Consumed (23 page)

“I can’t, I have a fight coming up and I’m not a big drinker, anyway.”

“Really? I would have picked you to be quite the partier.”

Seth shrugs and wraps an arm around my waist. He pulls me along beside him as we walk down the steps from my apartment. Two of his friends eye us curiously, like they’ve never seen Seth with a girl before and I can’t help but wonder if there’s more going on in our relationship than I first thought. The friends, including Selena, pile into the back of Seth’s car, leaving the front two seats for Seth and I. When the back door shuts, I turn to Seth.

“Before we go out tonight, I want to clear up a few things between us.”

He removes his hand from my waist and leans against the passenger side of his car.

“Okay,” I begin, rubbing my fingers on my forehead and praying I don’t embarrass myself. “So, we had sex...”

He smiles a full smile, one that exposes his white teeth and my cheeks heat up. “I’m well aware of that.”

“But,” I continue, ignoring his response. “We aren’t together?”

“Right.” His voice doesn’t sound certain, but I ignore it.

“Sorry, it’s all the touching and waist holding... it’s confusing me. I’m just clarifying our position so no one’s feelings get hurt tonight.”

He frowns at me and my heart almost shatters in my chest. I’ve said something wrong. “You’re going to hurt my feelings?” Seth replies with a daring gleam in his eyes.

“It’s not your feelings I’m worried about.” I mutter, feeling stupid for just saying it. Seth will undoubtedly have admirers if we go out tonight, more specifically, girl admirers, the kind that’ll do and say anything just to get closer to him.

He tilts his head to the side, analyzing my face. “You mistake my intent on our non-existent boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.” He steps closer. “We might not be using the titles, but I still claim you as mine.”

“Yours?”

Normally, I hate when people refer to other people as a possession, but when Seth says it there’s something extremely sexy and alluring about it.

“Damn straight.” He grips my hips, pulling me into him. “You are mine and I’ll make sure every single person in the club knows it.”

“But you made it very clear to Don that I’m not yours...”

“That’s because Don and I have a lot of history. If I told him you were mine, he wouldn’t have let you leave.”

Of course Seth has history with Don. He seems to have history with everybody. “Let me guess, you slept with his girlfriend?”

The back window winds down and Jackson sticks his head out. His hair has more products in it than Selena’s and that’s saying something. “Hey, lovebirds, when you’re ready we’d like to go to Heaven’s!”

Whoops and cheers follow his demand and Seth opens the passenger door for me.

“I never said I was perfect.” He tells me.

Inside, the car is loud and annoying. I can’t hear myself think and a small pain begins to form behind my eyes. I lean my head back on the headrest and I briefly close my eyes. Seth’s large, warm hand rests on my thigh as he drives us to Heaven’s nightclub.

We park in Heaven’s car park and walk around to the front. The group we’re with is pumped. They’re talking about drinking and dancing and girls, and all I can think about is crawling back into a nice warm bed, preferably with Seth. The line into the club is long, filled with drunks, skanks and pissed off people who just want a drink. As I go to stand behind a couple practically having sex, Seth grabs my wrist and forces me to keep walking. We pass the long line of people and all of them watch us curiously as we step right up to the front door.

The security guard runs his hand over his bald head, smiling widely. “Seth, man’ It’s been a long time! How’ve you been, bro?”

“The usual.” Seth replies, slipping his arm around my waist.

The guard’s eyes rake me from head to toe. “I see that.”

I frown. What the hell does that mean? The security guard steps aside, letting all of us into the club and behind us, the crowd goes mental.

Inside, the club is going off and it’s pretty much packed to the roof. You can’t notice the club’s usually beautiful decor. It’s all blocked and covered by bodies, gyrating to the loud club music. I inch closer to Seth and Selena grabs onto my elbow as he drags us through large throngs of people, right up to the V.I.P room. The two massive security guards standing in front of the door take one look at Seth and step out of the way. They hold the large blue door open and we climb a small set of stairs before being unleashed into another club upstairs. The V.I.P room gives off a Middle Eastern vibe with the red and brown curtains that separate couches and low set coffee tables. It’s so much easier to breathe upstairs compared to the confined space downstairs and there’s only a maximum of twelve people—not including our group. It helps the headache I carry with me to slip away. Jackson, Selena and the rest of the group practically sprint to the bar while Seth and I make ourselves comfortable on a couch.

“How do you get all this?” I ask him. “You’re only an amateur fighter, yet you have a nice car and get treated like royalty.”

He leans back in the chair and plays with the ends of my hair, twirling it around his index finger. “I may be competing in an amateur tournament, but I’ve been in the game for a long time. People know me.”

The group returns with a mass amount of shots and they place them all evenly across the table. Six shots each. All of them were of different colors, ranging from clear to pitch black.

I turn to Seth. “Are you sure you’re not going to drink?”

“Absolutely not.” Jackson butts in, handing Seth a bottle of water. “We’re taking the competition out this year.” He glances between Seth and I. “No risks.”

Following the others, I tip a clear shot down my throat and immediately it feels like it’s burning a hole. I lower my glass to the table, taking a second for the harsh taste to leave my mouth. I look at everyone else’s glasses and they’ve finished shooting them. They stare at me highly amuse, like I’m incompetent and not worthy to drink with them.

“I don’t care how you look at me.” I laugh, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth. “I’m not giving myself alcohol poisoning.”

Selena winks at me as I drink the second shot. She knows how I am with my alcohol. I don’t drink to get drunk, I drink to get light headed and have a good time. This many shots is
not
a good time. Jackson and Selena take off somewhere and the rest of the boys head downstairs to pick up girls, leaving Seth and I alone. Despite the dinner I had, the shots are already making my head feel light.

When I hit my fourth shot sometime later, I decide to stop and I lean into Seth as his lips wrap around the top of his bottle. I stare at them as he swallows a mouthful and I desperately want to taste them myself.

“So, why aren’t you a big drinker? Do you not like the taste or the feeling?” I ask, dragging my gaze from his lips to his eyes.

He screws the lid on his bottle and places it on the table. “Feeling inquisitive, are you?”

I nod and he wraps an arm around me. “There’s just so much I need to understand about you. You constantly surprise me.”

He traces an ‘S’ on my lower back over and over as his big, brown eyes watch my face. “Half of the reason is because I don’t like not being in control and the other half... well...” His brows knit together. “It’s a long and complicated story.”

It always is with him. I respect his decision not to tell me even though every fiber in my being is screaming for me to probe deeper. Loud cheers ring throughout the V.I.P room, distracting me. Our small group of friends is leading a bunch of randoms up the stairs and soon the room becomes as packed as downstairs. Selena drops onto the couch next to me as Jackson engages Seth in a conversation. 

“You still have two shots left.” Selena shouts in my ear before looking at me like she’s just busted me throwing out a gift. 

“I’m feeling good. I don’t want to overdo it.”

Ignoring what I said, she hands me a shot anyway. “We’ll do one together then.”

The black liquid burns my nose as I bring it to my lips. Selena winks at me and I tilt my head back, pouring the liquid down the hatch. The liquorice tasting shot goes down surprisingly well and I barely sit the glass down on the table when Selena pulls me to my feet. “Let’s dance.”

I groan in protest, but I don’t do much to stop her from dragging me to the dance floor. My head is extremely light now and I’m having fun. Selena and I dance together, completely forgetting that we’re here with people.

I have no idea how long we’ve been dancing, but I’m sweating and the amount of people in the room has lessened. Selena leans into my ear and her blonde hair sticks to my damp cheek. “One more drink?”

I shrug my shoulders and nod. One more couldn’t hurt, I suppose. Her elbow hooks around mine and we walk to the bar. I rest my elbows on the varnished surface, supporting some of my weight. If it wasn’t so loud in here I’d hear my legs sigh in relief. I look back at Seth and frown when I see a girl next to him with her pretty, manicured hand on his knee. Like almost every other girl here she has big, fake boobs and long, platinum blonde hair that curls around her breasts. His eyes shift from her to me and I force my best ‘not jealous’ smile before turning back to the bar. I have to trust him. Selena leans in to order and a drunken idiot rudely steps between us, bumping Selena into the girl next to her. The girl is pissed, although I have no idea why, not a drop lands on her sky-blue tube dress. The girl’s face contorts into a bitchy scowl.

"What the fuck!" She growls at Selena, baring her freakishly white teeth and swaying slightly.

Selena looks at me over her shoulder, giggling like an idiot and I bite back a smile. “I’m sorry.” Selena half laughs, half apologizes. “This guy—”

“Fuck that. You owe me a drink.”

The two friends behind her groan incoherently in agreement.

“I don’t owe you shit.” Selena replies.

Selena isn’t one to avoid a bar fight (or so she says) so I tug on Selena’s hand. There’s no way I’m getting into a fight in these heels. Scratch that, there’s no way I’m getting into a fight, period. I haven’t had one in my twenty-three years of living and I don’t want to start now. “It’s no big deal, Sel. Just replace her drink.”

“No.”

The blonde steps forward in an attempt to intimidate Selena. She isn’t that intimidating... I mean, she isn’t much taller than me and her make-up is done horridly, like a clown at a carnival.

“Replace. My. Fucking. Drink.”

Selena steps toward the girl and I run around her, bravely throwing myself between them.

“Relax.” I say to the girl. “I’ll replace your drink. What were you drinking?”

“Gin and tonic.” 

I tell the bartender and he whips one up. When he hands it to me, I slide it against the varnished wood toward the girl. Her dark eyes survey me and then the drink. After a few seconds, she smiles at me and grasps the glass. I sag in relief. Thank God that’s over. Before I turn to Selena, the blonde clown slides the drink off the bar and it crashes at my feet, wetting my toes. Seth is at my side instantly, his hand planted firmly around my waist. A few people are staring now and anger burns inside me. My gaze rises from my feet to the girl’s annoyingly, smug face. Selena steps around me and shoves the girl hard. “What the hell is your problem?” She shouts.

The random blonde stumbles backward before launching forward at Selena. I don’t know what happened... the next thing I know, my fist flies out from beside me and I punch the girl in the jaw. She goes down hard and I stand over her, dominating her. She looks up at me, clasping her jaw. Her eyes are shiny with tears, making me feel like shit.
Oh, fuck. What have I done?
I open my mouth to apologize and help her up, but strong arms seize me.

“Time to go.” Seth laughs under his breath, throwing me over his shoulder.

I crane my neck to look up and behind me Jackson is carrying Selena whose whooping and yelling at the girl I punched.

I punched a girl.

In the face.

I close my eyes, hoping the bout of nausea that courses through me stops. I have no idea what overcame me. I knew the girl was going to hit Selena and I just reacted.
Crap
. What the hell was I thinking?

I don't open my eyes until the night air cools my burning skin. Even though we're outside, Seth doesn’t put me down and I don’t want him to. My insides are too wired, buzzing like a bug zapper with a huge moth lodged in it. My hands shake and I flex them in an attempt to steady them, but it fails. We round the corner of the club and officially enter the car park when Seth sets me down. My shoes find the hard ground and I stumble slightly. The shots have hit me harder than I thought. Seth is smiling his cocky smile at me and I glare back at him.

“Don’t smile like that. I just assaulted someone.” I rake my fingers through my hair. “Oh my God... I just assaulted someone. I’m going to go to prison.”

He laughs loudly and steadies my swaying by placing his hands on my shoulders. “You’re not going to prison. That girl was too drunk to realize what was happening.”

His warm hand trails down my arm and settles in my trembling hand. He pulls it to his lips, placing soft kisses along my knuckles.