, and Melissa were all decked out in sparkly dresses and looked super excited. And maybe a little intoxicated. Melissa was even smiling at me, which was a good sign.

  "You're two shots behind," Kendra said.

  "This is really nice of you guys, but I don't really want a bachelorette party," I said and stood in the doorway. "Can't we just stay in and watch a movie or something?"

  "Don't be ridiculous," Kendra said and brought two shot glasses over to me. "Besides, it's too late. We've already planned the whole thing."

  I looked down at the two shot glasses she had shoved into my hands.

  "Come on," Marie said. "With everything we have planned, you're going to need that."

  Oh God.

  "Don't be such a party pooper," Melissa said and gave me another smile. She used to say stuff like that to me all the time in college. It was nice that she was finally talking to me again. I didn't want to fight with her. All I really wanted was to be curled up in my bed back home, though. I sighed and downed one shot and then the next.

  "First things first," Bee said. "Put this on." She grabbed the shot glasses from me and handed me a sparkly dress.

  James didn't like when I wore stuff like this. At least, in public.

  "Melissa picked it out for you. So you know it's going to fit perfectly. Go change."

  "Can't I just wear what I have on?" I was wearing jean shorts and a baggy t-shirt.

  Kendra laughed. "Absolutely not. Get to it. We have a huge list. It's going to take us all night to get through all this stuff."

  Maybe this was exactly what I needed. I wanted to have fun tonight and forget about everything that had been going on. That probably wasn't possible though. I walked down the hallway and into the bathroom. The dress was tight and ended right below my ass. My boobs weren't big, but this dress made them look huge. I looked like a total slut. Luckily I was wearing flip flops. Heels would have tipped the scales to making me look more like a hooker. I didn't dwell on the fact that my eyes were still red from going in and out of hysterical crying fits all day.

  "There's a pair of shoes out here for you to wear too!" one of the girls yelled from the other room.

  Shit. I walked back out into the kitchen and looked down at the stilettos they wanted me to wear. "What are we doing exactly? Are we going to be walking a lot? I think I'll just stick with these shoes."

  "You can't wear a dress like that with flip flops," Melissa said.

  "And everyone's going to be looking at you, because you're the girl of the hour." Bee pulled a pink sash over me and added a sparkly tiara to the top of my head.

  I looked down at the sash. It had 'bachelorette' written across it in a fancy font. I could feel my face turning red.

  Marie clapped her hands. "You look perfectly embarrassed. Penis cookie?"

  "What now?"

  Marie held a plate of cookies shaped like penises in front of my face.

  I started laughing. "No, I'm good right now. Thanks, though. They're very anatomically correct, huh?"

  "Thanks, I made them myself," Marie said. "I'll bring a few with us. Let's get going."

  "Really, no movie?"

  Bee laughed and hooked her arm through mine. "Trust me, this is going to be so much better. We can watch a movie tomorrow while we're working through these hangovers."

  ***

  "So, you need to ask a random guy to buy you a drink," Marie said as she looked down at a list she had.

  "Can I see that?" I tried to snatch it from her, but she moved it away too quickly.

  "How about him?" Kendra said and pointed to a guy at the bar. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. His hair was shaggy. It looked like he belonged at the beach instead of in a bar in New York. He was probably a tourist. Which meant he wouldn't want to pay for a drink that was way too expensive for a girl he didn't know.

  "He looks like a tourist."

  Melissa laughed. "So? That means he's here to get laid. He'll definitely buy you a drink."

  "I don't want to lead him on."

  "You aren't. You're wearing a freaking sash that says you're getting married any day. You're fine. Go ask him."
>
  Bee gave my shoulder a little nudge. "You aren't going home until you do everything on that list. You might as well get it over with."

  This was going to be mortifying. I slid off my bar stool and walked over to him. I leaned on the counter next to him. "Hey," I said. My voice sounded nervous and not flirtatious at all.

  He turned away from the guy he was talking to. "Hey." He looked down at my sash and smiled at me. "One more crazy night, huh?"

  "Not exactly. Look, so my friends over there..."

  He looked over my shoulder.

  "No, don't look." I grabbed his arm.

  He laughed. "Okay, not looking."

  "Well, they have this list of things I have to do, and one of them is to ask a stranger to buy my a drink. But I know you don't want to do that. So, you can tell me when they aren't looking and I'll slip you ten dollars. And could you just order me a drink with that? Then I can go back there and pretend you bought me a drink?"

  The more I spoke, the bigger his smile got. "I don't know, their eyes are glued on you. You might not get an opportunity."

  "Crap. They're looking right now?"

  "Mhm. So maybe it's easier if I just buy you a drink." He lifted up his arm to call over the bartender.

  "You don't have to do that."

  "Isn't that why you came over?"

  "Kind of. But I was just going to pretend..."

  He laughed again, drowning out my words. "You know, you could have just asked me to buy you a drink. I didn't need the whole story. All a beautiful woman like you needed to do was say you were thirsty. The whole bar would be buying you drinks all night long."

  "Thanks. I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm doing. I've never flirted with a guy at a bar before."

  "You're flirting with me? I thought you were getting married?"

  "No." I could feel my face turning red. Two shots was enough for me. I didn't need anything else. "I mean, yes I'm getting married. And no, I'm not flirting with you. I just meant, I don't usually talk to strangers in bars."