I picked her up and carried her to the house, trying not to jostle her. Just as I reached the door, Jordan opened it.
“It’s about damn time,” he said as he looked out at us.
“Shhh, she’s asleep. Move so I can carry her upstairs.”
He held the door open for me and I passed through it and up the stairs to our room. I laid her down gently on the bed and pulled her shoes off. After tucking her in, I stripped down to my boxers and crawled in next to her; holding her tightly in my arms, not wanting to fall asleep and miss a minute of this. My mind was heavy as I finally gave up and let my heavy eyelids slide shut.
I awoke the next morning to Chloe crawling back into bed with me. I peeked up at her through my sleep filled eyes to see her watching me with a sad expression on her face. She had obviously just come from the shower; her hair was still wet and I caught the scent of her shampoo as she moved around on the bed.
When she noticed that I was awake, she gave me a tiny smile, but I could still see the sadness in her eyes. She was dreading today as much as I was.
“Morning baby,” I whispered.
“I didn’t mean to wake you; I was just watching you sleep.”
“You didn’t, but stop watching me sleep. That’s stalker tendencies and I might have been drooling,” I said as she poked me in the ribs.
“I’ll be your stalker any day, even if you have a massive pile of drool under your head.”
I rose up far enough to check the pillow. She was lying of course and I laughed at her. “You’re so full of shit, I don’t drool.”
I propped myself up on my elbows and pulled her down to me, kissing her hard on the mouth.
She pulled away breathless, and looked down at me. “You don’t play fair, you know that right?”
“Never said I did,” I said as I threw the covers off and stood up. I walked over to my bag and grabbed clean clothes before heading to the bathroom attached to our room. I glanced back at the bed to see her watching my every move.
“See something you like?” I asked.
She threw a pillow at me as I laughed and ran into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. After stripping out of my boxers, I stepped into the shower, letting the hot water engulf me. I took extra-long in the shower, knowing it would be the last one I would be able to enjoy for a while. Showers in a cramped bathroom of a bus wouldn’t exactly be luxurious, but at least we had one.
I finally finished and quickly toweled off before dressing and making my way back to our room. Chloe was still sitting in the exact same spot on the bed looking depressed as she played with the rings on her hands. I picked up the pillow from earlier and threw it at her.
It smacked off her head and she turned to glare at me. “Hey! What was that for?”
I gave her a pointed look. “Quit moping, you’re only making us both feel bad. It seems like a long time right now, but a few weeks will pass in a blur. Before you know it, we’ll be back together again.”
“I know, I’m just going to miss you so much. What time will Jade and the guys be here to pick you up?”
I glanced at the clock and my eyes widened. It was almost three in the afternoon; I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept in that long. I’d practically slipped into a coma. “Shit, they’ll be here in about an hour! I need to get my stuff packed up.”
I started grabbing my personal items and clothes from around the room and threw them into my bag. Chloe stood up from the bed as she slipped her shirt over her head and threw it at me. It hit me in the face and fell to the floor as I stared at her almost naked body. While she had a pair of boy shorts on, she had skipped the bra this morning and I felt myself standing at attention at the sight.
She laughed as she walked to the dresser and pulled a tank top and shorts out of one of the drawers. “Close your mouth, you’re going to catch flies.”
I groaned as I bent down and picked the shirt up off the floor. I noticed it was one of my shirts that I wore constantly. “You know it’s cruel to do that to me when I have to leave. I’m going to have that image stuck in my head all the way to the show. Try explain a raging hard on while I’m standing on stage thinking of you.”
She threw the tank top on, but was still bra-less and I could see her nipples through the material. “Good, that way you won’t forget about me.”
“Please, for the love of all things holy, put a bra on woman. You’re going to kill me if you don’t.”
She grumbled as she pulled the tank top off and slid a bra on. “There, happy now?”
“Not really, but it’ll do,” I said as I carried the shirt over to her, “Here, keep this to remind you of me while I’m gone. You can sleep in it every night.”
“Deal, but I feel like I should give you something of mine,” she said as she looked around the room, searching for something to give me. She looked down at the rubber bracelets on her wrists and smiled as she pulled one off. “Here, you can wear this. I’d give you a shirt, but I don’t think it’d fit all that well.”
I took the bracelet from her and slipped it onto my own wrist. “I’ll wear it all the time, promise.”
I grabbed my two bags and walked to the door. “Come on, I want to grab something to eat before we leave. I’m not looking forward to fast food and bar food for the next couple months, so I’d better enjoy real food while I can.”
“I’m sure Allison has something ready for lunch by now,” she said as she stood and followed me.
We made our way down the stairs to the entrance and I set my bags by the door before following Chloe into the kitchen. The woman who had served us the first night was standing by the stove working on something. Whatever it was, it smelled amazing and my empty stomach growled loudly.
Chloe giggled as the woman looked up and smiled. “I’ll have this ready in just a minute if you two want to join Danny and Jordan in the dining room.”
“Sure, thanks Allison,” Chloe said as she took my hand and led me into the dining room.
Sure enough, Jordan and Danny were already sitting there waiting on their food.
“Don’t you guys feel weird sitting here waiting for someone else to cook for you?” Chloe asked as we took the seats across from them.
“You’ve tried Allison’s cooking. Any guilt I felt was squashed long ago by my need to eat more of it,” Jordan said unashamed.
I watched Chloe roll her eyes as Allison entered the room carrying a massive pan with lasagna in it. She gave us a small smile as she disappeared back into the kitchen, only to return with a plate full of garlic bread. My stomach growled again and Jordan laughed as I dug in. He had a point; the woman’s cooking was a gift from above. If I ever made it in the music business, I was so stealing her from Danny to cook for Chloe and me.
Allison drifted back into the kitchen as everyone else grabbed their plate and filled it up. Danny, Jordan, and I made small talk as we ate, but Chloe remained mostly silent. I knew she was upset over me leaving, but there was nothing I could do to avoid it. I debated on kidnapping her, but I knew she’d probably beat me in my sleep for that. She had obligations to her family just like I had obligations to my band.
Just as we were finishing up, my phone rang and I saw it was Jade calling.
“Hello?”
“Drake, hey listen, we’re outside by the gates, but the nice gentleman in the guard station won’t let us in,” Jade said.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to let him know you were coming. Give me a minute and I’ll have Danny call him,” I hung up with Jade and turned to Danny, “Can you call your guard and let him know it’s ok to let my band in?”
Danny pulled his phone from his pocket and started dialing. “No problem,” he said as he waited for the guard to pick up. “Hey, it’s Danny. You can let the bus through; we forgot to let you know they were coming.”
I stood and walked to the door as Danny ended the call. Chloe caught up with me and wrapped her arms around my waist as I grabbed my bag. Danny and Jordan followed close behind as I
stepped outside. The bus was pulling up the driveway and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Eric behind the wheel. As soon as he parked next to us, Jade and Adam were out of the bus. I smiled as Jade came over and hugged Chloe; the two of them had grown a lot closer of the last couple months and I knew having Chloe go on tour with us would help Jade from getting lonely. You can only stand to be on a bus with three guys for so long before you lost your mind.
Eric stepped off the bus and smiled at me. “Tight security around here?”
“Yeah, just a little,” I said.
“I almost had him convinced until this asshole,” he motioned over his shoulder at Adam, “stuck his head out the window and started yelling. Nothing screws your chances like a guy with a purple Mohawk yelling obscenities at people.”
I laughed as Adam walked over and fist pumped me. “Let’s get this show on the road!”
I grabbed my bags and threw them on the bus before stepping back out to make introductions. “Danny, Jordan, this is Jade, Eric, and Adam.”
Danny and Jordan shook hands with everyone, giving Adam strange looks. I had to admit, he was a lot to take in the first time. Then when he opened his mouth, he always made it worse.
Jordan and Danny approached me as Jade and the guys hugged Chloe and waved goodbye before stepping back into the bus. Jordan shook my hand as he leaned into me and whispered, “I’ll take care of her, you’ve got nothing to worry about. You have my word.”
“Mine too,” Danny said as he clapped me on the back, “Good luck to you guys.”
As Chloe approached me, they stepped back to give us a moment. I gave her a smile as I wrapped my arms around her and picked her up off the ground. She laughed as I swung her in circles around me.
“I’m going to miss you so much baby,” I said as I set her back down.
“I know, me too. It’s only a couple of weeks though, we can handle that.”
“Damn straight,” I said as I kissed her. I drew the kiss out as long as I could.
I groaned and pulled away as Adam started beeping the horn on the bus and stuck his head out the window.
“Come on lover boy! We’ve got places to be!” He shouted.
I sent a glare his way as I flipped him off.
“You’d better go before he comes out here after you,” Chloe whispered as tears filled her eyes.
“Don’t cry or I’ll never be able to leave.”
She grinned as she pulled me in for one last kiss. “If I’d known that earlier I would have cried more.”
I stepped away from her and turned to the bus. “I love you Chloe.”
I felt like my shoes were filled with led as I crossed the driveway and stepped onto the bus. Adam and Jade were sitting around a small table, so I took the bus seat across from them. The space was cramped, but I barely noticed as Eric put the bus in gear and slowly pulled away. My stomach clenched as I saw Jordan walk over to Chloe and wrap his arms around her. She waved as she watched us pull away.
Chapter Seven
Drake
When we passed through the gates, I groaned. Her mother was pulling up the driveway toward the house. I hadn’t been gone for more than a minute and Chloe would already have to deal with her without me. I fell back into my seat, fuming, as Eric pulled out onto the main road. Jade and Adam caught me up on anything they thought I needed to know from the past two days, which wasn’t much.
There was a nervous energy around all of them, and I quickly caught it. Shows didn’t make me nervous, but the fact we would be traveling up to New York and a few other decent sized places did. There was chance, however small, that we might get enough attention that maybe someone important might notice us. We had recorded a demo a few weeks ago and sent it in to a few record labels, but so far nothing. Not that I expected them to call us or even listen to it right away.
Adam stood and went to the restroom in the back as my phone dinged with an incoming text. I smiled when I saw it was from Chloe.
Chloe: You alone?
Me: Yeah, why?
Chloe: I’m going to send you something, hold on.
Me: Ok…
I raised my eyebrows, wondering what on Earth my girl was thinking. I was starting to grow impatient after a few minutes of staring at my phone with no reply. Finally, my phone beeped and I unlocked it as fast as my fingers would let me. My mouth hung open as I looked at the picture Chloe had sent me.
“Holy fuck!” Adam shouted from behind me.
I spun around in my seat to see him standing behind me, his eyes glued to the naked picture of Chloe on my screen. I threw my phone in the seat beside me and lunged for him.
“You tell her you saw that and I’ll fucking kill you asshole!” I shouted as I knocked him into the seat behind us.
“Jesus! I won’t say a word, but damn buddy. How the fuck did you get so lucky? My dick’s going to be hard for hours after seeing her like that!”
“Did you really just say that about my girlfriend?”
He grinned. “Sorry, Chloe just puts off an innocent vibe. I never expected her to send something like that; it makes her ten times hotter.”
I groaned as I collapsed back into my seat. “Dude, stop talking. Now.”
Jade laughed as Adam and I bickered. “Chloe is going to kill you if she finds out he saw that.”
“Don’t tell her Jade, I mean it. She’ll never show her face around any of you again if she knew,” I said.
“Don’t worry, my lips are sealed. But I have to admit, that was kind of funny,” she said.
I glared at both of them as my phone dinged again. I realized that in all the chaos of the last two minutes, I had never replied. She was probably freaking out.
“Shit.” I mumbled as I unlocked my phone to see another text.
Chloe: I’m sorry if you didn’t like it. I don’t know what I was thinking.
Me: I loved it baby. Sorry it took me so long to reply, I was speechless.
Chloe: Oh, ok. I thought you were mad or something.
Me: Never, you can send me as many of those as you want. It’ll keep me preoccupied when I’m on the road. ;)
Chloe: I’ll keep that in mind. I’m going to the beach with Jordan, I’ll talk to you later.
I hated the fact that I had left her alone with him, but I knew I could trust her even if I wasn’t completely sure about him. Still didn’t mean I wouldn’t get pissed off every time she mentioned him, not that I’d ever tell her that.
Me: Have fun, wear pants.
Chloe: Not a chance buddy. Think of that while you’re stuck on a bus with the guys. Love you.
I groaned as I pictured her almost naked on the beach without me around. This was going to be a very long couple of weeks.
Our first show was a couple of hours north of Ocean City in Caroline County. It was a small bar, much like Gold’s and I instantly relaxed at the familiarity of it. We still had a couple of hours to kill before we had to set our stuff up, so we walked a few blocks away to grab something to eat. We spent a couple of hours wasting time and annoying our waitress at a small diner before heading back to the bus to start dragging out our gear and setting everything up.
We had everything ready to go and were sitting at a table near the stage when the owner stepped on stage and introduced us. A few people clapped for us as we stood and took our places, but nothing to brag about. Apparently they weren’t into new bands showing up.
Jade started into the first song, quickly followed by Adam and Eric. The room grew quiet as they realized we might actually have real talent. I started singing a few seconds later and it was like the world exploded around us. I knew we were good, but their reaction completely blew me away; several people stood and made their way to the front of the stage, screaming up at us.
The longer we played, the more people showed up and the bar was soon at max capacity. I was grinning like an idiot by the time we finished the last song and people were shouting for more. If every show went like this, we’d be set. I told everyone go
odnight as we packed up our instruments and Adam started helping Jade tear down her drum set.
I walked over to help when Adam glanced over my shoulder and frowned. “Oh shit.”
His words caught Jade’s attention and she let out a string of curses that would have made a sailor proud as she caught sight of whatever it was over my shoulder. I was about to turn and see for myself when a pair of female arms wrapped themselves around my waist.
“Drake baby, it’s been awhile.”
I mentally groaned as I turned to face my new visitor; I knew that voice anywhere. “Kadi, it’s been a while.”
“Not long enough,” Adam coughed out from behind me.
Kadi smirked at him before running her fingers across my chest. “Imagine my surprise when my cousin and I get a text about this awesome band down at the bar that we just have to check out and I walk in to see you.”
I removed her hand and took a step away from her. Kadi was who the band had nicknamed “Drake’s Stalker”. I met her not long after joining the band at one of my first shows with them. She was a gorgeous girl, with long blonde hair and green eyes, and a body to kill despite her barely reaching five feet tall. Her personality was what had drawn me to her at first though, she was a little spitfire, and I loved a girl with attitude.
I got a little more attitude than I bargained for with her though. I made the mistake of taking her to bed not only once, but multiple times, and she decided that was the equivalent of dating in her book. It had taken me weeks to get her to back off, but even then I’d catch her sitting outside my house when I came home in the middle of the night, or she’d come to my shows and try to get me to take her home.
She was a couple of years older than I was and had moved to Morgantown to attend W.V.U. I had practically thrown a party when she had to transfer from W.V.U. back to her home state of Maryland my senior year in high school.
“It’s good to see you Kadi,” I lied, “We were just leaving.”
She pouted as I wondered what I had ever seen in her besides her appearance. Sure she was pretty, but definitely not worth all the baggage that came along with her.
Twisted (Torn Series) Page 7
