Torn (Torn Series) Page 0,62

do it all over again. I shivered as I remembered the way Drake’s body had felt against mine, and desire began pooling at my center.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts as I stood and pulled my pants legs up. I waded into the frigid water until it was up to my knees, then to my waist, completely soaking the pants I had just rolled up. I took another step just as someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me out. I screamed into the night, slicing through the silence.

“What the fuck are you doing, trying to get pneumonia?”

I felt my knees give way and I fell to the ground in a heap as I was released. I looked up to see Drake standing above me, looking angry. I tried to stand, but I was shivering too hard and I fell back to the ground. “Whaaa.. What are yoooou doooing here?” I tried to ask as my body convulsed with chills.

He bent down and scooped me up into his arms before carrying me up the hill. He sat me on his still warm hood as he opened his trunk and pulled out a blanket and a bag.

“Jesus Christ Chloe, you’re fucking freezing,” he growled as he threw the blanket over me and started taking things out of the bag until he found what he was looking for. He grabbed a pair of sweat pants out and handed them to me. “You need to change, put these on.”

“Fiiiiine, but tuuurn arounnnd.”

He rolled his eyes but turned to give me privacy as I slipped off the hood and started fighting with the buttons on my soaked pants. My fingers were numb and I was shaking too hard to make any progress. I sighed as I turned to him, dreading asking him for help. “Can you heeelp meee?”

He turned to me and had my pants off in seconds before helping me into his. They were far too big for me, but I instantly felt warmer. He grabbed me and the blanket and threw us in the front seat of his car before getting in himself and starting it, turning the heat up as high as it would go. I pointed the vents to me and held my hands over them as I felt the warmth start flowing through my body. We sat in silence for several minutes until I was warm enough to function properly.

“Want to tell me what you were doing out there besides trying to freeze yourself to death?”

I stared at my hands but didn’t respond. Now that I could think again, I wanted to be anywhere but in this car with him. Being this close to him was physically painful and my chest began to hurt. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to hold myself together as I felt him staring at me. I would not fall apart in front of this man, I couldn’t. Besides saving me from my own stupidity, he didn’t care about me and I wasn’t going to let him see how bad I was hurting because of him.

He sighed and I glanced over at him as he ran his hands through his hair, something I had noticed he did when he was agitated or upset, “Are we ever going to talk about this?”

I shook my head as I stared out at the water in front of us.

“Damn it Chloe, fucking talk to me! Why were you here? Why were you out in the water like that?”

I took a deep breath before turning to him. “I just wanted to find peace. I walked out there because I wanted to be numb, I didn’t want to feel, even just for a little while.”

“You could have found a better way than that to do it. Besides, you shouldn’t be out here alone this late at night, anyone could have stumbled across you and you would have been defenseless against them.”

“I can take care of myself, I have been for a long time.”

“What are you running from Chloe?”

I felt tears slip down my cheeks as I turned to look at him, “You. I’m running from you, and I can’t even escape you here.”

I threw the blanket at him and was out of the car in a flash. I heard him shouting my name as I ran to my car, but I peeled out of the clearing before he could reach me. I’d never find the peace I was looking for, not even here.

Amber and I were