Torn (Torn Series) (21 page)

Since he had to work tonight, we had spent the previous evening together exchanging gifts and saying our goodbyes. I bought him a new video game that he had been eyeing every time we went out for the past month and he bought me a gift card for Amazon so that I could buy more books for my Kindle that Emma had given to me for Christmas last year. After he managed to beat almost half his game in two hours, we spent the rest of the evening cuddled up together before saying our farewells.

I decided to go to bed early since we were leaving at dawn, but after an hour of tossing and turning with sleep nowhere in sight, I got dressed and grabbed my keys. I drove around Morgantown and the surrounding area before finding myself taking the same exit Drake had taken that night that felt like so many years ago now. I passed the hidden road twice before finally spotting it.

I drove for what seemed like hours and began to wonder if I had somehow gotten turned around when I entered the clearing. Parking in the same spot Drake had, I got out and my way to the edge of the bank. I felt that sense of peace I had before as I watched the water gently and churn. I looked around and noticed a small path that led to the water’s edge and made my way down carefully, slipping and sliding as I went.

When I finally reached the water, I sat on a rotting log and took my shoes off, dipping my feet in the water. Winter was fast approaching and the night was cold, the water freezing. I pulled my jacket tighter around me as I let the water dumb my feet and my thoughts. It felt nice to just let everything go for a while, to not have the dark cloud of regret and guilt hovering just over my head like a storm cloud.

The worst part of it was that while I felt regret over hurting Logan, I didn’t feel the regret I should about actually sleeping with Drake. Despite the horrible ending, the night had been one of the best I could remember in my life and despite everything that was
happening, I would do it all over again. I shivered as I remembered the way Drake’s body had felt against mine, and desire began pooling at my center.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts as I stood and pulled my pants legs up. I waded into the frigid water until it was up to my knees, then to my waist, completely soaking the pants I had just rolled up. I took another step just as someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me out. I screamed into the night, slicing through the silence.

“What the fuck are you doing, trying to get pneumonia?”

I felt my knees give way and I fell to the ground in a heap as I was released. I looked up to see Drake standing above me, looking angry. I tried to stand, but I was shivering too hard and I fell back to the ground. “
Whaaa.. What are yoooou doooing here?” I tried to ask as my body convulsed with chills.

He bent down and scooped me up into his arms before carrying me up the hill. He sat me on his still warm hood as he opened his trunk and pulled out a blanket and a bag.

“Jesus Christ Chloe, you’re fucking freezing,” he growled as he threw the blanket over me and started taking things out of the bag until he found what he was looking for. He grabbed a pair of sweat pants out and handed them to me. “You need to change, put these on.” 

“
Fiiiiine, but tuuurn arounnnd.”

He rolled his eyes but turned to give me privacy as I slipped off the hood and started fighting with the buttons on my soaked pants. My fingers were numb and I was shaking too hard to make any progress. I sighed as I turned to him, dreading asking him for help. “Can you
heeelp meee?”

He turned to me and had my pants off in seconds before helping me into his. They were far too big for me, but I instantly felt warmer. He grabbed me and the blanket and threw us in the front seat of his car before getting in himself and starting it, turning the heat up as high as it would go. I pointed the vents to me and held my hands over them as I felt the warmth start flowing through my body. We sat in silence for several minutes until I was warm enough to function properly.

“Want to tell me what you were doing out there besides trying to freeze yourself to death?”

I stared at my hands but didn’t respond. Now that I could think again, I wanted to be anywhere but in this car with him. Being this close to him was physically painful and my chest began to hurt. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to hold myself together as I felt him staring at me. I would not fall apart in front of this man, I couldn’t. Besides saving me from my own stupidity, he didn’t care about me and I wasn’t going to let him see how bad I was hurting because of him.

He sighed and I glanced over at him as he ran his hands through his hair, something I had noticed he did when he was agitated or upset, “Are we ever going to talk about this?”

I shook my head as I stared out at the water in front of us.

“Damn it Chloe, fucking talk to me! Why were you here? Why were you out in the water like that?”

I took a deep breath before turning to him. “I just wanted to find peace. I walked out there because I wanted to be numb, I didn’t want to feel, even just for a little while.”

“You could have found a better way than that to do it. Besides, you shouldn’t be out here alone this late at night, anyone could have stumbled across you and you would have been defenseless against them.”

“I can take care of
myself, I have been for a long time.”

“What are you running from Chloe?”

I felt tears slip down my cheeks as I turned to look at him, “You. I’m running from you, and I can’t even escape you here.”

I threw the blanket at him and was out of the car in a flash. I heard him shouting my name as I ran to my car, but I peeled out of the clearing before he could reach me. I’d never find the peace I was looking for, not even here.

             
Amber and I were on our way back to Charleston before dawn the next morning. I remained quiet the first part of the ride as I thought about last night. Seeing Drake had been a shock to my already fragile heart. I realized that even though I hated him, I still cared about him so much that it hurt. Having my heart out there for him to crush made me feel vulnerable and that vulnerability scared me more than the feelings I had for him.

Amber seemed to blame my quietness on the early morning hours and left me alone as the miles slipped away in silence. We stopped at the half way point to grab something to eat, use the restroom, and fill the car back up with gas. My mood was greatly improved when we went to the restroom. Amber refused to ever sit on any public toilet seat, especially one as disgusting as this one was. The walls were covered with stains that I didn’t even want to contemplate and the stalls were covered in more graffiti than a train car.

She was in the stall beside me holding onto the walls like a monkey when I heard a commotion followed by a splash and a few choice words. I stifled my laughter as the curses continued.

“Do I even want to know?”

“Shut up! I just fell in this God awful bacteria infested toilet! I think I’m going to vomit!”

I couldn’t contain my laughter as she came out of the stall, the back of her T-shirt soaking wet. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I bent over clutching my stomach. “Oh my God Amber, I’m dying right now. I. Can’t. Breathe!” I managed to gasp out between fits of laughter.

Amber shot me a death glare as she washed her hands and walked back to the car. She pulled a shirt out of one her bags in the backseat cursing as she went. She took her shirt off right in the parking lot and threw the clean one on.

“I need a shower pronto.”

I was still chuckling as we made our way up the entrance ramp and into the congested traffic. I pulled one of my favorite CD’s out and threw it into the stereo. We spent the rest of the drive head banging and singing off key.

Emma ran out to meet us as soon as we pulled into the driveway, Dave right behind her. She grabbed us as soon as we were out of the car and pulled us into a rib crushing hug.
“My babies!”

I laughed as I pulled away and rubbed my now tender ribs. “I missed you too
Em.”

She kissed my cheek as Dave started grabbing our bags and taking them into the house. I grabbed a few to help him and made my way up the sidewalk to the massive house. Although I had pretty much lived here during my high school years, I was still dazzled by the size and beauty of their home.

It was a two story colonial red brick home with white windows and trimmings. Two large white pillars sat in front to support the roof of the massive porch that had several hanging baskets of flowers spaced across it. The yard and flower garden in front were well tended. Around the back of the house, I knew there was a full tennis court and an in ground pool that took up most of the space. 

Emma was an emergency physician at the local hospital while Dave ran his own law firm. Needless to say they were rolling in the dough, but for all the grandeur of their home, I had never met two people who were more down to Earth. I stepped into the spacious marble floored foyer and glanced around to see if anything had changed. Everything remained the same, except for a few pictures hanging on the wall that Amber had sent home of us at college. My heart clenched at the one of me standing between Drake and Logan at the bar one night, all of us smiling and happy.

To my left was the kitchen, where Emma was making sandwiches for us.  It was bright and cheery, designed with beautiful pastel colors and white tiled floors, the appliances all black and state of the art. The dining room opened up across from it. A polished oak table sat directly in the center of the room, large enough to sit ten guests.

To my right was the living room. The leather couch sat against the far wall, facing a massive seventy-two inch television and an impressive sound system. There were several chairs spaced throughout the rest of the room, all matching the couch. Directly in front of me was the staircase leading up to our rooms.

I sat my bags down by the door as Amber walked in and we made a mad rush for the sandwiches Emma was holding out to us. We sat and all but inhaled our sandwiches as Emma smiled at us and yelled for us to slow down. After draining the glass of water she handed me, I grabbed my bags and lugged them up the stairs to my room. I spent the next half hour unpacking everything before stretching across the bed to relax. My eyelids fluttered shut and I slept.

             
I woke to the feel of someone gently rubbing my hip as soft lips made butterfly kisses down my neck. I opened my eyes and sat up to see Drake standing above me with a sexy smirk on his full lips. I glanced around the room and confirmed that I was still at Emma and Dave’s house before turning my attention back to him. “Drake? What are you doing here?”

He pressed a finger over my lips as he bent down and started nibbling on my ear, “
Shhhh. That’s not important. I’m here, that’s what matters.”

I fell against the pillow as he moved onto the bed and straddled me. His mouth took mine in a hungry kiss and I felt myself already growing wet. I ran my hands down his back and realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt. My nails ran across his naked flesh as  he pulled my shirt and bra off, and started kissing a trail down my neck, to my collar bone, and finally to my breasts. He ran his tongue around the outside of my nipples, but never actually touching them. This drove me mad with desire and I tried shoving his head down.

He chuckled as he pulled back slightly, “No need to be so impatient, we have all night.”

I moaned as he suddenly sucked my nipple into his mouth and started nibbling on it, “That feels so good.”

My hands went to his head and I ran my fingers through his soft hair as he switched and started giving my other breast the same attention. He released it with a pop and started kissing down my stomach to the top of my jeans. He undid the snaps and ran his tongue underneath of them, making me shudder in delight before pulling them down my hips and off of me. His shorts quickly joined them in the growing pill of clothes on the floor.

I groaned as I felt a finger, then two, slip inside my heat. He began pushing them in and out in a fast rhythm as his thumb found my clit and started making slow circles around it. My breath turned to gasps as he finger fucked me and I felt myself go crashing over the edge, calling out his name. My breathing was still ragged when I came down from my high and I smiled at him. “You’re so good with your hands, and not just with a guitar.”

He laughed as he started kissing up my body. “And you’re always so responsive, you have no idea what a turn on that is.”

I smiled as I rolled him onto his back and began running my hands across his stomach and chest. I felt him shudder when I gently tugged on his nipple rings. “Does that feel good?”

“You have no idea.”

I grinned as I bent down and ran my tongue up the hard ridges of his stomach to his nipple and began making small circles around it before flicking it with my tongue. I turned my attention to the other one as I ran my fingertips down his stomach to grip him. I began stroking him gently and he groaned. “Suck me.”

I shook my head as I continued to stroke him.,“Not until you ask nicely.” I gripped him harder and his body arched off the bed.

“Chloe, you don’t want to test me.”

I leaned down and swiped my tongue across the head, “You don’t want to test me. Now, ask nicely.”

He groaned, this time in aggravation before speaking. “Chloe will you please suck me?” His tone was sarcastic but I obliged, sliding my mouth slowly over him until the tip was touching the back of my throat.