H is for… #AtoZChallenge (AC)

Welcome to the H Chapter of Runaway: A Choose Your Own Adventure Novel. Please be advised, there may be adult content depending on the choices you make. Please vote for your choice and I will post the next chapter tomorrow. To start at the beginning of the story, click here or scroll through my blog for all my A to Z posts.

Your choice for H was Answer the Hammering at the Door! Keep those votes coming!

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“What the hell?” Sevy asked. “This room wasn’t booked!” He looked at Aralyn. “I’m sorry sweetheart, but I’d better answer the door. Whoever it is isn’t likely to go away otherwise.

“Of course,” she said, but she wasn’t terribly happy that he was leaving her half naked on the bed. Of course, he was half naked, too.

He went to the door without bothering to put on his shirt. Aralyn picked her top up off the bed and slipped it back on. He looked back at her before opening the door. “I’m coming!” he yelled at the person who hammered again.

He wrenched the door open and had a whispered conversation with the person outside. Aralyn found herself getting annoyed with that. Why wasn’t he opening the door fully? Why was he whispering? What was he hiding from her?

After a minute he shut the door and turned back inside. “Ugh,” he said in exasperation.

“What’s wrong?” Aralyn asked.

“Something is wrong with the automatic doors. Why Sally had to come find me here when she knew I was busy, I don’t know.” He sounded genuinely annoyed that they had been interrupted.

“Is there anything I can do?” she asked.

“No, and honestly, I’m not sure there’s anything I can do either,” he said. “But I’m the owner, so I suppose I will have to call the company and get them to come out and fix it. If the inside doors don’t unlock, that’s going to make things seriously inconvenient.”

Aralyn didn’t know what to say to that, so she just nodded.

“I’m sorry,” he said, moving toward her again. “Sometimes responsibilities get in the way of fun.”

“Well you did say yourself, we have all the time in the world.” He kissed her lightly on the lips, but he denied them the passion of their previous kisses.

“We do. I need to see if I can get this fixed before tonight’s main event.”

“When is that?”

“It starts at eight.” He pulled his phone out of his pants pocket and checked the time. “Which is in less than an hour. Great,” he said sarcastically.

“Why don’t we go look at the door. Maybe it’s something silly,” Aralyn suggested.

“Not a bad idea,” he smiled at her. “Come on,” he said, and he pulled her to her feet. He put his shirt back on, but she kept her sweatshirt off. He flipped a switch on the wall that seemed to do nothing and then turned out the light as they left.

“What was that?” she asked.

“It was a light to tell the cleaning crew to come clean up the room before the next reservation.”

“Sophisticated,” she said.

“I’m not just another pretty face,” he said, and he winked.

They held hands as they made their way back through the building to the front.

“Oh,” the word seemed to escape Sally’s mouth because as soon as she said it, she pressed her fingers against her lips. “I didn’t know you’d be bringing her back here.”

“Well, where else would I take her?” Sevy asked a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

“I don’t know,” Sally said, and she sounded like a petulant child to Aralyn. Aralyn didn’t know the history between Sevy and Sally, but it seemed like there must be one. She just couldn’t tell if it was a brotherly type of rivalry or if it was more of an ex-relationship. It bothered her that there might have been a relationship there, but in the end, there was nothing she could do about it. She wasn’t particularly fond of the green-eyed monster that had hatched inside her belly. She pushed the feeling away and paid closer attention to the conversation.

“Have you checked that the power connections are all secure?” Sevy was asking Sally. Sally turned a shade of pink.

“No,” she admitted, feigning sheepishness.

“Don’t you think you should do that before you came looking for me?” he asked sternly. Sevy sounded more like a boss reprimanding a subordinate. That was a good sign to Aralyn.

Sally didn’t respond, but Sevy didn’t push it. This concerned Aralyn. If Sevy was just Sally’s boss, why didn’t he address the fact that she hadn’t responded to him when he asked her a question. Even if the question were a little sarcastic and almost rhetorical, if Aralyn’s boss had asked her a question like that, she absolutely would have responded.

Aralyn looked carefully at Sally’s face, and she was surprised at what she saw. Sally was looking down at the ground as though ashamed of not having done something so obvious before bothering Sevy, but there was also a touch of satisfaction in her face that Aralyn had not expected to see. It appeared that Sally was pleased that she had interrupted Sevy and Aralyn and that significantly annoyed Aralyn.

Sevy stalked away from Sally then, though Aralyn wasn’t sure Sevy had caught the same look Aralyn had. Sevy walked over to the door, reached up and pressed the power connection in tighter. Sure enough, the moment he did, the door powered back on.

Sevy shot a dark look at Sally. “Sally, I need to see you in the back room. Now.” His voice was quiet and tightly controlled. Aralyn wasn’t sure what his reason was for wanting privacy with Sally, and it didn’t make her particularly happy. “Aralyn, please wait here. I won’t be long.”

She sat down in one of the chairs in the waiting room and tried not to appear too agitated by the whole situation. Sally and Sevy went into the back room and the door shut behind them with a click. For a minute or two Aralyn didn’t hear anything. Then suddenly she heard a loud voice. It was Sevy, though she couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. Apparently, he was yelling at Sally.

Then the door swung open and apparently it had been pushed hard because it slammed back against the wall behind it.

“Come on, Aralyn, let’s go,” he said, reaching for her hand. She took it and stood, and they walked through the front doors together. Sally had not come out of the back room by the time the door swung shut behind them.

Aralyn desperately wanted to know what that had all been about but she was afraid to ask. She could see that Sevy was still terribly angry. His face was flushed, and he was breathing hard. “I can’t believe her!” he said angrily, but it was as though he was talking to himself. “I just can’t understand why she wanted to interrupt us.” Aralyn was surprised Sevy wasn’t crushing her hand in his. His tightly controlled body radiated anger. They reached the car, and he wrenched the passenger’s side door open with a lot of force.

“Hey,” Aralyn said soothingly. Sevy looked at her as though he hadn’t seen her before.

“Hey,” he said, “I’m sorry–”

“No,” she cut him off, “there’s no reason for you to be sorry.”

His features softened as he looked at her and he pulled her in front of him and pressed her body against the back door of the car with his own. “I’m sorry we got interrupted,” he whispered in her ear as he pressed her legs apart with his knee. She could feel herself getting wet with arousal and wishing they were anywhere but a public parking lot.

“Oh god,” she softly moaned as he kissed her right behind the ear.

“I want you so bad,” he whispered back.

“Me too,” she said.

“This parking lot isn’t the right place, though,” he said and with visible effort, stood back away from her, and pulled her, so she was standing upright. “You are irresistible,” he said, almost to himself. “Get in the car before you get both of us in trouble,” he said, but he winked to soften the command.

She got in the car and buckled in. He walked around and did the same. He reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I didn’t want to leave,” she admitted.

“Me neither,” he said.

Should Aralyn insist that she and Sevy go back into The Dungeon, or should she allow them to leave?

Stay OR Leave

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