Torn (Torn Series) (12 page)

He cleared his throat and my eyes shot up to his. They were sparkling with mischief and I knew I had been caught.

“What are you looking at Chloe?’

I glanced down at my plate before meeting his gaze again. I gestured to his chest
first, then to his face at the piercings in his eyebrow and lip.

“Those piercings you have, they
had to hurt.”

“I’d be lying if I said they didn’t hurt like a bitch
, especially the ones in my nipples, but it attracts the girls, so in my opinion, they were totally worth it.”

“You really only think with one part of your anatomy don’t you?”

His eyes brightened and he threw that sexy smirk at me, “Always.”

We ate in silence fo
r a few minutes before he spoke, “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You ignored me before when I asked if you had anything else pierced besides your belly button that I should know about. So do you have any hidden piercings?”

I coughed into my orange juice as I noticed his eyes dropping to my chest.

“No, definitely not. I like being able to walk through metal detectors, thanks.”

“What about ink? Surely you have something hidden away?”

I shook my head, “No, but I’d love to get a tattoo, I just don’t think I’m brave enough. I don’t handle pain well.”

He rolled his eyes,
“What a baby! The pain isn’t even that bad, I was dozing off when I got this.”

He pointed to his back. I stood and made my way around the table to stand behind him. The tattoo
s I had seen peeking out from under his sleeves were actually one large tattoo that extended from his upper arm, across his upper back, and down his other arm, stopping just above his elbows on both arms. I traced my finger over it and felt him tense. It was some type of abstract tribal tattoo with the initials D and L right at the center.

“Why did you get this?”

He shrugged his shoulders as I pulled my hand back and made my way back to my chair.

“I just felt like I needed something to impress the ladies with. I mean who’s in a rock band and doesn’t have tattoos?”

He seemed uncomfortable and I was sure he was lying to me, but I let it go. He was entitled to his secrets, and I wasn’t about to push him. I glanced back up at him and noticed he was staring at me.

“What?”

He shook his head, “Nothing, just wondering if you have anything picked out if you ever man up and get one.”

My insides clenched and I debated on telling him the truth. He had, after all, just lied to me. Deciding it wouldn’t really be telling him anything, I nodded.

“Nunquam Amavit.”

It came out as a whisper and I quickly stood and took our plates to the sink, hoping to avoid his questions. I felt him come up behind me and place the glasses in the sink with the plates. His body radiated heat and I shivered at the sensation.

He leaned down and I could feel his breath on my neck.

“What does it mean?”

My stomach dropped at the question and I closed my eyes to regain my composure.

“Never loved.” I whispered.

I picked up a plate and started scrubbing as I prayed he’d leave it at that. As always, my luck was shit.

“Care to explain that to me?”

I shook my head and continued t
o scrub the already clean plate. “It’s nothing really, I’ve had a shit life, but it’s not something I broadcast.”

He grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face him slowly. His fingers went under my chin and he pulled my face up to look at him.

“You know I’m here for you right? Just like Amber and Logan, you’re my friend and you can talk to me.”

I nodded
my head as tears filled my eyes, “Thanks Drake, that means a lot to me. I don’t really talk about it, but let’s just say my mother won’t be getting parent of the year anytime soon.”

He pulled me into his chest and hug
ged me tight, “I understand. Like I said, if and when you’re ready to talk about it with me, I’m here for you.”

“I know. It’s just complicated and really boring. Anyway, I better head home before Rachel sends out a search party for me. I never sleep anywhere besides our room and I’m sure she’s freaking out.”

I pulled away from him and made my way back to his bedroom to gather my stuff. After I had everything together I turned to leave and noticed him standing in the bedroom doorway.

“Listen, about last n
ight…” he started but I interrupted.

“I know what you’re going to say, and seriously,
it’s fine. I was drunk and had a lot of stuff going through my head after everything at the bar. I know you don’t feel that way, you don’t have to lie, so let’s just forget about it and go back to how we were before my stupidity took over.”

He looked down at the pink carpet and nodded,
“Ok, yeah. I’ll try to forget you threw yourself at me like the skank you are.”

I laughed at his teasing and walked across the room to punch him in
the arm.

“Good to know where we
stand little man whore.”

He looked up at me and grinned,
“Now that we’ve got that settled I’m kicking your ass out,” he motioned toward the door, “Hop to it, I’ve got things to do.”

I glared at him as I stomped past him and to the door. I flipped him off as I opened it and threw a “Later douchebag!” over my shoulder. I grinned as I made my way down his sidewalk and toward the bar, where my car was still parked.

Chapter Eight

Surprises

I barely remembered driving back to the dorm and walking up to my room as thoughts of Drake and everything that happened in the last twenty four hours swirled around inside my head. I had come so close to being raped it wasn’t funny. If he hadn’t followed us outside, my night and my life would have changed drastically. I would be forever thankful to him for what he had done, and I promised myself to never drink by myself with someone I didn’t know again.

A chill went down my spine as I thought of what Nick had done to me and
I felt vomit rise in my throat. I suppressed a shudder and vowed to never let Amber, Rachel, and especially Logan, know what had happened. Drake had promised to keep it between us and I believed him. All I had to do was push it to the back of my head and pretend it was just a nightmare.

I straightened my back and plastered a smile on my face as I opened the door. As soon as I walked through Rachel jumped from her bed and tackled me.

“Oh thank heavens! Where the hell have you been and why didn’t you answer your phone?”

I managed to push he
r off and smiled apologetically, “Sorry, my phone died and I didn’t have a charger. I went to Starbucks and ended up stopping at the bar Drake was playing at. I got completely trashed and Drake lives like a block away from the bar, so he took me to his place to crash.”

Her eyes popped at the mention of
me staying with Drake all night, “Drake? As in the Drake of Breaking the Hunger?”

I nodded.

“You spent the night with Mr. Hot and Badass himself?” she squealed a bit before continuing, “What happened? Did you bump uglies with him? Please, for the love of all things holy, tell me you did.”

I walked over to my bed and flop
ped down before laughing at her, “Sorry, no bumping uglies with him. He was a perfect gentleman. Besides, we are just friends.”

She sighed dramatically,
“After all the worrying you could have at least brought home a juicy story.”

My mind instantly flipped to Nick and my stomach dropped.

“Sorry nothing even remotely juicy.”

I pulled my phone out of my bag and plugged it into my charger before powering it on. I had several voicemails and over twenty texts. I clicked on the texts and saw most of them were from Logan.

Rachel peeked over my shoulder, “Oh yeah, you might want to call Logan and Amber. They are freaking out as well.”

I glared at her,
“You called Logan? You knew he would freak out!”

“Can you blame me? I come home and you’re gone. You leave a note about going to Starbucks, which is like twenty minutes round trip, but you never come home. I called him and
Amber to see if you were with them. Now call him before he starts busting heads around campus, you and I both know he’ll do it.”

             
I quickly dialed Logan’s number and he answered on the first ring.

“Chloe? Are you ok? Where are you?”

“I’m fine Logan, calm down. My phone went dead, but I’m home now. I was with Drake last night.”

Silence followed for several moments before Logan finally responded, “With Drake?” His voice was deathly quiet.

“Yeah, I drank too much and he helped me out.”

I could almost hear the wheels turning in Logan’s head. He stayed silent for a moment again before speaking, “I’ll be at your place in ten.”

Before I could respond, he had already hung up on me.

“Awesome. Just awesome,” I fell back onto my bed and looked at Rachel, “He’s coming over in a few minutes. This should be pleasant.”

Rachel had the
decency to at least look guilty, “Sorry chick. I’m going to head out so you two can talk. I see lots of yelling in your future, so I’m out.”

She grabbed her keys and shot out the door faster than I had ever seen her move.

“Traitor,” I mumbled under my breath.

             
Just a few minutes after Rachel made her escape a loud knock sounded on my door. I knew it had to be Logan, so I yelled from the bed for him to come in. As soon as he entered the room I knew I was in trouble. He slammed the door behind him and stomped over to my bed.

“What the fuck were you thinking Chloe? Out drinking by yourself with some guy you barely know? And the
n staying the night with him?” he yelled loud enough to make me jump.

Instantly, I got angry too.

“First off, I am a big girl Logan! I can damn well take care of myself, I have been for years. You have absolutely no right to tell me what to do. We talked about you being overprotective before and you promised to try to control it! If I want to go get drunk and prance around naked with half the men on campus, you would have no say in it!”

Obviously this was the wrong thing to say, because his face turned bright red and his eyes grew cold.

“So that’s what you were doing with him? Prancing around naked as you put it?” His voice was deathly quiet and I had never seen him so mad at me.

I decided bein
g nice might help my case a bit.

“Listen Logan, I know you were worried, but you have got to get ove
r this whole overprotective thing. I definitely did not get naked with him, he is my friend, just like you are.”

I felt bad about lying to him, but if he knew I was secretly crushing on Drake it would only make things worse.

Logan’s face twisted like he was in pain, but he remained silent.

I stood up from the
bed and reached over to hug him
, “I’m sorry I made you worry ok? I love you more than life itself Logan, and I don’t want to fight with you. Please don’t be mad at me.” I looked up at him and gave him my best innocent face.

His lips
twitched and his eyes softened, “Don’t use that face on me Chloe Marie, you know I can’t handle it.”

I grinned and lea
ned up to kiss him on the cheek, “That was the plan big man. Now come on, let’s go get some lunch. Besides, I need to call Amber and let her know I’m still alive.”

He frowned down at me
as he followed me out the door, “Not even remotely funny.”

             
After a quick call to Amber letting her know I was ok, and promising lots of details when Logan wasn’t around, we went to a local Mexican place for lunch. Logan seemed to be back to his normal self as lunch went on and I was glad. Logan and I rarely fought, and I hated it when we did. Without him, my life would have been ten times worse.

We finished up our lunch and went back to his room to work on a few a
ssignments for class. Logan sat down on his bed and I took the desk next to it as I opened my book. Every time I glanced up at Logan, he would be watching me with a strange look on his face.

“
What’s that look for?” I asked after I caught him doing it the third time.

He shook his head, as if to clea
r his thoughts and smiled at me, “Nothing, just thinking how glad I am you’re ok.”

I smiled back at him and went back to reading the chapter that had been assigned. Instead of seeing the words on the page, Drake’s face flashed in front of my eyes. Kissing him had been an experience in itself. He had told me he wanted me, but if he was telling me the truth, he could
have had his way with me last night. Instead, he had pushed me away. I had never been the girl to chase a guy, not that I had noticed any that sparked my interest before him to begin with, and I wasn’t about to start now. I just had to accept the fact that we would always just be friends, even if that really sucked in my opinion.