Page 14 of Rivals
“My words aresomuch better than the original,” Marshall interjected.
“And yet here I am,” Sam finished in a softer tone. “I’m not going anywhere, Marshall.”
She’d never belonged with one of those guys: the type who would have nodded and agreed with anything she said, because she was a princess and they hated controversy. Shelikedthat Marshall pushed her buttons. He challenged her and teased her and made her a better version of herself.
Marshall’s eyes met hers. “Glad to hear it, my gordita.”
“Your what?” Sam blinked. Surely her boyfriend hadn’t just called her fat.
“Gordita! I like you more than a Cheesy Gordita Crunch.”At her expression, he clarified his remark. “Please tell me you’ve eaten Taco Bell. If not, I’m stealing one of the palace cars and taking you on a field trip this minute.”
I like you more than a Cheesy Gordita Crunch.That was far less of a statement than the three words that kept fluttering insistently in Sam’s chest.
Before she could reply, Marshall took a step back and pulled his phone from his pocket. He scanned the screen, cursing softly under his breath, then lifted his eyes to hers.
“I’m so sorry. I knew Kelsey was a loose cannon, but I didn’t think…”
People were staring, and whatever was going on, Sam had a feeling that it shouldn’t be overheard. She grabbed Marshall’s elbow and led him out the double doors along the side of the ballroom.
A few stray royals were gathered out on the terrace; they took one look at Sam’s expression and skittered inside. Sam stalked over to the iron balcony with a sigh. To her right she could see the stone roofs of the guest cottages, which were scattered below like toy houses in a game of Monopoly. Each of them had a name: Two Step, Summer Camp, or Sam’s favorite, called simply the White House.
She turned back to Marshall, who’d come to stand next to her, his expression somewhere between angry and regretful. “What’s going on?”
“Kelsey gave an exclusive interview to some tabloid,” he explained. “Normally I get a warning about stuff like this, but apparently the magazine kept it under wraps.”
“Your ex-girlfriend Kelsey?”
Wordlessly, Marshall handed Sam his phone. The headline readkelsey brooke’s wild revelations about lord marshall davis and princess samantha!
At first, Sam didn’t even scroll down to read these so-called wild revelations. She was too busy staring at the photoof Kelsey, who was just so unfairly gorgeous.Allof Marshall’s exes were gorgeous. Until Sam he’d only ever dated models and starlets, each a size zero, with long shiny hair and big doe eyes. Samantha was many things, but conventionally beautiful wasn’t one of them.
It was hard not to feel insecure about that sometimes.
When Sam scrolled down and began reading, her eyes widened. “Kelsey really hates us, doesn’t she?”
“She hatesme.I’m afraid you’re just collateral damage,” Marshall apologized. “She’s desperate to be famous, and she used to date the princess’s boyfriend. Of course she was going to make up a bunch of garbage for some stupid interview.”
Kelsey certainly hadn’t held anything back. She called Samantha and Marshall “the most spoiled, self-obsessed people I’ve ever met.”You hardly met me at all,Sam wanted to cry out.We spoke for two minutes in a bathroom!But it was Kelsey’s next accusation that made her blood run cold.
She claimed that Marshall and Samantha weren’t in a relationship at all; they were just pretending to date because they craved the spotlight. According to Kelsey, Samantha was jealous of her older sister and wanted to “steal attention from Beatrice.” Marshall, too, apparently just wanted the fame that came with dating a princess.
It sickened Sam, mostly because there was a kernel of truth beneath all the invective and lies.
“How did Kelsey know that when we started dating, it was all for show?”
“She doesn’t know anything. She’s just firing shots at random, trying to see what gets a reaction out of people. I’m sorry,” Marshall said again, typing furiously on his phone. “I’m getting my family’s lawyer to sue her for slander.”
“Don’t.” Sam held out her hand, forcing him to fall still.
“She’s a liar!”
Marshall shoved his phone back into his pocket and leaned forward, staring out at the vast expanse of ocean. It made Sam think back to the night they’d met: at the G&A Museum, when they had been out on the balcony, both avoiding the party. So much had happened since then. So much hadchanged.
“Kelsey is a minor TV actress on a show that wasn’t even renewed for next season. No one cares what she thinks,” Sam assured him. “Let it go.”
“That’s easier for you than for me,” he said softly.
Sam hated how much pain was wrapped up in that statement. She hated that Marshall was judged more harshly, simply because of the color of his skin—that people like Kelsey Brooke could accuse Sam and Marshall of dating to “shock” people. The implication being, of course, that dating Marshall was provocative because he was Black.
