Chapter 32 Marfil #2
Stella and Lisa laughed as we waited for Liam to come out to get us.
Tami seemed a little nervous, but she was more beautiful than ever, with her platinum-blond hair styled into loose curls that fell almost down to her ass.
Her dark jeans and sexy white top accentuated her body in all the right places, and she was wearing heels, something unusual for her.
“Hey, you look incredible,” I said, looking her up and down.
“I don’t know, I…” she said nervously.
I rolled my eyes and grinned from ear to ear as I saw Liam emerge.
He smiled back and, noticing Tami, stopped and frowned. “What is she doing here?” he asked very rudely.
“Liam!” I scolded him, and his face cracked into a grin to show that he was joking.
He laughed at the expression on Tami’s face, suddenly pale. “Come on, don’t look at me like that,” he said, looking her up and down admiringly.
Tami glared at him and stepped next to Stella, looking away.
Liam chuckled, then any semblance of happiness faded from his face as he spotted Sebastian. “You’re still here?” he asked, then took notice of the two gorillas. I had already told Liam everything… well, almost everything, and he knew that I now had three bodyguards with me everywhere I went.
Sebastian didn’t respond, busily staring down the street, no doubt making sure everything was in order. “Come on, get inside,” he said to the other girls and me.
Stella and Lisa happily did as he said, and I followed, only coming to a halt when I noticed Liam had stopped in front of Tami, blocking her way.
I rolled my eyes. Seriously?
“Say one thing that you like about me and I’ll let you in,” he asked arrogantly.
Tami huffed and crossed her arms. “You’re insufferable.”
Liam turned around to leave, but she yanked at his sweater to stop him. He glanced at her hand on his arm. Sparks were flying; how had I not realized it before?
Tami looked at him timidly, unsure what to say. “I like your shoelaces.”
Liam laughed loudly, leaned toward her, and whispered, “That won’t cut it.”
I looked on in amusement.
“Okay, okay!” she said again, and Liam gave her his full attention. “I like your back,” she admitted, turning red.
I almost laughed out loud.
Liam smiled. “My back?”
“Yes,” she said, now as red as a tomato. “I like not having to look at your face,” she added, and I could tell she was annoyed by the way her fists were clenched tightly.
“Can we get everyone inside?” Sebastian interrupted the scene.
Liam looked toward him and lifted the rope to let Tami through. He whispered something to her that I didn’t catch, and Tami stormed past me, seething.
“You could give it a rest for one night, couldn’t you?” I said, irritated.
I turned to follow my friends into the elevator, then looked back again as I heard Sebastian arguing behind me. “We’re with her,” he said calmly.
“A thousand dollars each,” the bouncer told him.
“A thousand dollars to get in?”
I walked over to them. Liam seemed unaware of what was happening as he let some other girls in, greeting them each with a kiss on the cheek. “Yes, a thousand dollars to get in,” he repeated rudely.
“They’re with me, John.” The bouncer knew me, so I didn’t think it would be a problem.
“Your girlfriends are with you; these guys have to pay,” John insisted with an unfriendly expression.
“Liam?” I called out to him, trying to intervene as I saw that Sebastian was taking out a credit card angrily. I wasn’t such a bitch that’d I make him pay a thousand dollars to protect me.
Liam walked over, grabbed me by the waist, and kissed me on the cheek, very close to my lips. “What is it, babe?” he asked, looking only at me and ignoring the situation playing out right before his eyes.
“Let him in, Liam,” I said in a low voice so that only he could hear me.
“Are you sure?” he asked, looking unhappy.
I nodded silently, and Liam turned around, taking his hands off me. “John, he’s with me,” he said, and Sebastian put away his wallet with an irritated sigh. “The other two can wait outside. I don’t want to fill up the club with soldiers.”
Sebastian seemed fine with that arrangement, and I practically jumped for joy. Without Marcus’s lackeys watching… No, I wasn’t going to throw myself at Sebastian, as much as I might’ve wanted to. I was still angry with him.
I saw that Sebastian was giving them instructions, indicating points along the street that I supposed they were meant to watch.
The seriousness of his tone made me nervous.
I didn’t want to be scared, but it was sometimes impossible, considering recent events, on top of what I’d learned about my father.
“Let’s go up,” Liam said, tugging at me.
“Hold on,” I said, waiting for Sebastian.
I could tell by the look in his eyes that something wasn’t right. I had no idea what it was, but I felt a shiver run down my spine.
Without even realizing it, as soon as he reached us, I moved to stand right beside him. I felt safe with him next to me. Liam frowned as we walked to the elevator that would take us to the rooftop bar.
“What’s wrong?” I asked Sebastian.
“This place has too many entrances.”
I could tell he was in a bad mood, and I imagined he didn’t enjoy seeing Liam so close to me either.
I didn’t say anything, and when the elevator doors opened, I went directly to join the other girls, who were serving themselves from the bottles of tequila and vodka that had already been placed at our table along with a bucket of ice, orange juice, and raspberries.
I preferred tequila, at least when I intended to get nice and drunk.
Tami was seated on one of the sofas with a glass that looked like it contained only orange juice.
“Tell me there’s at least a splash of tequila in there,” I said, leaning over to sniff her drink.
“Don’t be a pest,” she said, moving her glass away before lifting it to her lips. I followed the direction of her gaze and saw that her eyes were fixed on Liam, who was flirting with a large-breasted woman at the bar.
“Come on, let’s dance,” I said, dragging her to the center of the dance floor.
Aside from Tami taking ballet with me at school as an extracurricular activity, she also did fencing and field hockey.
She was a total athlete, so she knew how to move her body.
The two of us had always been the ones to create the choreography for our class Christmas pageant, putting lots of hard work and energy into it.
It had been ages since we went dancing together because Tami didn’t like to go out.
We were polar opposites—she was a platinum blonde, and I was a brunette; she was short, I was tall, and so on and so forth.
I still wondered how I’d been able to convince her, but I was happy to have her there with me.
It didn’t take long before all eyes were on us. Tami and I were great dancers and knew how to have fun together; it was inevitable for guys to try to butt in.
I tugged on her waist to save her from a guy who was drooling over her as she stared down another one who was coming up behind me. We laughed, and I dragged her over to the bar. I needed another drink, immediately.
“Two tequila shots, please,” I said to the bartender. Tami shook her head. “Don’t be boring!” I insisted, and I thanked him for bringing salt and lime.
“You know how I get when I drink alcohol,” she said, looking repulsed by the shot I’d shoved in her face.
“I love drunk Tami; she lets herself get lost in the moment.” I raised my glass in the air. “To getting out of your head and letting loose for once,” I said as we clinked glasses and downed the shots. We laughed and quickly stuck the limes into our mouths.
Tami’s eyes then wandered to some point behind me, and her face fell. “You’ll never guess who just walked through the door.”
I turned to see who she was referring to, and there was Regan, flanked by his buddies.
“Shit,” I said, turning back around when our eyes met across the room.
“He’s coming over,” Tami said with a frown.
And sure enough, two minutes later, I felt a hand on my waist. “Hey, baby,” he said, spinning me around.
“Don’t call me that,” I said, removing his hands from my body and turning around to order another drink. “Do you want one, too, Tami?”
Tami nodded without taking her eyes off my ex.
“Hey, come on, Marfil. When are you going to forgive me?”
I arched my eyebrows in response.
“You know I would’ve never made any bet that had to do with you, baby. You can’t believe all the rumors.”
“What about the video they showed me with you admitting everything, asshole?” I said, accepting the drink from the bartender. “Let’s go, Tami.”
“What an idiot,” Tami said, her cheeks already pink from the alcohol as we walked away.
My eyes unwittingly searched for Sebastian. Had he noticed the guy who’d just come up to me was the same dude who’d forced himself on me at that party?
I finally spotted him beside one of the windows, a blond woman standing next to him, very close.
Flirting on the job?
I finished my drink and went back for another.
When I returned to the table, I saw that Liam had sat down beside Tami and was talking to her.
She was staring straight ahead, scowling, her third drink now half empty.
Liam seemed to be proving her right about him, talking to her in a tone somewhere between angry and annoyed.
Tami saw that I was watching them, said something to Liam, and jumped up.
“I think I need more of this,” she said, pointing to her now-empty glass.
I walked her to the bar, where we ordered another shot. If we continued on like this, we were going to get trashed. I could see it coming.
“Hey… what’s up with you and Liam?” I asked very seriously, or at least as seriously as the alcohol would allow.
Liam observed us from the sofa with an unfriendly expression.
“Nothing,” she said, turning her back to him.