Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
“Hey, have you seen Penny?”
“Yeah, I saw her heading for the door a few minutes ago,” he replies.
“What?” I reply, stunned. “Where was she going? Why didn’t you stop her?”
“Stop her?” he asks. “I assumed you’d sent her to go do something.”
“Do something?” I sigh. “No, she was supposed to stay here with me and—”
I freeze. My words catch in my throat when I see her. Gretchen is passing through the door heading into the corridor leading to the larger of the two entertaining rooms set up for tonight. She’s dyed her hair and is wearing something inconspicuous, but I’d recognize that walk anywhere. And when I see her, I realize what’s happened. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.
I’ll deal with her later, I think as I quickly rush after Penny. I’m out the door and pacing up the sidewalk in seconds, but she’s nowhere to be found.
“Shit,” I curse. I race over to the valet and hand him my ticket, along with a hundred-dollar bill. “Double time, all right?”
His eyes brighten, and he nods. “Yes, sir.”
Then I’m in the car and threading through late-night New York traffic on my way to Penny’s apartment. What the hell did Gretchen say to her? This is a catastrophe. I should have handled this better and made sure those two never came into contact. But I guess I just got sloppy, and now I’m paying the price.
The drive to her apartment only takes fifteen minutes but feels like it takes ten hours. I double park right out front and leave my hazards on. I hop out and race up her front steps just as someone else who lives in the building is coming out. He holds the door for me, and I quickly make my way down the hall. If I remember right, Penny said she lived in apartment 3. I raise my hand to knock, but the door opens before I can, and I find myself staring at the faces of three unfamiliar girls.
“Forget it.”
“You’re not coming in.”
“She’s in her room crying, asshole. You know what you did to her?”
“If you think we’re letting you anywhere near her just because you could buy our entire neighborhood—”
“Then you’re sadly mistaken.”
“Ah, I get it,” I sigh. “You’re Penny’s roommates and friends.”
“Damn straight. And we’re looking out for her tonight. Anything you have to say, you can say to us.”
My blood is pumping so hard and so fast that part of me wants to channel my high school track and field days and just hurdle right over these girls and make a run for Penny’s room. But then I picture the squealing catastrophe that would ensue, as well as all three of them pulling out their phones and filming me like I’m some crazed home invader, and I take a breath.
“Listen, girls. I know you want to protect your friend, but unfortunately, you’re protecting her from the wrong person. Penny’s been lied to tonight by one of my ex-employees, a jealous girl who is trying to split us up. All I want to do is go in there, tell her my side of the story, the truth, so she can understand that I…that I love her.”
Wow, I said it.
I only wish the first time I said it I could have been saying it to her.
One of the girls, the oldest of the bunch, glances at the other two. “You believe him?”
“I don’t know. Billionaires lie. That’s how they get their money.”
“What are you, an actress?” I ask.
She looks at me, surprised. “How’d you know?”
I chuckle. “Actors and actresses always think guys like me are evil pricks who want to take over the world.”
The girl folds her arms across her chest and glares back at me. “Well?”
“All I want is to make things right with Penny,” I say. “And I’ll tell you what. You can stand right outside the door and listen, and if Penny says anything to you, you can call the cops and have me thrown out. Deal?”
The girls don’t reply immediately. They look at each other, doing that commutating-without-talking thing that girls are so good at, then look back at me.
“Fine,” the actress says. “But we’re warning you—”
“Don’t worry,” I say, brushing past them. “You don’t have to.”
I head quickly to the only closed door in the apartment and knock. Penny doesn’t answer right away, and I try not to think about her inside crying. I wait a moment and then knock again. “Penny? Can I come in, Penny?”
There’s a long pause, and then her voice from within, soft and weak. “Okay.”
Without waiting, I twist the knob and step into Penny’s bedroom. All the lights are off. I can only make her out from the orange light of the streetlamp coming in through the window. Behind me, I hear the shuffling sound of her roommates’ footsteps.