Chapter 21 Marfil
We finally returned to the balcony and were able to watch the last race.
Marengo came in fourth place, but the horse belonging to my father’s principal racing rival, Mathew Byrne, came in sixth.
Knowing Alejandro Cortés, that was victory enough.
My father introduced me to other friends of his, as if it were my debut into society, and I was thankful to Marcus for sticking by my side to help ward off all the guys vying for my attention.
Finally, the time had come to say goodbye. My father and Emilio Kozel walked ahead, and Marcus pulled me aside, out of earshot.
“Marfil, agree to dinner with me,” he said for the eighth time, in what had become something of a running joke for the last hour. “I’ll hand you a glass of champagne if you have dinner with me. Want me to get rid of all these men drooling over you? Have dinner with me…”
I smiled, still uncertain, and just as I was about to decline the offer again, Sebastian appeared.
“We should go,” Sebastian said, curt as always. But his expression of extreme distaste as he looked at Marcus suddenly made me more interested. Was he jealous?
“How’s it going, Moore?” Marcus stretched out a hand.
Sebastian was a bit taller and more muscular, and he stared at Marcus’s outstretched hand for a few endless seconds. “Kozel,” he finally said, offering the briefest of handshakes.
“You’re in good hands, Mar,” Marcus said, calling me by the nickname only my friends and family used for me, but I didn’t mind. “I’m sure Sebastian will take care of us the best he can on our date.”
Sebastian remained impassive, but I thought I saw a certain tension in his posture that made me think he disliked seeing me with Marcus.
This could be fun, using Marcus to make Sebastian jealous.
What could go wrong? Marcus seemed like the kind of guy who had a different woman in his bed every night; he wouldn’t take it too hard when I ultimately rejected him.
Sebastian, on the other hand… I could tell he wanted to punch Marcus in the face and get me as far away from him as possible.
I turned to Marcus with a wide smile. “Fine, I’ll have dinner with you.”
The waves of hatred emanating from Sebastian were undeniable.
Marcus looked pleased. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven?” he asked, completely ignoring my bodyguard, as if he were a houseplant.
Sebastian had said what he had to say, so why was he still standing there, in the middle of our conversation?
“All right,” I said.
I could do dinner with Marcus and still have time to hang out with Gabriella all day before she left for her mother’s house. With the accident and the visit to the racecourse, I’d hardly spent any time with her.
Marcus took me by surprise when he leaned over, grabbed me by the waist, and pulled me to his chest as he planted a kiss on my cheek.
“See you tomorrow, Miss Cortés. I want you to get all dolled up for me,” he said to me, then to my bodyguard, “Moore.”
Sebastian didn’t respond, and I turned to him as soon as Marcus was out of sight. Sebastian was staring blankly at me without any hint of emotion. “We should go now,” he said simply, and started to walk ahead of me.
I followed Logan, who was coming up from behind us, feeling a stab of pain in my chest. That was it? Did he really not care that I was going to have dinner with Marcus?
I got home, and my sister greeted me excitedly, wanting me to fill her in about the day at the races.
“Oh, Mar, you’re finally going to have a boyfriend!” she exclaimed as soon as I finished telling her about Marcus Kozel.
“No one said he was going to be my boyfriend—we’re just having dinner,” I clarified as I took off my pearl earrings and set them in a jewelry box on my dressing table.
“Will anyone ever want to date me?”
I looked at her, surprised. “Of course, you’re incredible. How could anyone not want to date you?”
“You’ll always be the prettier one, you can’t deny that,” she said, pointing at her pulled-up hair and pink satin pajamas, as if emphasizing her point.
“I may capture people’s attention, briefly, Gabi, but they get bored of me quickly. You, on the other hand, are pretty and fun—no one’s getting bored of you. Anyone would be crazy not to fall madly in love with you.”
Suddenly something in her expression made me think she had something to tell me.
“I met a boy,” she said a few seconds later, confirming I’d read her correctly. “Dad would never approve. His father owns the candy shop in the town near school. He’s older than me, and so cute,” she said with dreamy eyes.
I tensed at her comment. “Gabi, you have to be very careful; you can’t sneak out of school like you used to. If someone—”
“Yeah, yeah…” she cut in, frowning. “That’s easy to say when you live alone in New York City and can go wherever you want.”
I opened my eyes in surprise. “Gabi, I’m five years older than you, and in case you forgot, I went through boarding school, just like you… without any boyfriend in town, I should mention.”
“But that was different. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be a fifteen-year-old who’s still never kissed a boy?”
“My first kiss was at eighteen, so, yes, I know what it’s like.”
My sister opened her eyes wide in surprise. “Took you long enough… Girls lose their virginity at sixteen these days, and I…”
My heart started beating faster as I heard her say that. I leaned over and gripped her hands tightly. “Don’t even think about it, Gabriella,” I said, a little too intense. “Don’t even think about sleeping with anyone. You’re a baby!”
My sister leaned back, pulling out of my grasp and looking at me angrily. “Don’t talk to me like the nuns or like Dad. It’s not like you’re still a virgin.”
I remained silent, trying to erase a certain recent memory from my mind.
When I didn’t answer, my sister opened her eyes wider and laughed. “You’re joking, right?! You’re a virgin?”
“Shhh!” I said. “Yes, I am. And you better stay a virgin, too, or Father will kill you.”
“You’re so dramatic. As if he would know.”
“There are ways of checking, don’t you know that?”
My sister lay back on the bed and looked at the ceiling, smiling. “No one’s going to check anything. And if Timmy and I decide to do it…”
“Gabriella, don’t even think about it. You’re fifteen years old. You haven’t even had your first kiss!”
My sister sat up. “I haven’t had my first kiss with a boy, you mean,” she corrected, raising her eyebrows. “I asked Laura to teach me. I have to have some idea of what to do when Timmy finally kisses me. It was pretty gross, though, so much spit and tongues touching, all slimy.”
Oh my God!
“You should only kiss someone who’s important to you, someone you feel something for, not your best friend at school.”
My sister shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
I looked at her worriedly. The only thing that had given me some peace of mind in this whole situation was knowing that my sister was safe miles away and would be responsible enough not to sneak out while the threat still loomed.
That night, Gabriella and I watched our favorite movie in my room. As I lay in bed looking up at the dark ceiling, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to kiss Marcus Kozel, and especially if he could make me feel anything anywhere as intense as the way Sebastian made me feel.
The next morning passed without incident.
Well, except for the fact that, when I went down for breakfast, I found a gigantic bouquet of red roses.
Gabriella and Lupe jumped up and down, insisting that I show them the card, and before opening it, my gaze shifted unwittingly to Sebastian, who was having breakfast at the other end of the table across from Wilson.
Our eyes met, and I felt a tingling sensation inside.
Sebastian quickly looked back to his newspaper.
I let out a scoff before opening the envelope and reading the note Marcus had included with the roses.
From the moment I met you, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. I’m counting down the hours until I see you tonight, Marfil. Don’t forget to get yourself all dolled up for me.
Marcus Kozel
I handed the card to Gabriella so she would stop asking what it said, and I sat down at the breakfast table. Sebastian didn’t even blink.
“Wow… ‘get yourself all dolled up for me,’ ” my sister read aloud. “This Marcus guy is a real player, huh?”
“Shut up,” I said, yanking the card from her and putting it in my pocket. “You’d better hurry up if you want to spend all day at the creek. I need to be back here by five to start getting ready.”
An hour later, we were galloping on our horses with Sebastian and Wilson behind us as we laughed and raced as we often used to do when we were back at home.
Lupe had packed us a picnic basket with sandwiches, apples, cheese, and grapes.
Sebastian and Wilson didn’t want to join us for lunch, having brought their own food, so I didn’t have the opportunity to talk to Sebastian until we got back to the stables around four thirty in the afternoon.
I took my time brushing Philippe before going in, so when Sebastian entered the horse stall, I knew we were alone.
I tried to behave as if he wasn’t there, but it was impossible to ignore him, especially when he walked up to my horse and petted him with infinite tenderness.
I set down the brush and made my way to leave, but he stopped me before I was able to take my first step.
“Be careful tonight,” he said, causing me to look back and meet his gaze.
“It’s just a date, Sebastian. I’ve had thousands of them,” I responded.
Sebastian tilted my chin up with a single finger, forcing me to look him in the eye. “Marcus Kozel is nothing like any of the guys you’ve gone out with before. He’s dangerous. Be careful,” he said again.
I took a step back. “He’s the son of my father’s friend. If my father thought I was in any danger, he wouldn’t let me go. And from what I can tell, he’s very happy that I’m going out with Marcus.”
Sebastian huffed, then followed it with a smirk.