His warmth spread across my entire being, engulfing me in safety words could never describe to full perfection. His large arms, his musky, sport-scented cologne, and even the small kisses he planted on my forehead had an unnerving power to demobilize my defences in a fraction of a second.
This man was dangerous. And he was all mine.
I still couldn't believe it.
Hell—I still can't believe it!
He really was all mine, and me, his!
"I'm really sorry to ruin this diabetically sweet moment," Rouge rudely interrupted my sentimental spewings. "But who exactly was..." she was silenced by Blaze and Elena, who quickly shot her a deadly glare that screamed, "For the love of God, please be quiet!" And while Rouge was never someone to take orders from anyone or anything, she alarmingly did.
"Nevermind," she retreated. "I'm just... going to leave now. My files won't file themselves, will they?" She kid as a cover for her absurd and totally unusual behavior. "I'm happy for you two. Really, I am."
And while this was being said, I noticed Elena's face unwinding and coming loose from all the anger it once wore a few minutes ago. Then it hit me. I totally realized why Rouge didn't complete her, probably snarky, comment.
The two girls were fighting!
And because of me!!!
* * *
The nine-hour plane flight and 6-hour time difference between New York and Monaco are a fucking pain in the ass, David thought as he undid his tightly-wound tie from around his neck.
It always took a heavy toll on even the strongest and most frequent of travellers, so he didn't particularly enjoy making such abrupt trips back home in such a fashion; not for himself or anybody else.
"MARY!" he yelled gravely, but there was no response.
His voice simply danced around the empty space of his Monaco residence living room before disappearing into vast nothingness.
"MARY LAMB!" he yelled again. But still, no response.
His eyes thinned in utter anger.
"Why the hell do I even bother." Sighing, he began throwing his coat, tie, watch, and god knows what else previously in his grasp onto the floor.
He wasn't exactly a tidy individual.
"The point of having housekeepers is to relieve efforts made in such areas, so I shouldn't be feeling like I'm paying these imbeciles for doing absolutely nothing! I swear, I'm going to go straight ahead and fire..." But mid-way into his sentence, an old maid came running in from the nothingness like she was being chased by the devil himself; or more accurately, mindlessly running at his beckoning.
"Mr. Marquis! Mr. Marquis!" she cried.
"Mrs. Lamb," he bid distastefully. His usually mindless, yet polite, habit of calling out one's last name as a way of acknowledging their presence suddenly exposed a bitter sentiment. "I recall telling Mr. Crane to tell you I was well on the way."
"Why, we were not expecting you all of a sudden. A-and then—"
"Get a bath going." He interrupted the sputtering elder. "I'll be briefly stopping at my cousin's wedding tonight and this look isn't exactly 'all the rage'." His every word practically mocked his ragged, untamed, and unmanaged self. Yet somehow, notably not to him, it only outlined his muscular physic which made him all the more strappingly masculine.
His slender fingers neatly undid his silver buttons one after another, exposing bare, consummate skin. So impeccably perfect that the old woman watching couldn't help but drool from both ends of her mouth.
"Mary."
"Oh, yes! Right! Right—a bath! I will get Zoe on it right away," she fled in a red tint.
In her head, she condemned herself for having such lustful thoughts of a man old enough to be her youngest son! But deep within her, another condoling thought chimed in, saying: "Could anyone really not think it even a little, though? I mean, just look at the man!"
Then came a fiercely opposing one: "For the love of God, Mary! Control you're urges as the adult you are!"
"Mary! There is nothing wrong with admiring the beauty of anything! That is why you were given eyes in the first place!" the other one came in just as fierce.
"Mary, don't think such ludicrous things; it's utterly stupid! Your eyes could see the crudest things in this world if you let it, and admiring your 30-years-younger-than-you boss' six-pack is not far from the definition of crude!"
"Mary! He is pure art!"
"Mary! He is NOT!"
"Mrs. Lamb."
"YES SIR!" She squawked abruptly, afraid that, somehow, he had just heard her deepest most inner thoughts between her angel and her devil.
Mostly the devil's.
"ah!" his ears winced in pain. "Nevermind."
"Was It too much to ask for something to eat before leaving?" David was baffled at the unseemly situation. He wasn't exactly planning on staying too long at the wedding party, so a quick bite to satiate his hunger would've been much appreciated. Yet as hard as he tried not to circle on that matter, the attempts only brought his mind back to a fact he was trying to ignore: The fact she was already notified by Mr. Crane and was supposed to be preparing all necessities prior to his arrival.
At first, He wanted to allow himself the leisure of blaming her for any degree of his misfortune for the night, but he also wanted to let her mistake slide this once out of the kindness of his normally stoic and cold heart. Now he wasn't too sure executing either plan would suffice since she was yelling as if experiencing some chronic hearing problems or medical oddity.
"Maybe the old woman really was getting too grey for her job," David finalized through a cocked head.
* * *
It's on a ship.
The wedding venue was on a bloody cruise ship!
"This is simply too much for one day!" I groaned, massaging my templates for any sort of composure, all while analyzing the situation to avoid any further misunderstandings or mishaps for one night.
First off, I was going to have to service a taxi boat over there if I ever wanted to meet my old man, else, I'll just have to attend the party in my dreams tonight; it would be at the risk of the corp falling into Louis' incapable hands and that wasn't one I was willing to take under any circumstance!
Secondly, anything that came attached with the Marquis' family name was prone to drawing large crowds and was sure to be the latest buzz on news outlets across the entire globe in a startling amount of time.
That was my biggest obstacle at the moment. God knows what kind of blasphemous lies they can conjure up from a mere late attendance.
But since the party had been a while, surely paparazzi were well dispersed by now and were very unlikely to blind me with their endless barrages of light, so it wouldn't be completely out of the question to adjudge myself lucky for showing up awfully late.
At least that was something to be grateful for.
I got myself a taxi boat still in service and headed for the cruise, and might I say, strolling deeper and deeper into the venue, I couldn't help but take notice of its uncommonly loud colour scheme. It's not every day you see a gold-purple-blue-white concept pulled off so impeccably successfully.
My cousin's bride must enjoy living on the wild side of life. But that is besides the matter.
"What is your damned obsession with grandchildren?!" I stormed fervently approaching my father who sat nonchalantly barvarding with some uncles, aunties and high-society faces I'd never quite seen before. However, I tried to keep the tension strictly between the two of us; there was no need to ruin the newlyweds' after-party reception on our account after all.
"David!" the old man exclaimed, radiating a type of pride worn by only the most beloving of beloving fathers. A father so meek in nature, who had watched his once petit child grow into a man much more than he ever was.
I saw through the deceptive little act very easily though. Because for one, I'm no better than the sly, old prick due to the fact it is easy to see me in his deep red eyes, dark honey wood skin, and sable black, now currently, pale-white hair. So whenever I see him, I feel as if I'm looking into a mirror at myself. That's how identical we are. And two, because this all had to be a grand, imposing setup.
Exactly like last time.
"David, honey!" Mother chipped in. "Why we weren't expecting you tonight." Her face gleamed with robust happiness that it made her green eyes outshined the numerous fireworks going off around the cruise ship. Whenever I meet those eyes, I can't help but wonder how she was my mother in blood, yet somehow she had a physic astronomical units far from mine. She resembled Louis more than anyone, while I took after and was practically the carbon copy of my father. I kid you not if you met him, you've met me.
"I wanted it to be a surprise," I replied dryly.
"And a surprise it was," she smiled again; wider this time. But they were never comparable to the ones from 4 years ago. Her previously warm and inviting smiles had slowly taken the form of my father's. Cold. Distant. "You're looking really nice today," she continued. "It's very rare to see you in something other than your usual black and deep blue suits. Red and gold are simply ravishing on you!"
"Thank you," I accepted, yet I hadn't even chosen the suit for myself in the first place. I might just keep Mrs. Lamb around a little bit longer. "I'm assuming you both know why I'm here then," I continued while taking a seat at the family table. At this point, it was only us 3 as many others had left out of civil courtesy.
"Son, it is not a question of if we know, but if you know."
"I didn't come here to play mind games, father."
"But it is anything than a 'mind game,' David. If you truly knew why you are here, you wouldn't feel the need to pass the buck as you have done for the past 4 years."
And he had me there.
"I'm not in agreement with your wishes." I put it simply.
"You clearly do not know why you are here then," he said lowering his wine glass with disdain as he set about leaving the table.
"Why must it be me?!" I constrained my voice to an unnatural amount of politesse, but my anger still penetrated my best attempts of mannerism. "Why must I be the one to give you a grandchild - why can't Louis, a willing prospect do so?!"
"If you so desperately love the corp and your brother that much—"
"Don't get things twisted; I feel anything but love towards that asshole!" I transgressed further.
"As I was saying, since your feelings are so fond of, whatever it is, marry Ms. Dupont then."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Honey--" mother bit in, but quickly to be let out.
"Marriage isn't always built on love, my dear," he sat back down. "And since you persist on grounding it on anything but that, evidently, I'm sure your affections will grow for her just like it is towards the corporation. If I might add, Miss Delancy Dupont will love you just the same because her ambition is to wed a corporate heir and nothing less. It is both mutual and beneficial."
"..." I stayed quiet.
"For the life of you, just do it!"
"David, honey...," Mother coaxed me with the usual: "You know your father is dying" excuse.
'Then he should hurry up with it already!' I'd want to yell back.
I wanted to say those exact words with every opportunity so badly, but I would always stop at the thought of the sadness that would engulf her face; probably her whole soul too if I'm being honest. Yet it was truly funny how she failed to see she was hurting me just the same by siding with the old fool!
"I want to see you happy more than anything in the world," she took my hands in hers. "But must it be at the cost of our family's happiness?"
"This is not like last time, David." Father touched my already tense arms in an attempt to relax them, but it only made then tense up even more. "I will not bend my will or extend the deadline for this grandchild; it has been 4 years already and that bastard you brought home does not and will never amount to even 1% of our family blood and you know it."
It was useless. I was fighting a war already won at the convenience of the opposing party, and the lump in my throat only seemed to be growing larger and larger from welling anger at my inability to do anything about it.
"It was nice to see you again... father." I stood up indifferently from my seat as I was in no condition or state of mind to continue this conversation.
"You too, son," I heard him mutter angrily. But before I left, I had something to get off my chest.
"You!"
"M-me?"
"Don't smile at me with those beautiful, big green eyes then treat me like I'm nothing more but a breeding machine right after. I expected no less from him...," I pressed at my father, "but never in a million years did I imagine you of all people would do the same. It's fucking repugnant!" I sneered, riping into her soul heightening the already high tension when suddenly—
"David!" a loud voice echoed through the crowd of guests, breaking into the uneasiness at the table. "David! Dav! Hey!" It continued.
"Ultimate villain!"
Ah.
There was only one person in the world whom I knew called me that.
"I didn't dare think you'd be attending my wedding; not even in my wildest dreams. Especially after losing touch in uni, you big meanie!"
"Mariah..."
"WOAH! You actually still remember my name—I'm honored," she giggled like a bubbly young girl. "It's really been a while, hasn't it?"
"It has," I agreed.
It really has.