I felt Reed's grip tighten to help keep me steady. I appreciated his silent support. I was sure my mind and eyes were playing tricks on me. He looked the same. The difference was I didn't get the butterflies I used to when I first met him. All I felt was anger and hurt.

"What are you doing here?"

My voice came out shaky.

I noticed my mother standing next to him and my heart sank.

"Penelope, don't be rude to our guest. I invited him. He was a part of the family for so long."

"He isn't family. He isn't anything to us. You know what happened."

"Penelope, that's old news. You need to move on. Alec has told me he how sorry he is for everything and that it was a big misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding? A misunderstanding! Berating me and demeaning me at every chance he got while having sex with half of the city is a misunderstanding?"

I knew my mother had little regard for my feelings, but this was an all-time low even for her. This level of betrayal surpassed even what Alec had done. At least with him, I realized it was never really love. My mother was supposed to love me, yet here she was proving once again that she didn't care at all.

Reed was by my side now wrapping his arm around my waist. He pulled me close to him. I was so thankful that he had come with me tonight.

Alec stepped toward me. "Penelope-."

Reed stepped in front of me blocking Alec from getting any closer.

"She doesn't want you in her space. Step back."

Bless Reed for being a force. Alec gave Reed a dirty look, but stepped back.

"Who are you?" Alec asked.

"The man that isn't going allow you to hurt Penelope again."

Be still my beating heart. I think I fell halfway in love with the man.

"I'm not going to hurt her. I only want to talk to her."

"You'll only speak to her if she wants to speak to you, and I don't think she wants to."

My mother walked over to me and grabbed my arm. She leaned into me and hissed into my ear.

"You need to speak to him. He is willing to take you back. He’s about to make partner at his firm. You can't pass up this opportunity because your feelings got hurt."

I pulled my arm out of her grasp. "I'm not giving him another chance. I have nothing to say to him. We’re done. As a matter of fact, I'm leaving."

"You can't leave. The party hasn't started. What will the guest say if my daughter’s not here?"

"I don't know what they'll say mom, but I guess you should have thought about that before you invited my jerk of an ex."

I turned to Reed. He was right by my side placing his hand on the small of my back. He guided me toward the door. My mother was hot on our heels.

"Penelope Rayne Crowder, don't you dare walk out that door. You will not disrespect me in my home."

Before I had a chance to turn around, Reed beat me to it.

"With all due respect ma'am, I think that the only person being disrespectful is you. You have to give respect to get respect. Penelope is your daughter, and you put her in a painful situation. Your daughter is beautiful, smart, and caring, but you choose to ignore that and tear her down. I think that you need to think about the way you treat your daughter. If or when you are ready to apologize and treat her with the respect that she deserves you better hope that she’s willing to listen and forgive."

Reed didn't wait to hear what my mom had to say. He ushered me out the front door to his car. He made sure I was in before he went around to the driver side. When we’d been driving for a few minutes, he grabbed my hand and glanced in my direction.

"Are you ok?" His thumb rubbed back and forth across the top of my hand.

"Yes, no... I don't know. I'm so used to her disapproval of everything I do, but this was a new low."

'I'm so sorry Penny." I noticed he picked up the nickname my dad called me. That made me smile.

We drove the rest of the way to my apartment in silence. Reed held my hand still rubbing his thumb soothingly against mine. His jaw was set. I’d never seen him angry before today, but I could tell that he was still reeling from the encounter.

When we got to my place, he opened my door for me and then motioned for my keys. He let us into my apartment.

"Go change into something comfortable."

I didn't question him. I just did as he said. I washed the makeup from my face and put on a pair of leggings and a tank top. He was sitting on my couch flipping through channels when I reemerged.

"I ordered a pizza and figured we could watch a movie. I know you've been doing really well with your eating and exercise, but I thought tonight may call for a splurge."

"Where have you been all of my life?" I said only half-jokingly.

I sat on the couch beside him and laid my head back. He had me pick a movie from Netflix. He picked my feet up off of the ground and laid them on his lap. Strong fingers began to knead into the pads of my feet.  I let out a soft moan. It had been forever since anyone had massaged my feet and it felt like heaven.

"Feel good?"

"You have no idea. Keep it up and I'll be out in no time."

"Go ahead, I'll wake you up when the pizza gets here."

We turned our attention to the movie. I stole glances at him every few minutes. I couldn't stop thinking how thankful I was that he was there today. He was a one-eighty from Alec. It was almost too good to be true.

"Hey Reed?"

"Yeah, baby?" 

"Thank you for being there. No one has ever stood up for me like that."

"You don't have to thank me. I want to be there for you Penelope. I know what it's like to have no one. I can't bare the thought of you having no one on your side."

"I'm sorry that you've been alone Reed. If you want to talk about it I'd like to listen."

He picked up my hand and kissed the back of it.

"You’re so sweet. I do want to tell you, but you've dealt with enough for one day."

I didn't want to pry, and he was right, so I just nodded.

The pizza was long gone, and we had a mini movie marathon. My eyelids were heavy. Keeping them open was proving to be impossible. It was getting late. Reed shook my shoulder and my eyes opened slightly.

"Penny, it's late come lock the door behind me and go to bed." He placed a kiss on my forehead and my eyes closed in contentment.

I got up from the couch and stretched my body. I grabbed Reed's hand and was about to lead him to the door when I changed my mind. I turned to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He wasted no time putting his arms around my waist.

"Will you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone."

His eyes flickered with several emotions before he nodded his head.

"If that's what you want then, yes."

"It's what I want."