Eruption (The Hunted Series Book 3) Read online

  Eruption

  The Hunted Series Book 3

  By Ivy Smoak

  Copyright 2016 Ivy Smoak

  All Rights Reserved

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  CONTENTS

  Title

  PART 1

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  PART 2

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  PART 3

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Read More

  ARC Team

  Also by Ivy Smoak

  Copyright

  PART 1

  Chapter 1

  Saturday

  I walked up to the stage, being careful not to trip. Falling in front of thousands of people was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. I took a deep breath and stared at the dean who was announcing everyone's names. I felt like I had come such a long way. My whole life I had focused on doing well in school. And now that I was about to graduate, I had no idea what I actually wanted to do. I wanted to be excited about this moment, but I was so nervous.

  "Penny Taylor," Dean Mullins said.

  I slowly walked across the stage, grabbed my diploma, and shook a bunch of people's hands that I didn't know. I smiled as I walked down the stairs on the opposite end of the stage. I did it. I graduated! It didn't matter that I had no idea what I wanted to do. Graduating was a huge accomplishment. I moved the tassel on my cap to the left and smiled for the cameraman that was waiting there to capture the moment. Now it was official.

  My eyes scanned the crowd as I walked back to my seat. I didn't see anyone I knew. It was going to be almost impossible to find anyone after the ceremony with all these people. I sat down in my seat and listened to the rest of the graduates' names being called. I only recognized a few. The campus was so much bigger than the University of New Castle's. And coming in halfway through sophomore year hadn't made it any easier to meet people. I hadn't thought much about it until this moment, seeing all the people walk by that I had never met.

  This chapter of my life was closing forever, and it suddenly felt like I hadn't really experienced it. I quickly shook away the thought. Just because I didn't recognize hundreds of the names that the dean announced, didn't mean I didn't have a fulfilling college experience. These past few years had been amazing. I wouldn't have changed a thing. I looked to the left and searched the crowd again. Where is he?

  "Congratulations to the class of 2018!"

  Everyone around me stood up. I followed their lead and clapped my hands together. As soon as people started moving around, I squeezed past everyone in the row I was in and made my way toward the entrance hall. I knew they were serving refreshments out there, and if I didn't get in there early, I would never be able to find anyone.

  When I opened up the doors, there were already hundreds of people in the room. I made my way through the people celebrating.

  "Penny! Over here!"

  I smiled and turned toward the familiar voice. "Tyler!" I ran over to him and threw my arms around his neck.

  He laughed and lifted me off my feet, twirling me through the air for a second. "Congratulations, Penny," he said and kissed my cheek as he set me back down on my feet.

  "Thanks, Tyler. I'm so glad that you could come."

  "I wouldn't have missed it," he said and let go of my waist.

  "I can't believe I'm actually done. I'm officially an adult."

  He laughed. "I'm pretty sure you need a job in order to be considered an adult."

  "I'm working on that. Not everyone can graduate with a full time gig lined up, Mr. Hotshot."

  He laughed and put his hands in his pockets.

  "Where is everyone else?"

  "I had to go to the bathroom, so I cut out right after I saw you walk. They'll all be down in a minute."

  "Did Melissa make it?"

  "Yeah, she's here." Tyler scratched the back of his neck. "Actually, Penny, I wanted to talk to you about..."

  Before he could finish his sentence I felt someone attack me with a huge hug.

  "Penny!" Melissa yelled.

  I laughed. "Welcome to New York!"

  "Thank you." Melissa released me from her embrace.

  "Did you move everything in okay? When I left and you still weren't there I was worried something happened to you."

  She laughed. "No, no, I'm good. My stuff is all moved in...just not at your place."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I just decided that it would be easier to crash at Tyler's place until I find something. I dropped my stuff off there this morning."

  "Oh." I felt my heart sink. "I was excited to be roommates with you again."

  "I know." She smiled and hugged me again. "But it was only going to be for a couple days anyway. I'm going to find my own place really fast."

  "Are you sure Tyler doesn't mind?"

  Melissa laughed. "No, he practically begged me. Isn't that right, Tyler?"

  Tyler made a weird face and looked away from us.

  Melissa laughed again. "I heard about your new job. It sounds really exciting."

  "Geez, he's trying to convince you it's a good idea too? It's not. You know that I'm not taking that job."

  "Why not?"

  "Because Penny doesn't want to work with me," James said.

  I smiled and turned around. "You know that's not it."

  "Hmm." He put his hand on the side of my face. "We can talk about that more later. Congratulations, Penny." He leaned down and placed a soft kiss against my lips. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck.

  My dad cleared his throat. I could feel my face turning red.

  "Hi, Dad!" I immediately stepped away from James, gave my dad a quick hug, and then gave one to my mom too. "Hi, Mom."

  "Congratulations, sweetie," My mom said. "We're so proud of you. And we're so excited about meeting your parents, James. We've been looking forward to it."

  "About that." James put his arm around my shoulders and looked down at me. "They had to cancel."

  I pressed my lips together. God. I had let myself get my hopes up this time. Who was I kidding? I always got my hopes up. I thought maybe now that I had graduated, though, they might actually want to meet me. So it wasn't my age. They just didn't want to meet me. I swallowed hard.

  James squeezed my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Penny."

  "That's fine," my dad said. "Let's go out to lunch anyway. My treat."

  I put on a smile. "That sounds perfect."

  "We're going to head out," Melissa said.

  "You're both welcome to lunch" my mom said.

  "I still have a lot to unpack, so I should probably get started. Bye, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor." Melissa gave them each a quick hug.

  "You're coming with us tomorrow, right, Melissa?" My mom asked.

  "I wouldn't miss it." She winked at me.

  It was hard to even think about shopping for a wedding dress right now. James' parents clearly didn't want me to be a part of their fam
ily. Every time they canceled plans to finally meet me, James told me not to worry about it. But how could I not worry about it? We were getting married at the end of the month. And at this rate it didn't even seem like his parents were going to come.

  "Congrats again, Penny." Tyler smiled at me and then followed Melissa through the crowd.

  ***

  I rested my head on James' shoulder. Lunch had been so much fun. I loved catching up with my parents and all the goings-on in Delaware. It helped me feel connected to the life I had left behind. At least, I thought I had left it behind. I wanted to fit into James' life. I didn't want to cause him unnecessary stress. But that's exactly what I was doing. I didn't know what to do in order for his parents to like me. Liking me was far off, though. James and I had been dating for two and a half years and they still hadn't even met me.

  I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the city as our driver, Ian, expertly sped us through the city streets. The cars honking now seemed to relax me instead of unsettling me. This was my home now. I just wished I fit in a little better.

  "Hey." James grabbed my chin and tilted my face up to his. "You've been awfully quiet."

  I bit my lip.

  "Penny, we're supposed to be celebrating."

  I felt a lump building in my throat. "They're not going to come to our wedding, are they?"

  He sighed and pressed his forehead against mine. "I think maybe that's for the best."

  I pulled back. "How can you say that? They're your parents. They should be there."

  "I love you. That's all that matters."

  "I'm going dress shopping tomorrow."

  He smiled. "I know."

  "Your mom should be there."

  "You don't want her fashion advice, trust me." He placed a soft kiss against my neck. "How about we focus on something else?" He kissed my neck again and placed his hand on my thigh, running his fingers along the hem of my dress.

  I laughed and grabbed his hand. "We're almost back to our place."

  "Your point is?" He kissed my collarbone, making a moan escape from my lips.

  "My point is that Ian will know that we're having sex back here if we don't come out when he parks."

  James laughed. "You're acting like we haven't done it before. Ian doesn't care. Being discreet is in his job description."

  I ran my hand through James' hair. "We'll be back in five minutes."

  He sighed and moved his hand off my thigh. "Well, if you insist on talking, I'd like to revisit the internship idea."

  "I'm still thinking about it."

  "That's not what you said to Melissa." He grabbed my hand and ran his thumb along my palm.

  "I know." I looked down at his hand. "What would people think?"

  "Is that really the reason? You've never seemed that worried about what other people think."

  I looked back up at him. He was right. That wasn't the real reason. "I didn't earn it, James."

  "You just graduated with honors from NYCU. You're just as qualified as all the other interns we've already hired. I wanted to give you an actual job, but you shot that down right away. If you insist on proving yourself, this is the way to do it."

  "I don't know."

  "You don't have to accept it. I'm not going to force you to work with me. You don't have to work at all. You know that."

  I laughed. "Of course I have to work. I already owe you so much."

  "You don't owe me anything." He lowered his eyebrows slightly. "I hope you don't really feel that way."

  "I owe you everything."

  "Penny..."

  "I'm not talking about money. You know that. I'm talking about you. Where would I be without you?"

  "Jobless, for one."

  "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

  "Not a chance."

  "If I don't hear back from anywhere by next week, I'll do it."

  He smiled. "This is going to be so much fun."

  "I said if. It's not a done deal yet."

  "I'm pretty sure you'll be working with me."

  I laughed. "When I asked you not to interfere with my applying for jobs, I never imagined you'd be telling places not to hire me."

  "What, you think I called all the places you interviewed with and told them how awful you are?"

  "I'd hope not. Maybe that's what you did with your parents too. Is that why they don't want to meet me? You told them about all my flaws and scared them away?"

  "I love all your flaws."

  The car came to a stop.

  "What do you think my flaws are?" I asked.

  He smiled at me and got out of the car. I quickly climbed out of the car and grabbed his hand.

  "James, what are my flaws?"

  He squeeze my hand and typed in the code for the elevators. The doors immediately opened and he pulled me inside.

  I stared up at him and pursed my lips.

  "There's just too many to name," he said. "The list is endless."

  I lightly pushed his shoulder. "Just tell me the biggest then."

  "Hmm." The elevator came to a stop and he swiped his access card against the reader. The doors opened behind us.

  "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."

  Chapter 2

  Saturday

  "Well that wasn't awkward at all," Rob said as he leaned down and hugged me.

  "So everyone did hear?" I asked. I had talked to almost everyone and escaped to the kitchen to catch my breath. I wasn't as good at parties as James was. Networking wasn't something I was good at. And I had just embarrassed myself in front of all my friends and a few people I'd probably consider more of acquaintances. They'd probably remain acquaintances now.

  "That you were about to give James head to extract information from him? Oh, yeah, everyone heard that," he said as he let me out of his embrace and handed me a drink.

  I laughed. "Well, no one's mentioned it but you. Not everyone has as dirty of a mind as you."

  "Or you." He winked at me. "How was lunch with my parents?"

  "They canceled again."

  "You're kidding. They're really holding out."

  "Holding out for what?"

  "James to change his mind, I guess."

  Right. My biggest fear was that they'd just start throwing women at James that were way more suitable to be their daughter in law. I looked down at the drink Rob had given me. "What is this?"

  "Trust me, you'll like it."

  "You're not roofieing me, are you?"

  He laughed. "The girl my brother is about to marry? I would never."

  "I never believe anything you say, you know."

  "That's how I prefer it. But it's just a sex on the beach. If you'd prefer the actual thing, I think we could arrange that, though."

  "I'll take the drink. Are you still enjoying living on campus?" I took a sip of my drink. It was sweet, but very strong.

  "Of course. That's a ridiculous question. I'm living the dream."

  "Taking advantage of innocent young women?"

  "What, like you?" He smiled at me. "Shagging your professor wasn't so innocent, Penny."

  "Is Rob harassing you again?" Bee said and leaned against the kitchen counter next to me.

  Rob laughed and looked down at his watch. "Is it time for me to move on to you already?"

  "You can focus on Penny tonight," Bee said. "It's her big day. Congrats, again," she said and squeezed my arm.


  "Thanks, Bee."

  "And congrats on the new job too. James just told us about it."

  "Did he?" I looked over at James. He was sitting on the couch next to Mason. As if he could feel my stare, he turned away from Mason and smiled at me. He raised his left eyebrow and lifted his glass slightly. Mason laughed beside him and gestured for Rob to join them.

  "I've been summoned," Rob said. "I'll let you two ladies talk. I'll be back when you're done that drink, Penny. You won't even be able to resist me." He walked over to the couch and plopped himself between Mason and James.

  I looked down at the drink. He was joking right? "On a scale of one to ten, how likely is it that this drink has a roofie in it?"

  Bee laughed. "Like fifty."

  "That's what I thought." I pushed it aside and grabbed a glass of champagne off a tray that a waiter was walking around with. "Okay, so I have a question for you. What's it like working with Mason?"

  Bee smiled. "Wonderful."

  "Really? It doesn't make it hard to keep your work and personal life separate?"

  Her cheeks turned slightly red. "We don't really keep it that separate."

  I laughed. "I'm guessing the blurred line doesn't mean you go over reports in bed at night?"

  "Not exactly. We share an office, though. What do you expect?"

  "Right. But it's not going to be like that if I work with James. Or, for him, I guess is a better way to put it." Bee and Mason were an amazing power couple. They had grown their advertising firm to seven figures within just a couple months after their launch. Now it was one of the top agencies in the city. And even though they worked a lot, they still looked at each other in that way that made your heart melt.

  "I doubt he's going to make it feel like you're working for him. And either way, it'll look great on your resume. You still have different last names, you can take advantage of that. Use it as a stepping stone. And your next employer doesn't have to be any the wiser when you use James as a reference."

  I laughed. "I'm pretty sure he's sabotaging me from getting any other jobs."

  "I'm sure that isn't true."

  "You have no idea." I took a sip of my champagne.

  Bee laughed. "I think he and Mason are pretty similar. They're both used to getting whatever they want. I'm not sure they understand the word no."