The Seaside Retreat

Chapter 16

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Seth POV

I watched Violet as she walked away, going back to the sitting room to give Mason his icepack. I frowned, not wanting her to be within a ten mile radius of him. Without thinking it through, I decided to follow her. I made sure to keep a safe distance from her, just to be sure she wouldn't hear my footsteps and turn around.

She walked into the sitting room. She gave the icepack to Mason, although it took a little convincing. He seemed to be trying to act tough, like he didn't need it. Even from this distance, I could see the big purple bruise on his face. Wow. I hit him hard. I must have let out years of frustration at Mason at that moment. Mason put the icepack to his face, and Violet slowly started to walk away. I was hiding in another room, barely peeking my head in. Their backs were to me, and I hoped they wouldn't turn around. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could see their expressions clearly.

Suddenly, Mason said something to Violet that made her looked shocked. What had he said to her? I wanted to know so badly, but I forced myself to stay put and wait it out. She started to back up towards the wall. She looked nervous, and I wanted so badly to shield her from Mason. She tried taking another step back, but she had walked to a wall. Mason had her trapped and he knew it.

If he tried anything, I was going to get up and give him another bruise. I could hear them, talking softly. Mason had amusement written all over his face, and Violet looked uncomfortable and nervous. Suddenly, he leaned towards her. She leaned back towards him too, like she was about to kiss him back. What? What was she doing? Did she like Mason? Had she been lying to me the whole time?

Anger boiled up inside of me. But right as Mason and Violet's lips were about to meet, Violet ducked under Mason's arm. He almost knocked his head into the wall. Now that was funny. I barely contained a laugh, knowing any noise would blow my cover.

Violet was glaring at Seth. Even though I couldn't hear what they had been saying earlier, Violet started yelling, and I could hear her every word, clear as a bell. "Don't ever try that out on me again!" Her words were like venom. Mason said something to her, but he was too quiet for me to hear. 

Violet looked exasperated. "Well, yeah. I mean come on, Mason! I'm going out with Seth. I love Seth." My heart beat a little faster and a smile lit my face when she said she loved me. She'd already told me she loved me, but it was nice to hear, all the same. "And if you were being a good friend to Seth, you wouldn't flirt with his girlfriend." 

Mason was quiet. Man, that was getting annoying, not being able to hear him, I mean. Violet listened to him, and responded, but she had taken deep breaths and calmed herself down, so I again couldn't make out her response. I noticed she looked bored when she replied to him. She walked out of the room, without a second glance back. 

I slid down the wall, hugging my arms around my legs. I couldn't stop myself from grinning like a fool. Violet loved me. She loved me! And I knew she really meant it, because she had told Mason when he was about to kiss her. I almost laughed at her slyness. She was a good actress, even I had believed she was going to kiss him. And the way she had ducked under him so quickly was too funny. I knew Mason had to be shocked because I figured no girl had ever directly rejected him like that. He usually got whatever girl he currently liked at the moment. 

I looked back into the room, and saw that Mason was getting up. His expression was neutral and I couldn't tell what he was feeling. Was he upset, angry, confused? Probably a little bit of both. He made his way to the staircase, probably up to his room. 

I got up and dusted myself off. I went to the front desk, thinking Violet might be there. However, her dad was the only one there. "Hello, Mr. Westerfeld." He greeted me, smiling warmly. I smiled back. "Hello, Mr. Douglas." I greeted. Mr. Douglas was about to say something, but the phone started ringing. He mouthed the word "sorry" to me before answering.

He listened for a moment. He made a couple remarks like "okay. yes. right away. " And then he hung up. He looked up at me. "Your parents would like you to meet them up in their rooms." He told me. "Right now?" I asked him. He nodded his head. "Do you know about what?" I questioned. Usually my parents would just come and find me. What they wanted to talk to me about must have been important and private, if they wanted me to go to their room to talk about it. "No. I'm sorry." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, thanks." I replied, and started to walk towards the staircase. Mr. Douglas simply nodded and went to do work on his computer. 

I made my way to my parent's room, curious as to what they wanted to tell me. Once I made it to their room, I knocked on the door. "It's me, Seth." I called. "Come on in. It's not locked." I heard my dad's loud, commanding voice through the door. I opened the door slowly. My parents were sitting on the sofa in the sitting room. They looked serious. Wait a second, I knew that look! Panic started to bubble inside me. They usually acted this way when they were making business propositions. What was going on? I walked in to the room. "Sit there, son." My dad answered, gesturing with his head towards a chair a few feet away. I quickly sat down, and looked at them confused.

It was quiet for a moment. Finally, I could no longer take the silence. "Okay, guys. What's going on?!" I asked them. My voice sounded strained. Surely I wasn't in trouble. They couldn't have possibly found out about me punching Mason, could they? No. They didn't even know Mason was staying here. And I planned to keep it that way. "Seth, we have something to talk to you about." My mother's voice was serious; all business. "What?" I asked nervously. "It's about Violet." She said. 

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Sorry for any spelling mistakes. I hope you still enjoyed!