Tainted (6 page)

I just hoped that she hadn’t run back to Jordan or Logan. I wasn’t sure how I would handle it if I ever saw her with either of them. She was mine even if she didn’t think so anymore, and I didn’t want Jordan or Logan touching her, kissing her, or holding her at night. As I imagined either of them in bed with her, I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. Her body and soul were supposed to be mine and mine alone.

I plugged my phone in to charge it, and I threw the covers back on my bed. I had a huge day tomorrow, and I needed to get some sleep. I tossed and turned, unable to put my mind to rest. Now that the thought had popped into my head, all I could see was Chloe in bed with someone else. The picture Kadi had shown me of Chloe and Jordan in bed together was what had started all of this, and here I was again, going through the same hell as before.

I had finally managed to fall asleep around three in the morning, and when the alarm went off at six, I wanted to shoot myself. I barely managed to crawl out of bed and make it to the bathroom to turn on the shower. I wasn’t a morning person, and the time difference was really screwing with me. I stripped out of my boxers and stepped into the hot water. I just stood there as I let it fall around me. The heat and the water beating against my skin slowly started to wake me up. I stayed in there for far longer than necessary before stepping out and toweling off.

After getting dressed and ordering room service for breakfast, I walked to Eric’s room and knocked on the door. He opened it, looking tired.

“Rough night?” I asked as I walked into his room.

“Well, with Jade being here until well after midnight, it was kind of hard to sleep,” he grumbled.

“Oh,” I said, unsure of how to respond to that.

“Yeah, oh. She was worried sick about you when she found out what happened. She wanted to call the main desk and have them check on you, but I wouldn’t let her. That’s just what we need—the hotel informing Brad that we have a drug addict as the front man, and we were afraid he overdosed.”

“I wouldn’t overdose, dumbass.”

“You wouldn’t do it on purpose, but if you were pissed and decided to take more…well, you don’t know what could happen.”

I counted to ten in my head to keep my cool. “Let’s not start the day off by talking about this, okay? We have too much shit to get done.”

“You’re right, but I’m still pissed at you.”

“When aren’t you lately?” I grinned at him.

He shot me a dirty look. “I’m always pissed at you, and you can blame yourself for that.”

Someone knocked on the door, and he went to answer it. Jade and Adam were both standing on the other side. When Jade saw me, she pushed past Eric and ran toward me.

“Thank God! Why didn’t you answer your phone?” she asked, hugging me.

I shrugged as she released me from her death grip. “I just wanted to be alone for a while.”

“I was worried sick about you, Drake. Please don’t do that to me again.”

“I won’t. I promise.” I smiled at her.

“I’m holding you to that.” She frowned.

“I promised, didn’t I? Now, let’s get going. I’m sure Adam is waiting on us by now.”

“Let’s go.” Taking my hand, Jade led me out of the room and to the elevators. She didn’t let go until we were sitting in the back of the limo on our way to the studio.

Brad had told Eric that we wouldn’t need our instruments for the recording sessions because the studio had several to pick from. While I knew they would have the best of the best, it still made me uneasy to think I’d be playing a guitar that I wasn’t used to.

This morning, I’d decided to leave my stash in my room. I was sure that I’d be fine without it for a few hours, and I wanted to make sure that I gave the band everything I had. They deserved nothing less. I tried to pay attention to whatever Jade was saying, but I was failing miserably. My mind was on overload from the stress of the entire situation.

I glanced over at Adam, who had been suspiciously quiet since I saw him in Eric’s room. He was staring out the window, ignoring all of us. I wasn’t sure if he was nervous or if he was still mad at me over last night. Either way, his silence bothered me.

I waited until we were out of the limo and walking into the building before I approached him.

“Everything okay with you? I don’t think you’ve ever been this quiet.”

“Just peachy,” Adam said as he shoved past me.

Well, all right then. He was obviously still mad at me. I rolled my eyes as I followed the rest of the group into the elevator. He’d get over it soon enough. Now was not the time to be fighting among ourselves. We had a job to do, and we needed to do it well.

When we reached Brad’s office, Alex knocked on the door.

Brad opened it instantly, smiling at all of us. “You’re right on time. Follow me, and I’ll take you down to the studio.”

I raised an eyebrow. Wouldn’t it have been simpler for Alex to take us to the studio? Oh well, Brad was the boss, and if he wanted to play musical elevators, then I would do it.

After yet another elevator ride that took us to the basement level of the building, we stepped out to see a massive recording studio. My mouth dropped open as I looked around. After recording most of our stuff in Eric’s garage, this setup was out of this world.

There were a few people sitting around a control panel just outside of the recording studio. They all looked up as Brad led us over to them.

He stopped in front of them. “Good morning, gentlemen. I’d like to introduce you to the band you will be working with today. This is Eric, Adam, Jade, and Drake.”

I was surprised when he named each of us off. I figured guys like him forgot names as soon as the faces were out of sight.

“I’m Frank, and this is Tony and Eddy. It’s nice to meet you guys,” the oldest of the group said as he shook each of our hands.

“You guys can go on in, and then we can get started. For today, we’re going to focus on a few of the songs you sent to us. Basically, we want to see what you can do right out of the gates. If that goes well and Brad gives us the go-ahead, we will start cutting tracks for the first album,” Tony said.

“Sounds good to me,” I said.

I walked into the studio, and the rest of the band followed me. They each took their respective places. The guys in the control room gave us a few minutes, so we could make sure our instruments were tuned. I gave them the okay when we were ready to go.

Frank’s voice came over the speakers in the room. “There are a few songs we want to hear today. The first one is ‘Whirlwind.’ Let’s do that one now.”

My heart dropped to my stomach. “Whirlwind” was a song I’d written about Chloe when she was still with Logan. Of course that would be the first song they wanted to record. Even here, thousands of miles away from her, people continued to taunt me with her presence—or rather, her lack of presence.

“Everything okay?” Frank asked.

“Uh, yeah. We’re ready when you are,” I said, trying to think of anything else besides
her.

The red light in front of me came on, and I waited as Jade started the song with a slow beat. Adam and Eric waited until it was their time, and then they began to play. I closed my eyes as I started belting out the lyrics to the song that brought me so much pain.

I wasn’t sure what it was,

What you did to me.

I felt myself change.

Something shifted when I looked into your eyes,

Engulfing me in flames,

Burning me to the core.

But it wasn’t meant to be.

You see, you and I,

We’re a whirlwind,

Destroying everything in our path.

But isn’t that what love does?

It makes us weak, far from free.

I gave you everything, and you turned it back on me.

You turned it back on me.

We finished the song, and I opened my eyes to see the guys, including Brad, in the other room, watching us with their mouths hanging open. At least someone liked me today.

The red light turned off, and Brad’s voice came over the speakers. “That was incredible! It’s been a long time since anyone has shocked me, but you guys have managed to do it. Why don’t you do ‘Fire’ next?”

I nodded, and the red light came on again.

We spent the rest of the day singing song after song, only breaking once or twice for lunch and smoke breaks. By the time evening rolled around, I was on edge and snapping at everyone, including Brad. All I wanted to do was go back to my hotel room and snort a line or two.

When Brad announced that we were done for the day, I almost started fist-pumping. As soon as we were out of the studio and in the control room though, he stopped us. I debated on how bad it would look if I shoved him out of the way, but then I decided I could hold out for a few minutes before I did anything drastic.

“You guys were incredible. I have a meeting in the morning, so catch a few extra hours of sleep tonight. Alex will pick you up around ten tomorrow morning. I have a few things I want to discuss with you, so just come up to my office when you get here.”

“Sure thing,” Jade said.

Brad stepped aside to let us go, and Alex appeared to guide us out of the building and drive us back to the hotel.

I nearly ran to my room when Alex dropped us off. Jade stopped me to ask if I wanted to go out for dinner, but I lied and told her I was too tired and that I’d just have something sent to my room. I just wanted to escape her. She seemed disappointed, but she didn’t question me. I told them all good night and hurried to my room.

After I locked the dead bolt on the door, I walked to my bag and pulled out my stash. I sat down on the couch, and then I dumped some of the powder onto my mirror and proceeded with my usual routine. Without a second thought, I snorted the lines I’d made. Even though today had been amazing, I was stressed and needed to relax more than anything. From now on, I’d keep something with me just in case.

As I started feeling the effects from using cocaine, I walked to my bed and fell onto it. I just lay there as the tension left my body.

I must have passed out because I awoke later to the sound of someone beating the shit out of my door. I groaned as I stood and walked to the door. I threw it open to see Adam, Eric, and Jade all standing there, looking grumpy.

“What’s up?” I asked before yawning.

“We’ve been calling you and beating on this damn door for half an hour. We’re supposed to be downstairs in ten minutes! Go shower and get dressed,” Adam growled.

I glanced at the clock on the wall, and my eyes widened. “Shit!”

“Yeah, shit. We’ll be waiting downstairs. Don’t fuck around,” Jade said.

As they turned away, I shut the door. I ran to the bathroom and jumped into the shower. After taking the fastest shower on record, I ran to the dresser and threw on clean clothes. I grabbed my stuff and ran for the door, hoping that the others hadn’t left without me. Normally, it wouldn’t be a concern, but they had been so pissed at me lately, so I wasn’t sure if they’d wait or not. If they had left, I could at least walk to the studio since it wasn’t that far.

When the elevator opened on the ground floor, I took off running across the lobby. Several people threw dirty looks my way, but I ignored them. I made it outside just as the limo was pulling up to the curb. The rest of the band looked relieved as we all got into it.