Torn (Torn Series) (13 page)

I pushed Drake from my mind and went back to my reading. I only made it a few pages before my eyes grew heavy, and I decided to lay my head down for just a minute to rest. The next thing I knew, I felt myself being lifted from my chair. I peeked through my eyelids and saw Logan carrying me.

“What are you doing?” I mumbled, still half asleep.

“
Shhhh. I’m going to lay you down for a little bit so you can rest.”

He sat
down in the bed with me curled up into him. I snuggled closer and enjoyed his warmth, and his strong Logan scent. No one in this world could make me feel as safe as Logan did, although Drake was a close second. The last thing I remember before drifting off was Logan kissing my forehead and pulling me tighter against him.

             
I woke up groggy and disoriented. I felt someone pressed up against me and my heart started beating faster. I glanced over and saw Logan sleeping peacefully beside me. At the sight of him, my heart slowed down and my body relaxed. I watched him sleeping for a few minutes and smiled to myself, enjoying seeing Logan relaxed and peaceful. He was always wound so tight when he was awake, it was nice to see a different side to him.

I glanced at the clock on his night table and groaned. It was after midnight and I was in a male student’s bed. If his roommate came home or anyone else caught us, we’d both be in some
serious trouble. Even if this was a co-ed dorm, they had stressed to all of us that there was to be no fraternizing with the opposite sex. I tried to slide out from under him, but our legs had become tangled as we slept.

I was afraid to wake him, but I knew I had to leave, so I slowly slid his arm off me and sat up. Moving his legs were a lot harder and he groaned in his sleep before throwing his arm around my waist and pulling me back down. I sighed and pushed him back off me. Thankfully he rolled to his side, and I was free.

I stood slowly and started throwing my books into my bag as quietly as I could. Once I had all my stuff gathered up, I made my way back over to him and kissed his forehead.

He moan
ed in his sleep and then smiled, “Love you my Chloe. So much.”

I frowned
at his words now that I understood the true meaning behind them as I made my way out of his room and back to my own.

I groaned and rolled over as my phone rang from the table beside me. I grabbed it and saw Amber was calling me.

“This had better be good, it’s not even noon yet on a Sunday and I’m awake.”

Amber laughed in my ear at my grouchiness, “Well aren’t you a ball of sunshine this morning? Get dressed and meet me at that little coffee shop we saw just off campus, I want to tell you all about my date! And I want to hear everything you’ve been avoiding telling me about Drake. Twenty minutes bitch!”

She hung before I could tell her she was insane. A Drake interrogation was not something I wanted to wake up to, especially when it was coming from Amber. My phone
rang again as I stood up and I answered it without checking the Caller I.D.

“For the love of God Amber, I’m up!”

I heard male chuckling on the line.

“Wow, you’re in a good mood, but just so you know, I’m not Amber.”

I sighed, “Apparently I’m popular today, what’s up?”

“Can you meet me at my house today around one o’clock? I want to take you somewhere, and before you ask, no I’m not telling you where we’re going. It’s a surprise.”

His question caught me off guard. Drake didn’t seem like the type to throw surprises out there and I was a bit leery of where he might be taking me.

“One question, you aren’t going to take me out to the woods and murder me right?”

He laughed, “No, not part of my plans. We won’t be going into any secluded woods so that I can murder you, or have my way with you.”

“Alright I’ll bite. But if you are messing with me, I will cut off that part of your anatomy you seem to be so fond of.”

“Deal, I’ll see you later. Don’t be late.”

My mind was creating all kinds of different scenarios as to where he could possibly be taking me, but I came up with nothing. Since I was going to be seeing him later, I took a little
extra time doing my make-up and even straightened my hair. By the time I arrived at the coffee shop to meet Amber, she had called me twice telling me to hurry up.

I stepped into the cute little mom and pop type shop and saw Amber sitting in a booth away from most of the other customers with two coffee cups sitting on the table. I grabbed a cup and starting sipping from it as I sat down across from her.

“Finally, you took forever,” She looked me over and grinned, “What’s up with you? You look all girly.”

I rolled my eyes, “I’m allowed to look girly occasionally, but I’m meeting Drake after this so maybe I put a little extra effort into my appearance today.”

“That explains it, so tell me all about him and start from the beginning. We haven’t had any time alone to talk!”

I started when I first saw him and told her everything, only leaving out the part about Nick. As I spoke her eyes grew wide and she squealed like a ten year old when I told her about dancing with him and my blundering kiss.

“Oh Chloe! This is so great, I thought he was into you from how he acted around you, but hearing all of this I know for sure. He really likes you!”

I shook my head, “If he liked me, he wouldn’t have pushed me away when I kissed him.”

              “You were drunk, if he had done anything else you would have been pissed off as soon as you sobered up. The fact that he didn’t just makes him that much better. Plus you know he’s not just trying to get in your pants.”

“I don’t know Amber, what about all the girls? I mean, the man had a drawer in his bedroom full of other girl’s underwear for God’s sake!”

“Well, I didn’t say he was perfect, he obviously likes women, but maybe if you two got together he would stay away from them. You need to sit down and talk to him, tell him how you feel.”

“No way
am I putting myself out there like that. If he rejected me, it would be completely awkward.” 

She sighed, “Chloe if you never put yourself out there, how is he supposed to know how you feel?”

She had a point, look at how long Logan had kept his feelings from me and I had no clue. I bit my lip and stared at my almost empty coffee cup. “There’s something else I haven’t told you and I know you’re going to be as shocked as I am.”

Her eyebrows disappeared into her bangs, “What on Earth could shock me after telling me all of that?”

“You remember the other night when Logan was drunk?”

She nodded, “Yeah what about it?”

“Drake helped me get him to his room and then left us alone. I helped Logan get into bed and when I started to leave he kissed me. I talked to him about it the next day and he admitted to having feelings for me, but he wasn’t going to pressure me into anything. I’ve tried to ignore the whole thing, but it’s eating at me. It’s Logan, how could he have those kinds of feelings for me?”

Amber avoided my gaze as she played with a napkin in her hands.

“Amber? What is it?”

“I knew.”

“What do you mean you knew? How could you know something like that and not tell me? What happened to the whole ‘I’ll give you my favorite pair of Chucks to you if Chloe and Logan ever get together’ speech you made to Drake the other day?”

She looked up at me and I saw anger in her eyes, “I’ve known for a while. I fell for Logan as soon as he started going to school with us. I hid them for a while, right before Chad and I started hanging out actually. I was drinking at a party one night when you were gone with your mom that summer and he gave me a ride home. I tried to kiss him, but he pushed me away and told me he wanted you. He made me promise to keep it to myself, not that I had ever planned on telling you after what happened that night.”

I stared at her in disbelief, “I had no idea how you felt about him. Do you… Do you still have feelings for him?”

She shook her head, “No, I moved on, Logan is just my friend now. But that’s beside the point. How do you feel about him?”

To be honest, I had no idea how I felt about him. It was all too new and my mind was having a hard time viewing him as anything else but my best friend.

“I don’t know
, this is all so damn confusing. I know he wants more, even if he isn’t pushing, but I’m not sure I can give it to him. Look at me, I am completely fucked up and he deserves better than that.”

She shook her head, “You are not fucked up Chloe,
you’ve just had way more shit thrown at you than people twice our age. It made you grow up fast, and yes you are a bit jaded, but in no way are you fucked up. You really need to think about this thing with Logan and with Drake. Both of them want you, there’s no question about it in my mind, so you need to decide who you want and go for it.”

There was no doubt about who I wanted.
Drake. But if I started something with him, knowing what I did about how Logan felt, I knew Logan would take it as a personal insult.

“Maybe I should take your advice from before and just become a nun.”

She laughed, “Yeah, you get right on that.”

We sat in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts. Finally she looked up at me and grinned, “Enough about you, I want to talk about my date with Alex.”

I felt relief about the subject change and threw myself into the conversation as a distraction from my thoughts.

“Tell me all about it! Where did he take you?”

“It was so romantic! He took me took this quaint little Italian restaurant just across the state line. We sat there for a couple hours and just talked, and then he took me to the movies. He even watched a chick flick with me!”

“That’s great Amber, I’m really happy that you found someone who isn’t an ass. Do you think there will be a second date?”

“I hope so, he told me he would call sometime next week. He’s so different from Chad already. Chad was always good to me, but there were times that I wondered if he even wanted to be with me. When I was with Alex, he paid attention to everything I said, and we have so much in common. He even knows some of the small time bands we both listen to.”

“Well that settles it for me, you need to marry him.”

She laughed, “I figured you would say that. Speaking of bands, I really want to hear Drake play again sometime. I did a little asking around and everyone seems to love Breaking the Hunger. Why don’t we go listen to him next weekend?”

I forced a smile on my face. She had no idea what had happened at the bar with Nick and if I refused to go, she would know something was up with me.

“Yeah, that sounds fun. I’ll let him know I’m bringing you. Maybe Logan will want to go with us too.”

“Great, I’ll ask Alex if he wants to go with us, then we can make a double date out of it.” I frowned at her words and she sighed, “Or we’ll call it a date for Alex and me. And you can call it hanging out with my best friends.”

“That sounds better. I don’t want to put that label on it or it’ll give Logan the wrong idea. I need time to figure this out before I start anything with either of them.”

             
We each ordered another coffee and spent the next hour catching up about our classes. It felt nice to just have some uncomplicated girl time with Amber, and I soaked it up for as long as I could. Finally, she glanced at her watch before motioning me toward the door.

“You had better go if you don’t want to be late. I’m sure Drake wouldn’t appreciate being stood up.”

I nodded and I stood and tossed my empty cup into the trash. “I still have no idea where we are going. If I’m not back by tomorrow afternoon, call the police. Oh, and you can have all my CDs.”

She laughed, “Drake is a lot of things, but I don’t think a serial killer is one of them.”

“You never know, that boy is full of surprises.”

I waved to her as I left the shop and walked to my car. Once I was inside, I just sat there debating whether or not to just go home and leave Drake hanging. I knew I was being a coward but I couldn’t help it. He was under my skin, and whenever I was around him my judgment always clouded over.

Chapter Nine

Inked

I decided to take a chance as I started my car and made my way across town to his house. When I passed the bar, a shiver ran up my spine. I had no idea how I was going to handle going back there. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind as I parked outside of Drake’s house. He opened his door before I was even out of my car.

“About time, I thought you changed your mind,
”  his eyes traveled up and down my body, “Wow, you look great.”

I smiled to myself at his compliment, “Thanks, and no way, if I make plans to get murdered by some hot guy with tattoos and a bad attitude, I keep them.”

“So you think I’m hot do you?”

I mentally face
palmed as I realized my slip up.

“You completely missed the whole getting murdered part didn’t you?”