Chapter 5 Penelope

"I'm going out tomorrow night," I say to Ashby.

He had come over to spend the night, all he had said to me was that he had a fight with his brother and didn't want to talk about it.

"With you?"

I clear my throat, "A friend from work."

He raises an eyebrow, "What's the friend's name?"

"Jeanette."

Girl, you're making this lying thing a habit.

"Okay, girl's night out," he says cheerfully, "Where are you going?"

"Acre's."

"That expensive restaurant," he says surprised.

"Yeah, she's been planning on going and she asked me to go with her."

"Will you be able to afford it?" he asks

I shake my head, "Not really, it wasn't part of my budget. It's just she's been so nice to me, and I couldn't say no."

Ashby sighs pulls out his wallet from his back pocket and takes out his credit card.

"Here," he hands it to me, and I just stare at him.

He trusts me with his credit card, of all things he could trust me with, he trusts me with his credit card.

He looks into my eyes, "I promised to take care of you, did I not?"

"You did but –

"But nothing Penny, just take it and pay for dinner tomorrow."

Tears fill my eyes, I feel guilty, I don't deserve this, at all, he doesn't deserve me.

"Anything for my baby," he smiles and kisses my cheek.

After the kiss the other night, we both realized that we liked each other and decided to give us a chance but we both said it was best we took it slow.

I throw my arms around him, and he falls back on my bed, I look at him and he smiles at me, he is beautiful, the blue eyes, the long dirty blonde hair, he big muscular build, lying on top of him I could feel his abs on my stomach.

"You're beautiful, those green eyes of yours are captivating, I wonder how you even got those,"

"You've always sucked at biology," I laugh, "And thank you, you're beautiful too, in a manly type of way of course."

Ashby chuckles, "Can you please braid my hair before bed?"

I nod and get off him, he sits up and I kneel behind him, grab a comb, and start combing his hair back and plait a simple braid down the middle of his head.

I take two mirrors and give one to him and I show him the braid,

"Perfect like always."

I've been braiding and doing his hair for as long as I can remember, from the time he was 15 he's been growing his hair out and he keeps it at the same length.

"You need to get it washed soon though; I'm seeing split ends."

Ashby rolls his eyes, "I haven't had time Penny, work has been crazy lately. I'll do it this weekend I promise."

I kiss his cheek and lie down on top of the bed.

"So, what did you and your brother fight about?"

He leans back and lies on top of me, "It was actually between Henry and me."

What?

"You fought with the King?"

Isn't he supposed to be in jail or dead?

"Yes, I did and he's my best friend and boss, firing me would just make his life difficult."

"You never told me you were that close to him."

"I am, I've known him since I was ten, my dad would take us to the castle almost every weekend and we'd play together."

I can't believe he never said anything to me about it after all these years, I just thought he worked for him.

"What did you fight about?"

"Nothing serious, you know how we men get," he chuckles.

He's lying to me...

"As long as you two can work it out, it's okay."

He lifts himself and turns to look at me, "You need to get some rest Penny."

I pout, "But I'm not tired."

"Don't start with me young lady," he replies giving me a stern playful glare.

I giggle, "Let's watch a movie."

Ashby shakes his head, "We are going to sleep."

I frown, "Fine but we are binge-watching this weekend."

He grins, "I wouldn't miss it."

We get underneath the blankets, and he pulls me into his arms and kisses the top of my head.

"Good night, Penny"

"Night, night."

Next Day

I had 30 minutes left until my date, I was trying to get my hair sorted and I just couldn't get it right.

"Honey if you don't relax, you'll end up cutting your hair off," Aunt Linda says as she walks up behind me.

I huff and she effortlessly ties my hair up into a high puff ponytail.

"There," she says giving shoulders a rub.

"Thank you, Nana," I smile.

She smiles at me and walks out of my room, she returns with a box, and she opens it, there was a silver necklace with purple rhinestones, it was beautiful.

"This was your mothers," she says taking it out of the box, "She told me to give it to you when you came of age, but you know how forgetful I am."

I chuckle, "It's okay Nana."

She places it on my neck, and I look into the mirror, it was beautiful, it matched well with my black dress.

"You look just like your Nana," she says tearfully.

I stand up and hug her, "It's okay."

"Oh, my baby" she cries, "She would be so proud of you."

Beep, beep!

"Car is here," I say.

I grab my purse and phone and walk out of the house, Mr Goodwill is leaning against his Ferrari with a dirty smirk on his face.

"Penelope," he says as he scans my body like a hungry animal, "You look good."

I try not to cringe, "Thank you, you do to sir"

He gives me a creepy smirk and he opens the door of the car and I get in; he walks to the driver's side and gets in and we make our way to the restaurant.

It's a quiet drive, which was a good thing because I was not in the mood to talk and because I did not know what to talk about with the man.

We finally arrive at Acre's and there seems to be a lot of cars parked outside, I see the royal flag on one of the cars and my stomach sinks, Henry and Ashby could be here. We walk towards the door but before we make it through the door, Mr Goodwill grabs my arm, I wince in pain as I try and pull away from his tight hold.

"You better not embarrass me, you understand?"

I quickly nod my head and he let go of me, he then kisses my forehead and gives me a cocky smile.

What have I gotten myself into?

I shake it off and put on a smile and I follow him inside the restaurant, my smile quickly fades when I spot, Henry, Ashby, Archie, and another guy sitting at the back of the restaurant having dinner, none of them see me and I sigh in relief but what are they doing here? Ashby could not have told Henry, could he? No, it's not possible.

We are seated by the hostess, and she calls for a waiter, a young brunette woman, who stands beside our table and gives Mr Goodwill a seductive smile and looks at me with contempt. Rude.

"Hello, my name is Rose, and I'll be your waiter for the night."

I give her a warm smile as she hands us our menu's. Mr Goodwill orders a bottle of wine for the table while we have a look at the menus.

The girl returns to our table with a bottle of wine and two glasses and Mr Goodwill orders for the table, he has a steak and roasted veggies, and he orders me a green salad with a side of roasted veggies, I don't object and just politely nod my head, not wanting to cause drama. The waitress turns around and walks away seductively swaying her hips for Mr Goodwill.

Pathetic, if you want him girl, you can have him. I don't want him.

The night progresses slowly, he would ask questions and I would politely answer him, even the stupid questions he would ask about my hair. He is an okay person, if only he could fix his attitude and be less aggressive, he could be a good person.

After dinner, Mr Goodwill stands up and excuses himself while he went to the men's room, leaving me all by myself, I pick up my phone and see a text from Ashby

- I see you

I look up towards his direction and both Henry and Ashby are looking at me and they don't look pleased, Henry then stands up and walks to me and sits down on Mr Goodwill's chair.

"Penny, I never thought I'd see you again," He smiles.

I blush, "Me too."

He takes my hand and kisses it; a spark runs through my body, and I can't help but shudder.

"You look gorgeous tonight,"

"Excuse me that's my chair you're sitting on."

I quickly pull my hand away and look up to see Mr Goodwill towering over us.

"Sir I –

"Shut up," he yells at me, and I close my mouth.

Henry stands up and comes face to face with him, "That is no way to treat a woman, apologize."

"She's my date and I can do whatever I want with her"

Henry chuckles, "Does your date know that you're a wife-beater, drug abuser and a suspected rapist? Now I'm going to tell you once, apologize."

Mr Goodwill steps closer to Henry, "Make me."

Henry looks at me, "Go and sit with Ashby now"

I nod and get up at but Goodwill grabs my arm, "You're not going anywhere."

The dark look in his eyes scared me.

"Let me go," I cry, trying to break free from his grip, he pushes me down onto the chair and I look at him.

"How dare you? I –

Smack.

He hit me...

And that's when all hell breaks loose, all I remember is Henry throwing a punch and it was chaos from that moment onwards, Archie came to get me and took me to their car, where I curled up into Archie's arms and cried.

What have I done?