Page 9 of Don't Hate Me
I’d spoken to Arthur and he informed me of his plans to visit next week. He also said we could discuss alternatives to Switzerland that would be more conducive to my health.
Did that mean he was caving? Would he let me go to college? Even if it wasn’t Princeton, I would take anything at this point.
There was a knock on the door to my hotel room. I assumed it was housekeeping, but when they didn’t attempt to open the door, I got up to check it out. What if it was another bodyguard Arthur had sent to watch over me? He knew where I was this time, so what was the point?
I opened the door and felt the breath freeze in my lungs. Then, because I’d been in the pattern for weeks, I forced myself to breathe. Easy in, and out.
“Easy in, and out,” Marc said.
“I am. I’m good now.”
He walked inside the room confidently. There was a duffel bag over his shoulder. “Nice digs. But I guess I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“You came,” I whispered. When I’d asked him to come, I wasn’t sure he would. I’d been gone for months. We’d had that fight. I didn’t know anything about what was happening in his life, really. Outside of whatever he texted me, which wasn’t much beyond school.
I wondered if the separation had done exactly what my father intended. What if he’d moved on? To a girlfriend, to a future that didn’t need to include all the drama he thought I was creating intentionally.
Ibelievedhe needed me. I didn’t know it for a certainty. But he was here, and I was so happy to see him I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.
“George gave me the details of where you were.”
I nodded. He’d set his bag on the couch and was rubbing the back of his neck.
“Long drive?”
“Yeah, I drove straight through. About ten hours. Your father’s not planning to come until next week.”
“I know. He just told me.”
Marc nodded. The two of us stood awkwardly in the middle of the suite. I felt this bubble of lightness, but he, as always, looked grim.
“Can I get you a beer? The mini bar is stocked.”
He hesitated a second, looking at me in a way I couldn’t decipher. The last time we’d been together alone, he’d taken my virginity. Shown me how to give him a hand job in the shower. One night together. Something we’d been destined for. Now we were here, and I didn’t know what to expect.
It didn’t stop the pulsing between my legs.
“Your father’s going to let you come home.”
“How could you…” I stopped and thought about the strange conversation I’d had with Arthur. “Marc, what did you do?”
“I agreed to work for him. Said this way he can keep me too busy to be around you, while keeping his eye on me at the same time.”
I shook my head. Feeling the dread inside my gut churn. “You can’t do it. You can’t let him have any control over your life. It’s not good. You don’t understand—”
He stepped toward me then and cupped my face in his hands.
“Breathe in and out,” he murmured.
I did it with him. A long breath in, and a slow breath out.
“You can’t do this,” I said more calmly.
“It’s done. You can’t stay in Switzerland. I won’t allow it. This way, I get to finish my degree. I work for him, learn from him, and the whole time he thinks there’s nothing between us.”
He was still holding my face in his hands. Still looking at me in a way I didn’t completely understand. “And is there? Nothing between us?”
He bent his head, so his forehead touched mine. So our breaths mingled. So the world narrowed to the space surrounding only us.
