by Ivy Smoak
He removed his hand from my shoulder. "So, are you okay?"
"The brotherly pep talk definitely helped. Thanks, Rob." I looked down the hallway toward foyer. I wanted James to walk into the party with me. I didn't want him to be fighting with his parents. And I definitely didn't want him to talk to Isabella. I just wanted him by my side.
"Come on," Rob said and held his arm back out for me. "I'm supposed to be escorting you to the party. Not letting you mope around in the hallway."
"I'd rather just hide somewhere and not see anyone."
"Just bottle up all your emotions and try not to think about them. That's what becoming a Hunter truly is. Why do you think we're all so messed up?"
I laughed as he walked with me down the hallway.
"Welcome to the family, Penny." He winked at me again as he turned the corner. We walked through a marble archway into a room filled with at least a hundred people. And I didn't recognize any of them.
"Shouldn't we wait for James?"
"I don't know. He said to bring you in here." He looked over his shoulder. "How about I go grab you a drink to calm your nerves. What's your poison?"
"Don't leave me."
He laughed. "Jen's over there. I'm sure she'd love to introduce you to some of the family."
I nodded. "Get me something strong."
"I'll do my worst." His arm fell from mine.
It felt like everyone was staring at me. I smiled awkwardly and walked over to Jen.
"What took you two so long?" she said as she gave me a quick hug. "Wait, where's James?"
"Talking to your parents." I didn't want to think about what he was doing. "Rob said you might introduce me to some of your family members. I thought this was going to be a small thing. Why are there so many people here?"
"Well, your wedding is going to be so small that Mom and Dad insisted that everyone come down to meet you now. They're all so excited to meet you."
So this was basically everyone we hadn't invited to the wedding? Oh God. I swallowed hard. They all probably hated me too.
"You okay?" Jen asked. "You look really pale."
"I'm fine. Do I know anyone here?"
"I think the invites got a little confusing. Most of your friends are arriving around seven I think. But come on, I'll introduce you to everyone."
***
It was just a blur of faces and names. I gave up trying to remember who everyone was. It seemed like hours before I felt James' hand on my waist.
"Let's go. I've already made our excuses," he said.
"But I haven't even met your parents yet."
"And you're not going to. Let's go. Now."
I wasn't sure I had ever seen him this upset. All I wanted to do was grab his hand and run out of there. But Rob's advice was stuck in my head. I didn't want his parents to think they could scare me away. I wasn't going anywhere. "Our friends are coming any minute. We can't leave now."
"Oh, there you are, James," Jen said. The smile on her face instantly disappeared. "What's wrong?"
"Did you know Isabella was going to be here?" James said in a stern voice.
"Don't snap at her." I put my hand on his chest. "This isn't her fault."
"Is she really?" Jen asked. Her voice sounded small.
"Dad said you're the one that convinced them to throw this thing. You must have known. You set us up."
"Of course I didn't," Jen said. She sounded like her normal self again. "You know I wouldn't do that."
James ran his hand through his hair. "Please let me get you out of here, Penny." There was so much pain in his eyes. And it killed me.
"I have to meet them." I put my glass in his hand. "Hold this for me, please."
I started to walk away before he had time to react.
"Penny!" he hissed.
I ignored him and walked over to the archway. His parents had just entered the room with Isabella in tow. She smiled as I approached. She probably thought that I was about to embarrass myself, but she was dead wrong. I went straight up to them and smiled. "Hi, you must be Mr. and Mrs. Hunter. I'm Penny Taylor, your son's fiancée. I'm so sorry that it took us this long to meet. We had such conflicting schedules." I gave them as genuine of a smile as I could. "But I'm glad we finally get a chance to meet now, before the wedding. And thank you so much for throwing this wonderful party to celebrate our engagement. It's been quite lovely. Your whole family has been so kind."
James' mother raised her left eyebrow. The expression reminded me of one that James made so often. Maybe the two of them had some similarities after all.
Isabella made a weird noise with her throat, clearly disapproving of what I had just said.
"Oh, and Isabella, it's so nice to see you again. I wasn't sure I would get the pleasure. I'm so glad you could make it."
"Unfortunately we can't stay," James said and wrapped his arm firmly around my waist, almost making me jump. "Something has come up and we really must go."
"Don't be ridiculous, James," Isabella said with a huge smile. "The party has only just begun. Let me get you a scotch. That's your favorite, right?" Her voice was oozing with so much fake sweetness that I wanted to throw up.
"Not anymore, no." His grip tightened on my waist.
"How about we go make a few phone calls?" I said and smiled up at him. "I'm sure whatever urgent thing that has come up can be handled by someone else. If you'll excuse us for just a moment." I smiled politely at all three of them and grabbed James' arm.
He followed me into the hallway. I stopped right past the archway, but he grabbed my hand, pulling me farther down the hall.
"James?"
He didn't say anything, he just kept walking.
"James, stop." I pulled my hand out of his grip.
"We're going. Now."
"We're not going anywhere. Your parents threw us this party and I'm not going to make a bad first impression by leaving early."
"You're joking right? They invited..."
"No. I'm not joking. Would you calm down for one second?"
He lowered his eyebrows.
"If I'm going to be a part of this family, then I need to learn how to deal with them. And if that means I have to be civil around Isabella too, so be it."
"I'm not asking you to do that."
"I know that you're not asking. I'm offering."
"And I'm rejecting your offer. I don't want to be here. I'm never stepping foot in this fucking house again. I already told them as much. I'm done. With all of them."
"You don't mean that."
"I do mean it. Don't you see what they're doing? They're trying to force Isabella back on me. They don't want me to marry you. They won't even give you a chance. They want me to be miserable. They don't care about me."
"They do care. They think that's what's best for you. But I'm going to wear them down. I'm going to make them see."
"They're not like your parents, Penny. I'm not having a fight with them over something small and insignificant. This isn't just a misunderstanding. They're torturing me. They're trying to break me. Again."
It wasn't like I couldn't see the pain in his eyes. I knew. I just never realized quite how bad it was. I wanted to think the whole thing was a misunderstanding. No one's parents could act this way without an important reason behind it. They had to be doing it because they thought Isabella was what was best for him. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe they were torturing him on purpose because he wasn't doing the things they wanted him to be doing. And there was a huge difference between the two. It didn't seem like they wanted him to be happy. I had been nice to them and they hadn't said a word.
"I just want to fix it," I whispered. I put my hand on the side of his face. "Please let me try."
"You can't make them love me." His Adam's apple rose and fell. He shook his head, making my hand fall from his face. "I need some air."
Chapter 9
Friday
I downed another glass of wine. This party was a complete disaster. James was missing. His parents were alway
s talking to someone, so I couldn't catch them alone. And Isabella was walking around like she owned the place. All of James' family members seemed to adore her. I should have just left with James. I knew he needed me right now. But I wasn't calm enough to console him. All I wanted to do was set the house on fire.
"You okay?" Melissa asked as she walked up to me. "You look pissed."
"I'm fine." It was so nice to finally see someone I recognized. I took a deep breath and set my glass down on the bar. I was trying to calm my nerves before I potentially made a scene. I just wished I had the courage to do it without alcohol.
"This place is almost as big as Tyler's apartment building," she said.
I laughed. "Yeah, it's crazy." Maybe a distraction was what I needed. And I could really use someone on my side right now. "Actually, Melissa, I was hoping I could talk to you about Tyler. I just want you to know that if you two are dating, I'm totally okay with it."
"I don't need your permission to date someone, Penny."
"I know, that's not what I meant. I just thought that maybe because of our history, you thought..."
Melissa laughed and placed her glass of wine down on the bar beside mine. "Thought that it would be awkward because you've slept with him? Yeah, well you have nothing to worry about. I would never date Tyler Stevens. I'm sorry, I need to use the bathroom."
"Melissa?"
She was already quickly walking away.
What the hell was that? I glanced over at Tyler. He was staring at us, but he quickly looked away when he caught my gaze and started walking after Melissa.
Not only was I in a room full of people that preferred James' ex wife to me, but now two of my closest friends seemed to be mad at me. Fuck this.
I walked over to Rob who was playing some drinking game with Matt and Mason. Hopefully they weren't taking shots whenever Isabella gave me a death stare, because they'd be totally wasted. And I needed Rob's help.
I put my hand on his shoulder. "I'm going to talk to your parents. Could you go find James so we can leave when I'm done? He said he was going to get some air, but he's not answering his phone. And I..."
"Say no more, gorgeous. I'll find him." Rob downed his shot and stood up. "Don't play without me," he said and disappeared into the crowd of people in the room.
"Are you okay, Penny?" Mason asked. He looked truly concerned and it made me feel a little better. I just needed to remember that James' friends were the true family I was gaining. If his parents weren't going to accept me, then I wasn't going to keep pretending everything was alright.
"Besides for the fact that James' parents want him to get back with Isabella? Yeah, I'm great." I looked over toward his parents. They were talking to a group of people about their age. It didn't really matter if I was rude and interrupted them. They deserved it.
Matt laughed. "You don't have anything to worry about. James is completely addicted to you. You're like the only sustenance he needs. Ow, fuck! What is wrong with you?"
I turned back to them.
Matt was grabbing his shin under the table and giving Mason a dirty look. Had Mason just kicked him?
Mason cleared his throat. "Do you need help getting James' parents alone to tell them off? I think we're both up to the challenge."
"No. I'll do it myself. I'm kind of looking forward to embarrassing them. Have fun with your game." I walked away from their table toward Mr. and Mrs. Hunter. They were still talking to the same group of people. "Excuse me," I said when I reached them. "I was hoping to have a word alone with Mr. and Mrs. Hunter."
"Of course, dear," said a woman who I recognized as one of James' aunts who I had met earlier.
James' mother turned toward me reluctantly. "I didn't realize you were still here."
Yeah, fuck you too. "Can the three of us go talk somewhere in private?"
"We're hosting a party. We can't just..."
Mrs. Hunter was cut off by her husband. "Of course, Miss Taylor. We thought you might request a word. Let's discuss this in my office."
I instantly liked Mr. Hunter a little more than Mrs. Hunter. He didn't seem nearly as cold. They started walking away and I quickly caught up to the them. It felt like I was about to be scolded as I followed them out of the room and into the main hallway, though. I wondered what they thought I was about to talk to them about as Mr. Hunter stopped in front of a door. He pulled out a key from his pocket and put it into the door. He pushed it open, letting Mrs. Hunter walk in first. He continued to hold the door open and gestured for me to go in as well. Maybe he wasn't so bad.
I stepped in and turned around in a circle. The room looked more like a small library than an office. I suddenly felt weird for not knowing what his parents did. James never talked about them. So I really knew nothing about them at all. Except that they were hurting James. That was all that I needed to know.
His father cleared his throat and I turned toward him. "Miss Taylor, let me apologize for inviting Isabella to this event."
James' mother crossed her arms in front of her chest and didn't say a word.
"Thank you for saying that." I sighed with relief. I had every intention of yelling at them as soon as we were alone, but I bit my tongue. This whole thing was just a huge misunderstanding. I could still fix this.
"We realize that option should have been presented to James at a different time."
"A different time?" You mean not at all?
"Yes. Once we settle this," he said.
"Settle what?" I asked.
James' mother shook her head. "There's no reason to be formal, Jonathan. We all know why we're here." She stared at me for a second like I was completely dense and walked over to the desk. She opened up a drawer and pulled out a checkbook.
You've got to be kidding me. "I don't want your money. That's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about the way you've been treating your son."
She tore a check out of the booklet and stuck her hand out to me.
I bit my lip, trying to prevent myself from crying. How could they think that's why I was dating their son? "I'm in love with James."
"Of course." She sounded disgusted as she pulled out another check. She set them both down on the desk and slid them toward me.
I looked down. Both checks were already made out to me. And they were each for one million dollars. They had already written them. They never had any intention of getting to know me. This had been their plan the whole time. "Don't you want him to be happy?" My voice sounded small and sad.
"That's really no concern of yours," his mother snapped.
"Yes it is. I'm his fiancée. All I care about is his happiness."
"This charade has gone on long enough. I thought it would sizzle out on its own, but now I see that we need to step in before it's too late. So that's what we're doing. Because we do care about his happiness. And we won't let him ruin his life over some girl. It's just a matter of time before he comes to his senses. We're just helping it along. Now take the money and disappear from his life. That's the offer."
"I don't want your money." I had clenched my hands into fists. "You think this is showing him that you care? Instead of accepting him how he is? Your son is sweet and caring and..."
"And he doesn't know what's best for him. You think marrying a middle class girl is helping him? Pulling him down to your level?" She made the same noise with her throat that Isabella had made earlier. "He's a Hunter." She picked up the checks and threw them at me.
Her words made me shiver. "He may be a Hunter, but he's in love with me."
"He doesn't love you." She looked me up and down. "He's attracted to you for some reason. And I don't even see why. You're quite common. Isabella and him have a real bond. Our families are connected. And they're going to work it out."
"There's nothing to work out. They're divorced."
"Which was a mistake. They both realize that. And they're working on fixing it."
She made it seem like it was already happening. I wasn't going to let her
crawl under my skin. That was nonsense. "He doesn't love her."
"Again, that is none of your business. You'll never be one of us. Even if you have conned our son into living in sin with you for the past two years. Enough is enough."
"I don't want to be one of you." I tried to keep my head up high even though all her words seemed to cut through me like a knife. "I'm glad I never will be." I leaned down and picked up the checks off the floor.
James' mother smiled. "What a relief."
"Because James and I want nothing to do with you." I tore up the checks and let the pieces flutter to the ground. "I was hoping that we could come to an understanding, but it's clear that you're not interested in listening to me. Or your son. So you're officially uninvited to the wedding. Not that you ever accepted the invitation in the first place. And you're uninvited to be a part of the rest of our lives as well. You won't even get to hold your grandchildren. So congratulations to both of you. You've lost your eldest son. I hope you're happy."
James' father cleared his throat. "Miss Taylor, you seem like a smart girl. We hope that you'll make the right decision. Please let yourself out when you've calmed down." He took a step toward the door.
"I'm not done. I came here trying to give you both the benefit of the doubt. But do you have any idea how much you've hurt him? Forcing him to marry Isabella even though he didn't love her? He would have done anything to make you happy. Don't you see that? He's tried so hard to please both of you. But you're impossible. Do you even know what he's been through? He was depressed. And it's your fault. You made him an addict."
"Enough!" yelled his dad. "Our son's shortcomings are no one's fault but his own. He's never known what's best for him. He chose to find solace in vices because he's weak. He's always been weak." His father's words made tears come to my eyes.
"James is the strongest person I know. Strong enough to walk away from his own parents. And thank goodness, because the thought of ever being in the same room as either of you again makes me feel sick to my stomach. You're both pretentious snobs. And you don't deserve his love."
"Is that quite all?" his father asked. "Are you done insulting us in our own house?"
"If you give me more time, I'm sure I can think of something else to say." I glared back at him. I knew I was being childish. But it was better than punching him in the face, which is what I really wanted to do.