Nights Like This

Chapter 71

 Metty walked out of the classroom after her last exam, relieved. She was free till graduation. Her GPA should be at least a 3.4, earning her a degree with honors. Her suitcase was packed. She'd go straight to her grandmother's and wait for Alexei to pick her up to go to the house on Folly Beach. Eight days with each other, no worries, no outside world. A world just for them.

She walked down the hallway, realizing people were staring at her. Some stopped and turned to watch. Do I glow with happiness like a light at night attracts moths? She smiled at her silliness. Moths. She had almost reached the door when she heard a girl say, "That's her. I bet she knows all about Madison and Marco."

She froze. Marco? Madison? What had they done? She knew Sebastian had agreed to let them have a relationship kept quiet. She'd only had a couple of dinners with them and Alexei before Marco left for Almurias. Madison had not spoken of her relationship with Marco, except to say once that it was so special no one could understand. Metty knew she meant Metty couldn't understand. Madison treated Marco like her property, and he enjoyed it.

She turned and looked at the girl, who smirked at her. The girl held a newspaper out. Metty took it, turned it right side up and froze at the headline. "PRINCE'S GRANDSONS AND THEIR AMERICAN WOMEN! A smaller headline read, "Meet the Southern Belles." She grew dizzy and almost dropped the paper. The girl spoke loudly, snapping her back to herself.

"You can have it. Just fill us in on all the juicy gossip," she said. Metty dropped the paper, picked it up, and threw it on the seat next to the girl. She shook her head and hurried out the door.

She ran most of the three blocks to her car. She stopped on the way home to buy a paper. She got behind the wheel before she read the paper. Olympiakos World, the English language Almurian newspaper. A photo on the front page showed Marco and a nearly naked Madison kissing in a hotel room door. 'More photos, Page 5.' Metty rubbed her forehead. Tears blurred her sight. She wiped them away and opened the paper to Page 5.

'Prince and Model!' screamed the caption under the first photo, which showed Marco carrying Madison into the hotel room. There were photos of men knocking on the door, Marco leaving while pulling on his jacket as Madison peered out the door.

There was a picture of her and Alexei looking uncomfortable while at dinner with Marco and Madison, with those two staring closely in each other's eyes. The picture burned with their passion. Metty rubbed her head.

The article contained Madison's bio, modeling pictures of her wearing as little as possible, and details of her family: her almost wealthy father's five marriages, her mother's string of relationships with wealthy men, her college career focusing on her cheerleading. More racy photos of Madison performing acrobatic cheer routines.

The article detailed Marco's relationships, two out-of-wedlock children, his reckless behavior and driving accidents, and his stay in Charleston, long rumored to be an effort to steer him away from partying. The article and the pictures showed the result had been the opposite.

There was a much smaller article about her and Alexei. She hadn't known she could go hot and cold at the same time. The article included pictures of her and Alexei kissing at Dalmurias after the dinner, implying they had made out for a long time. Included were pictures of her drunken mother being helped to the car and asleep in the front seat, her head lolling on the back, her mouth open. Comments from an unnamed source describing her mother's excessive drinking at dinner and sleeping it off in the library afterwards. With the Prince AND President Biden. She was hot with shame. She drove home with tears in her eyes.