“Aww, come on Drake. Come have a few drinks with me for old times’ sake,” she said.
“Can’t, we’ve got a show tomorrow that I have to stay sober to get us to.”
She glanced at the band standing behind me. “Surely you could take an hour or two out of your schedule for me. We can go hang out in your bus I saw outside while the band stays in here.”
The meaning in her words was clear. After all the times I had told her to stay away from me and she still didn’t get it.
“Not gonna happen Kadi, might as well go find someone else to sink your claws into,” I said, getting truly irritated now.
“But I only want to sink my claws into you.”
Jade stepped around me to glare at her. “Listen, Drake just told you to get lost, so take the hint and leave. He’s not interested in you; he’s got someone a little more permanent now.”
I had to smile as I watched the two women face off. Jade usually kept out of everyone’s business, but she obviously liked Chloe enough to defend her, or maybe she just couldn’t stand Kadi. Either way, I wasn’t going to complain. Jade could punch her, where I was stuck with the dude card.
“If she’s so permanent, why isn’t she here by his side?” She made a grand gesture of looking around the club, “I don’t see any girl coming over to fight for him, so that makes him mine.”
“Hate to break it to you, but I have a say in that and I’ve already told you I’m not interested. Besides, Chloe would be here if she could,” I said.
She frowned. “What could be more important than being here to support you?”
I eyed her suspiciously, not wanting to give her any more information on Chloe than she needed. My luck was bad enough for her to start terrorizing Chloe.
“She’s staying with her cousin to help with her sick aunt in Ocean City,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “What a coincidence, I live in Ocean City when school isn’t going on. I’m just here visiting my cousin for the weekend. What’s her cousin’s name?”
This couldn’t go well at all. There was no way I was practically drawing her a map right to Chloe’s front door. I thought for a minute, trying to come up with some generic name. Of course, my mind froze and I couldn’t think of a single name besides Danny or Jordan. I decided to go with the lesser of the two evils.
“His name’s Jordan, but I’m sure you don’t know him. He’s younger than you are.”
“Jordan Daniels that hangs out with Danny? I love that guy, but I thought Danny’s mom was the sick one.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I was digging myself in a deeper hole every time I opened my mouth. “I’m not sure, only met the guy once.”
She smiled in a way that made me want to run home and grab Chloe. “I’m sure that’s who you’re talking about. Anyway, since your girlfriend is so far away, she’ll never have to know if you want to go to your bus with me.”
I grabbed my guitar case off the floor and started walking to the door. “Not a chance Kadi, so just back off. You’re definitely not worth ruining what I have with her. I’m out, later.”
There was no way I was hanging around to help the guys pack up Jade’s drum set if Kadi was anywhere around. I made sure to lock the bus door as I shut it behind me and threw my guitar on the table. The band would understand why they had to knock, if not, they’d get over it. No way was I letting Kadi in here with me when no one else was around.
I sat down at the table and pulled out my phone to check my phone for any new messages from Chloe. She had sent me one about an hour earlier telling me she and Jordan had made it back to the house and wishing me luck at my first show. I smiled as I texted her back and let her know everything had gone well, but I made sure to leave out the part where Kadi showed up.
We had never really talked about all the girls at the shows, but I knew they bothered her. There was no way I would ever cheat on her and I think she knew that down deep inside, but her insecurities often got in the way of rational thought. Mentioning Kadi showing up would only send her into hyper drive and she would start freaking out.
I felt my temper flare as I realized just how much her mother had screwed her up over the years. She was a beautiful girl with a heart of gold, but her mother had literally beat it into her head that she was garbage and a waste of time.
I was pulled away from my thoughts as a knock came at the door. I walked to the door and peeked out cautiously, making sure that it wasn’t Kadi trying to get in. Adam stood there, looking impatient as he waited for me to open the door. I unlocked it and stepped back as he and Jade stepped onto the bus.
“That was fucking awesome!” He shouted as he crashed into one of the seats.
Jade rolled her eyes as she grabbed clean clothes from her bunk and went into the bathroom to change.
“Where’s Eric?” I asked.
“Collecting our cut. I wanted to hang around for a while and see if I could get lucky but Eric threatened bodily harm since that crazy bitch is in there. He wanted to leave as soon as possible so she doesn’t try to follow us. You really know how to pick them, don’t you?”
I threw the pick I had just pulled out of my pocket at him. “Shut up asshole. That was a long time ago, I’ve learned from my mistakes.”
He laughed as he caught the pick and slipped it into his own pocket. “Damn straight. Chloe is way hotter than that thing in there. I can vouch for that after seeing that picture earlier.”
I punched him in the shoulder. “Quit bringing up the fact you’ve seen her naked or you’re going to have to learn to play your guitar with your toes.”
He laughed as Eric entered the bus looking frazzled.
“What the hell happened to you?” I asked.
“Being the only band member left in a bar full of women is not nearly as exciting as it sounds. I seriously almost got mauled. Jesus,” he said as he shook his head.
“Lucky bastard,” Adam grumbled as Jade exited the bathroom and took the seat next to me.
Eric grabbed a wad of money out of his pocket and divided it into four separate piles for each of us. There wasn’t much there, but it would pay for gas and food for a couple of days.
“You guys ready to head to our next stop? I talked to the manager earlier; he said it was cool to crash in his parking lot,” Eric said as he took the driver’s seat.
“Sound’s good to me, I’m going to call Chloe and then crash for the night,” I said as I made my way back to the bunks.
The bunks weren’t much, especially considering I’d just spent the last two nights sleeping on a King sized bed next to Chloe. It had been weeks since I’d had to sleep without her next to me and I missed her already. God, I sounded like a chick sometimes. I stripped down to my boxers and folded my body into the too small bunk. After several minutes of shifting to get comfortable, I gave up, knowing there was no position that could help me.
I dialed Chloe’s number and waited as it rang, but her voicemail picked up.
“Hey! You’ve reached Chloe, I can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave me your number I’ll call you back. Eventually. If I remember.”
I smiled at her stupid message as the phone beeped. “Hey baby, just got finished with my show. I guess you’re already asleep, so just call me in the morning. Love you.”
I was disappointed that I couldn’t talk to her before I went to sleep, but I knew she had probably stayed up as late as she could, waiting on me. She was worn out and needed to rest so she could deal with her mom.
I unlocked my phone and took one last look at the picture she sent me earlier before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep with a smile on my face.
Chapter Eight
Chloe
The first week without Drake was the worst. I knew I had turned into one of those clingy girls I despised, but I missed him so much that it hurt. On top of that, my aunt was getting worse every day. I would visit her once or twice a day, depending on how she felt, and I could literally see her witherin
g away right before my eyes. Each day, she would eat less, drink less, and sleep more. Her nurses told us to be prepared, that she could pass at any time.
I hated how helpless I felt as I watched it all play out before my eyes. Danny was trying to stay strong for her, but I knew it was eating him alive inside. On more than one occasion, I caught him sitting in the hallway outside her door with tears streaming silently down his face and it broke my heart.
Jordan and I tried to keep him busy as much as possible, but it was hard since he refused to leave the house. He was afraid the minute he left that she would pass and he wouldn’t be there with her. The overall feel of the entire house was dismal to say the least and Drake seemed to catch on to this when we would talk on the phone. He was worried about me, but I assured him that I was fine. I think he felt as helpless as I did, being so far away while all of this was happening around me.
The band was a huge success at every stop on their tour so far, and I was happy for all of them. They had worked really hard to pull all of this together and they deserved to reap the rewards.
Jordan had stuck to his word about watching out for me, and stayed with me almost constantly, especially when my mom was around. Thankfully, he had stopped trying to use his charms on me and we quickly fell back into our old friendship. My mother must have finally realized that she was about to lose her sister and started staying around the house more.
It made me miserable at times, but it also gave me hope that maybe she actually had a soul in there somewhere, that maybe she cared about someone on this Earth more than herself. Even if it wasn’t me, I was ok with that. I knew we would never have any kind of relationship and I had accepted that long ago, but the daughter in me didn’t want her to be the horrible person she portrayed most of the time.
I had just hung up with Drake as I made my way down the stairs and into the living room. I was caught off guard by a pretty girl sitting next to Danny on the couch. He never had visitors, besides Jordan who pretty much lived here, and I was surprised at how close he was sitting to her. They seemed to know each other well, even to the point of being involved.
I sifted through my brain, trying to remember if he had mentioned having a girlfriend since I arrived here. Nothing came to mind as I took a seat in the chair next to Jordan and glanced at him. By the look on his face, he was less than thrilled with the arrival of our new guest. Jordan was the type of guy who liked just about everyone, but he had disdain clearly written all over his face.
I turned my attention back to the girl and noticed her watching me closely. I shifted slightly in my seat, uncomfortable with her scrutiny.
“Who’s your friend Danny?” She asked as she continued to stare at me.
Danny looked up, slightly confused. “What? Oh sorry, I didn’t see you come in Chloe. This is my cousin Chloe, Chloe this is my friend Kadi.”
“Nice to meet you Chloe. I’d say I’ve heard wonderful things about you, but since I didn’t know you existed until just now, I’d be lying,” she said with a small laugh.
Her voice surprised me, but it really shouldn’t have. She was tiny and her voice matched her perfectly. It had a musical quality to it that reminded me of a small child and I instantly felt drawn to her, almost like I needed to protect her.
“It’s nice to meet you as well. Danny didn’t tell me we’d have a guest today.” I said as I smiled at her.
“Oh, well he didn’t know I was coming. We’re old friends and I heard about his mom when I got back into town and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do.”
“That’s very kind of you, Danny could use all the support he can get,” I said.
Danny rose from the couch and pulled Kadi up with him. “We’re going to go for a walk. I won’t be far, so call me if you need anything.”
“Of course, take your time Danny. You need time outside of this house,” I said.
I waited until the door clicked behind them before I turned to Jordan. “Alright, what was the grumpy face for?”
He glared at the door behind me. “I can’t stand that girl, she’s used Danny more times than I can count and yet here he is, welcoming her back with open arms the minute she decides to come back around.”
“The girl who was just here? Are you sure; she doesn’t exactly seem like that type. She seems kind of sweet actually.”
“Trust me, she’s a manipulative little slut. She was a couple of years older than us in high school, but she went after Danny as soon as she heard about him. She just uses him for money and then dumps him when she’s bored. Mark my words, she’s here to see what she can get out of him while his mom is in there suffering,” he said.
I just couldn’t picture her doing something like that; she seemed so sweet to me. But I knew Jordan had a lot more experience with her than I did, and if he said don’t trust her, I had no intentions of it. I thought about my aunt telling me the sharks would start circling, and it seemed one had already arrived.
“What are we going to do about her? Maybe we should talk to Danny?” I asked.
“Danny has always had a soft spot for that chick, he’ll just ignore anything we say about her, especially with how things are with his mom. We just need to make sure they aren’t alone very much.”
“How exactly are we going to do that? You’ve already got your hands full babysitting me when my mom’s around.”
“I’m still planning on sticking close to you, but you’re going to have to be buddies with Kadi. Just talk to her about clothes and shoes or something like that,” he said as he grinned.
“Jordan, seriously? Do I look like the type of girl who knows anything about clothes or shoes? If I didn’t have Amber breathing down my neck most of the time, I’d have two pairs of jeans and my skater shoes. I suck at being a girl.”
“You have no problem being a girl, trust me. Just keep her busy, I don’t care what you have to talk about,” he said.
“Ugh! This is going to suck!” I groaned.
“Oh suck it up, it won’t be that bad. Hopefully we can get rid of her before too long, that way you won’t have to deal with her very much.”
“I have the worst luck ever. If we plan on getting her out of here quickly, she’ll end up being a bridesmaid when Drake and I get married!”
His eyes narrowed. “Are you really talking about having a wedding with Drake? Please tell me you aren’t in that deep with him.”
I fidgeted on the couch. Neither Drake nor I had ever mentioned getting married, but it had crossed my mind. I knew it was stupid to even think about marriage since I couldn’t even legally drink yet, but I couldn’t help myself around him. It wasn’t like I was waiting around for him to drop to one knee or anything though, I knew it would be a long time before either one of us was ready for that step. We were still in the honeymoon stage of our relationship.
“Of course not, I was just trying to explain how bad my luck is. Wait, I thought you liked Drake now that you two did your whole male bonding thing.”
“We didn’t bond, we just both agreed that you’re more important than the two of us fighting over you. He seems like an ok guy, he really does, but I just don’t see you guys together in a year,” he said quietly.
My heart dropped to my stomach. Did he see something in Drake that I had missed? “Why do you say that?”
“Come on Chloe, you’re smarter than that. Guys like him never stick around for long, and all they do is leave broken hearts behind them,” he said as he gazed at me with pity.
“Drake isn’t like that. Yeah, he screwed around before we got together, but he hasn’t even looked at another girl since we decided to give the whole relationship thing a try. I won’t judge him off his past mistakes; God knows I’ve made enough of them.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you Chloe, I just worry about you. I’m sure he really does care for you, but he’s in a band, covered in ink and piercings, his whole persona fits the womanizer vibe. He might not intend to stray, but those girls are going to be drawn to h
im, and a guy can only hold out so long.”
“I have to trust him,” I whispered, “Otherwise I’ll go crazy worrying about where he is every second of every day.”
Jordan stood and pulled me out of my chair and into a hug. “I’m sorry Chloe Bear, I didn’t mean to make you worry. I’m sure you’re right about him; he wouldn’t give up someone like you for one of those girls.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Am I interrupting?” A voice asked from behind me.
I pulled away to see Kadi standing in the doorway holding her phone. “No, you’re fine. I was actually just about to go out to the pool and try to tan for a while. Care to join me?”
“Sure, I could use some girl time. Let me grab my bikini out of my car and I’ll meet you out back,” she said as she turned to leave.
As soon as she was outside, Jordan smirked at me. “Girl time huh? This should be good.”
“Shut up. You’re going to be stuck with us too since you won’t leave my side,” I said as I elbowed him.
“Nope, you’re mom left earlier while you were upstairs. I’m going to watch some television and chill out while you two go bond.”
I flipped him off as I walked to the door. “Jackass!”
“Have fun!”
I sighed as I walked to the pool and pulled my shorts and shirt off. I wasn’t looking forward to spending time with someone who was only here to use my cousin. Besides, my people skills weren’t exactly top-notch.
I slipped into the shallow end of the pool as Kadi walked over to me, her suit already on. She took a seat on one of the chairs as she watched me swimming laps.
“So Chloe, tell me about yourself,” she said when I passed close to her.
“Not much to tell really, I’m pretty boring,” I said as I grabbed the side of the pool and pulled myself out.
She motioned for me to take the chair beside her. “I doubt that, you hang out with Jordan and Danny; that’s more excitement than most girls ever see.”
I laughed as I sat down next to her. “Yeah, I spent the summer with them a couple of years ago. They can get pretty wild, but obviously not with everything going on.”
Twisted (Torn Series) Page 8
