Torn (Torn Series) (22 page)

I pulled back and looked at him, “Is that you wanted?”

He growled in response and I smiled as I took him back in my mouth and starting sucking gently. I ran my tongue over his piercing and he grabbed my hair to pull me back.

“Change of plans. Get on me before I lose it.”

I climbed on top of him before slowing sinking down onto him. I sat up and started working my way up and down slowly, driving both of us mad.

“Faster Chloe.”

I refused, not wanting this to end too quickly. He growled again before flipping us over so that I was underneath him, with him still inside me. He began thrusting hard and fast, so hard that the bed started knocking against the wall.

“Oh yes, God yes!” I yelled as he rammed into me over and over. The knocking sound changed and I realized someone was at the door. “Drake, someone…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

I glanced back at the door as it swung open, Logan standing there staring at us with a look of horror on his face, “Chloe! How could you?”

             
I sat up gasping and stared around the room. It had only been a dream, but a very real one. I still felt the throbbing between my legs as I realized the knocking at the door hadn’t stopped and I yelled for whoever it was to come in while I tried to get my body under control. The door opened and Emma peeked her head in. “Sorry if I woke you, but dinner is ready.”

“No problem, how long have I been asleep?”

“Most of the afternoon. We didn’t want to bug you, you girls had a long drive.” She closed the door and walked across the room to sit at the foot of the bed. “Chloe, there’s something we need to talk about. I didn’t want to say anything in front of Amber and scare her, but you need to know.”

My heart started beating faster as I watched her play with a string on the quilt. “What’s wrong? Are you and Dave ok?”

“No honey, it’s nothing like that. It’s about your mother. She came here a couple weeks ago looking for you.”

My eyes widened. My mother had never come here before and I wasn’t even sure how she knew where Amber’s parents lived. “What did she want?”

She shook her head, lost in thought. “I don’t know, she wouldn’t tell us anything. Only demanded to speak with you and when we told her you weren’t here she tried to get us to tell her where you were at.”

“You didn’t tell her did you?”

“No, I told her I hadn’t seen you in months and I wasn’t sure where you were at. Which was true, I had no idea exactly where you were at that moment in time.”

She gave me a devious smile as she spoke and I laughed, “You’re the best Emma!”

She chuckled before clearing her throat to speak again, “I’m pretty sure she was on drugs Chloe, she was so aggressive and confrontational. She thought we were lying to her about you being here and tried to force her way into the house. Luckily Dave was here too so we managed to keep her out. She finally left after we threatened to call the police. I don’t know what she wants from you, but she’s determined to find you. I’m scared for you.”

I scooted down to sit next to her and pulled her into a tight hug, “Don’t worry about me. The chances of her finding me almost six hours away are slim to none. Besides, I have nothing to give her if she did.”

She nodded as I pulled away, “Just be careful honey. You might not realize it, but I consider you my daughter too. Dave and I even discussed trying to adopt you before, but we didn’t want to bring her back here to you.”

I felt tears sting my eyes at her words, “Thank you for everything you have ever done for me. As far as I’m concerned, you’re my mother and I love you.”

We sat together, sharing both happy and sad tears together for a few minutes before Emma wiped her tears away and gave me a watery smile. “So what have you been up to? I’ve barely heard from you since you started WVU! Amber told me you and Logan are finally together. I have to say, it took you long enough.”

I glanced up at her, “You knew?”

“Of course I did, anyone with eyes could see the way that boy looked at you. Well, everyone but you it seems.”

I gave her a weak smile, “I’m always the last to know.”

“You’ve always lived in your own head. I’m surprised he didn’t have to get a flashing neon sign and hold it in front of you.”

I chuckled, “That would have helped.”

We sat in silence for a moment before she bumped my shoulder with hers. “So, tell me all about it. How are you two doing together?”

I shrugged, “We’re ok I guess.”

She raised her eyebrows, “Uh oh, just ok?”

I started playing with the same string she had earlier, “No, we’re great.”

“Chloe, you know you can tell me anything right?”

I looked up at her and choked on the lies I was about to spew. This woman loved
me, I could see it shining in her eyes now that I knew to look for it. I couldn’t tell Amber my problems because she was friends with both of us and that would put her directly in the middle of us. If she told him she’d betray me, and if she didn’t she’d betray him and I wouldn’t put her in that position.

But could I tell Emma without her passing it on, even by accident? I had to tell someone, this was eating me alive and I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t handle being the only one who knew.

“I did something really stupid. I’m a horrible person and I don’t deserve Logan. He’s such a great guy and I’m nothing more than trash.”

She placed her hand on my shoulders and starting rubbing circles gently, “It can’t be that bad honey.”

I shook my head, “It is Emma, I don’t know how I can live with myself. I cheated on him, I cheated on the most amazing friend I’ve ever had.”

Her hand stilled on my shoulder and I waited for her to start yelling at me. I deserved nothing less.

“Oh Chloe, what happened?”

“His name’s Drake and I fell for him the minute I saw him. He’s gorgeous and even though he has a rough exterior, he has the biggest heart I’ve ever known. Or at least I thought he did.”

She listened as I poured my heart out and told her everything that happened since I met Drake, asking questions from time to time. When I finished, I had tears streaming down my face again as she pulled me into a tight hug.

“You’ve really made a mess out of everything haven’t you?”

I nodded as I buried my head in her neck.

“I know you’re going to hate me for saying this, but you really do need to tell Logan. Yes, you might lose him but you can’t keep living like this. And from what you’ve told me about Drake, I can’t say that I agree with your opinion on his feelings. He obviously has issues since he goes through so many women, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t hurting too. You have to talk to both of them before this spins even more out of control.”

I nodded as I pulled back, “I know. And thank you for listening to my sob story, but please don’t say anything to Amber. I don’t want her in the middle of this.”

She nodded, “Your secret is safe with me. Now go wash up so we can eat dinner. Dave and Amber are waiting for us.”

She stood and left the room, leaving me with my thoughts. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulder by telling her. I knew she was right, I had to tell Logan but I didn’t know how.  I couldn’t just walk up to him and say, “Oh by the way, I slept with Drake. It didn’t mean anything to him but it broke my heart. Just thought you should know.” Yeah, that would go over real well.

I went to the guest bathroom and washed up, scrubbing my face as well to try to hide the evidence of my tears. By the time I made my way downstairs, everyone was already at the table. I sat down beside Amber and she looked over at me with a worried expression.

“You ok? You look like you’ve been crying?”

“I’m
fine, it must be where I just woke up.”

             
We spent the rest of dinner catching up on each other’s lives. I pushed the conversation with Emma away as I sat and laughed with Amber’s family. With my family. Maybe I wasn’t quite as alone as I had always thought.

Chapter Sixteen

Cleaning Out My… Car?

Amber and I spent most of our winter break out and about, shopping, going to the movies, and even to a few parties that our former classmates had invited us to when they saw that we were back in town. I even let her drag me to a salon to have my hair done, her early Christmas present to me.

I hadn’t so much as had my hair trimmed since months before we moved to Morgantown and it was so long it reached my waist. Amber and the lady she took me to
convinced me to cut it, but I refused to go any shorter than my ribs. I ended up with low lights and a few purple streaks spread throughout my hair by the time they finished with me. I had to admit I loved it and Amber said it only accented what she called my Rocker Chick look. I had always laughed at her description, but even I had to agree with her assessment with my hair like this.

             
Christmas came quickly and brought me yet another Amazon gift card from Amber and a ten-thousand dollar savings account from Dave and Emma. I nearly collapsed when Dave handed me the piece of paper and I saw the balance.

“I can’t accept this!”

David rolled his eyes, “Of course you can, you don’t have to spend it, just let it grow and add money to it when you can.”

I had thrown my arms around both of them, sobbing uncontrollably at their kindness.

Logan called me every few days, and we rang in the New Year together over the phone. My stomach was in knots every time I spoke with him, but I refused to let it get to me. I would have to tell him the truth soon, I knew that, but I wasn’t going to let it ruin my time away from everything.

The days following New Year’s flew by and soon Amber and I were packing our things and saying our goodbyes. Emma hugged me tight as we stood in the driveway, “You need anything, anything at all,
you call me ok?”

I nodded as I got in the car and we were off. We had gone no further than the end of the driveway when Amber turned to me.

“Want to tell me what that was about?”

I tried playing dumb, “What was what?”

She rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to the road, “Don’t play me Chloe, I heard what mom said and I know you were crying that night she was in your room so spill.”

I bit my lip as I debated what to tell her. I decided to go with the lesser of the two evils. “My mom is trying to find me. She came to your house searching for me. It wasn’t exactly a happy occasion.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? What did she want?”

“I have no idea, she wouldn’t tell them, just wanted to know where I was, and we didn’t tell you because I know how you worry when it comes to her.”

She sighed, “You’re right, I do worry about that crazy bitch after everything she put you through. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know what’s happening with you. You know I care about you right?”

“Yeah I know
, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just didn’t want to bother you with it.”

“Chloe you’re such a dummy. You can bother me with anything.
Except your sex life with Logan… I draw the line there.”

I laughed as she merged onto the interstate. “Or my nonexistent sex life with Logan you mean.”

Her head spun around in my direction, “WHAT? You mean you two haven’t done the deed yet?”

“No we have, but it was when we got together. We haven’t done anything since, it just doesn’t feel right.”

“How can sex with Logan not feel right? He’s my friend but I’m not afraid to say he’s smoking hot. I bet he’s great in bed! Is he? Tell me! Oh wait, don’t tell me. Ahhh, I have to know.”

I laughed as Amber fought with herself, “You done yet?”

She giggled, “I can’t help it! I want to know, but then he’s my friend too so I don’t want to know. Oh I give up! Just spill it already!”

“It was… it was nice.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Just nice? Oh God, he’s bad in bed isn’t he?”

I shook my head. Being with Logan had been nice, but he wasn’t Drake. Truthfully, I didn’t think anyone could top him, not that I had much experience in the matter, but still even I knew Drake was amazing. “No he’s not bad, honest.”

She was silent for a minute. Just as I leaned back in the seat to relax, she spoke again. “Chloe, is everything ok with you guys? You barely mentioned him over break and you seem less than enthused with this conversation.”

I mentally smacked myself for letting the conversation get this far. Amber had always been a pro at gauging my emotions and now was no different. “We’re fine. But that’s the
problem, everything about him is just fine. I love him, but I don’t know if I share his feelings or if I’m mistaking friendship for something more because that’s what I’m supposed to do.”

“Don’t you think you should have figured that out before you decided to get into a relationship with him? Actually, I distinctly remember telling you to get your shit together.”

“Yeah I know, I’m a dumbass. Point made.”