Chapter 32 Marfil #3
“Tami, I’ve seen the way you look at him. It took me a while to realize it, but I’m not a total idiot,” I said, trying to ignore the scene taking place across the club: Sebastian was still talking to the blond girl, and she seemed to be moving closer and closer to him.
“Look, I don’t want to talk about that right now, okay? But I promise I will when I’m ready.”
That’s just how Tami was, very reserved. Liam needed to know that getting through to Tami was going to take a lot more than a bit of flirting and a few compliments.
“Fine, let’s dance,” I said, jerking her arm.
The music was good, a mix of rock and Latin hits. I don’t know how much time went by, but before I knew it, Liam had joined us on the dance floor. The problem was that, instead of dancing with my friend, he pressed his body against mine.
“Liam…” I said, trying to pull away, but then his mouth moved down to my neck, to the spot where I still had a mark from the hickey I’d received a few days ago.
Tami stopped, gave me a heartbroken look, and then walked away.
Both Liam and I stretched out our hands to stop her, and Tami had no choice but to stumble back to us.
“Don’t get me wrapped up in your mess!” I shouted at them, stepping away.
I left them arguing and, trying to gather the courage I didn’t feel, went directly to the corner where my bodyguard was about to hook up with some random girl.
When I reached them, I stuck my fingers through the blond girl’s belt loops and pulled her away from him.
She tripped, spilling her drink onto her dress.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she said, shaking herself off.
I stepped beside Sebastian. “Get out of here,” I said, looking her in the eyes.
She was a bit taller than me, but I didn’t care. I knew martial arts now thanks to Sebastian, or at least that’s what I told myself as she lunged toward me and I grabbed her by the hair.
Sebastian immediately picked me up me by the waist and carried me to the other side of the club. “Have you lost your mind?” he shouted over the loud music, setting me down.
“You’re working!” I shouted back, furious that he seemed to be on her side.
“Why do you care how I do my job?”
I crossed my arms. “Because my life depends on it, genius.”
“You’re drunk, Marfil. I assure you that I haven’t lost sight of you for a second.”
“Oh, okay, so you can look at tits and watch me at the same time? Very talented.”
Sebastian exhaled through his nose. “Marfil…”
He tried to turn his back on me, but I grabbed his wrist.
“Do you like her?” I asked in a pathetic tone. I needed to stop drinking immediately.
Sebastian looked me in the eye for a few seconds and leaned down to speak into my ear. “The only girl that interests me here is you.”
He walked away before I had the chance to kiss him.
I looked around, searching for Tami, but I couldn’t find her, or Liam for that matter. I smiled at the thought of them starting something. Although, knowing Liam… I feared he might hurt her. I’d have to have a very serious chat with him about it.
I went over to where Stella and Lisa were dancing in the center of the dance floor with two very hot guys. I joined in and let my drunk mind take control.
Somehow, I found myself alone on the dance floor a short while later. Well, I wasn’t exactly alone. There were tons of people dancing all around me, but my friends had gone to make out with their respective hook-ups.
I scanned the club for Sebastian and wished more than anything that he wasn’t my bodyguard. I wanted to be able to walk over to him, whisper that I loved him, and wrap my arms around him as we moved to the music.
Why didn’t he come over and dance with me?
What harm could it do? He’d just been standing there all night letting that blond girl try to flirt with him, too polite to tell her to go away…
or maybe he liked her and was lying to me.
None of what he’d said to me before mattered, if he cared about me at all, he’d have done something, thrown everything away for me.
He should’ve been my boyfriend, not my bodyguard, and he should’ve put that asshole Marcus in his place. But he chose his job.
I felt someone embrace me from behind. I closed my eyes, and for an instant my fantasy became reality.
“Just looking at you gets me hard, baby,” said a voice that sounded nothing like Sebastian’s. Regan had found me again.
“How romantic,” I said, annoyed.
“You’re so hot,” he said, stroking my cheek.
I shuddered, disgusted by him.
“I’m sorry for what I did,” he said, moving closer. “I didn’t know what I had until I lost it.”
Regan had been the first guy I’d ever thought I was in love with, and he broke my heart. His apology meant something, as much as I wanted to deny it. A first love always cuts deep, although in reality, it hadn’t been love at all. I now knew that with total certainty.
What I felt for Sebastian was ten times stronger than what I’d ever felt for Regan, and it wasn’t even the half of what I might be able to feel in the future.
Love had invaded every part of my body. I knew that if Sebastian remained at my side twenty-four hours a day, if he let down his guard, if he touched me, kissed me, and allowed himself to be with me…
he could easily become the man I gave my heart to.
Before I realized what was happening, Regan had dragged me over to a less crowded corner of the club.
“Do you remember our first kiss?” he asked, taking my face in his hands and placing his lips very close to mine.
Why was I letting him touch me?
“I remember the last one,” I said, a sick feeling in my stomach.
We’d been dating for months and had gotten more intimate than ever, kissing, touching, undressing each other.
I thought I was going to finally lose my virginity with him, was seriously considering it, despite all my hang-ups.
He’d kissed me in the car at the door to my building and told me he loved me.
The next day, I found out who he truly was.
His mouth now pressed into mine, feeling slimy and disgusting. His tongue jabbed at me violently; his hands groped me clumsily, without any tenderness or feeling.
Sebastian was the only man who knew how to touch me, the only man who could give me what I wanted.
I pushed Regan away, hard, but he only pressed tighter against me. I wasn’t scared this time; I was prepared. I would put the things Sebastian had taught me into practice…
But before I had time to put my new skills to the test, Regan was no longer in front of me. Sebastian had shoved him away, knocking him hard to the floor. He said something to Regan and then turned back to me with eyes blazing.
“Hey,” I shouted angrily. “I could’ve handled it on my own! If you always intervene, how do you expect me to learn?!”
“We’re leaving,” he said, grabbing my hand tightly and hauling me to the elevator.
I tried to break free, but he gripped me tighter, hurting me.
“Let me go!” I shouted, digging my heels into the floor.
But he didn’t let go, and before I knew it, a security guard had come up to us from behind, intending to get Sebastian off me.
With a movement so quick my eyes couldn’t even register it, the security guard was next on the floor, touching his bleeding mouth in surprise.
I stood there in shock, my eyes wide as saucers, shouting all kinds of obscenities. Sebastian wrapped an arm tightly around my waist and picked me up to carry me into the elevator, where he set me down before I had time to even process what had happened.
“Are you crazy?!”
“I saw someone… We have to get out of here.”
I looked at him, wondering if he really believed I was that stupid.
“You’re jealous; that’s the problem.”
Sebastian looked at me in disbelief for a second, and then panic flashed across his face as the elevator doors opened to two men, both pointing guns at us.
Sebastian pushed me back, covering me with his body, and someone fired before I had time to understand what was happening. I screamed at the top of my lungs as I fell to the floor and curled up against the wall.
Sebastian acted quickly. With one dry blow to the wrist, he knocked the gun from one of the attacker’s hands, then proceeded to knock him out with a punch to the head, as the other man picked up the gun and pointed it at me.
“Sebastian!” I shouted as loud as I could, terrified.
The next thing I heard was a howl of pain and a hollow blow, then I felt arms lifting me from the floor. Sebastian took me by the hand, and we rushed out into the street like a bat out of hell.
“Marfil!” came a voice from behind me.
I turned around and saw Tami running toward us. Liam was behind her, his eyes full of fear. I had no idea what they were doing out there. I hadn’t seen them since they’d disappeared together earlier.
Sebastian stopped for an instant to look around, and that’s when I saw them: Egor and Jakov lay on the ground, dead.
“Oh my God!” I shouted in horror, covering my mouth with my hands.
Then everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Tires screeched on the asphalt as a car skidded around the corner and stopped in front of the spot where we stood. Sebastian pushed me back inside, causing me to fall to the floor as he aimed his gun at a man, who was pointing his own gun at us.
We heard the sound of gunfire as people began running and screaming in all directions. One of the screams sounded like a voice I knew well.
“TAMI!” I shouted with all my might as I rushed toward her and fell beside her. “Oh my God! Oh my God!”
My friend lay on the ground, blood pooling around her. She’d been shot in the side.
Liam dropped down beside her as well and frightenedly applied pressure to the wound as he shouted for someone to call an ambulance.
“Tami!” I shrieked, tears clouding my eyes. I felt a hand lift me from the ground. “NO!” I shouted, pulling free with all my might.
I’d kill them. I would kill whoever did that to her.