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.
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 here to celebrate you and James.” He pulled me past them and through a long hallway.
I could hear James raising his voice. It echoed in the large foyer, making it impossible to hear what he was saying. Rob picked up his pace, trying to put distance between them and me.
I breathed in through my nose, not even trying to hide the sniffling noise.
“Oh, geez.” Rob looked down at me and stopped. “Don’t cry.” He pulled me to his chest. “Don’t show them that they won. That’s the last thing you want.”
“They did win. They didn’t even give me a chance.”
He put his hands on my shoulders. “Part of being in this family is learning how to ignore my parents. You have to have thick skin. You can’t let stuff like this bother you.”
“They invited his ex wife to our engagement party.”
“Yeah, my parents suck. That can’t come as a surprise to you. They’re the fucking worst.”
I laughed and wiped away a few tears that had fallen down my cheeks.
“You’re going to be my little sister. I’m going to help watch out for you. But you can’t let them get under your skin. Show them that you don’t care. That’s what the three of us do.”
I took a deep breath. Rob always joked around with me. It was nice to hear that he truly cared.
“And they’re not even doing this because of you. They’re mad at James. And trust me, not having their approval makes us all like you even more. So cheer up.” He lightly bumped my chin with his fist.
I laughed. “I’m sorry, I’m still focused on the fact that you said I was going to be your little sister.”
“Ugh. Don’t hold that against me. I mean, if you’re looking for less drama, I don’t have an ex wife.” He winked at me.
“You can’t take it back now. I always thought it would be nice to have a brother.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t let it go to your head. I was just being nice.”
“Mhm.”
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 the 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.