Free One Penny: A Marked Heart Novel by M. Sembera, Margaret Civella

on his face.
    "Boyfriend Graveyard," Auggie informed before Seth had a chance to introduce himself.
    "No way," Braden exclaimed then reached his hand over to shake Seth's assuring, "I'd have been nicer to ya had I known you were gonna outgrow me," with a laugh.
    "Seth," he corrected shaking Braden's hand.
    Nodding Braden asked, "What brings you here?"
    It was a good thing Auggie answered, "He's Penny's neighbor," because Seth wasn't entirely sure.
    "Wait. Are you the Seth that works for Jacks?"
    "Yes."
    "Ah, you're practically family then," Braden announced before asking, "Are we drinking or what?"
    Kieran gave a nod and reached for his glass.
    Much like with the chairs, Seth noticed Auggie and Braden waited for Kieran to go first. After he filled the bottom of his glass they picking up their own and passed the bottle around. When Braden set the bottle in front of Seth, he did the same thinking he had never drunk on a Sunday let alone before seven o'clock any day of the week before in his life.

 
    Twelve
    At two thirty in the morning, Penny pulled up to her cousin's house. When Liv called and said she was bringing Seth back because everyone else had passed out, Penny offer to come get him. In a way, she was irritated with her brother for stealing away her new friend but on the other hand, it made her happy that Seth had survived a night of drinking with them.
    The second she got out of the car, Seth was there to greet her.
    Noticeably having had too much to drink, he leaned against the hood of her car announcing, "You're here," then looked back at the house shouting, "Penny's here!"
    Liv hollered back from the porch, "'Night Seth," before asking, "You sure you got it, Penny?"
    "Yea, need me to take anyone else?"
    "Nah, Braden and Auggs passed out on the porch, they'll be fine until morning."
    "Thanks Liv. 'Night," Penny said before Liv shared, "Call me when you make it home."
    Holding her hand high in the air, she waved before Liv stepped inside her house.
    Focusing on Seth, Penny tried to be direct with him but found it hard to be serious while he kept smiling at her.
    "You're pretty drunk."
    Nodding at her, he stumbled closer saying, "You're pretty...Pretty."
    Clearing her throat as she smiled at him, Penny replied, "I need you to get in the car so I can take you home okay."
    "I can't."
    With a little laugh Penny questioned, "You can't?"
    Holding out his hands, he answered, "I lost my keys."
    "How did you do that?"
    With a deep inhale, Seth stood up replying, "Playing freeze tag."
    "I don't even want to know how that got started... Can you make it to the passenger side?"
    Turning quickly, Seth had to brace himself against the car for a moment before he was steady enough to make it to the other side of the car.
    On the way to their apartment complex, Penny noticed Seth starting to drift off.
    "Hey, you need to talk to me, so you don't pass out."
    Leaning his head toward her, Seth smiled saying, "Anything you want."
    A little surprised at how articulate Seth was while drunk. He was over annunciating practically every word but to her, it made the fact that she couldn't look at him while driving a non-issue because she could understand every word. Pausing for a moment to consider it was sort of wrong to take advantage of his intoxicated state, her curiosity made it impossible for her to resist.
    "What did you think of my family?"
    Suddenly very alert, Seth grabbed her shoulder blurting, "Did you know Kieran has a legacy?"
    "Um... yea," she replied.
    "That goes back generations?"
    Laughing, she asked, "How'd you get along with Auggie?"
    Giving her a strange look he replied, "He called me...Cara"
    "A chara?"
    "That's it."
    That made Penny happier than it should have as she explained, "He was just saying you're a friend."
    Seth laughed as he shared, "Much better."
    "And Braden?"
    "He thinks Charlotte's hot."
    Shaking her head Penny laughed saying, "I'm sure he does," knowing Braden said it to aggravate Auggie.
    "I