The Italian Heir-CASTELLANO SERIES: MARTIN’S STORY

15

The next few minutes were extremely crucial because I did not change the password to my penthouse and any minute now, Rhea Buchanan might burst through that door like she always does to relay whatever it is she wanted.

“Bedroom. Now.” I whispered lowly, picking up the towel that had fallen to the floor seconds ago, wrapping it tightly around my waist once more—much to Erika’s dismay. “Any other day, I’d drop everything just to be there, but right now it’s almost disappointing to be unable to do so.” She purred, kissing my jawline and I growled at the temptation.

“Martin! Let me in please?” The voice was muffled.

“Someday, I might just call security on our friends.” I regretfully told Erika, who only giggled. “Be right there!” I said loud enough so that Rhea would hear me. Both of us bounded up the stairs and I opted to hide Erika in my wardrobe.

‘Damn it, I should have brought with me a bread stick or two’ were her last words before I gave her a rather passionate kiss and shut her in with the rest of my clothes. “Damn Martin, why do you have more clothes than I do?”

“Crawford, it would be much easier if you didn’t draw too much attention to yourself by talking.” I said, pulling on a shirt and hastily slipped into a pair of joggers before racing down the stairs once more. Why the hell was I even running in my own home?

I pulled open the front door quickly, Rhea fell forwards but I caught her forearm just in time to keep her steady. “Your legs don’t work like they used to before?” I enquired; an amused smile appeared on my lips. “I was leaning against the door because you were taking too long.” She said. “Who were you talking to?”

You mean eavesdropping? I had wanted to say it but thought better without it.

“Who else would it be but John? It was about work.”

At this point I swear I could hear Erika saying something about me being inept at lying.

“Yeah, at this rate, he’s the only partner you’ll have for life.”

“Do you want a drink?” I asked, dismissing her statement, not wanting to get dragged into the whole blind date thing just yet, especially a topic concerning Zara with Erika stuffed deep into my wardrobe. “No thanks, I’m good. I actually came here tonight to…apologise.”

The fact that she was looking at my home interior except my face told me she had trouble getting out the last word but I had to give it to her that she came all the way just to do so when anyone could’ve just done this bit over the phone. “Rhea…”I began.

“Now before you say another word, hear me out.” She held up a hand casually and took a seat where I had gestured to her. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve reacted to Zoe.”

This was the first time I'd heard Rhea say her name. Over the last few years it’s been ‘that girl’ or ‘she’.

“But the very fact that you don’t trust me enough to handle my own problems has brought a huge blow to my ego.” Her face looked serious once more, slightly disappointed. “What are you talking about?” I asked in mild confusion.

“Erika told me everything, Martin. Were you never planning on telling me what you did to her behind my back?”

Is she talking about what I think she was talking about? Does Rhea know about Erika and I and what we’ve been up to? Right, so let’s weigh the consequences of not telling our beloved Rhea that Erika and I had been sneaking around or that I'd climbed into her room the night before despite the rain just to spend the night in her room and right now, she was hiding in my…

“I’m sorry, what are you talking about?” I held my breath, prepared to deny anything that she thinks I wasn’t telling her. Feigning ignorance does come in handy sometimes.

“She told me what you'd done about my stolen business plan—that you tracked down who it was that Zoe had sold it to. The fact that you knew his business wouldn’t turn out the way he imagined before anyone else did because you made sure it stayed that way.

Just what exactly did you do to the man, Martin?”

“Oh, that.” I let out a silent breath of relief after realizing that wasn’t what Rhea had been implying all along.

“Possibly threatened him.” I shrugged casually. “Made sure he kept his stolen goods hidden as they should be when he acquired something without questioning its originality and that I’d be watching him very closely.”

“You threatened him.” Rhea said flatly. “Martin—” she tried, but I interjected.

“Taking someone else’s product of blood, sweat and tears then making profit out of it? It could happen to anyone really. Heck, it’s happening every other day. Even so, I wasn’t gonna sit around waiting for this man’s sins to catch up to him. But my point is, you are greatly mistaken if you think I don’t care about you or our other friends. I just don’t think there’s a need to broadcast the great lengths I’d go for each and every one of you.”

Rhea bounced off her seat and threw her arms around me, knocking the breath clean out of my lungs. “Thank you Martin, for everything. I just knew despite you acting like a whole jackass earlier, I just knew you only said those things because you cared—well at least that’s what Erika told me and I’m sorry I blamed you and cast you aside when you had wanted to apologise on behalf of Zoe for what happened.” I heard her sniff.

I pat her back, but it wasn’t so much to comfort her, but it’s because I was trying to let her know I couldn’t breathe. “Wait, why aren’t you saying anything?”

“You’re squeezing me too tight.” I choked.

“Oh, sorry.” She said sheepishly, pulling back, tucking a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear. “I should go; I’m taking up too much of your evening.”

“You’re not.” I reassured her firmly although someone upstairs might argue otherwise.

Just as she was leaving, she stopped at the door and looked at me cheekily. “You can tell Erika to come out soon; she must have a hard time breathing being hidden so deep in your wardrobe.”

“She’s not here, Buchanan,” I said firmly.

“Castellano, you’d think girls don’t remember a pair of cute heels when she sees one? Especially when it was all I was looking at this morning at your office.” Rhea’s eyes darted towards the floor where only one side of baby pink heels lay on the ground when Erika decided she couldn’t keep her hands to herself...or was it the other way round?

“Has it ever occurred to you that two different women could own the exact pair of heels?”

“This is Jimmy Choo's custom-made heel I made for Erika on her 20th birthday, who are you trying to kid?” she grinned, possibly enjoying watching me squirm under her interrogation.

“I have a fetish for heels.” I blurted, wanting to slap myself seconds just after what I had said. Really? That’s the best you’ve got?

“And I can summon fire,” Rhea sleekly said while putting on her own pair of heels. “Goodnight Castellano, I know you run the office, but do make sure the both of you get to work on time, yes?”

The door in turn slammed in my face. I stood there bewildered.

I was never really a good liar, so I always told the truth or said nothing at all. And the truth was that I was done sneaking around and I wasn’t talking about the last few days but more of what I had been feeling for the longest time, ever since I discovered girls do not have cooties.

The whole idea of cooties being made up just so we’d stay away and denied any form of attraction towards the opposite s*x, make sense? Oh, did I mention how I found out that girls did not have cooties?

Because Erika Crawford kissed me right on the lips when she was only 4, just to make a point that she did not have this ‘disease’, but all I got from that was Erika stole my first kiss.

Light footsteps raced towards the stair landing as I was turned on my heels and walked back into the living space. “She knows?” Erika whispered-yell. “How long did you think this could stay hidden, really?” I remarked casually. “She saw the heels you were wearing this morning.”

“A woman never forgets.” She nodded, agreeing with Rhea’s statement. “You look surprisingly calm for a man that’s just found out by his friend that he was messing around with a mutual friend. Trust me when I say she’s never gonna buy the lie you just told her.”

“What if maybe I don’t want to lie about us anymore?” I said earnestly.

Erika’s brows knitted together in confusion as if trying to make sense of my words, but whatever happened in the last few days had been messing with my head. The sudden shift in dynamics of our friendship had got me thinking hard and I had come to a conclusion that I wanted to pursue this very woman who stood no more than 20 steps away from me.

“You’re not making any sense to me, smartin.” She pursed her lips, catching my gaze—the look in her eyes left me a curious, mysterious tingle in the pit of my stomach. The one woman I told myself to keep my hands off because of what we had between us—the unbreakable bond of friendship, but as of late, I’m not sure if that weighed more than my desire to have her.

“Do you think I don’t know that?” I rubbed a palm over my jaw from all that thinking and my shoulders dropped by default. “But if there’s one thing that you should get out of this, and that is that I want you, Erika. I know we’ve been friends as long as we can remember and maybe this is all moving too fast, but at least I am clear about what I want the end to be. Hell, I was lying when I thought I didn’t know what I was doing when I first kissed you that night. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Lucien, I was jealous of him. Okay, there I admitted it.” I pocket my hands and take a step closer towards the landing.

“Lord only knows how difficult it is for you to admit just about anything that has to do with your feelings.” Erika folded her arms across her chest, the frown she had earlier disappeared and a look of amusement took over.

“As much as I like sneaking around with you—believe me when I say I get quite an adrenaline rush there—I want to let the whole damn world, including your French friend, know that you’re my girl. God, was that too cheesy?” I asked, clearing my throat.

“I didn’t say a word.” She smiled thoughtfully.

“You’re enjoying this very much, aren’t you?” I scoffed lowly.

“Oh believe me, seeing you getting all antsy and nervous right now’s quite the cherry on top today.”

“You act like I gave you a hard time at work today.”

“And I gave you a hard on twice—it makes up for it.” She pointed out cleverly. I took careful, calculated steps toward her while she stood rooted in her spot, unmoving. Her features softened as she watched me approach her. “I’m not big on the romance part and I may not be great with words. As much as I love sneaking around with you, I would rather do it in broad daylight so they’d know you’re mine. I liked you as a friend but I’d like it more if you were mine, exclusively.”

My steps came to a halt just one step below where she stood, allowing her to tower over me but just so I could see her clearly.

“This was what I was afraid of Marts. As much as I wanted to say screw it and jump head on in on this with you, but what if someday we decide we’re two very different people—you and I? I can’t, for the life of me, imagine what life would be if you and I weren’t on speaking terms anymore if something went wrong.” Her eyes laced with an unspoken fear when they darted left to right, her jaw tightened whilst she shifted nervously.

“Erika, our friendship was ruined the day you first kissed me when you were 4.” I said and a ghost of a smile appeared on her lips, smiling reminiscently at the distant memory. “And we’re way past it the second I kissed you once more back in the garden of my parents’ place and I liked it and I want more from where that came from. You’ve been around me all my life and I’ve learned how to love you as a friend first. For all the times we argued and you decided my head and ego were bigger than Steve’s ass, but in the end we’d always come around because that’s our thing—we can’t bear to part with one another because the mere thought of it seems implausible.”

“You know, throughout our entire friendship I always felt you were two steps ahead of me in everything we did. Whether it was pre-school, middle-school and so on all the way up till where we are now—at work. Despite the fact I always tell myself, someday I’d be as indispensable as you to everyone around me, yet somehow I feel you don’t trust that I can do just the same, so that I’ll be able to keep up with your pace. Whether it’s my driving skills, or the ability to catch up with all my class or even handle a business report—“

I was about to interrupt on the report part but she stopped me by placing a finger over my lips gently. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you peering over my shoulder to see if my report writing was up to your expectations.” She interjected sagely. I decided against making a further comment.

“I’m grateful for the fact that you’re looking out for me, but as long as you can’t trust me, I don’t see how we’re able to pull this through.”

“If there was one thing I’m no good at, it is the ability to be able to trust others and you of all people know how much I struggle with that. I found it a tedious task and I’ve come to terms with the very root existence of this problem and that was because I have a lot to lose.” I admitted as I gazed blearily around the space before turning back to her.

“Acknowledging your weakness is always the first step to change, but know that this isn’t me forcing change on you. Truthfully, I don’t fully understand yet what it takes for a relationship to work with Martin. I’ve dated immature guys and I was even one myself. But I do know if there’s one essential element in every relationship, its trust. Everything else will fall into place.”

My eyes fell towards her hands that hung loosely by her sides, reaching to take them in mine. I looked up. “I do trust you but I’m not very good at letting it be known, but I certainly do not hope you mistook my watchful eye on you. All I’m asking is for you to let me prove just how much I want you to continue to be a part of my everyday life in everything I do. Albeit, it’ll be boring most of the time and I can’t guarantee it’s all a bed of roses, but I’d do everything in my power to make sure I’m just as involved in your life as you are in mine. Nothing about this friendship is going to change, but it will only get better and stronger. I hope by now you should know why I have allowed you to protect me all this while. I’d like to do the same for you as well, Erika.”

She stared at me with such gentleness in her eyes, they’d melt a heart of steel in the blink of an eye. “I like having you around; despite all odds, it was nice being protected by a fearless, perceptive girl now, a woman like yourself.” I stated implicitly, looking straight in her dark brown orbs.

Like I said, we’ve been friends for as long as we can remember, but for some unspeakable reason, I’m slowly discovering more and more things about Erika Crawford—her growing intelligence, her far insight on different aspects of life, her resilience at work and so much more than I can’t quite put a finger to just yet.

And I wanted to experience all of that.

I want her just as much as I needed her.

But how do I make it known?

“On one condition,” She said quietly. “Tell me,” I urged. She gestured for me to lean in and I did. “Promise me you’d never stop sneaking into my room. I find that bit to be rather romantic.” She whispered. I pulled back to see if she was kidding, but she wasn’t. That was it? I thought it’d be something like what every girl would want—promise to never leave her, be nice to her or get her flowers and surprise her…

But then, she wasn’t like the other girls…

I reached for her neck, tilted her head lower just so I could kiss her on her forehead, pulling back slowly, my thumb caressed her cheek gently.

“When you wore that silk pajama thingy last night, you knew I was coming, didn’t you?” I asked wryly and a smirk evidently formed when the corner of her lips tilted upwards. “I’d say it was a foolhardy bet I made with myself that night. For the first time in a long time, I’ve not felt such a thrill as the one you gave me last night and I wanted just that one man last night.”

“Then I guess I must be doing something right. However, I have one little problem that I think only you can solve.” I took a slow, calculated step to close the remaining distance between us. “Do pray tell,” she purred.

I whispered the question into her ear, pulled back to only find her brows knitted together once more.

“Huh?”

**

Three sleeps later, I was alone on a plane to Melbourne. It was more than a day’s flight and there was a lot to do despite being 40,000 feet in the air and it was about 14 hours ahead of where I’m from. Zoe was already in Melbourne anticipating my arrival as there were lots of business plans to be discussed which we did not have the time to do in New York.

Zoe was definitely taking this trip into account as it would be her greatest opportunity since Blunt Corp. was now her turf and I was stepping onto unfamiliar territory.

I was on my laptop—working for the first 15 hours and not being able to sleep a wink for the remaining. No matter how many times I have flown in the last few years, I still could never beat the jetlag that comes with it.

I also was told that a driver was sent to pick me up from the airport—courtesy of Mr. Blunt, who was rather ecstatic when he learnt I had agreed to fly over as soon as I could. I’ve only met the man once, when he was introduced to me by his daughter and my ex-girlfriend, and I’ve already found the man’s charisma to be rather amicable, unlike Zoe’s. Wow, easy on the comparison, I thought quickly.

The pilot announced the prompt landing as the aircraft began descending in altitude. I shut my eyes for the next couple of minutes until I was told that the plane had safely landed at Melbourne Airport.

The sun was high up in the clear blue sky and the clouds were small and fast-moving when I placed my foot on the ground. A sleek black 2020 Mercedes Benz GLE was parked not too far from the aircraft where I had stepped out of and a man dressed in a well-polished suit stood by waiting at the passenger’s door with his hands folded across one another.

“Good morning Mr. Castellano. Mr. Blunt had sent me to come fetch you; my name is Andrew. How was your flight, Sir?” the driver greeted me with a little nod as he approached me—his friendly stance reminded me of John. Speaking of which, I tasked my trusted secretary to keep an eye on the two college interns and brought in external help on a little side project that I will elaborate on shortly.

“Good morning Andrew. The flight was bearable although I didn’t get much sleep up there.” I admitted, removing my coat before I got into the car. It took Andrew less than a minute before he rounded the side and got into the driver’s seat.

“I will be taking you to the Pan Pacific right now Sir, breakfast is waiting for you at the hotel; Miss Blunt will be joining you as well.” Andrew announced while tapping against the display screen of the car for location probably.

“Breakfast sounds riveting.” I answered tiredly, feeling my stomach grumble a little. I hadn’t had much of an appetite being on the plane.

The ride to the hotel took around 20 minutes, as Andrew had mentioned. Fishing out my phone, I checked the time display on my phone. Erika would have just got off work by now. You must be wondering what happened after that night when I told Erika that I wanted us to be more than friends?

Suffice to say, we decided to take things the old school way and I decided on intentionally pursuing the girl to make her mine. But there were two other people that I needed permission from before I popped the ‘girlfriend’ question.

The car came to a gradual halt right in front of the lobby of a large polished building. A bell man walked towards the car with a trolley in front of him when Andrew got out and placed my bags on top of the carrier.

“Thank you Andrew.” I smiled, dropping him a fat tip before I was led by the bell man into the building. “Good day to you, Sir.” He nodded his head politely at me once more.

My phone buzzed twice in my pocket and I fished out the device—it was a text message from John. I opened it whilst in stride and smiled discreetly at a blurry photo of Erika seated at my lounge table in my office—she had a pen in one hand and a half-eaten croissant in another. “Multitasking at its best I see.” I muttered quietly, stuffing my phone back into the pocket of my coat.

I missed her already.

As the bellman and I parted ways, another sharply dressed man dressed in a blue pinstripe suit greeted me at the lobby as if he were anticipating my arrival. “You must be Mr. Martin Castellano. My name is Bern, secretary to Miss Blunt. Do follow me while I lead you to the dining room.”

“Please, after you.” I answered.

The interior design of the Pan-Pacific’s lobby was most compelling to look at—with its sleek, luxury holiday cabin-inspired interior with classic modern-day furniture pieces and wooden boarded ceilings, polished marble floorings that housed the reflection of the warm lights that resonated from lamps and overhead bulbs in lanterns.

The dining hall’s interior was designed similarly to that of the lobby—giant hollow lantern-like canopies on each table, plush seats lined at its edges and soft lo-fi music played in the background. At the very end of the room, Zoe sat waiting for me while flipping over pages that looked familiarly like an old issue from Mom’s fashion magazine company.

“Pleasant journey, I presume?”

“A productive one,” I remarked, taking a seat. At the center of our table was a breakfast spread that could easily feed up to a party of 6. A basket of freshly toasted bread, cuts of spread—jelly, butter, peanut, cheddar slices, smoked salmon, bacon strips…Erika would’ve loved this. I made a mental note to have breakfast with her before we got to work when I got back from this trip.

A waiter who held a pot of polished steel and a clean towel that hung from his forearm approached our table. “Coffee, Sir?”

“Please.” I nodded stoicly.

“Your mother has done an exceptional job running such a huge company all on her own, even before your father came onboard. Truly, her creativity is elusive in modern society.”

“That’s an understatement of the decade.” I reached for my glass of coffee and inhaled the freshly brewed ground coffee beans, savoring the first sip. This was definitely an upgrade from all that champagne on the plane.

“I’m surprised you didn’t bring a companion on this trip. I really was expecting to see Erika.”

“You could tell her that yourself if you longed to see her.”

Zoe pursed her lips into a flat, simpering smile. Shutting the magazine, she reached for her glass of coffee that had been refilled earlier. “The feeling isn’t mutual on her end. I don’t think we’d be able get along even now.” Her tone was laced with mild indignation as she shifted in her seat, slamming the magazine shut with one hand.

I dropped the glass gently back to its saucer; reaching for my butter knife with the jelly spread, I grabbed a piece of toast. “To tell you the truth, Erika was the one who had me meet you in the first place. If anything, you’d have her to thank for when I accepted the offer in the first place. She’d be delighted to hear a word of thanks from you.”

“She wouldn’t be if she knew you and I were to be alone all throughout this trip.” She said placatingly, accepting the toast I had spread for her. “Don’t you worry now; Erika Crawford is really busy at work, small petty things like jealousy isn't something she’d like to add to her to-do list. “