Amber pulled away. “Go. I don’t want any long, drawn-out good-byes. It’ll just make me miss you more.”
I nodded as I waved at both of them. I got into Drake’s car and turned in my seat as Drake started the car. As he pulled away, I watched Amber and Logan until they disappeared from sight when the car turned the corner. A single tear slid down my cheek as I realized that I was losing two of my best friends. Sure, we would always be friends, but it wouldn’t be the same with us living so far apart from one another. I just hoped that Amber and Logan took care of each other.
“You okay?” Drake glanced over at me.
“Yeah, it’s just hard to say good-bye. I’m going to miss them so much.”
“I know, but you’ll still get to see them from time to time. Plus, you won’t be alone once we get home. Jade will be there, and I know how much you like her.” He reached over and squeezed my hand.
That was true. While Jade and I weren’t best friends, like I was with Logan and Amber, I still loved her to death. We had been texting more since Drake had come back into my life, and she was excited that I was finally going to join them in Los Angeles. I thought she was secretly tired of hanging around just guys. I couldn’t blame her though. If I had to deal with only Drake, Eric, and Adam all day, every day, I’d pull out my hair.
The car ride through town was silent and awkward. We’d talked a lot on the phone, but now, it was different in person. We both knew that we needed to have that conversation—the one where we laid all of our cards on the table—but neither of us wanted to bring it up. At least, I knew I didn’t. It was going to be painful to talk about everything that had happened in the months leading up to our breakup, and I wasn’t quite ready to dredge up those memories.
I picked up my phone and started playing on it just to do something other than sit quietly. After checking my emails, I glanced up to see that we were already on I-79. When we passed a sign indicating we were going south instead of north to the airport in Pittsburgh, I looked at Drake.
“We’re going the wrong way,” I said.
“Are we?” He grinned.
“Um, yes. I thought you said we were going to Pittsburgh to fly back to Los Angeles. We need to go north, not south. You’re heading toward Charleston.”
“My bad.” He stared straight ahead.
“Drake, where are we going?”
“I thought it might be nice to take a road trip.” He glanced over at me. “That way, we can have more time alone together before I have to go back to work.”
“We’re driving to L.A.? That will take days!” I exclaimed.
“That’s the point. I told the label I wouldn’t be back for a few days. They know that I’m not to be bothered.”
My mouth hung open. “Can you even do that? I mean, isn’t the label your boss?”
“They are, but we’ve all been working our asses off for them. Brad has been great, and he completely understood that we needed some time off.”
“Look at you, throwing your rock-star weight around,” I joked.
“Yeah, I’m a big bad rock star now. Bow down to me.”
I rolled my eyes. “I remember having this exact conversation when you took me to get my tattoo. I didn’t bow then, and I won’t do it now.”
He laughed. “I thought you might have hated me back then. It was so fun to mess with you.”
“I never hated you. I just didn’t like you.”
Okay, that was a lie. Even then, I’d known that I was falling for this beautiful man. I just wasn’t willing to admit that.
“Do you remember the time when we went with Amber and Logan to that dance club? Logan got wasted, and we had to drag him to his dorm room,” I said.
“I remember that night, but it wasn’t because I got to feel up Logan. I distinctly remember feeling you up,” he said, still staring straight ahead.
I could never forget that night. It was the first time when I’d gotten a real chance to feel Drake’s body against my own. That was a memory that would always be burned into my brain.
“I remember,” I whispered, still thinking about the feel of his hands on me.
“We’ll have to do that again sometime.” He smirked at me.
“I thought we were taking it slow,” I countered.
“We are. We weren’t together back then, and you had no problem grinding your ass against my dick.”
He looked at me with lust-filled eyes that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I squeezed my legs together, surprised at how turned-on I felt from just his words. I was the one who had made the let’s-go-slow rule, yet here I was, aching for his touch. It had obviously been way too long since I’d had sex. When I added the time up in my head, I realized that it had been over nine months since we’d been together. It was no wonder I was acting like a horny teenage boy.
My stomach clenched as I wondered if it had been as long for Drake. I hadn’t asked if he’d been with anyone when we were apart. I was afraid of the answer he would give me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, noticing how quiet I’d become.
“Nothing,” I lied.
“I know you well enough to know when something’s bothering you, so tell me. We’re starting over, remember? No more secrets.”
I bit my lip, wondering how on earth I was supposed to ask him if he’d been faithful to me. “I…it’s just…well, were you with anyone while we were apart?”
He tensed. “I wondered when this conversation would come up. I wasn’t with anyone, but…”
Oh no, there was a but. I was afraid to ask, but I had to. “But what?”
He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. “Right before I went into rehab, the band and I went to this club. I had too much to drink, and I was already high. A girl approached me, and she looked so much like you that I thought it was you.”
“What happened?” I whispered.
“I don’t remember it all, but I do know that I ended up in a back alley with her.” He glanced over at me. “Nothing happened, I swear. I kissed her, but that was it. I kept calling her Chloe, and she got pissed off and left my drunk ass there.”
I shocked us both by giggling. I threw my hands over my mouth to stifle the sound.
His eyes widened in shock. “That wasn’t the reaction I had expected.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just so funny. The poor girl thought she’d landed a rock star, and you couldn’t even remember her name.” I laughed even though there was nothing funny about picturing him with someone else in an alley.
He chuckled. “I’m glad you find it more amusing than she did. The stupid skank left me nearly unconscious in a back alley by myself. Luckily, the guys and Jade came looking for me, and they got me back to my room.”
“Was it bad?” I asked.
“When we were apart?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, it was bad. I don’t really want to talk about it while I’m driving. I want to focus solely on us when we have that conversation, okay?”
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“Don’t ever be sorry for asking me something. I promise that I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, but not while I’m going seventy miles per hour down the interstate.” He took my hand and held it up to his lips to kiss. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too.”
“Glad to hear it. You know, I have to ask, too. Have you been with anyone since me?”
I glanced over at him. He was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were turning white.
“I haven’t. I went on a few dates, but I wasn’t interested in anyone but you. You’ve ruined me for life.”
He smiled as he eased his grip on the steering wheel. “You have no idea how happy that makes me. Every minute of every day, I wondered about what you were doing. I thought I was going to go nuts from picturing you with other guys.”