Chapter 26
26
PENNY
Collins and I are a bundle of intertwining limbs when I start to come out of my sleep coma. I love these lazy mornings with him, where we have no place to be but in bed together.
I breathe in his clean, masculine scent. He smells like a beautiful rainstorm in the middle of an evergreen forest.
He makes it easy to lose track of time—and often days.
We have fallen into a peaceful rhythm of enjoying each other’s company, while fucking each other into oblivion.
Every activity spent at home turns into me getting railed and impaled.
I’ve gotten very comfortable walking around naked in his space. It honestly makes it easier to enjoy a movie or chores together, when we both know how the task will end.
Collins makes me forget that just weeks ago, I was slipping into a bad state again at the photoshoot. It’s as if he is consuming all of my waking thoughts, and if I just take that plunge, maybe he’ll be the center of my life—and not the looming sense of doom that is surrounding the upcoming Mark Tanner trial.
“Your mind is elsewhere, Pen,” he warns.
I know. And I feel guilt over it. It’s not like I enjoy my negative thinking. It just seeps through sometimes—and especially in the morning when I’m lying in bed and it’s quiet.
“Do you think I have to testify? I don’t want to. What happens if I freak out on the stand? I don’t want to see his face anymore. It freaks me out to think about him staring at me in court. I just don’t want to do it. But I’ll have to. Right?”
Collins tucks me tighter into his side. “I want you to listen to me, okay? Trust me that I will protect you, and your brothers will protect you at all cost. Do not worry about a trial.”
Turning to look at him, I try to seek out the reason. “But what if?”
“I don’t want you worrying over this. I will handle it.”
“But maybe I should talk to the lawyers to see if they will delay the trial. I just don’t think I can emotionally handle anything right now.”
Collins’s hands massage the tension out of me, kneading my muscles and sending ripples of pleasure through all of my limbs.
“I don’t want you worrying another second over the bastard.”
He may not be worried over the trial, but I sure am.
Yet, I have other reasons to worry over my own mental health. At this point in our contract, I’ve already tied those invisible strings from each of our hearts, and with each memory made by spending time together, I am making the knots get stronger.
We are living on the same wavelength, hoping that time slows down.
Saying goodbye is going to destroy me.
Rolling over, I nuzzle my nose into Collins’s neck. “You smell so good.”
His arms and legs wrap around me, locking me to him like a vise.
“I never want to let you go.”
Same.
But that’s the thing… We are living life on a fault line.
Our phones both start vibrating simultaneously from the nightstand.
“Unbelievable,” I groan. “Can’t anyone respect the need for sleep?”
“It’s almost noon, Pen.”
I thrust myself out of bed, running through my mental list of plans for the day, and then realize that my days consist of two things…pleasing Collins and being pleased by Collins.
“I really need to get a job. I mean, I have one but something more consistent.” Maybe then I wouldn’t find my only purpose for the day to be sneaking my way between Collins and the mattress.
And the man finds it comical when I try to veer from the plan—to change things up—when I always end up defaulting back to being his little slut for the day anyway.
Granted, I’m not complaining. I also know that I’m never going to find a job with as good of a benefits package as his. But Plus None is pretty perfect.
Collins leans over my boneless body to grab our phones, passing mine to me.
“It’s Graham,” he says with a nervous edge to his tone.
I can already tell that a little bit of guilt is slithering into our day—and it hasn’t even officially begun.
“Days can’t start until I am out of pajamas.” I wiggle under the sheets and realize I don’t even have those on. “Ha. I’m not wearing any. Oh well, clothes are overrated anyway.”
I glance over at Collins whose focus is on the screen of his phone.
“Get dressed.”
“What does Graham want?”
“He’s in the lobby.”
“No.”
But Collins doesn’t joke.
Oh, hell.
“He wants to check out your new place,” he continues.
Quickly, I look at my messages. “Angie’s with him.”
I throw myself off the bed and rush into the master closet to find something appropriate to wear.
Grabbing my phone, I dial Luke’s number.
“Answer, dammit.”
I pluck whatever outfit I can from the shelves and put it on, all while my phone continues to try to connect with my semi-useless roommate.
And he answers. “And you do exist…”
“I need you to tell my brother and sister-in-law that I’m running errands and will be right back. They are on their way to our place now.”
Luke chuckles. “You’re with Mr. Broody Booty, aren’t you?”
I shake my head although he can’t see, and without dropping the phone, I twist my hair into a bun using a tie I find on the bathroom doorknob. “Please. I will owe you. And don’t breathe a word of Mr. Broody Booty”— Why did I just say that? —“to my brother. Please .”
“I want double IOUs.”
“Okay, fine.”
“Yes!”
I can almost see Luke’s fist pounding into the air, like he just won something magical.
Slipping on sandals, I rush out of the room and down the hallway. “Just distract them or give them a tour or something. I’ll be right there.”
Collins meets me at the main door, smoothing out some flyaway hairs coming from my bun.
“Wish me luck.”
“If anything bad ever happens, I will take full responsibility for our actions. This won’t fall on you.”
My heart breaks a little with his need to always protect me. “That doesn’t seem fair.”
“We both know that I am old enough to know better.”
“I’m not a child, Collins.”
He closes his eyes, his fingers playing on my hips. “No. No, you’re not. But no one will believe that I didn’t take advantage of you. So I will accept any repercussions if that means protecting you.”
“Whatever. We can discuss that later.”
I grab my purse and rush out of the door and decide to take the stairs down to the lobby. I need to run a fake errand, so I use this opportunity to check my mailbox.
“Hey, Penny.”
I turn toward the voice coming from behind me, seeing Rex about to exit the building. “Oh, hi. What are you up to?”
“I’m going back to my place now, but Luke and I were just playing some video games together.”
“Oh, gotcha,” I say in a hurry, probably coming off a little rude. “Maybe we can all hang out soon.”
“That sounds fun. Let’s do it,” he says, giving me a wave goodbye.
Fishing out my key, I insert it into my box and pull out a bunch of junk mail and then a bubble envelope. Turning it over, I see the return address is listed as the prison.
What the hell?
Why is Mark sending me mail?
With trembling hands, I place the envelope into the stack of mail I have contained under my arm and walk to the elevator.
I don’t even need to open it to know what’s inside. Mark’s threatening me and taunting me. He promised me during my visit with him that he had ways of getting to me.
And he’s proving it to me now.
I thought that my brothers finding out about me and Collins was the greatest threat to my happiness, but what if Mark Tanner polluting my head so badly that I get sent back to Soulful Mind is the real predator? What happens if the only way to get Mark convicted with a concrete sentence is to testify against him?
Feeling the pangs of panic rising in my throat, I get on the elevator and hit the button for my floor.
When the doors open, I walk in silence to my place and enter.
With their backs turned, I see Graham and Angie chatting with Luke, who seems to be soaking up the attention.
Oh, please don’t make a snarky comment about me never being here.
I kick my shoes off and walk deeper into the room, making everyone turn toward me.
Angie greets me with a hug. “Hey, Penny.” She takes a step back and looks at me with concern while mouthing, “Are you okay?”
I bite at my bottom lip and shake my head no.
“Hey,” she says, leveling her eyes with mine. “Whatever it is, it will be okay.”
Probably hearing the conversation, Graham makes his way over to me. “Penny, what has you so upset?”
I wipe at the tears forming in my eyes and hand over the unopened envelope.
“What’s this?” my brother asks, staring at the return label. “Tanner? Fucking Tanner ?”
“Yes. But I didn’t see what he sent. I never opened it.”
Graham curses under his breath and tears open the package. He takes a look inside and then shakes out a keychain into the palm of his hand. “Well, that’s weird.”
“A keychain?” I ask.
Angie clears her throat. “What kind of mind games is that evil man playing?”
Taking the ring from Graham’s hand, I turn it over and see the number three engraved into the flat piece of metal. What the hell?
“Penny?” Graham asks. His eyes bore into mine. “What do you know?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know anything. But twice now, I’ve received these weird deliveries.” I move into the kitchen and search for the postcard that I got weeks ago when I first moved in.
“What kind of deliveries? Were there return addresses?” he pries.
“No return addresses. But just”—I hold the card up that has the number one—“these types of mysterious deliveries.”
“One,” Graham says. “Is there a two?”
I nod. “Yeah. Well, I think. Hold on.”
I rush into my bedroom, a room I have slept in cumulatively less than I have Collins’s place, and grab the teddy bear that now has a limp number two balloon attached.
Walking back into the living room, I give Luke a weak smile. He appears to be confused but invested. I honestly haven’t seen him this quiet ever.
“I missed you,” he whispers to me.
“Same,” I mouth. “I saw Rex in the lobby.”
He nods. “Yeah, we’ve been hanging out more, since you’re never here.”
Guilt circulates through me. It must suck to have high hopes of being close to your roommate and then being disappointed when the image you created in your head doesn’t exactly match reality.
I’m nearly positive Rex would make a better roommate for Luke than I am right now. We weren’t even supposed to technically be roommates. I was supposed to be sharing space with another female.
Turning to my brother and sister-in-law, I show them the gift. Graham fixates on the two.
“One, two, three,” he says softly. “And these only started appearing when you moved into this apartment?”
“Yes.”
“And no name attached or note?”
I shake my head. “No. And today was the only sign of who was sending me things.”
“And he obviously wanted you to know he was the sender.”
“It appears that way,” I say, my voice quivering. “What does he want from me?”
Graham hugs me to his side. “Do not worry, Penny. That man can’t hurt you. I would never allow that.”
Angie hugs me as tears cascade down my cheeks. Graham pulls out his phone from his pocket and sends a text to Nic, I assume. But no matter how hard my brothers try to protect me from physical danger, there is no one capable of shielding my mind from Mark’s influence.
He is a poison that needs to be eradicated out of my psyche.
“You are safe, Penny,” Angie says soothingly.
“No, I’m not,” I say a bit too harshly and feel guilty for it. “Mark’s haunting me from behind bars just like he promised me he would when I went to visit him. He’s playing a sick game. I felt it at the waterfront during the photoshoot, and I feel it now. He’s watching me. He’s going to win.”
Graham sighs. “Only if you let him get to you. He’s grasping at straws. He knows that his life is over and he’s desperate.”
Moving from Angie’s embrace, I walk into the kitchen and find Luke loitering near the side. I’d kind of forgotten he was here. He’s being quiet and not trying to lighten the situation, which is just odd for him.
“You okay?” he asks, his tone deep.
I shake my head, afraid to talk and allow my voice to quiver. I open the fridge and discover that I don’t even have anything to drink. This makes sense since I haven’t been here in days.
Settling for a cup of water, I force it down my throat, nearly choking on it.
Graham joins me in the kitchen. “You need a distraction.”
Turning to him, I look him in the eyes. “Am I going to have to testify?”
“Fuck, no.”
“Then why can’t I shake this feeling that Mark Tanner is going to be released on some technicality?”
“He won’t, Penny. I won’t ever allow him to get to you.”
Leaning into my brother, I rest my head on his chest. “I trust you. I do. But I also know that on the margins of my brain lurks the evil ghost that is Mark. It’s like he’s waiting for me.”
After a minute, Graham and I separate.
“So, I originally came here to see your place and to offer to take you to go see Claire and Nic’s new home.”
“It’s finished?” Wow. That was fast. I guess when you are loaded with money and connections, things can get sped along.
“Yes, and I can’t wait to see it.”
Excitement rushes through me. “I definitely want to see it.”
“Claire even has an elevator so Nic can stop worrying over her missing a step,” Angie volunteers with a laugh.
“Of course he does. Punk is probably driving her to the guest room with his overprotectiveness.”
Angie leans against the counter. “Ha, I think she has four of those rooms, so at least she has options.”
There’s a light knock at the door, making us all turn.
“That’s Collins,” Graham says. “I am going to have him drive you, Penny. That way you can leave whenever you want.”
It’s more than that though. I think these men are strategically keeping information from me and are using this time at Nic’s as a way to hold a meeting where I’m conveniently not invited. With the delivery today, I’m sure they have a lot more to discuss.
I walk to the door and let him in. “Hi, Collins.”
He tilts his head toward me. “Miss Hoffman.”
I step back and allow him to walk past. He takes the direct path to the keychain and examines it between his fingers. Having spent so much time with Collins, I know the subtle mannerisms that hint at his mood.
And right now he is livid.
His spine is rigid. And his eyes are focused on the envelope. He is holding it so tightly, I worry he’s going to break a bone in his fingers.
I want to comfort him. I know he’s upset that I’m being threatened. But I can’t.
“You’ll make sure Penny gets to Nic’s safely?” Graham asks him.
Collins gives him a look and a slight nod.
I always find it fascinating that these strong-willed men in my life can have conversations without ever speaking a word. So much can be said in a look or with a gesture.
“Ready to go?” Collins asks.
His hand moves to where my lower back is, but doesn’t connect. Quickly, he retracts it, and I mourn the loss.
My brother might think that going to Nic and Claire’s new house will be a calm distraction, but getting there with my broody bodyguard will be nothing but tension-filled.
“Can I drive?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“Sure.”
My body snaps to Collins. “What?”
“Yes, you may drive, Princess.”
My body relaxes. “It’s going to be the ride of your life.”
“I have no doubt.”