Status: Hello all my amazing readers! I am currently re-editing all my chapters and plan to post new ones soon :)

Mistakes of the Heart

The Cove

“ Melanie don’t make me come in there!” I hear Hayley yell.

“ But… but… I can’t wear this! Don’t you think I already attracted enough attention to myself?”

“ Oh come on! I bet you look amazing. Just come out and let me see.”

“Er… I don’t know…” I say warily.

“ I swear if you don’t come out…” Then I heard a faint knocking on the door.

“ I am going to answer that, but this is not over!” I just roll my eyes, even though she can’t see.
I can make out Hayley saying, “Hey guys. We are almost done. Just give me second.”

“ Melanie! The guys are here, so I suggest you get out of that bathroom!”

“ Do I have to? “ I whine. I know I sound pathetic, but if you saw my dress you would understand.

“ Fine. Then we are leaving without you and you can just be stuck alone in your room on a Friday night!”

“ Fine… I am coming out.” I finally give up.

I slowly open the door, walking into the view of not only Hayley, but also the view of Tanner, Aiden, Tyler, and Matt. I can see all of their eyes getting huge, and jaws dropping wide open.

“ I knew it. I am going to change Hayley. I don’t what you were thinking- ”

“ I knew that would fit you perfectly!” interrupts Hayley.

Aiden adds, “ Damn Blondie you look hot!”

Both Matt and Tyler agree by nodding their heads. I can see Tanner rub the back of his neck. “ Yeah.. uhh- ” he clears his throat, “ California you look …err… good.” I can see I giant smile forming on Hayley’s face.

“ See I told you Mel!” That’s when I noticed that she was dressed in an equally revealing dress, except it was black and showed a little less skin than mine.

Tanner cleared his throat and said, “ So are you guys ready to go? My driver’s not exactly the patient type.” Now it was my turn for my jaw to drop.

“ You have a driver?!’ I nearly shout.

Matt answers saying, “ Tanner’s loaded.”

“ Let’s not get carried away… ” adds Tanner, while rolling his eyes.

That’s when Aiden says, “ Dude, don’t lie.” Then he looks at me and whispers, “ His dad practically owns the island.”

“ He does not!” Tanner shouts, “He only owns part of it…”
I just stand there still in shock. I can’t believe I didn’t know this.

“ See guys this is why I don’t like telling people.” He says, while given Aiden a little shove.

“ Why didn’t you tell me Tanner? I wouldn’t have treated you any differently.”

“ Hey, you aren’t too big on sharing personal information, either.” He has got me there. I just put my hands up in a defensive manner.

Tanner just sighs while running his hand through his blond hair and says, “ I was going to, but I didn’t want to give you the wrong impression.” I just smile up at him.

I was going to say that I understood exactly what he meant, but then Hayley impatiently interrupts saying, “ Are we going or what?” The rest of the guys turn to Tanner and I, with pleading looks.

Tanner smiles and says, “ Alright we are going. We don’t want California to miss the show anyways.” He turns and winks at me.

“ I didn’t know that Aiden was playing tonight!”

All the guys beside Tanner groan. Tanner has a playful expression on his face, almost as if he is holding back a laugh. He then turns to me and says, “ He doesn’t, but all the guys have a… performance.”

I just lift my eyebrow and give him a questioning look.

“ Don’t worry California you will enjoy it. “ he says while nearly laughing. “Remember our little bet?” Oh the bet. Realization hits me immediately. I just can’t remember the wagers though.

“ What do they have to do?” I ask, now smiling.

“ Patience California. Good things come to those who wait.” He turns towards the guys, “ Ready to go?” he smirks. I can tell by their expressions that they wished they never bothered us to leave.

***

After an interesting limo ride, we finally made it to our destination. It took us about thirty minutes to get to this abandoned beach. I turn towards Hayley and Tanner; unsure of why they brought me here of all places.

Hayley, already knowing my reaction, grabbed my hand and said, “ Don’t judge anything yet. We are almost there, just trust us on this.”

We began walking along the shore, and I was able to make out a few houses in the distance. They were widely spread out but beautiful in there own way. Finally we get to this cluster of giant rocks, and I am able to make out the sound of beating music. I was suddenly getting excited, but a little nervous at the same time. That’s when I noticed a small cove, but behind it lays what looks like a cave.

Hayley starts excitedly jumping up and down. She turns to me with a giant smile on her face and shouts, “ We are here!”

As I walk forward, towards the cave, I can see that there is actually a building that looks like a club. There are people lined up in front of the doors, which are guarded by two huge men. There is also an illuminated sign that says “The Cove” in giant, capitalized letters. I start to wonder if there is an age limit, and how I will be able to get in.

Tanner immediately appears on my side and says, “ There are benefits to having a rich dad.”
Now he pulls me out of Hayley’s grasp and puts his arm around my waist. I am about to protest, but I realize we went directly to the front of the line.

“ Hey Tom. Do you mind letting me and my friends in?”

“ Of course Mr. Warren. Say hi to your dad for me.”

Tanner nods and the taller of the two men, apparently named Tom, removes the rope and lets us all in. I just stare dumfounded up towards Tanner. There is just so much I didn’t know about him. I guess he could say the same about me. I am snapped out of my thoughts by the increasingly loud music. I take in my surroundings and see people flirting, dancing, and drinking.

I look back at Tanner for the hundredth time and he already read my mind saying, “ They don’t check ID here. Come on,” he pulls me closer so that I am just inches away from his face, “let’s dance.”

Before I have the chance to answer I am dragged out to the dance floor. Tanner places his hand on my hips and suddenly I am dancing to the beat of the song. I just stop questioning everything and enjoy myself. Surprisingly, I feel very comfortable with Tanner. We dance for a good hour, with a couple interruptions by guys, but he turned them down before I could even answer.

Tanner pulls me to the side and asks, “ Are you thirsty? Do you want a drink?”

Hayley then comes out of nowhere, and she, obviously, has already been drinking. She grabs me and pleads, “ Come and have a shot with me Mel!”

“ I am not a big drinker. Sorry Hayley.” I respond.

“Ohh boo you whore! Come on girl!” She is now pulling me towards the bar, or more like stumbling.

“ Hayley, I don’t know… I am a bit of a lightweight-“

She interrupts me again and says, “ This is your celebration Mel! Now celebrate already!”
She turns towards the bartender, with a flirty smile, and is able to get us two shots of vodka. Then two became four and four become six and it wasn’t too long before I knew I was undeniably drunk. I had the sudden urge to just go grab someone and dance.

I was giggling uncontrollably and soon enough some random guy grabs me from behind, and pulls me to the dance floor once again. We instantly are grinding on each other and I could feel his breath on my neck.

“Hey beautiful, can I get you another drink?” he asks in my ear.

I just giggle and shake my head. He pulls me back towards the bar, but then Tanner angrily stomps towards us.

“Mel, what do you think your doing? Don’t you think you had enough?”

Then the random guys says, “Chill dude. I have it under control.” He wraps his arms around my waist.

Tanner didn’t take that too well and began to get in the guys face. “ I don’t think you do. Come on Mel, party’s over.” Now they are both staring into each other’s face and I start to process what is happening.

I grab Tanner and start pulling him away from the other guy.

“Where do you think your going? You think you can get away with stealing my girl?” Oh no. I didn’t mean to start anything.

“Tanner, please, lets just go.” He looks down and me, realizing my worried look. He just nods his head and we instantly run away so that we are lost in the crowd. When we are far enough away Tanner pants, “ California you probably should lay off the alcohol.”

After I take a moment to catch my breath, I just look up at Tanner and just start giggling. I can see that he is trying to keep his firm expression, but wants to laugh with me. He just shakes his head and grabs my hand saying, “ I don’t want you missing the show.”

“ Awwwww Tanner, but I wanna dance!” I plead. “ Dance with me please?” I give him a flirty smile.

I can see that he is battling with himself, but just keeps pulling me in the same direction. He pulls me towards the stage, and brings me to the very front. After a few minutes, the DJ stops and announces that he has a “special” act. Then appears Matt, Aiden, and Tyler all dressed up as girls, and each holding a microphone. At this moment, I couldn’t help but start laughing uncontrollably. I know part of it is because I had a little too much to drink, but it was definitely a sight to see.

Immediately Single Ladies by Beyonce starts playing and the guys starting dancing and singing along to the song. This just made me laugh even harder. When I look up at Tanner he seems really pleased with himself and is laughing along with me. I look back up, and Matt turns gives me a flirty wink. I respond by wolf whistling at him. This was absolutely the highlight of my night. It was just an enough of a distraction from Mr. Johnson, at least for a little while.

***

After the guy’s performance, I ended up dancing with each of them for a little bit. But after a couple hours, I began to get exhausted and started feeling a little nauseous. Hayley managed to give me a little more to drink, and I didn’t realize my mistake until now.

“ I think I am going to get some air, Tanner.” I was currently dancing with him at the moment.

“ Are you okay California?” he asks with concern.

“ Yeah I am, I just think I shouldn’t have accepted those last drinks from Hayley.” He just begins to shake his head and says, “ Remind me to not let you drink next time we go out.”

I roll my eyes and start walking towards the door. “ I will be outside, if anyone asks.”

When I get outside I immediately feel the ocean breeze and find myself a rock to sit on. I begin to just watch the waves, but realize that I am starting to feel dizzy. What did Hayley give me? Then I hear footsteps from behind me, getting closer and closer.

“ There you are. I have been looking for you all night, but that asshole stole you away,” the man from earlier whispers in my ear. I feel my stomach drop and tense up from the smell of alcohol radiating off him. I try to quickly get off the rock, but slip and fall in the sand.

“ Where do you think your going, princess?” he drunkenly says. He aggressively grabs my arm and pulls me up towards him. I can feel the bruises forming from where he grabbed.

“ Why don’t you come back to my place and we can finish what we started?” I can barely think straight because my head is now pounding, and all I want to do is get away.

“ Leave me alone.” I try to shout, but it comes out as more of a mumble. I then try to push myself away from him, and get out of his grasp. It doesn’t help that my vision is blurred from my dizziness.

“ Awwww don’t be like the sweetheart. I don’t want to hurt you.” Panic fills me immediately and I keep struggling to get free. He realizes that I won’t go without a fight and pushes me against one of the rocks. I can feel myself fading fast, but still don’t stop fighting him.

“ Keep still, you little bitch.” He then slaps me across the face and I can feel my eyes fill up with water. He then starts fumbling with my dress, and I know there isn’t anything else I can do. Tears start streaming down my face while I stay paralyzed against the rock. Then out of nowhere the man is pulled away from me, and I fall hard onto the ground. I can barely make out a figure of a man colliding his fist with my attacker’s face. Right away I see him limply fall to the ground.

“ Are you okay?” The figure says as he starts approaching me. Finally he gets close enough so I can make out his face. Recognition hits both of us immediately.

“ Melanie?” he asks surprised.

“Mr… Mr. Johnson? What are you doing here?” I ask, annoyed.

“ I can ask you the same thing.” I can hear the concern in his voice. I realize I am still on the floor and begin to get up. But the moment I stand up I fall back down, and begin to fall into the darkness. The last thing I remember is feeling strong arms pick me up and someone say, “ What am I going to do with you?”
♠ ♠ ♠
Here is chapter 8 :D
Sorry it took a little while but me and my editor have been super busy! Anyways, I hope you like it and I would greatly appreciate some feedback!

Thanks to those who commented...
I've got the magic
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and of course to my amazing editor running in circles; :D

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