Torn (Torn Series) (19 page)

             
After breakfast, Logan and I spent the morning out shopping at the local mall and watching a movie. We stopped by my work on our way home to grab some coffee. When Vanessa saw us, her eyes widened as she took a long look at Logan. “Who’s your friend Chloe, and where have you been hiding him?”

Logan’s face broke out in a huge smile as I introduced him as my boyfriend. 

“What the hell woman? You’re friends with Drake and now you come walking in here with this guy? I think I officially hate you.”

I laughed as we paid for our drinks and left.

We went back to Logan’s room and spent the rest of the day in bed together, cuddling and kissing. I could tell Logan wanted more, but he didn’t push and I appreciated his thoughtfulness. I told him so as we lay tangled in his sheets.

“I won’t push you Chloe, you know that. Last night was amazing, but I understand why you’re holding back.” He kissed my head as I snuggled deeper into his chest and slept.

              Logan and I walked into class the next morning together, holding hands. He slapped Drake on the back as he took his seat. “Morning Drake, beautiful day isn’t it?” He pulled me to him and kissed me full on the lips.

I felt my face warm as I looked over at Drake, who was staring at us with cold indifference.

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

I pulled my eyes away from him and cornered Logan with a glare.

“What?” he asked with an innocent smile.

“You know, if you wanted to mark your territory, all you had to do was pee on my leg.”

He laughed as he leaned back in his chair, “Good idea, I’ll have to remember that for next time.”

I rolled my eyes as I started pulling things out of my bag. Drake ignored us for the rest of class, and disappeared as soon as class ended. He was nowhere to be seen at lunch either. By the time I arrived at work that evening, I was getting seriously pissed at him for ignoring me. If he didn’t want anything to do with me, that was fine. But he didn’t have to be a jerk about it. My night quickly went from bad to worse. I was so focused on being mad at
Drake, I constantly messed up drink orders until Vanessa forced me to run register.

“What is wrong with you tonight?” she asked as I threw yet another messed up order in the garbage and walked up to the register to start taking orders.

“Nothing.”

She waited until I finished punching in a customer’s order before starting in on me again. “Obviously something is bothering you since you’ve destroyed every drink you’ve made tonight and you almost broke the register you were pushing buttons so hard.”

“Honest, it’s nothing. Just a bad day.”

She rolled her eyes but let it go. I managed to get through the rest of the night without breaking the machine or ripping any annoying customer’s heads off and breathed a sigh of relief as we closed up and I walked to my car. My relief was short lived when I saw someone leaning against my car. I approached slowly and pulled a can of pepper spray out of my bag. “Can I help you?”

My body relaxed as the figure turned and I saw it was Drake. He grinned as I approached and leaned back onto my door.

“You scared the fuck out of me!” I yelled as I reached the car.

He glanced down at the pepper spray in my hand and smirked, “Were you really going to pepper spray me?”

“It crossed my mind. Now move or I will,” I said as I tried to shove him away from my door. He refused to budge.

“What’s got your panties in a bunch tonight? Trouble in paradise already?”

“No, not that it’s any of your business, now move!” He just gave me a smile, not moving an inch. I threw my hands in the air, “Why are you here?”

“Can’t I just come visit you at work?”

I glanced at my phone, “You do realize it’s after midnight and we’re standing in a dark parking lot right?”

“Come with me, I want to go for a drive.”

I shook my head. “I need to get home, just tell me what you want.”

He pushed himself off my car to stand in front of me, lifting his hand to brush it down my cheek, “Please?”

I sucked in a ragged breath at the contact and stepped away, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“I’ll keep my hands to myself, promise.”

I bit my lip as I debated. Finally, I nodded and we made our way across the lot to his car. We were silent as he drove down the
Mileground and merged onto the interstate.

“Where are we going?” I asked as we weaved through traffic.

“Someplace I go when I need to think, or to write music, depending on my mood.”

I stayed silent as he took an exit and pulled onto a side road I hadn’t even noticed. After a few minutes of silence I glanced over at him. “I thought we already had this discussion. I do not want to go deep into the West Virginia wilderness to be murdered.”

He grinned, “I’m not going to murder you, we’ll be there in a minute.”

The trees began to thin until they opened up into a clearing. He pulled up to an embankment and shut off the car. My breath caught as I started out at a lake in front of us. “Where are we?”

He got out of the car and grabbed a blanket out of the backseat, throwing it over the hood of the car. He jumped up on the hood and turned to grin at me. “This is my secret place and this,” he gestured at the water in front of me, “is the Cheat Lake. Now get out here.”

I stepped out of the car and sat down next to him. “It’s beautiful.”

And it was. The moon was shining brightly, reflecting off the surface. There weren’t any lights for miles around and the whole scene brought about a sense of peace in me. I scooted up so I could rest my back on the windshield and looked at him as he spoke. “Yeah it is. I like to just come out here and get away from everything.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes, both enjoying the view and the peace that came with it. “Why did you bring me out here Drake?” I asked softly.

He turned to me and gave me a small smile, “I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep and I decided to come out here. How I ended up in that parking lot I’ll never know.”

I reached over and gave his hand a small squeeze before pulling away. “Why did you ignore me all day? And don’t say you didn’t, I know when someone is purposely avoiding me.”

He slid back and settled down next to me, staring up at the moon. The ring in his lip caught the moonlight and I had to force myself to look away from his full lips.

“I was avoiding you, I won’t lie.”

I sat in silence as I waited for him to continue.

“You threw me for a loop yesterday morning. I told you to be with Logan, but I didn’t think you’d dive into it like that.”

I sat up and glared at him, “So you’re avoiding me because I had sex with someone? That’s just stupid, if our roles were reversed, I’d never be able to talk to you again with all the women you’re with.”

“You’re different. I have no morals, you’re better than that.”

“So now I’m a slut for sleeping with one guy? You’re such a fucking hypocrite!”

I started to slide down the hood to get away from him, but he caught my arm and pulled me back. “That’s not what I meant. I know you’re not a slut, I just didn’t expect you to go have sex with someone without even being in a relationship with them.”

I sat fuming, speechless.

“Don’t be mad at me
Chloe, I’m just looking out for you.”

“I’m not mad Drake, I’m livid. None of this is your business so I wish you’d just butt out!”

He sat up as he grabbed my face and pulled me to him, our noses almost touching. “You’ll always me my business Chloe, I care a lot about you.” He released me and slumped back down against the windshield as I sat speechless, staring at him. “So are you guys together now or was it just a one-time thing?”

I smacked him in the stomach and he laughed.

“What? I’m just asking.”

“Yeah, we’re together now.”

He nodded as he turned his attention back to the water, “I’m happy for you then,” he sat up and slid down the hood, holding his hand out to me, “I’d better get you home, it’s late.”

I took his hand and let him help me down. Once I was safely on the ground, he released me and grabbed the blanket. He threw it in the backseat as I opened my door and slid silently into the car. Drake got in and started the car, taking us back to the interstate and my car. We were still silent as he pulled his car next to mine.

I glanced back at him as I opened the door, “We good?”

He gave me a sad smile, “Yeah Chloe, we’re good.”

I turned and pulled him into a tight hug, shocking him. He was stiff at first, but he relaxed and hugged me back. “I’m glad Drake. You’re important to me and I don’t want to lose you.”

He kissed me lightly on the cheek as I pulled away and got out. “You won’t lose me Chloe. I’ll see you tomorrow ok?”

I smiled as I got in my car and drove home, feeling lighter than I had all day.

Chapter Fourteen

The Greatest Mistake

             
The next couple months seemed to pass in a blur as I fell into a frenzied routine of work and school. The classes were getting harder the closer we got to midterms, and I spent most of my free time working on assignments or studying. Anytime I wasn’t doing any of the above, I spent my time with Logan, Amber, Rachel, and Drake.

After the night out at the lake, Drake and I had fallen back in our easy friendship, often seeing who could annoy the other one the most. The whole gang would always make it to Drake’s performances every Friday night at Gold’s and it quickly became our favorite hangout spot. Jade and the guys fit right in with us instantly, and would join our table after their performances more often than not.

Amber and Alex broke up a couple weeks after their first date, and I noticed her watching Adam closely on more than one occasion. This worried me, seeing as he was a bigger player than Drake if that was possible. She didn’t need another broken heart. The groupies continued to flock to our table and I tried not to let it bother me, but it did, especially on the nights I had to watch Drake leave with one or even sometimes two of them.

Logan and I spent most of our evenings in his bed studying or cuddling and I was happy with how things were progressing between us. We still hadn’t had sex again and I started to feel guilty, but I pushed the thoughts aside. When I felt comfortable, we would.
Preferably when I was sober. The only thing that was bothering me about him was his overly affectionate tendencies when Drake was around. When we were with him, I could barely keep his hands off of me. Drake didn’t say anything about it, but I would catch him watching us with an angry or annoyed look on his face.

             
Drake and I had made plans to study together the evening before a huge test that counted for a quarter of our grade. Logan hadn’t seemed happy with the idea, but he grudgingly agreed after I told him, yet again, that he had nothing to worry about. He even seemed relaxed about it after he had made a big show of kissing me breathless at lunch in front of Drake before leaving.

             
I sighed as I pulled in front of Drake’s house, thinking about the spectacle he had made. I pushed the thought back as I knocked on Drake’s door and let myself in.

“Hello?
Anybody home?” I yelled. There was no response, but I heard Hellyeah blaring from the stereo in his bedroom. I walked quietly to his door and knocked, afraid of what I’d see when I opened it. No response came, so I pushed the door open slightly, peering through the crack. I felt a rush of relief as I saw Drake on his bed alone. I pushed the door open and walked in.

He was lying on the bed in just his boxers with his eyes closed and I took a moment to just stare at his body. The muscles in his arms and stomach were hard and defined; he was pure male perfection and I felt myself become aroused at just the sight of him. Pulling
myself out my lust filled trance, I walked over to him and poked him in the stomach. His body jerked as his eyes flew open and he came up swinging. I quickly backed away, barely missing a fist to the face. He caught sight of me and stopped.

“Jesus Christ woman, don’t fucking sneak up on me,” he yelled as he sat up and turned the music down to a low hum.

“Sorry, I knocked and yelled.”

He rose from the bed and moved past me to the living room, still in his boxers. “It’s a good way to get
yourself knocked out. Don’t do it again.”

I glared at him, “Don’t give me attitude; you knew I was coming over tonight. It’s not my fault you had the music loud enough to drown out a train if it came barreling through your house.”

He sat down on the couch, “Whatever, let’s get this over with.”

I sat down in the chair across from him, “What’s with the attitude?”

“I don’t have an attitude, I just want to get this shit out of the way.”

I rolled my eyes as he opened the book and looked at me, “Fine by me, but can you put some clothes on first?”

He grinned for the first time since I entered the house. “Why, is it going to be a distraction for you?”