Along the way to Martin's room, Marcus was standing on the corridor talking to the phone, but then he suddenly stopped and paid attention to the way Martin was holding Shandla's hand. It didn't look forced nor fearful, actually Shandla was way more comfortable with Martin and for the first time in years Marcus saw Martin trouser's zipper open, he must have forgotten to zip it up after the hand job. Out of all the time in the army, and his experience as a bodyguard Martin knew he messed up and he didn't need Marcus to actually tell him that he messed up, his eyes told him everything he needed to know.
There was a time in life Martin messed up so bad he feared he would be eliminated from the camp, and it almost happened but he was saved by a fellow navy veteran. It was in Afghanistan during the war, and this time it was the locals fighting against each other - heavy bombs were thrown that day and American soldiers were supposed to save the locals from a group of terrorist. Martin was drunk, or to make it a correct term he was hangover from last night's drinking party he had with his friends and he took way more drinks than he was supposed to. So, come morning Martin found himself in the midst of the conflict with no idea of what he was supposed to do, or how he should go about with everything while he was the captain.
The lives of ten soldiers were lost that day due to Martin's inability to guide them properly through the fight, and after that Martin was done. "I quit! It's my fault" he told his General.
"We are in the middle of the war Captain, you want to abandon your brothers and go home?"
"I have killed my brothers, if I wasn't that drunk or if I had taken just proper amount of alcohol then I wouldn't be... I wouldn't have... They would still be alive" Martin broke down and cried, yet the tears didn't bring his dead brothers back and that was the end of his navy career.
The way he was feeling during that time, to how he was feeling at that time it's almost everything was "deja Vu" for him and he could tell through Marcus's face expression and his eyes that he had probably found out what was going on between him and Shandla, or worse what if Marcus was watching him the whole time.
"Marcus..." Shandla said trying to be as charming as she could be.
Marcus was still silent, his eyes were fixed at Martin, then he returned them back to Shandla. "Did you have a good time?" he asked Shandla.
"Yeah I did, your bodyguard is super helpful in showing me around"
Marcus chuckled nervously "Is he?"
"Yeah"
"Mmh-hmm"
Then right there it was awkward again, Martin let go of Shandla's hand and looked straight at Marcus. "Be a gentleman Martin, make sure she gets home safe" said Marcus charmingly, without even a single sign of jealousy or being pissed off. Then he walked to the guest room and from the inside both Shandla and Martin could hear a woman's voice giggling as if she was being tickled - Martin sighed, then he looked at Shandla. None of them spoke anything else and they went down to where the party was lit and it may have been 11:20pm but cars were still coming in, famous rich celebrities, athletes and entrepreneurs pouring inside and clearly the saying "The night is still young" lived to it's full potential during this party.
But Shandla had to leave early, she had an early morning call on set and she didn't want to be late.
"I truly had fun today with you Martin, did you have fun?" Shandla asked Martin as they were making their way to Shandla's car.
"I was just working"
"Really? Even when I had your pinga in the palm of my hand?"
Martin chucked softly "What's a pinga?" he asked with his hands inside his pockets. Something about Shandla and the way she made him feel, actually felt so good to Martin - it had been so long ever since he even thought about having a girlfriend or a fling. Work has been the most priority thing to him, and he never really saw himself doing anything else other than just work.
"Will I see you again?" asked Martin.
Shandla smiled "Visit me on set. Trust me you can see me for about fifteen hours a day"
"They make you work for fifteen hours a day? That's crazy..."
"Well Mr Bodyguard, welcome to my world and if I like you enough I might invite you to Bel Air where I live and maybe... we can pick up where we left off"
Shandla left Martin a peck on the cheek which could be translated as "I want to see you again" type of kiss then she smiled and Martin opened the door for her. As she drove away Martin was awestruck with this new feeling that he was experiencing for Shandla whom he just saw, and practically she was meant for Marcus.
"Shit! Marcus!" Martin suddenly remembered and walked inside the mansion.
The party went on and on, while Marcus was doing what Marcus always does, which is fucking an actress at his guest room. The actress left the room at 00:20 to join her friends downstairs while Marcus promising her that he will join her soon which he did. Champagnes were opened, expensive ones and there was beers and wines all over the place. There was no place in the dance floor for any extra person to dance apart from the ones who were there already - Marcus was clearly the happiest man of the night and he did that just to show Diana that he can be happy without her when he completely dominated the dance floor with his killer moves.
Ladies went crazy "I never knew Marcus Orlando could dance like that" they said while screaming and calling Marcus's name. If it was Marcus's intention to make Diana jealous, well he sure did achieve that because the whole Instagram was blown out by his moves and the party he threw at his Brooklyn mansion. It was titled "The party of the year" by Vanity Fair Instagram account which Diana was streaming all the gathering from and she wondered how did he pull off the party that quick.
Up to 3:10am in the morning, there were still some guests left at the house but these were the closest to Marcus most of them left an hour prior and went back to their homes. Marcus was drunk - super drunk than he's ever been before and he was also tired because of the whole circus dancing he was showing out. Martin didn't even have a sip of alcohol and it's because of what he's been through earlier on his life which hindered him from drinking, the memories he carried were too much.
By 04:00am there was no one at the party except for Marcus and Martin, even the decoration company had wrapped up their work and took all their designs with them, Marcus's friends left the mansion in their Ferraris and Rolls Royces driven by their drivers with a promise of meeting Marcus again any time soon.
"I guess it's down to just me and you now Martin..." Marcus said in his drunken voice. They were sitting at the ballroom which was now empty while it was full of people just a few hours ago.
"It's always me and you sir"
"Mmh-hmm" Marcus took a sip of alcohol from a vodka bottle.
Martin reached out to him and took the bottle "You've had enough sir, for the night"
"How would you know Martin while you were busy fucking my whore? It's like you have a thang with ma whores dude! You like em just like how I like em don't ya Martin?" asked Marcus winking at Martin and trying to smile.
"You should go to sleep sir, come on let's go" Martin stood up, then he pulled Marcus to his feet but he was so drunk he couldn't stand.
So he carried him on his arms while Marcus started humming songs which he didn't even know them, yet his brain directed him to do so. Up to the master bedroom they went and when Martin reached Marcus's room, he opened it using Marcus's fingerprints and they walked inside.
"Tell me you love me Martin... Tell me..." said Marcus when Martin was putting him down to sleep.
"You need to go to sleep sir"
"Did you fuck Shandla, Marcus?"
"No sir, I didn't. You needn't worry about it I didn't do anything wrong, you should go to sleep"
"I... I need... Diana" That was the final words that came out of Marcus's mouth before he fell asleep right there on his bed. Martin took a moment to cover him with sheets, took out his shoes, his trousers and his shirt just so he can sleep comfortably. After five minutes he walked to his room and took a nap too, it had been a long day.