Torn (Torn Series) (3 page)

“Alright, but next time you’re going wit
h me even if I have to drag you,” I glanced at the clock before slipping into my shoes and heading for the door, “I don’t think I’ll be out late, but if I am I promise to be super quiet when I come in.”

She grinned
up at me, “Don’t worry, I’ll probably still be between the pages with a certain Mr. Maddox. Lord knows I can’t put him down once I start.”

I l
aughed at her current book obsession as I walked out the door, “Can’t blame you there. Later.”

I made my way back down the stairs carefully so I wouldn’t break my neck in Amber’s amazing but super high heeled shoes. As I reached her room, I knocked once before heading in.

“Hey! What the hell? Oh, it’s just you, don’t do that to me!” Amber yelled as a welcome.

She was standing in
just her bra and a super chic miniskirt staring at her closet like the perfect shirt was about to jump out at her.

“I have nothing to wear!”

I raised my eyebrow as I pointed at her closet, “You have about a million shirts in there, surely you can pick out something.”

She finally pulled out a cute yellow tank
top and threw it over her head, “I guess this will do. Come on, we better hurry or we’ll be late.”

“Can you even be late for one of these things?”

She rolled her eyes as she breezed by me and headed out the door, “I don’t know, but if you can lord knows you would be.”

I tried to smack her but my heel caught on the carpeting in the hallway and I nearly fell down.

She started laughing like an idiot at my usual clumsiness, “That never gets old. Seriously though, gravity has never been kind to you.”

I stuck my tongue out at her back as we made our way out the door and across ca
mpus to our first college party.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Chapter Two

Falling For You

I walked up the steps of the huge Sorority house, Amber following close behind. There were students everywhere, all looking completely wasted even though it was only an hour into the party. I pushed through the door and was blasted with music loud enough to make my ears bleed. I had no idea who it was, but they were doing a cover of
Chevelle’s The Red and they were amazing.

Amber came up beside me and motioned toward the table holding more alcohol than I cared to think about. I grinned and nodded, tonight was about having a blast, hangover be damned. I grabbed her by the hand and marched over to the table, grabbing a cup and filling it to the top.

There were several guys standing next to us at the table and they smiled approvingly as they took in my dress. I gave them my best flirty smile and
as the band switched to Pour Some Sugar on Me, two of the guys approached us.

“Hey, I’m Ben, this is Alex. Care to dance?”

I grinned and nodded, noticing Alex was practically undressing Amber with his eyes.

Ben led me to the center of the dance floor and we started dancing close, more grinding than any actual dance moves
.  As we moved, he put his hands on my hips to pull me closer, if that were possible. We had only been dancing for a few minutes when I glanced up across the sea of people and locked eyes with the singer of the band.               My breath froze in my chest. It was him. Mr. Tall, dark, tattooed, and pierced from my morning class. And he was staring straight at me. I dropped my gaze, suddenly shy.                                                       

I finished dancing with Ben
as the song ended and made my way back to the drink table, as far from the singer as possible. Much to my dismay, Ben followed.

He stared down at me, more at my low neckline than my face.

“Want to get out of here?” He grinned naughtily at me, leaving no doubt as to where he wanted to go.

“No thanks, I think I’m just going to hang out here.”

He looked disappointed but shrugged and walked away. I glanced around for Amber, seeing her and Alex locked around each other on one of the couches pushed against the far wall. I grinned, about time she started actually trying to move on. Not that I was the type to hook up with random guys at parties, but she deserved some fun after all the heartache she’d had with Chad over the summer.

I hung
around the party awhile longer, refilling my cup a few times and dancing with a couple different guys, but I refused to go home with any of them. Not my style, unlike several of the girls I’d seen sneaking upstairs to the bedrooms above throughout the night.

I listened
to the band, which I was blown away by, but I refused to glance back up at the singer, afraid he’d be looking at me again. I mentally hit myself. There was no reason to be all nervous around this guy, he had never even talked to me. I wasn’t going to let some random guy make me crazy. I glanced up to the stage, but the band was packing up; they had finished their set while I was thinking about him.                                                       

I decided to call it a night, even though the party was still in full swing. My head was slightly fuzzy and I knew if I stayed any longer I’d end up drunk off my ass passed
and out on a couch, or worse. If I called Logan like that, he would surely lock me in my room for the rest of the year. I pushed through the crowd to the door, texting Amber so she would know I’d left.

As soon as I made it out the door I sighed in relief. I hadn’t realized how hot it was inside and feeling the cool evening air on my skin helped to clear my head a little. I started walking in the direction of my dorm when the spike on my heel caught in a crack on the sidewalk. I flew forward and landed face first with my ass sticking straight up in the air.

“Damn these shoes!”

I muttered curses as I tried to stand when a hand grabbed me firmly by the arm and stood me up. I tried to balance
myself, but the heel had broken off of the shoe and I wobbled, falling against whoever had picked me up. Strong male arms wrapped around me and pulled me into his chest, keeping me from falling all over again. I glanced up to thank my savior, but the words lodged in my throat when I saw it was the lead singer holding me.  I stared at him, unable to think, or move for that matter.

He cocked his head to one side, looking d
own at me, “You ok?”

His voice pulled me back to reality and I realized I had just been stan
ding there staring into his eyes for longer than I cared to think about.

I cleared my throat and
nodded., “Yes, thank you, my stupid shoe caught in the sidewalk.”

“Yeah
, I saw.”

I stepped away from him
, careful not to lose my balance again, and glanced over his shoulder to where the other members of the band were loading up the equipment into the back of a van. The color in my face drained as I realized he was directly behind me when I fell.  I knew that anyone behind me had seen pretty much everything thanks to the length of my dress, and to make things even better I had worn a thong tonight so he really had gotten a show. My face heated and the corners of his mouth turned up as if he knew what I was thinking.

“No big deal.”

I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but at this point I was done. A person can only take so much embarrassment before they die of shame.

“Well thank
you for helping me, I appreciate it.”

“Not a problem.”

As he spoke, I watched his eyes travel the length of my body and I knew I needed to leave before I did something stupid.

“Well, thank
s again. I’d stay and chat but I need to get home,” I turned quickly and removed both my shoes, dreading the now endless barefoot walk back to my dorm.

He grabbed my shoulder and turned me back toward him. “Where are you headed? My car is right over there, I can drop you off instead of making you walk without shoes.”

Doubt at getting a ride from a complete stranger clouded my thoughts as I looked up at him. If Logan knew he would absolutely kill me. I chewed my lower lip, debating before nodding my head. “Oh, well ok, if you don’t mind. It’s only three blocks over to my dorm. I can walk though, it’s not that far.”

The thought of being in a car with this stranger made my stomach quake. As handsome as he was sitting next to me in class, being up close and personal to him a whole other matter. I had never seen someone with such dark brown
eyes, and the way his dark hair hung in his eyes, it took everything I had not to reach out and push it back. When he had pulled me against his chest I had felt pure, hard muscle and the shirt he wore was fitted enough that I could see those muscles beneath it. I almost blushed as I started picturing what he looked like without a shirt on.

“It’s not a problem. Wait here and I’ll pull my car over.” 

I nodded as he turned and started walking to the lot across the street to get his car. I watched him walk away without guilt as I stared at one of the nicest backsides I had ever seen.  He glanced back once, and I quickly averted my eyes, hoping he hadn’t noticed me checking him out. How many times can one person embarrass themselves in one night?

A minute later he pulled up next to me and I almost
rolled my eyes. A guy that looked this good should not have a car this sexy. I knew next to nothing about cars, but I knew this one was old, even though it looked brand new. The exterior was a glossy black with chrome wheels, and as I opened the door and hopped in, I saw the inside was all new and black as well.

“Nice car,
” I commented as I closed the door behind me.

“Thanks, it’s a 1983 Mustang. I rebuilt pretty much all of it. She’s my baby.”

He patted the dash affectionately and I laughed at him. “Oh no, don’t tell me your one of those guys who loves their car more than any woman.”

He laughed,
“No, I wouldn’t say that, but she is pretty close to my heart.”

He peeled out of his spot and headed toward my
dorm. It was quiet for a minute as I racked my brain for something intelligent to say. I figured that I’d only get this opportunity once, and even with the traffic, I’d be home in five minutes tops so I didn’t want to waste it.

“I’m Chloe by the way.”

“Drake Allen, nice to meet you Chloe.”

I grinned, “Well, now that we got the whole awkward introduction thing over with, I feel better.”

He busted out laughing,
“Yeah, glad we got the awkward part of the evening over.”

My face instantly turned blood red, thinking of the view he had seen tonig
ht, and I looked out the window hoping he wouldn’t notice. Apparently he did, because he laughed again.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to embarrass you. Think of it this way, with the introduction we had, I won’t forget you anytime soon.”

My face felt even hotter, if that was possible, and I groaned, hiding my face in my hands. “Oh my God. I think I’d like to die right now thank you.” 

He kept chuckling as the light turned green and he turned onto my street. We pulled into the parking lot across from the dorm and he put the car in park
, waiting for me to get out. I didn’t want to leave yet, so I said the first thing that popped into my head.

“Your band is pretty amazing, you guys rocked at the party tonight.”

His eyes lit up and I could tell I’d hit on a subject he was happy to talk about.

“Thanks
, we play every Friday night down at the bar across town called Gold’s Pub. You should stop down some night and check us out. The bar is awesome and just between the two of us, they don’t card.”

Was he asking me to meet him again? No, he was probably just trying to get more fans. There was no way a guy this hot could be interested in me.

I glanced at him again, taking in just attractive he was. His lip ring caught my attention as it glimmered from the reflection of the street light outside. I wondered what it would feel like to kiss him with that in. Pulling myself away from any thoughts of his lips, I quickly smiled at him and opened the door. “Good to know, I’ll stop down sometime. I’d better head inside, thank you for everything.”