Maid For You 3

Chapter 22

Harry, Oliver and I threw around a beachball for a bit while other nobles in the pool came to join us, and I was introduced to all the new people. At some point, I turned my attention to several tall diving boards and had fun leaping into the pool from great heights. I didn't talk to Prince Coleman at all—in fact, I altogether rather forgot about him and what he was doing, though I wished that Luke could have come to join in on the fun.

"Have you guys ever played Marco Polo?" I asked at some point as a group of us stood in the water. There were four guys and two girls, including myself.

"Marco Polo?" asked Harry. "Like the explorer?"

"Yes," I answered. "First of all, you mark off a general area so that it's not too hard. Then, basically one person who is deemed 'it' closes their eyes and tries to tag someone. However, even though they can't see, that person can call out 'Marco!'. Then everyone else replies with 'Polo'. The person who is 'it' can use their voices to find them and to tag the person. Does that make sense?"

Everyone seemed to understand the game, but I started off as 'it' in order to set the pace. I tagged Oliver, who in turn tagged Lord Joshua. The game attracted a couple of stragglers, and I noticed that Prince Coleman was at the other side of the pool staring at me. I shrugged off his gaze and continued the game. Except for the first time when I volunteered to be 'it', I hadn't been tagged.

Finally, Harry was tagged and he closed his eyes and called out "Marco!"

"Polo!" I said with many others. I was surprised at how many people seemed to be enjoying this game—perhaps they were used to being all refined and sophisticated all of the time that it was refreshing to exert energy in a unique way such as this.

"Marco!" Harry called again.

"Polo," I answered. He turned his head to me.

"I hear you, Cassie," he said, grinning.

I laughed. It soon became apparent that Harry was targeting me and ignoring the other chorus of Polos, and as I tried to swim off at some point I felt his arms wrap around me from behind and pull me out of the water.

"I got you!" he cried.

I shrieked with a hint of laughter. "Put me down!" I cried, blushing profusely. I instantly thought of Luke—while it would normally have been playful fun, I felt bad.

Harry released me into the water and laughed, patting my head for a couple of seconds. "You're it," he said.

"You can't target people!" I told him. 

"You never said that was a rule," he said.

"That's true, Cassie!" the other girl in our party piped in.

"Fine, fine," I said with a laugh. "You got me, Harry."

"Cassie," a deep, serious voice interrupted our fun.

I rose my eyebrows as I turned to face Coleman, who had apparently made his way over to us and now noticeably lacked a couple of busty girls on his now crossed arms.

"Prince Coleman?" I asked. Hadn't we agreed to mind our own business?

"Do you want to play our game?" asked Lord Oliver.

Coleman ignored him. "Cassie, it's time to head back home. You can go shower and get changed and then we'll head out."

I furrowed my brow, and crossed my arms in return. "You want to leave already?" I asked, taking no effort to mask my irritation. "What time is it?"

"It's 10 pm," he answered.

"So we haven't even been here for three hours," I said.

"Yes, but by the time we leave it will be 10:30 which means we'll get home at midnight," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Which is late."

I pursed my lips. This is stupid, I thought angrily.

"Don't you have more lady friends to attend to?" I hissed. "I'm not ready to go."

"That's why I'm giving you time to shower and change," he sneered.

"You never even mentioned wanting to be back by midnight," I said.                              

"Yeah, Coleman," a voice interjected from behind, belonging to none other than Lord Mercucio.

I turned around to see Merc's grin— he sat on the pool edge with his legs dangling in the waters. I think he was drawn to the drama like a shark to blood.

"Usually you don't even leave until the morning," he lilted, tilting his head. "I guess you're turning over a new leaf? Good for you. I wonder what could have inspired this change of heart."

I whipped back to look at Coleman, his jaw tightening. "Merc," he said, plastering on a smile. "Last time I was here you someone let paparazzi infiltrate your party. So now I'm going to play nice and leave at a reasonable hour."

I looked back at Mercucio, who looked chastised. "Sorry about that, again," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "It shouldn't have happened."

"Did you ride here with Prince Coleman?" Lord Oliver asked me suddenly.

I smiled sheepishly. "Well, yeah. We carpooled here, since we live at the same palace and all."

"Cassie," started Harry. "If you want to stay longer, I can give you a ride home."

Coleman shot Harry a glare, but Harry was looking at me with a smile that I didn't know quite how to interpret, but I felt a little uneasy. Coleman was the dilemma I knew and understood—I didn't know much about Harry or exactly what were his feelings towards me, and for the sake of Luke I figured I'd better not.

"I appreciate the offer," I said, smiling. "But, in this instance, the Prince is probably right. I should head back soon. Besides, I don't know if my boyfriend would like me traveling with a stranger." I didn't want to give Harry the wrong idea.

Harry looked a bit surprised, but smiled gallantly. "Of course," he said.

But then I felt Coleman's gaze on my face.

Oh, right. I thought. My boyfriend. That was supposed to be a secret.

I didn't want to look at Prince Coleman, but I did catch a glimpse of Mercucio's Cheshire grin as he said, "Well, what a party!"