I Introduce The Selfish Machine

It had been a week since the guy's got their instruments back and a week since I became a drug dealer again. Since they had everything written down, it didn't take them long to rerecord and have the album ready to be release in June. They had a day off, then tomorrow they would finish a few things up. Jaime begged Tony to go to Disneyland with him, and they asked me if I wanted to. I declined, mainly because I wanted my first time at Disneyland to be with my niece, and because I had to get rid of someone of these drugs. I had the duffle bag hidden where Tony would never find it, under the sink in the kitchen. Tony never cleans, so he won't go looking for cleaning supply anytime soon.
I rubbed my neck and stared at the coffee table. I wasn't going to buy some for myself. I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to fall back into that whole. I had turned to alcohol to quit, but ever since the duffle bag was in my possession, alcohol wasn't enough for me. I'm not going to, I don't want too... But just a line wouldn't hurt, would it?
I got up to walk to the kitchen, but before I could even take a step, the landline rung. I sighed, answering it after the first ring. "Hello?" I said, trying not to sound stressed.
"Good morning, sunshine." David said.
"What to do want?"
"How much have you sold?"
"Nothing, I can't get ahold of my old buyers. How do you have this number anyway?"
"That doesn't matter. All that matters is that you haven't sold something, and I need money by tonight. I don't need to warn you about what happens when money's late. You've experienced it once, do you want that to happen to you again?"
I bit my lip. "I'll have your money, douche bag."
I could literally hear him smirk. "That's my girl." Then, he hung up.
I stood up and began to pace. What am I going to do? I guess I have to buy some myself, but then when I own it, I'm going to want to do it and I don't want Tony to see me addicted to cocaine. That's a secret he will never know. But, if I don't get David money and that thing happens to me, I can't let Tony see me like that either. If only I knew someone who did one of the three drugs in my inventory.
Then, it clicked.

I banged loudly on the front door.
Please be home, please be home. I thought to myself as I stood in front of the door with the duffle bag over my shoulder. I then heard the lock in the door click, and it swung open. Mike was standing there in only his boxers, holding a beer.
"Hey, Piper, what's up?" He asked. His eyes then shifted to the duffle bag. "And what's that?"
"Are you alone?" I asked quickly, trying to look over his shoulders.
"Well..."
"Mike, come back to bed!" A girl's voice yelled from the apartment.
"Uh, yeah so what's this about?" Mike asked.
"I can't tell you yet, but it's important, okay?"
"Okay, but she's going to be hard to get out." He said, nodding his head to the right.
"You serious about her?"
"Nope."
I shoved my way past Mike and threw the duffle bag on his couch. "Oh, Mikey, sweetie, I'm so sorry I was gone so long!" I then started walking to the bedroom, going on and on about how much I missed him. I acted shocked and disgusted (which I was, a little bit. She's not the prettiest) when I saw the fiery red headed girl in his bed. The girl jumped up and began putting clothes on as I started to yell again. "Michael Fuentes, how dare you! On our 4 year anniversary, too? You disgusting pig!"
"Babe, I can explain!" Mike said, playing along.
"I don't want to hear your explanation, you bastard! How dare you bring that tramp into my house!?" I screamed. The girl ran out, saying how sorry she was. "Get out!" I yelled to the girl, then continued to yell at Mike as she ran out the door and slammed it behind her. When I was sure she was out of earshot, I stopped and Mike clapped.
"Bravo!" He said.
"Thank you, thank you. I was in theater in high school."
"So, what's in the bag?" Mike asked, changing the mood from fun, to serious.
I sat down on the couch next to the bag and ran my fingers through my hair. "First, you've got to understand. I did this to help you guys..." Then I explained to him every last detail of what happened when we went to got to David's house to today, and I made him promise not to bring this up to Tony, or anyone at that.
"I won't tell anyone, and I'll buy all the weed you've got. How much?" I told him the number and his jaw dropped. "Piper, that's a lot..."
"I know! He charges a ridiculous amount, but only ever sells to rich people. I know Seren doesn't smoke or do meth or cocaine, so she's out of the question."
Mike sighed. "I'll buy some, but not the amount you need, Piper, I'm sure the punishment isn't that bad..."
"Isn't that bad? You don't even know what he does to us, Mike. He only has girls deal for him, and there's a reason. If we-" I started to tear up. "If we don't get him his money on time, he'll rape us and beat us, beat us to the point of where we can't move. He'll lock us up in handcuffs and do whatever he wants to us for at least 12 hours, and I can't come home to Tony like that, Mike, I just can't." I was crying now. Mike pulled me to his chest, holding me there and letting me cry and shake and just crave cocaine. "I don't know why I agreed to this." I sobbed.
"Because you wanted to help us, Piper, and that's so brave of you." He let go of me, and got up, then left the room and came back with his wallet. He pulled out all the money and handed it to me.
"Crap, that's not enough." I mumbled. I thought it was a soft mumble, but Mike heard me.
"Well, I don't do anything else, Piper."
"But I do." I said, then pulled out a bag of cocaine. I pulled money out of my wallet and counted it with Mike's, making it more money than David needed, which would make him happy.
Mike sat next to me and grabbed his pipe, starting on the abundance of weed he had just bought. I watched him and began to get a little jealous. I felt my body shaking, craving the cocaine. No, no. Don't do it Piper.
I tried to stop myself, but there I was, doing a line on Mike's coffee table and begging him not to tell.

I brought David his money later that night, and he was impressed. As relieved as I was, I still rushed home to put the duffle bag up before Tony got home. He still wasn't home when I ran up the stairs and hid the bag. A few minutes later, the door opened. I walked quickly out of the kitchen to find Tony with a Mickey Mouse hat on.
I giggled. "You look like you had a blast." I said, finally starting to come back down to earth.
"More Jaime than me." He said, then took a seat on the couch and sighed. "My feet hurt worse than they do after we get off stage. What did you do today?"
Just got high with your best friend. "Ran some errands."
"Oh good, did you get milk?"
"Oh, crap! I forgot!" I said, playing off the lie good. "Sorry, baby."
Tony then grabbed my wrist and pulled me on the couch with him. "You know, I can't thank you enough for what you did, saving the band and all that. I'm a lot less stressed now."
That makes one of us. "That's good, love."
He pulled me on to his lap and began kissing me. His lips were so soft and sweet. I feel so bad about lying to him. "I just love you so much." He said, his lips so close to mine. He then kissed me again, and I wanted him more than I wanted another line of cocaine.
"I love you so much." I said with a gasp after releasing from the kiss. He ran his hands up my shirt and into my bra, touching me lovingly.
Love is better than any drug.
So, why am I craving it again?

Notes