Free Eruption (The Hunted Series Book 3) by Ivy Smoak

gray
stone. A man standing outside the front doors grabbed the door handle, but
paused before opening the door when he saw us. A huge smile spread over his
face. He let go of the door handle. "You must be Penny," he said.
    James squeezed my hand. "Eric, this is Penny. Penny this
is Eric. He's worked for my parents for as long as I can remember. And he's a
good friend."
    Eric walked down the few steps that separated us and stuck
out his hand.
    I immediately shook it. "It's so nice to meet you."
    "The pleasure is all mine, Penny. James has told me so
much about you. You are just as lovely as he said."
    "Thank you, Eric." If everyone was this friendly
inside, I had nothing to worry about.
    James clapped Eric on the back. "The party was supposed
to start at seven right?"
    "No, it started at six. A last minute change. You didn't
know?"
    James laughed, but it wasn't his normal contagious one. It
sounded forced. "I must not have gotten the memo."
    "Well, you two better get inside. Everyone's waiting for
you." Eric ran back up the steps and opened up the door for us.
    I heard classical music playing as we stepped into the foyer.
The floor was marble and it lead toward an ornate twisted staircase. It really
did feel like I was in a museum. There were even old portraits hung up on the
walls around us. I looked up the ceiling, where an enormous chandelier hung.
"I can't believe this is where you grew up." I almost tripped when I
felt the resistance of James' hand on mine. He had stopped directly in the
middle of the foyer.
    "What's wrong?"
    James was just staring straight ahead. I turned to see what
he was looking at.
    "You can't be serious." Rob was standing by an
older couple in the foyer. Someone else was directly in front of him, but he
was blocking my view. "He'll never forgive you. You do realize that right?
You can't do this. Please don't do this."
    "She's still part of this family, whether you like it or
not. I believe James knows that better than anyone," the woman I didn't
recognize said.
    "Won't you just listen to me for one second? You haven't
even met Penny. Is this really how you want to meet your future daughter in
law? This is supposed to be the start of your relationship, not the end."
    "Enough," the older man said. He looked a little
like James. He must be his father. "You will not treat a guest in our
house like this."
    The woman, who I assumed was his mother, cleared her throat
and nodded toward James.
    Rob's face was red when he turned around. He looked directly
at me. He looked more sad than upset. His eyes landed on James and he shook his
head.
    James' grip tightened around my hand.
    A hand wrapped around Rob's arm, pushing him to the side.
Isabella was standing there with a smug look on her face. She looked me up and
down and then whispered something to James' mother. Both women laughed.
    "Hippopotamus," I whispered. When we had first
moved to New York, James had always made me promise to tell him if I was ever
uncomfortable. That was our word. Whenever I said that, he knew I wanted to
leave. I had never used it before. When we had chosen it, we thought that
whatever the situation, it would make us laugh. Neither one of us was laughing
now. 

Chapter 8
    Friday
    Rob quickly walked over to us. "Penny, I'm so sorry. If
I had known I would have told you guys."
    I didn't even know what to say.
    James dropped my hand. "Can you take Penny into the main
room? I need to talk to our parents."
    "James, please..." I said.
    But he didn't seem to hear me. He had already started walking
toward his parents and Isabella.
    My whole body felt cold. I couldn't do this. I didn't belong
here. I turned around so I could walk out the door, but Rob caught my hand.
    "It's okay," he said. "Hey, it's okay. There's
a bunch of people in the other room that actually want to see you."
    "I can't do this, Rob. They don't want me here."
    "Well, I want you here." He linked his arm in mine.
"Come on, don't let my parents ruin tonight. Everyone is