MY BEST ADDICTION

Chapter 16

Feeling tensed I couldn’t dance and kept trying to turn to look at Seth but realizing I wasn’t paying attention to him the guy pulled me more into him. I stilled but was relieved when Amber came and pulled me from him. Still feeling tensed I downed some of the drinks I found on the table and after feeling the alcohol in my system I went back to the dance floor and joined Amber.
“You are good”, Amber whisper-yelled at me. I giggled and continued dancing but before I knew what was happening I felt myself fall back. I tried to hold something to support myself but only felt air around me. I closed my eyes waiting for whatever was coming but felt nothing even after a while. I opened my eyes to see a smiling Marcus looking at me.
“Thank you”, I slurred but he only chuckled at me.
“I think you’ve danced enough. Come sit with us”, he said pulling me to sit but I resisted because I still wanted to dance. I had an idea and smirked to myself. I pretended to agree with him and when he let his guard down I pulled him back to the dance floor.
“Penny, what are you doing?”, he asked confused.
“What do you think? Dancing of course, you won’t let me dance alone so I thought it would be better to dance with a friend. Don’t you think so?”, I asked and started to move against him.
“I’m dead”, he muttered causing me to giggle at him.
“Stop being silly, we are just dancing no one is killing anyone”, I said and looked at his face. For a second I got mesmerized by his handsomeness and stopped dancing. I touched his face and continued admiring him to which he grunted at me, holding firmly to my waist.
“What are you doing Penny?”, he asked holding my hand stroking his cheek. He leaned into the touch and sighed deeply. He pulled me to him and placed his forehead against mine and closed his eyes and mumbled something but I was too much into admiring him that I didn’t hear what he said.
“You’re handsome”, I whispered and raised my free hand to touch his other cheek but was stopped when someone held my hand. I was brought back to my senses and turned away from him to scold the person who had stopped me only to find Seth standing beside Marcus. Before I could say anything he pulled me out of the room. He pinned me to the wall outside the room and attacked my lips not giving me room to even protest against him. I tried to push him away but he pinned my hands with one of his above my head and pinched my side with his other hand. He wanted me to know he was upset and was punishing me for whatever reason. I wanted to kiss him too but he was making it hard for me to do so. I turned away from him after a while and avoided his gaze. Thinking I didn’t want to see him he moved my face back to look at him and saw the rage in his eyes. I tried to look away but it was futile so I closed my eyes not wanting to see his gaze.
“Why are you trying to drive me crazy?”, he asked causing me to look back at him. I saw the rage in his eyes change to longing confusing me, after all he made me aware he wanted nothing to do with me earlier at the office. He released my hands and placed his head on my shoulder sighing. I stroked his hair and raised his head to look at me but he avoided my gaze.
“Because you are driving me crazy yourself”, I answered him and placed a kiss on his lips. He looked at me perplexed. Before he could say anything else I kissed him again and he kissed me back this time. We kissed passionately and I didn’t mind if anyone saw us going at it. He kissed to my neck and found my soft spot making me gasp and I felt him smile against my neck.
“What am I going to do with you?”, he whispered against my neck and lightly bit it and I knew he was going to leave a mark there if he didn’t stop. I pulled his face back to mine and kissed him. I heard someone clear their throat and I stiffened but relaxed a little when I realized the person couldn’t see me. Seth turned to see the person hiding me from their view. I spied from his shoulder only to find Haven standing there and stilled again. I composed myself in case of anything.
“B…”, she started to say but stopped. “What are you guys doing outside?”, she asked instead still not realizing I was the person behind the man. I came out from behind Seth and saw her face changed from surprised to pissed and I flinched. That was the first time she was pissed at me, most of the time she showed that side to those who broke the rules at her Nest.
“Penny? You…you….”, she started to say but I didn’t know if she was talking to me or Seth seeing as she looked from him to me when she talked.
“Ha...Haven”, I stuttered and her expression changed from anger to worry looking at how nervous I felt. I moved away from him and walked to her side but was stopped by Seth holding my hand. I tried to pull my hand and pleaded with my eyes for him to let me go. She left to her office and Seth let me go to follow after her.
“What the hell?”, she yelled when I entered her office and closed the door behind me. I flinched to which she noticed and apologized and sighed. I knew she was worried about me but I didn’t understand why she was angry with me.
“Why were you with him?”, she asked sitting.
“He’s my boss”, I mumbled feeling like a child who had been caught by her mother doing something bad.
“I know he is your boss. Who doesn’t know the boss of S&S Corporation. Did he take advantage of you?”
“Do you know him? Did you two date?”, I asked nervously wondering why she was curious about him and she laughed.
“Who would like to date that Casanova? I’m worried about you. I don’t want to see you heartbroken because of him”.
“I…. I”, I started to say but was interrupted when we heard a knock on the door. A man entered the room and I excused myself leaving them alone to find the rest. Most of them were drunk and passed out but I found no trace of either Seth or Marcus. I left the Nest and went back home turning my phone off and going straight to bed to forget the ordeals of the day.
I had three weeks to prepare before going back to school and decided to go back to Mahone Bay to spend the first week with my mom since I had promised her earlier.
“Aren’t you going to answer your phone?”, my mom asked when my phone rang again during dinner.
“Don’t worry, I’ll answer it later”, I said and continued eating after silencing my phone.
I called Haven after dinner and told her I was with my mom and that was why I couldn’t come to work. I ignored all the calls from Seth and contemplated on whether to delete his number or not since we weren’t going to meet again. Marcus called a few times but couldn’t answer the phone after remembering what happened the last time we met.
“Take care of yourself and if you get tired you can come back here okay. This will always be your home”, my mom said when I was about to leave.
“Take care of yourself too”, I said and was about to leave but walked to her and hugged her.
“Love you mom”, I whispered and smiled.
“Love you too, now leave before you get home late”, she said and tried to shoo me away to leave.  
I went to the Nest after returning home and cleared everything between Haven and I. I went back to the dressing room to get ready for my dance but was met with a predicament.
‘Where did I put this mask?’, I thought going through my closet for as long as I could remember for my mask after dressing for my dance but still couldn’t find it. I wore the coat on my costume and went to my private room to look for it thinking I had left it there after my last time at the Nest. I rummaged through my things several times but still couldn’t find it. Giving up, I decided to go to Haven and make her aware so I could get a new one.
“Haven I can’t find my mask”, I said whiles opening her door not realizing that she had a guest. But that wasn’t what stopped me but rather what I heard just as I entered the room.
‘Brother?’, I thought looking at her. For as long as I had known her she had never mentioned anything about having a brother to me so I was very surprised as I always thought she was an only child just like me. I looked over to the supposed brother only to be shocked. He seemed to be very handsome since I could only see his back but what got my attention was the mask he held in his hand.
‘Why did he have it? That was the mask of the man I had spent most of my nights at the Nest with. How did my masked man turn into Haven’s brother and why did he show his face to her considering the consequences of breaking that rule?’, I thought trying to understand the whole situation.
“Penny? What are you doing here and why are you dressed like that?”, he asked bringing me back to my senses. I looked at him and stiffened, he had turned and was now facing me looking as confused as I was.
“I…. I……”, I started to say but couldn’t finish since I couldn’t tell him the truth.