Filed to story: Young Girls Forbidden Love Series: My Best Friend’s Daddy
A woman with blonde hair matching Lauren’s was yelling at Max, the staff member I’d played cards with on the yacht.
“Ma’am, I don’t know what to tell you. Mr. Astor has already assigned the rooms; I cannot go against his direct orders. There is already another guest staying in that room, and I am sure Mr. Astor would not approve of me kicking them out of the room.”
Max was clearly exasperated from dealing with the woman, and I couldn’t blame him.
“We will see about that. You will be lucky if you still have a job by the time I’m through with you.”
The woman quickly turned, and unfortunately, she spotted me on the stairs. Her face was devoid of emotion, probably from the excessive and very obvious botox treatments.
“Come to enjoy the show, did we?” she asked, but I couldn’t tell if she was trying to glare at me or not.
I turned around, deciding it was best not to get involved. I could already guess that the woman screaming had been Lauren’s mother, Marmie, and if I were to bet my life on anything, it would be that she was angry she was not assigned to the room Michael had picked out for me.
I couldn’t help the feeling of warmth that spread through me at the thought of Michael giving me that room over her.
A few hours later, I dared to leave my room again but was met with more yelling coming from the lower floor. I would have gone back up to my room, but my empty stomach protested that idea. I hoped I would be able to make it to the kitchen without anyone seeing me, but luck wasn’t on my side.
“So you are the one that took my room.” I immediately knew it was Marmie.
I turned to find not only Marmie standing behind me but Lauren, Todd, and Megan too. Megan had a small smirk on her mouth that she tried and failed to hide.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, pretending I had no idea what she meant.
“I just found out that one of the master bedrooms went to you. I am stuck on the bottom floor in one of the guest rooms like some commoner.”
“I don’t see the problem. I was told which room had been assigned to me. I didn’t ask for it.”
“Oh, you must be the poor one. It makes sense why you can’t understand something so simple,” Marmie said with a pointed look at my simple clothes.
I knew I should have put on one of the outfits Michael had bought for me. I was just so scared to ruin them that I didn’t want to wear them for anything other than a nice occasion.
Megan flat-out laughed at Marmie’s comment. I looked over and saw Lauren playfully slap her arm to get her to stop laughing, but she had a smile on her face too.
I couldn’t bring myself to look at Todd’s face, but I figured he was getting a laugh out of this interaction as well.
“Do you know who I am?” Marmie asked.
I internally cringed. I’d always hated customers who tried the ‘do you know who I am’ card at the bar. It was usually coming from someone who looked an awful lot like Marmie.
“I’m guessing that you are Lauren’s mother,” I said as calmly as I could.
“Exactly. So you need to pack up your things and get out of my room.”
“I’m not moving my stuff. I was assigned that room, and I’m going to stay in it.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, Marmie? This is not your house, and you don’t get to order my guests or my staff around.”
Marmie’s face paled slightly, but she turned with a tight-lipped smile at Michael, who’d walked into the room without her noticing.
Relief flooded my entire body; knowing Michael was there, I felt like less of the underdog. He had an angry burning in his eyes that I had never seen there before. It seemed to make Marmie nervous, too, because she started stammering an explanation.
“This whole thing was just a misunderstanding. I just figured, with our history, I would have one of the bigger rooms. I just remembered, though, that I love the view of the ocean from the room I’m in; that is probably why you picked it for me.”
Michael didn’t say anything in response. When Marmie couldn’t take the awkward silence any longer, she tried her best to make an escape.
“Well, I better go freshen up.”
She quickly walked away, her steps clicking as her heels made contact with the marble tile floor. Now I understood what the crew was talking about, how Marmie would chase everyone who was close to Michael away; she acted as though she had a right to everything Michael owned, just because she was Lauren’s mother.
If I were to guess, I bet Marmie had chased away more than just potential girlfriends, but Michael’s friends too.
Lauren and Todd followed Marmie out of the kitchen, and I felt heat on my lower back. Michael had placed his hand there and leaned close to me.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
I looked up and noticed Megan had lingered in the kitchen and was watching Michael and me closely. I nodded and stepped away from him, grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl on the counter.
I spent the rest of the morning carefully avoiding Marmie, but it seemed like everywhere I went, Todd would show up a few minutes later. He was always talking very loudly about what needed to be done before the engagement party.
Not wanting to talk to him, I gave up and went back to my room. I went out to the balcony and leaned over the railing to watch the ocean. A few men were surfing, and even from the distance, I could make out Michael sitting on his surfboard bobbing in the water.
“Baby cakes?”
I looked over to see Todd leaning over the railing of the adjacent balcony, straining to see me on mine. I shook my head at him. I hated that nickname when we were dating but didn’t have the heart to tell him, and now after everything, I loathed it.
“Please, I just need to talk to you?”
“You have nothing to say that I would be interested in hearing,” I said and went back into my room, shutting the door behind me a little more forcefully than I intended.
My heart was pounding, and I knew I needed to get control of my anger, but I couldn’t do that knowing Todd was in the next room over. So I grabbed my book and a beach towel out of the bathroom before heading down to the beach.
I walked through the living area of the mansion and nearly ran into two giant ice sculptures as they were being brought through to the kitchen.
“Oh, careful Shelby!” Lauren said, rushing over to inspect the ice sculpture. I quickly stepped back to avoid a life-size rendition of Shelby and Todd embracing.
“Oh wow…” was the only thing I could say, looking at the ice sculpture.
“I know, right? It is absolutely perfect,” Lauren beamed.
“It sure is something.”
“Mom commissioned it as soon as she found out about the engagement party.”
“Well, I want the best for my little girl,” Marmie’s voice flowed down the stairs as she made her way toward us with Todd on her arm.
“I’m just so glad, my darling girl, found the perfect man. He looks just as handsome in ice as he does in person.” Marmie squeezed Todd’s arm as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
“It really is the perfect embodiment of us both,” Todd said with a smile in my direction.
“It matches your heart, Todd. Ice cold,” I muttered under my breath.
I made a hasty exit out the back door and nearly ran towards the beach, needing to get away from both versions of Todd.
I spread my towel out in the sand and lounged on the ground, hoping to continue the book I had been trying to read the day before, but Lauren’s demanding voice carried all the way down to the private beach.
I needed a better distraction. I threw my head back and looked up at the bright blue sky. I didn’t think I could make it through this engagement party.
My phone vibrated with a text message from Aubrey, containing flight information for a flight leaving the next day. It would cost the rest of my savings, but maybe it would be for the best if I left.
“Every time I’ve seen you lately, you’ve had that book with you, but you never seem to be reading it.”
I sat up to find Michael standing in front of me, shirtless, soaking wet, and holding a surfboard. Beads of water were sliding down his naked torso, and I couldn’t help but watch them caress his skin, slowly sneaking lower. I looked back up at Michael’s teasing smile.