Torn (Torn Series) (10 page)

Drake stood up and headed to the bar. "I'll get us a couple beers, be right back."

I watched him walk to the bar, and noticed several other women staring at him as well. He reached the bar and the bartender, a woman of course, skipped over the people already standing there and went straight to Drake. She grabbed him three beers and handed them over the bar, leaning forward enough that he had a full shot down her low cut shirt. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Jade before I lost my Starbucks.

Jade seemed to notice my di
scomfort, and gave me a sympathetic smile but didn't say anything. I knew from the short time we had spent together that Drake tended to have lots of women around him all the time. That is, lots of willing women around. We sat in silence as Drake made his way back to the table. I couldn't help but to notice how well he looked in his fitted black t-shirt and distressed jeans that hung low on his hips. There was no denying the boy had a body and I found myself thinking yet again about how he would look with his shirt off.

I shrugged the thought off,
 knowing that probably every girl here was wondering the same thing, or in some cases, not having to wonder at all. I'd seen him start to leave with the blonde after all, and as sexy as he was, he had to be getting some on a regular basis.

He finally made it to the table and set our beers down in front of us. "Here
ya go guys. So I can see you two were in deep conversation over here, don’t let me being here stop you."

Jade and I both laughed, knowing neither of us had said a word to each other while he was gone. It wasn’t her fault really, I was always so shy around new people and I never knew what to say. 

Jade started talking to him about some show they were doing in a couple weeks and they were deep in conversation before too long, completely ignoring me.  As I sat there watching them talk so freely, I suddenly felt out of place. I looked around the room trying to distract myself and noticed a rest room sign across the room. I stood, excusing myself and hurried across the room and into the bathroom.

I stood at the sink looking at
my reflection in the mirror above it. With no makeup and in my old University sweatshirt and torn jeans, I looked completely out of place here. All the other women in the bar had dressed to impress and I had no clue how Drake had even noticed me with a room full of them.

I sighed
, wondering why Drake had asked me to sit with him, and then had completely ignored me. If this was some kind of game to him, I had no intention of playing. I knew I had developed an attraction to him as soon as I saw him, and it had grown stronger over the week as I talked with him, but I wasn't about to put myself out there to get hurt if all I was to him was just a game.

I left the bathroom and started walking back to the table. As I walked by the bar some guy caught my arm.

I stopped and looked at him questioningly, "Yes?  Can I help you with something?"

He smiled at me,
"I was just wondering if I could buy you a drink?"

I started
to decline, but decided why not. "Uh, sure but only one, I’ve got to drive home in a few."

I sat down at
the bar and ordered a Coke and Rum.

The guy looked at me surprised,
"Wow, most girls go for the girly drinks."

I shrugged my shoulders,
"I'm not most girls."

He grinned at me as the bartender set my drink
in front of me.

"Obviously not. I'm Nick by the way."

"Chloe, nice to meet you Nick."

I took a sip of my drink and winced a little as it burned its way down my throat. I didn't know why I had suddenly gotten so upset over Drake ignoring me, and something strong would take the edge off. Nick and I sat and talked for a while, mainly about my school, my soon to be new job, and just random things. He had informed me he had recently graduated from college and was working at a local advertising agency as their accountant. I was impressed that he had already landed such a great job so soon after graduating. 

As we talked he ordered me another drink,
 then another. The first two I was ok with, but the third one made me nervous. I did have to drive after all, and I told him so.

"I forgot about that,
 I’m really sorry. But you've already had two, and I'm sure they will catch up to you soon, so you might as well enjoy this one too. I'll pay for a cab for you, that way you're safe."

He seemed genuine so I nodde
d, “Alright, that sounds reasonable, but I'm not drinking anymore after this one."

The other two,
 and my beer before, were already starting to make me feel dizzy, and even though Nick seemed like a nice guy, I was not about to get stupid drunk with him. We kept talking and I started to feel like I was floating.  I was laughing at everything he said, even if it wasn't that funny. Somehow his hand had ended up resting on my leg and I hadn't felt the urge to move it.

I turned and glanced around the bar, and caught Drake staring at us with a pissed off look on his face. I waved at him but he didn't return the favor,
 he just kept staring at us.

I turned back around
, suddenly uncomfortable, and looked at Nick, "I think I'd like for you to call me that cab now, it's getting kind of late."

He seemed disappointed but nodded and pulled out his cell phone, calling the cab company. He hung up a minute late
r and stood.

“
They'll be here in a few, I’ll wait outside with you."

I nodded,
"Ok sounds good, let's go."

I stood and started walking toward the door when I remembered I'd left my purse at Drake
’s table.

"Wait I need to grab my purse from my friends table. I'll be right back."

I made my way across the room and walked up to Drakes table, stumbling as I went. I realized I really was drunk.

"Hey,
 I’m heading home. Thanks for inviting me to stay."

Jade smiled and said good night but Drake was glaring at me.

"You are not driving home Chloe, you can barely stand up!”

I fli
nched at the anger in his words, "I'm not driving, Nick called me a cab. It's probably outside waiting by now, so I'll see you later.”

I grabbed my purse and attempted to march across the room before he could say another word. I managed to reach Nick without falling, b
ut just barely. I stumbled into him as we started out the door and he had to grab me and hold me around the waist to steady me as we went.  He kept his arm around my waist as we walked across the parking lot.

"Thanks for tonight,
 I had fun," I barely finished the sentence when I stumbled again. "Maybe too much fun.”

Nick laughed at me as he led me
to a car on the side of the lot, "We can stand over here by my car until the cab gets here."

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, tilting my head up so he could see my face. Before I knew what was happening he leaned down and kissed me roughly. I tried to push him away, but he was stronger than me and I couldn't get him to let go.

"Stop!” I yelled into his mouth, but he only laughed and pushed me up against his car.

His hands started traveling down my body and he reached behind me,
 grabbing my ass. I started to cry as I tried to shove him again.

"Please stop. Please,
" I begged him, but he ignored my pleas.

This could not be happening to me
, not again. I could not be standing in a bar parking lot being molested by some nice man I had just met.

"Just shut up.
  You know you want this."

He grabbed my hips and pulled me away just enough that he could get his hands
to the front of my pants. He held me against the car with his body and put one hand over my mouth as he started undoing the buttons. I was sobbing uncontrollably and still trying to push him off, but the alcohol had made me fuzzy. I knew what was going to happen, and I wanted to die before he touched me. I made one last attempt to break free when suddenly he was pulled off of me. I slid down the side of his car to the ground as I watched someone holding him to the ground, punching him in the face over and over.

"You stupid fucking asshole
!  I'll fucking kill you if you ever come near her again."

My heart rate increased
as I realized Drake was my savior. Nick was attempting to fight back, but I could tell he was no match for Drake. Drake straddled him, keeping him pinned to the ground as he sent blow after blow down onto Nick’s face. After what seemed like hours, he gave Nick one last punch, knocking him out, and stood up. He turned to me and approached me slowly, as if he was afraid I was going to run.

"Chloe,
 it’s me, Drake. Are you alright sweetheart?"

I nodded as he finally reached me and sat down next to me, pulling
me into his arms as I realized I was still sobbing uncontrollably. 

He just sat there and held me as I soaked his shirt with my tears until my sobs started to subside.
 Even after I stopped crying, I leaned into him, unwilling to move away from the safety his arms provided. 

"Chloe we need to call the cops before he comes to,
 which I'm assuming will be soon."

I looked over to Nick on the ground and a chill went up my spi
ne. The police would be called, I'd have to press charges, tell my whole story to a bunch of cops, stand in a court room and be berated by some attorney.  I didn't have it in me to go through all of that, to have other people see how vulnerable I'd made myself. I just couldn't do it.

I look
ed up and him and shook my head, "No, I can’t do it. I just want to go home. We were both drinking and I'm sure he wouldn't have done it otherwise."

Drake looked like I'd smacked him across the face.
“Are you kidding me right now?  That piece of shit tried to rape you. Drinking or not, it doesn't matter, what he did was wrong."

I couldn't stand
to look at his face and see the disappointment. I lowered my gaze as I shook my head again, "No, I’m not doing it. I just want to go home. I'm calling a taxi and leaving before he wakes up."

I grabbed my
cell phone out of my pocket and started searching for the nearest taxi service.

"You're really serious aren't you?"

I glanced up at him and saw the anger radiating from his eyes. "Yes I am."

I started dialing the number when he grabbed my phone from my hand.

"Well you're not going home by yourself.  I live right around the corner; you can stay with me tonight.”

Before Nick I would have been practically jumping up and down to have this opportunity, but now I refused to go with him. I felt so much shame because he knew what had almost happened to
 me. Underneath that, I felt fear. Even though he had saved me, he was a male as well and I didn't even really know him all that well.

"No thank you. I would rather just go home. I'm not feeling as drunk, but my head’s starting to throb and I just want to go to bed."

He stepped forward, grabbed my arm, and all but started dragging me across the lot.

"Well I'm not taking no for an answer. You shouldn't be alone after what happened tonight. You can go to my house and sleep in my bed."

I jerked my arm from his grasp, "I'm NOT sleeping with you."

He si
ghed and turned back toward me, "I know you're not sleeping with me. You can have my bed, I’ll take the couch."
 

Chapter Seven

Welcome Home

Drake finally convinced me to go with him after much kicking and screaming on my part. As we pulled up to a house just a block away, I realized he wasn't kidding about living right around the corner.

"Why do you even drive?
  You could walk faster.”

He grinned, th
e first one I'd seen since Nick, “I could, but then I wouldn't be able to show my car off to the ladies."

I rolled my eyes as I stepped out of the car and toward the house. It looked small from the outside
, and as far as I could tell in the dim lighting on the street, it was either light blue or gray. He unlocked the door and held it open for me as I stepped inside. He flipped the light on as he closed the door behind us, revealing a small entryway that sat between a kitchen and a living room. A hallway led into darkness across from me, where I could only assume the bathroom and bedroom were. He hung his jacket next to the door and headed into the kitchen.

"Do
you want something to drink?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Um, no I'm fine,
" I replied as I inspected his kitchen. It wasn't huge but it wasn't tiny either and while the appliances weren't brand new, they were nice.

"Do you own this place?"

He shook his head, "Nah, I rent off my Uncle Jack. He's currently deployed overseas so I'm living here by myself until he gets back, probably another year or so."