Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Cat squinted from the light pouring into her bedroom before she turned towards the warm body inhabiting her bed, but found the spot to be empty. She felt around until she opened her eyes and saw there was really no one next to her. 

She quickly sat up and looked around the room for a sign of Julien. No clothes, no note, only solitude.

She groaned before flinging herself back against the bed. 

Of course, he was going to leave to go back to Cordova. She just figured they would have a goodbye before he left. Maybe he tried to wake her, but she was too exhausted from rolling around in bed with him to respond. They had been at it for half the night. 

This she saw as plausible.

She wasn’t a girl who did this, having a night of passionate sex with a complete stranger. Really, that’s what Julien was. A stranger. She didn’t know much about him. She didn’t know his last name. She didn’t know anything about his family. She only knew he was friends with the Crown Prince of Cordova and Patrick. 

She wasn’t thinking of going after Julien. No, that would have been crazy, but she felt such a connection to him that she had never felt with anyone before. 

There was nothing she could do. She knew he would be going back to Cordova and she would just have to deal with it and move forward with her life.

She climbed out of bed and got ready for the day part of her workday. 

She hated her life. She hated her job. Sometimes she wished she could transport herself into someone else. She didn’t make enough money to be able to save money to better herself into another field of work, so she was stuck in an endless cycle of doom and gloom. 

After a quick, hot shower, she dressed in her work slacks with tons of bleach spots from cleaning that damn bar that she had ironed herself, her heavily stained white t-shirt, her faded name tag, and her blotchy apron. She threw her wet hair into a sloppy ponytail and quickly cleaned her glasses before putting them back on.

She didn’t see the point of putting on makeup. There was no one she was trying to impress. The only guy she had received any type of romantic attention from in years had gone back to Cordova. 

She didn’t see a point in much. Why did she even bother wearing her uniform? No one really cared other than her boss. She would be more comfortable in her jeans and one of her nicer shirts, but she didn’t want trouble from David, the asshole.

So she continued to wear her uniform.

She gave herself a once over in the mirror and, when she met her eyes, she flashed back to the night with Julien.

She straddled his waist as his strong arms clung around her waist and he kissed down her neck. With her head thrown back, she moaned aloud, scratching at his scalp. 

She pulled herself out of her memory with a groan.

She needed to banish him from her mind. She shouldn’t be dwelling on him. She needed to move forward and forget all about Julien. 

That was proving to be harder than anticipated.

Cat grabbed her things and walked out of her apartment with a surprise on her doorstep.

There, in front of a taxi, she was met by the blonde stranger from the night before, one of the members of the bachelor party.

“Patrick?” She approached him, and he delivered her a carefree smile.

“Good morning, ma’am. I hope you slept well.” Just the mention of sleep reminded her of Julien again, but she shoved that to the back of her mind. 

“What are you doing here?” Then her mind thought of his companions. Where was Julien and Thomas, but more importantly Julien? “Are the others with you?” She asked curiously with an exciting edge. Maybe Julien didn’t leave without a goodbye! 

“Actually, it’s just me. I stayed behind. Their flight left early this morning.” She was instantly disappointed.

“Oh.” Her mood instantly sobered. Patrick automatically assumed she was sad about missing Thomas, but it was his other friend she wanted to see. Seeing Thomas again would be nice, but she was mostly concentrated on their dark-complected companion. “Then, why did you stay behind?”

“Did Thomas happen to tell you about his… current title?” She nodded to this.

“Yeah, he’s the Crown Prince of Cordova. What about it?” She asked, and he smirked with relief.

“Did he mention having to pick his Queen?” She nodded with a shrug.

“A little. He didn’t go too much into it. What’s with all the questions about him? Is something wrong?” He had really piqued her interest here. What did any of this have to do with her?

“Well, I’m not just a friend of Thomas’s. I’m a Duke in his court. My family has been of nobility for generations, and myself and my sister are in a place to sponsor a non-noble suitor.” She was surprised by this and gasped aloud.

“I thought all of his suitors had to be of nobility?” 

“No, not necessarily. Not very many commoners get sponsored and they rarely ever win the crown prince’s hand. He’s in a spot where he has to put the country over his own desires, so a commoner usually doesn’t make the cut for that.” She wasn’t surprised by this. It made sense.

“Okay so why are you telling me this?”

“I would like to sponsor you as a suitor.” If she had been drinking something, she would have spit it all over Patrick in shock.

“Me?” 

“Yes, I know Thomas very well, and I can see he fancies you. You seem strong-willed and passionate which is exactly the kind of person Cordova needs as its future Queen. You wouldn’t be alone in this. There are other suitors. You would have me there to help you and my sister, Catherine, then Thomas and Julien-“ She was taken aback as soon as he said the name of the one who left her in bed.

“Julien would be around?” This sounded promising. Patrick was surprised by the name she sought out of the group that he offered up.

“Um, well, yes. I didn’t think you two got on very well?” She was a little embarrassed by this. Of course, Patrick wouldn’t think she got along with Julien. They did argue in the bar, but Patrick also wasn’t paying attention when she and Julien were chatting under the dock. 

“Well, we talked a lot when we were swimming.” She definitely didn’t want to be the one to break the news to Patrick how she had hooked up with Julien. She would leave that up to him. 

“What do you say?” She didn’t know what to say. Thomas seemed nice enough, but she really liked Julien. She didn’t want to see either of them as a fallback, but if she was going, she wasn’t going for the Crown. She would be going for herself.

“But my job and my apartment-“

“It’s all up to you. You can choose your dead-end job where your boss treats you unfairly, or you can come with me to Cordova. You would have a lot of support as you fight for Thomas’s heart.” 

It wasn’t a tough choice. She wasn’t really needed at the bar, her mom was gone, and she had no real friends or family in the area. In the other direction, in the way of Cordova, she had the possibility of love waiting for her. 

Yeah, not a hard choice at all.

“Okay, Yeah, I’ll be your suitor.” Patrick fist-bumped the air like an immature teenager which made her roll her eyes.

“Alright! I mean, thank you. Let’s get going.” He nodded towards the taxi, and she gasped.

“You mean right now?” she asked, and he nodded.

“We are on a tight schedule.” She looked up at her apartment before looking back at Patrick.

“Let me just grab a few things first.” He nodded as she raced back up to her apartment. 

She knew she would lose her apartment in the time she was gone, so she just needed to take everything she didn’t want to lose.

She grabbed her only suitcase and filled it with her photo albums, family keepsakes and heirlooms, and her mother’s urn. With that, she took one last look around her apartment and wished the cramped space goodbye forever.

~~~~~~

Cat sat on a plane with Patrick by her side who was reading a Forbes magazine he got in the airport. This was going to be a nerve-wracking experience. She had never been on a plane before and was expecting a panic attack from it. 

She would be flying over the ocean for hours on end where there would be no chance of a rescue if they crashed.

Yup, she was definitely going to be panicking. 

“Patrick?” She called as the plane started moving and his eyes snapped to her.

“Yes, Catalina?” She groaned as she clutched the armrests right in her hands.

“Don’t call me that. Call me Cat, please.” He nodded as she took a deep breath. “If non-royalty is hardly ever sponsored, why did you choose me?” 

“Well, I already told you why.”

“I’m not asking for a diplomatic answer.” She sneered from her anxiety. 

“Cat…” She turned her eyes to him to see a very soft, sincere look across his face. “I only see one way for my friend to fulfill his duty to our country and have what he wants out of life and that is with you by his side. You two connected and it’s the kind that would always leave him with what if’s. He deserves happiness and shouldn’t be robbed of it because of his brother’s decisions. You can give him that happiness by marrying him.” 

This was a very sweet speech, and it preoccupied her mind. She felt terrible for deceiving Patrick. She wasn’t going to Cordova for Thomas, but for Julien. Sure, she would like to see Thomas, but that wasn’t her mission. 

She swore she wouldn’t run after him, that it wasn’t something right for her to try to do, but then Patrick showed up like it was fate for her to go. Sure, she was going as Thomas’s suitor, but in her heart, it was Julien that she wanted.

She liked Thomas, but the light he held was a lit match in comparison to the bonfire sized flame she held for Julien. 

If it came to it and it didn’t work out with her and Julien, she would pursue Thomas, but she was hoping that Julien would return her affections. She wasn’t positive if he did, but she would find out soon enough.

“Okay, Thanks.” He nodded and went back to reading as she closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pressure in her ears and focused on replaying her night of passion with Julien in her head.