Maid For You 3

Chapter 32

I sat quite still, trying to decipher Mercucio's tone. Was I somehow wrong and Roiben didn't like her? But that couldn't be true, could it? It was obvious!

"I'm simply enraptured by this tale, Mercucio," I responded dramatically. "Who on earth could it have been?"

"Why, it was Cassie Carmichael!" Mercucio answered in a similarly over dramatic tone.

"Wow!" I gasped. "Incredible!"

"I must admit I was surprised," he said, resuming his normal voice. "But, I was very pleased to hear that Madeline is interested in him. You've done well."

"Oh, well, I'm glad to hear that."

"I hope more than anything that their date goes well," Mercucio continued. "Roiben's basically loved her his whole life and she could really do with a better relationship than her and Coleman. Of course, I love Coleman and he's one of my best friends, but he certainly didn't care about Maddie the way she cared about him."

"That's very true," I sighed. "I think he's honestly incapable of being in a real, normal relationship."

"Perhaps," Mercucio said. "I must admit, sometimes I rather envy him, though. The way he can touch all hearts but he himself is untouchable. No woman can hurt him because he cares about no woman."

I mulled over his words for a moment, and recalled Marstella's comments about him when I first met her. She'd said how Mercucio was always getting his heart broken.

"I understand that," I started. I took a deep breath. "You know, in college, there was this guy I was real sweet on. 'Alex.'" I chuckled to myself. "Honestly, I don't even know why I liked him so much but I guess he was pretty cute and was funny. We lived in the same housing area and I had a class with him. But anyways, long story short, it turned out he liked my roommate." I let out a snort. "Oh, I was distraught. Looking back, it seems very silly but at the time it was very hard. I vowed I was never going to like boys again, which of course didn't last very long."

Mercucio released a soft chuckle.

"But, you know, when you like someone, it puts you in a place of vulnerability. You open yourself up to get hurt." I thought of Coleman's rejection in that moment, his unwillingness to even try with me. I thought of the aching in my heart and the pangs in my chest every time I saw him for a short while after. I thought of all the tears I shed over it. "And you know what?" I said. "It sucks. It really does. But, that all being said, when you open yourself up like that, you risk getting hurt, yes, but you also have the chance to find something beautiful. In my opinion, love stories are the greatest stories. And when we put ourselves out there like that, we have to chance to find something great."

"I don't know," Mercucio said. "I think I'm doomed for a tragic love life." He tried to inject a joking tone, but it fell flat.

"Well, your name does come from Romeo & Juliet," I teased.

"Indeed it does. I once almost told my parents it was their fault, but I decided against it," he sighed. "I've often laden Coleman with my woes, but I don't think he can ever truly appreciate what I go through so very frequently."

"I'll admit, I've thought about it for a long time. About why Prince Coleman is such a player."

"And why is that?" Mercucio asked.

'I like you so much I don't know what to do with myself!' He'd said. He'd used words such as plague and haunt to describe his interest in me. And finally, the word 'can't.' Can't, can't, can't—the word had hammered at my head and reverberated through my skull, echoing and mocking me.

"I think..." I started slowly. "I think love scares him. It scares him to be that vulnerable, the be that invested in someone. It's easier to fool around with no strings attached, to leave his heart at the door. And—and honestly, despite everything, I feel kind of sorry for him." I laughed dryly.  "And you want to know what's ironic, Mercucio? He's so determined to be 'free' and to have no commitment that he doesn't even realize that his very quest for freedom actually chains him down as well." I shook my head. "I mean, let's say he did like someone? He wouldn't even take the chance to try to be with her because he's too scared and he needs to hold onto his outdated pacifier of being some grand bachelor. So you shouldn't envy him, Mercucio. At the end of the day, when it comes to love, Coleman is a coward."

Mercucio didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. "You're very insightful," he finally said. "Very insightful. I suppose you see him every day, but...then again, you're just his servant, aren't you? You've certainly seemed to gather a firm opinion on him."

Crap, crap, crap! I thought. I said too much, I was too brash. I shouldn't have been so harsh on Coleman, I shouldn't have said all that.

"I'm sorry," I quickly said. "I shouldn't say such things about the Prince."

"I don't mind that you said such things," Mercucio assured me. "I'm just impressed with how much you've seemed to gather about him. Do tell me, how do you know he wouldn't date a girl even if he really liked her?"

Cassie, Cassie, Cassie. You fool.

I had no idea what to say and now three seconds had passed. "Um," I started. "Well, I mean, I'm sure you guessed that too. I just—I'm just making presumptions."

"You seemed pretty convinced of those presumptions."

"Like you said," I started hastily. "I'm just his servant. I don't really know anything, I'm just making guesses based off observations."

"That was very nice of him to drive his servant in one of his best cars to my pool party," Mercucio pressed. I suddenly felt like he was a snake coiling himself around me—he was tightening slowly around my throat and now it was getting hard to breathe, to formulate words.

"That wasn't his idea," I said. "His cousin—Prince Duarte—suggested it. His cousin is fond of me, from what I can tell. I got to know the little guy more through being Queen Maiden."

"That's true," Mercucio conceded. "Though, I just have one more question."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Back in September, when we went all went on that hike together, you left very early on the last day. Why?"