Eruption (The Hunted, #3)

by Ivy Smoak

"You know how good I am at getting information out of you." I trailed my hand down the front of his dress shirt, stopping at his belt. He grabbed my hand and smiled. "Turn around, Penny." I looked over my shoulder. There were tons of people standing in the living room of our apartment. "Surprise!" Melissa yelled. Everyone else quickly yelled surprise too. I could feel my face turning red. Had they all heard what I just said? I quickly turned back around to look up at James. He smiled down at me. "For one, you're very bad at telling when you're being thrown a surprise party. Congratulations, baby."

looked at her hand on Tyler's knee and then back at her face. She immediately moved her hand. Oh God, they are sleeping together.

"You're going to be my little sister. I'm going to help watch out for you. But you can't let them get under your skin. Show them that you don't care. That's what the three of us do."

He grabbed my lower back and rotated us so that my back was against the wooden floor and he was on top of me. "You're my life, my heart, my soul, my everything."

"I'm pretty sure he's engaged," I said instead. I had become just as territorial as him. Other girls thought he was dreamy, but he was mine.

"Really great. They're all calling me Fight Club because of my black eye that your lunch date, who you stood me up for, gave me."

"But you should have talked to me about it. Your intentions are always good, but I want my opinion to count."

"I have a lot of self control, Penny." He grabbed his sandwich back out of my hand. "Is that why you slept with one of your students?"

"Not when one of those friends used to be in love with the other friend." He stood up. "Not when we've had sex. Not when I compare every girl I'm with to that night we had." He shook his head.

"No one's ever loved me like you love me. This is what planning a wedding is supposed to be like. I liked looking at venues, picking flowers, being excluded from helping you pick out a dress..." I laughed. "I've had fun doing all of it. This is going to be our wedding. And I'm so excited to marry you. I thought I didn't want this back then, but I want it now. I want to see you walk down the aisle toward me. I want our friends and family to clap when we have our first kiss. And I want to have a first dance. I want all of it with you."

"I'll stick to yoga," I said. "You do yoga?" "A few times a week, yeah." James cleared his throat.

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.

"So, he's addicted to me. I can't..." "No, Penny. He's devoted to you. There is a huge difference."

Before I pressed the elevator button, I froze. I'd do anything for James. If he asked me to jump, I'd jump. He knew that. He knew how much I cared. And he had asked me to disappear. He knew I'd do it for him. I looked down at the ring on my finger. He hadn't called. He hadn't reached out to me at all. This was what he wanted. I loved him. I loved him so much. And if this was what he wanted, I'd give it to him. I pulled the ring off my finger and set it down on the kitchen counter. If James needed me to disappear, I'd disappear.