Twisted (Torn Series)

by Robinson, K. A.

  “I said I was sorry, what else do you want?” I shouted back at her.

  “I don’t want you to say anything! We had to cancel two shows because of your stupid ass!”

  Eric slid out of his seat and stepped between us. “Both of you calm down. Shouting at each other isn’t going to help anything alright?”

  “Tell her that!” I growled.

  “Oh shut up. I want answers Drake, where the hell have you been?”

  Jade was a tiny little thing and I almost laughed at the sight of her so wound up. She rarely yelled at us, with the exception of Adam, and it was comical. It was like being yelled at by a baby kitten.

  “I told you, I went to a party. I made a couple new friends and decided to stay for a while.”

  She raised her eyes to the ceiling and mumbled something about needing patience. “Drake as long as I have known you, you have never done anything like this. Why didn’t you at least answer your phone to let us know you were ok?”

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and held it up for her to see. “I turned it off and then forgot about it.”

  “Drake, can I talk to you outside for a minute?” Eric asked as he stood.

  I nodded and followed him off the bus. He walked halfway across the lot before he stopped and turned back to me. “Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on? I already have an idea.”

  I raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

  He sighed as he pulled the envelope Kadi had given me out of his pocket and held it up. “I saw Kadi inside the bar and then found these laying on the ground by the bus so I put two and two together. Have you talked to Chloe?”

  My eyes were glued to the pictures as I shook my head. “I have nothing to say to her. A picture is worth a thousand words and there are several in there.”

  “I might be overstepping my boundaries here, but I think you need to talk to her before you jump to any conclusions. Kadi is a nasty piece of work and she could have taken innocent moments and turned them into something ugly.”

  “I don’t see how Chloe and Jordan in bed together could be innocent.”

  “She was obviously in the room with them and it’s not like they’re naked. I mean, Chloe is looking right at the camera.”

  I ran my hands through my hair as I thought about what he said. He did have a point, I had to give him that, but it still didn’t explain everything. I had barely been able to get Chloe to answer my calls lately, yet she seemed to have no trouble spending all of her time with Jordan.

  “I don’t know what the fuck to think.”

  “That’s why you need to talk to her before you do something stupid,” he looked at me closely, “You haven’t already done something stupid have you?”

  No, nothing at all except buying enough coke to put a small dent in my bank account.

  “If you’re talking about girls, then no I haven’t.”

  He looked relieved. “Glad to hear it. Chloe is a good girl Drake and I’ve grown to like her over the last few months. I’ve seen the way she looks at you, there’s no way she’s cheating.”

  I motioned toward the bus. “Did you show those to Jade or Adam?”

  “No, I figured they were the reason you bolted. I wanted to give you time to cool off.”

  “Thanks man, I don’t want them involved in this if they don’t have to be.”

  We both looked up as a familiar red car pulled into the parking lot. My mouth hung open as Eric cursed under his breath.

  “I might have forgotten to mention that Jade called Chloe this morning freaking out and Chloe left to come find you.”

  I glared at him. “You think that might have been important?”

  The car stopped next to the bus and Chloe was out and running toward me. I saw red as Jordan climbed out of the driver’s seat. Before I even realized what I was doing, I was crossing the lot. I bypassed Chloe and went straight for Jordan. When I reached him, I pulled back and punched him in the face with enough force to send him flying backwards.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chloe

  The elation I felt at seeing Drake standing in the parking lot quickly turned to confusion as he weaved around me and went to Jordan. I watched in horror as he pulled back and punched Jordan with enough force to break his nose. Jordan, taken by complete surprise, flew backwards and landed on the ground with his hand up to his nose.

  “What the hell?” He roared as he tried to stand back up.

  Drake was on him in a flash and started punching any part of him that he could reach. Jordan, who was almost twice Drake’s size, instantly started fighting back. He rolled and pinned Drake under him. After getting in a few good punches, he managed to grab both of Drake’s arms and pin them to the ground.

  Jade and Adam came running out of the bus just as Eric reached them and tried to pull Jordan away, with no luck. Eric was smaller than Drake and there was no doubt in my mind that Jordan could take both of them if he had to.

  I ran to their side and started pulling on his arm. “Jordan, let go of him.”

  He shook his head. “Not until he tells me what the hell that was for.”

  Drake struggled underneath of him, his eyes full of rage. “Get off of me!”

  “So you can try to beat the shit out of me again? I don’t think so.” Jordan growled as blood dripped from his nose.

  “Holy shit Chloe! What happened to you?” Adam asked.

  All eyes instantly went to me and I let my hair fall forward to cover most of the bruises. “That’s not important right now.”

  Eric walked over and held an envelope in front of me. “I think it has something to do with these.”

  I took the envelope from him and opened it. My mouth dropped open as I flipped through the pictures inside. “Where on Earth did he get these?” I asked.

  “From some stalker named Kadi that has been following him around. She showed up here the other night and gave them to him.”

  “Kadi? Danny’s friend Kadi?” I asked, completely confused. “How does she even know who Drake is and why would she take these and then give them to him?”

  Eric glanced at Drake struggling on the ground. “I think that’s something you need to discuss with him.”

  “Jordan, let him up.”

  He looked at me like I was crazy. “Are you serious? He’ll just start hitting me again!”

  “No he won’t, will you Drake?” I asked calmly.

  “As long as he stays the fuck away from me, then no.”

  Jordan released him and stepped out of his range as I walked over to him and started inspecting his face. His nose was still bleeding and his left eye was starting to swell, but other than that, he looked fine.

  “Are you ok? Is your nose broken?”

  He wiped the blood away and gave me a small grin. “Nah, I’m fine. I get hit harder than that on the field.”

  I nodded as Drake stood and glared at us. “Go ahead, make sure I didn’t hurt your little boyfriend.”

  Jordan glared at him, but I put my hand on his chest to keep him back. “Don’t. He has good reason to think that.”

  I held the pictures out to him and he grabbed them, flipping through the pile quickly. “You’ve got to me kidding me! I knew that bitch was up to something.”

  “Yeah, you were right. Only she wasn’t after Danny like you thought, she was after us.” I said as he handed the pictures back to me.

  I glanced up at Drake to see him watching us closely. “Why don’t you go hang out on the bus for a while. I think Drake and I need to have a talk.”

  Jordan didn’t seem to like the idea of leaving us alone together, and he made that obvious as he walked away. “You lay a finger on her and I’ll break your neck. As far as I’m concerned, you fucked up our truce the minute you disappeared on everyone and scared her to death. The fact you hit me just adds to it.”

  Drake flipped him off as he walked away. “Asshole.”

  “Real mature Drake. Seriously. He’s only looking out for me.”

/>   “That’s the problem. He watches out for you just a little bit too much.”

  I looked back at the bus to see Adam and Jordan both staring out the window at us. There was no way that we could have a private conversation with those two around.

  “Want to take a walk?” I asked.

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, just let me grab my phone out of the bus first.”

  “Not like you were worried about it before.” I grumbled as he walked away.

  I had no idea what I was supposed to say to make those pictures look better. Kadi had caught the most innocent moments and turned them into something ugly and dirty. I had to admit that she had completely fooled me; the girl I was starting to consider a friend would never do something like that.

  The fact that she had used my grieving cousin to get to me infuriated me more than anything though. Only a truly sick individual would pull something like that. I hoped that either Drake or Jordan was with me next time I saw her or there would be some major bloodshed. Growing up with my mother, I was a strong advocate against violence, but she had crossed too many lines in my book; using Danny, those pictures, and stalking Drake. The girl had a bad case of the crazies.

  I was starting to wonder if Drake had decided to just hide in the bus when he finally emerged. He still looked pissed, but he seemed to have calmed down a bit.

  “You ready?” He asked as he walked up to me.

  “Yeah, you know this area better than I do, so lead the way.”

  We walked side by side down the street, but he kept at least a foot between us at all times. I noticed that he kept wiping his nose as we walked.

  “Are you getting sick?” I asked.

  He glanced up at me. “What?”

  “You keep wiping your nose, I thought maybe you were sick.”

  He shook his head. “No, just allergies or something.”

  We walked in silence until the bus was out of view. I was uncomfortable with the silence and awkwardness of the entire situation. With the exception of when I was with Logan, we had always had an easy relationship with each other, even when we were just friends. With one small envelope, I felt like all of that had disappeared right before my eyes.

  We turned the corner and walked into a small park. There were several children playing on the swings, but I continued past them to a more isolated location. What we needed to say wasn’t for small children to hear.

  “I don’t even know where to start.” I said as I sat down on a picnic table.

  Drake moved to stand a few feet away from me. He leaned against a wooden beam that supported the roof above us as he looked down at me. “Neither do I. I just never thought you’d do that to me.”

  “I didn’t do anything Drake. You know me better than that!”

  “I saw the pictures myself Chloe, you can’t deny them.”

  I grabbed my face in aggravation and winced as I put pressure on my bruises. “She took those pictures during innocent moments and twisted them Drake. I would never cheat on you, I love you too much.”

  “Like you loved Logan?”

  That stung. He was throwing our past back in my face and I wanted to slap him for it. I did love Logan, but I knew now that it wasn’t the same kind of love that I felt for Drake. If I had figured that out a little sooner, it would have saved all three of us a lot of pain.

  “You’re an asshole.”

  “No, I’m honest. It just sucks being on this side of it. I always felt guilty about Logan, but now that I’m in his shoes, I pity him. Getting burnt by you hurts like a bitch.”

  “I know I screwed up with Logan, and I came clean. But you have to believe me, I never did anything to hurt you. Jordan is my friend, that’s it,” I pulled the pictures out of the envelope and held them up, “Every single one of these can be explained.”

  “By all means, explain them to me then.” His tone was sarcastic, but I ignored it as I held the first one up.

  “This one, he was hugging me because I was upset. There was nothing romantic about it, just two friends dealing with a lot of shit. These two were taken at my aunt’s funeral. He closed up and I was trying to get him to talk to me. He held my hand because he needed comfort. The one where I’m thrown over his shoulder, that was the day I was talking to you when he threatened to drag me downstairs if I didn’t hurry up. The one by the pool was taken just before he threw me in the pool, we were just playing around. The one in the pool was when I was trying to dunk him. They’re all completely innocent.”

  “You forgot my favorite one though; the one with the two of you in bed together.”

  I didn’t want to explain the fact that I was stuck in bed because my mother had beaten me, but I didn’t see how I was going to make him believe me if I didn’t tell him the absolute truth. I stared down at the picture for several seconds, trying to figure out just where to start with that horror story.

  “Your silence says it all Chloe.” He turned and started to walk away.

  “My mother beat me.” I blurted out.

  He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to glare at me. “That was a long time ago, so that won’t work as an excuse now.”

  I shook my head. “No, I mean that’s why we were in my bed. My mother beat me a couple of days before that picture was taken and I was stuck in bed with a cracked rib and a bruised body. Jordan refused to leave me, he was afraid she would come back to finish it.”

  I pushed my hair back so that he could see my face clearly. I knew the bruises covering my face would speak much louder than words. I felt vulnerable showing him my wounds, but I couldn’t lose him.

  He walked back over to me and raised his hand to trace one of the darker bruises on my cheek bone. I winced at the touch and he pulled back, looking pained.

  “Jesus Chloe, I didn’t even fucking notice,” he whispered.

  “It’s alright, I was trying to keep them covered. I didn’t want to have to tell you this way.”

  “Your lip is busted and your face is practically green it’s so bruised. How the hell did I not notice that? I really am an asshole. I was too worried about myself to even look at you. Why didn’t you call me when it happened?”

  “I didn’t want you to worry and I knew you’d come right back to me. I wouldn’t do that to the band, they depend on you far too much for me to constantly pull you away from them.”

  He ran his hands through his hair as he sat down beside me. “I really fucked up didn’t I? I should have known better than to believe anything that came from Kadi.”

  I shook my head. “No, I would have believed it too. But you’ve got to believe me Drake, nothing happened with Jordan, I swear.”

  “I believe you. I’m the stupidest idiot who ever lived for doubting you. I just saw those pictures and thought that I’d lost you,” he cupped my face gently, trying not to touch any of the bruises, “I thought I lost the one person that I truly loved and I couldn’t deal with it.”

  He leaned forward and kissed me. I felt my body sag in relief as I realized he truly believed me; I wasn’t going to lose him.

  “I love you too Drake. When Jade called and said you’d just disappeared, I lost it. I’m in so deep with you, I don’t think I’ll ever surface. But I’m ok with that. If I’m going to drown, I want it to be with you.”

  He smiled. “Do you know how corny we sound? I think I just threw up a little.”

  I elbowed him in the ribs. “I don’t care. I don’t want you to ever doubt how I feel about you again.”

  “I won’t, I promise. If there is ever anything that bothers me, I’ll ask you before I assume anything.”

  “Good, I’m glad we cleared that up. But there’s still one thing that’s bothering me.” I said nervously.

  He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “When you wouldn’t answer your phone, where were you? Did you… Were you with someone?”

  He instantly looked guilty and my heart almost stopped. He thought I’d cheated and went to some other woman to forget about me.
I turned away as tears stung my eyes.

  He grabbed my arm and turned me back to him. “I didn’t cheat, if that’s what you’re thinking. I met some guy outside the bar and partied with him and his friends for a couple of days.”

  I raised my eyes to meet his. He seemed sincere, but the guilt was still there too. “If you did, just tell me.”

  “I didn’t, I swear. I was too… drunk to do anything. I spent most of my time lying on his couch.”

  His eyes pleaded with me to believe him, but I felt like he was keeping something from me. If it wasn’t another woman, there was something else he was hiding; I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I just hoped he would come clean with me, I didn’t want anything to keep us apart.

  “Alright, if you say you didn’t then I believe you.”

  He seemed relieved as he pulled me to him and hugged me carefully. “Thank you, I don’t deserve it after how I reacted with the pictures.”

  “Of course you do, I know you would never keep anything from me.” I said, trying to gauge his reaction.

  There it was; a small flash of guilt crossed his face. He quickly hid it, but it confirmed that there was something he wasn’t telling me.

  He pulled away and I winced as he brushed against my ribs. His eyes dropped to my shirt as he lifted it slowly, revealing the wrap.

  “How bad are you hurting?”

  I shrugged. “I’m fine, just a little sore.”

  “With a cracked rib, I’d say a little sore is an understatement. Want to tell me what happened?”

  I tugged my shirt back down. I really didn’t want to talk about my mom right now; I’d had enough stress for one day. Bringing up the fact that my own mother had tried to drown me was not going to help the situation any.

  “Not really, it’s not a big deal anyway. The cops are looking for her, so hopefully I won’t have to deal with the drama anymore.”

  “It’s a big deal to me. Please?” He asked as he brushed the hair that had fallen back around my face away.

  I sighed. “She got really mad and threatened me when she found out that she wasn’t getting anything. Jordan stuck close to me, but she left and he needed to make a phone call. I was with Kadi, but she had to leave too, so it was just me by the pool.” I stopped as I realized what I had just said. “You know what? Kadi left right before my mom showed up. I would bet every dime my aunt left me that she passed her when she was leaving and didn’t even warn me!”