Chapter Twenty-Two
Drake
I couldn’t help but smile at Chloe’s stubbornness. It was one of my favorite things about her after all. I knew coming back here was a gamble, but I couldn’t stop myself; I had to know if she still wanted me.
“I’m not going to lie, I was hoping you would welcome me back with open arms.”
“Sorry to disappoint you. Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you be out snorting cocaine and banging the groupies? I figured you were living the typical rock star life by now,” she snapped.
“Yeah, I guess I deserved that didn’t I?” I asked. She raised an eyebrow but said nothing as she waited for me to continue. “And I assumed it would be obvious why I was here. I’ve missed you.”
“You’ve missed me? If you missed me so much, why didn’t you call me even once over the past six months?”
“Because I couldn’t. After you left, things started to get worse and I started using more. Then Eric got the call about the label out in L.A. wanting us to come out and my life went crazy from there.”
“I was waiting for Jade or one of the guys to call me and tell me you were dead from an overdose Drake. All this time, I’ve secretly worried about you and you couldn’t take two seconds out of your busy life to let me know you were ok? That’s bullshit.”
“At least that means you still care.” I mumbled, feeling like the biggest ass ever. I didn’t want to stay away from Chloe, but I had wanted the drugs more than anything.
“I did care, not anymore though. I’ve seen you, so you can go now.”
“Don’t you want to hear anything that I came here to say?”
“Not really Drake, you ripped my heart out once already; I don’t need to go through that again.”
“I never meant to hurt you, honest. You’re the most important thing in the world to me, but my judgment was clouded. I just miss you so much, and I know that I f*cked up.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say to that Drake. I already made myself clear back on the bus; I don’t want anything to do with you while you’re on drugs. I can’t stop you from destroying your life, but I can still save mine,” she whispered as a tear slid down her cheek.
I wanted more than anything to wipe it away, but I knew she wouldn’t let me. That wall she used to keep people away was up and this time it was for me. I hated to think that I had hurt her to the point where she would never let me in again.
“I’m clean Chloe, I have been for a couple of months now.”
“What? Why didn’t you try to reach me then? Is it because you finally figured out you could do better than me?”
“You know better than that Chloe, I love you. Basically, the band and our manager threatened to fire me from the band if I didn’t get clean. I had already lost you, and they were the only thing I had left that mattered. I checked myself into a two month program and I’ve been clean since.”
“So let me get this straight; you cared enough about the band to go into rehab, but I wasn’t enough of a reason when I walked away from you?”
“No, it’s not like that Chloe. I knew I was in trouble, and it was just the final straw. I wanted to stay in the band, and I wanted to win you back.”
“How do I even know you’re telling me the truth about all of this? And if it is true, that means you’ve been out of rehab for a month without contacting me.”
I knew she wouldn’t believe me, so I had come prepared. I stood as I reached into the inside pocket of my jacket and pulled a piece of paper out. “If you want proof, then here it is. As for why I’m just now showing up, I wanted to make sure I could handle the outside world without falling back into my old habits. I didn’t want to come back and tell you I was clean, only to disappoint you again.”
She stood up and came a few steps closer to me, but only close enough to grab the paper out of my hand. I waited while she read what I hoped was my saving grace; it was my certificate of completion from the rehab center I had stayed at in L.A.
“You really did it then?” She asked as she stared down at the paper in her hands.
“Yeah, I did. You were all I thought about while I was in there. I screwed up so bad with you Chloe, and I want to make it right; I want to make us right.”
“It’s not that simple Drake, you really hurt me. You let me walk off that bus without even trying to stop me. I’m glad that you got help, but I don’t think I can go through that again.”
“I’m so sorry for what I did Chloe, I promise you that I will never do anything like that again.”
“How can you be sure Drake? You’re just starting out in an industry that is full of drugs and sex. Can you really walk side by side with temptation on a daily basis and not give in? Drugs will be easy to get and women will be lining up for you, worse than they were when we were together. I can’t handle that kind of life. I won’t share you with them.”
“Then come with me, stay by my side every night so that you know you can trust me.” I said.
“What?”
“I said come with me. That’s why I came back Chloe; I want you back and I want you by my side through all of this.”
“You can’t just walk back into my life and expect me to drop everything for you Drake. Even if I did want to give us another chance, I have responsibilities here; school, my part of the rent for this place.”
“So stay here until you’re finished with school for the year. Then you can take online classes and come on tour with us. Thanks to me, we’re still in the studio recording tracks for our first album, and we will be for a few months. We won’t start touring until several months from now.”
“This is insane Drake!” She shouted.
“Please Chloe, I love you. I want to spend every second of my life with you from now until the day I die. I can’t live without you.” I pleaded.
This had gone so much better in my head. While I knew she would be angry, I had hoped that I wouldn’t have to resort to groveling to get her to take me back. But if I had to, I would. I would rather die than spend one more day without her.
“I don’t want to get hurt again Drake,” she whispered, “I can’t take it.”
I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms. She struggled at first, but I held on tight, refusing to let her go. “I will never hurt you again Chloe. Never. Let me prove it to you.”
I pressed my lips to her and kissed her like I was dying, like it was the last kiss we would ever share, because it might just be our last. She might slap me when I let her go and never speak to me again. If she did, I wanted to remember the feel of her lips against mine for the rest of my life.
Despite what she said, her body responded to me instantly as she wrapped her arms around me and kissed me back, showing me just how much she still wanted me.
I groaned as her lips parted and I slipped my tongue inside her mouth, flicking my tongue ring against her tongue in a way that I knew drove her crazy.
She moaned in response, before quickly pulling away. “What are we doing?”
“I’m not sure what you were doing, but I was kissing the woman I love.”
“I love you too Drake, and I do want to be with you. There’s no way that I can deny that now, but if we do this again, we’re going to take it slow and start over. I don’t know how this is going to work with you being so far away though.”
A smile broke out across my face; if I had known all it would take to change her mind was a kiss, I would have done that first.
“We’ll figure it out, we always do.” I said as I kissed her softly, “But I can’t agree to the taking it slow part.”
“Why not?” She asked, confused.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small box. “Because the first thing I did when I checked out was stop at the jewelry store and pick this up.”
Her mouth dropped open as I lowered myself to one knee and opened the box to reveal a sparkling diamond ring. “Oh my God.”
Before I met Chloe, if someone told me I would be down on one knee asking the woman I love to marry me, I would have kicked their ass. Before her, marriage had been nothing more than a trap that others fell into. I was too smart for that, or so I thought.
“Chloe Marie Richards, I never thought I would ever be one of those dumbasses who loves a woman so much they want to tie themself to her forever, but here I am, down on one knee trying to think of something sweet and romantic to say. As you can tell, I’m failing miserably, so will you please put me out of my misery and say yes if I ask you to marry me?”
She laughed as I stared up at her. “I don’t know… You’ll have to ask me to find out.”
“I thought I just did.”
“No, you asked me if I would say yes if you asked me to marry you; it’s not the same.”
I groaned, “You’re not going to make this easy on me are you?”
“After the last six months? I think not, you’re lucky I haven’t thrown you out yet.”
“Fine, Chloe will you please marry me? I promise to love and cherish you forever and always, and I promise to give you lots of mind-blowing sex every day.”
“Even when we’re ninety and walking with canes?” She asked with a serious look on her face.
“Damn it, quit stalling! Will you marry me or not?”
“Well, since you asked me so nicely, I guess I have to now.” She said as she laughed.
“That was a yes, right?”
“That was a yes.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding as I pulled the ring from the box and slipped it onto her finger. “Thank God.”
“Aren’t you going to kiss me or something now? You’re not very good at this you know.”
“I was getting to that part smartass.” I said as I stood back up and pulled her into my arms, “I can’t wait until you’re Mrs. Drake Allen. Hell, maybe even one day we will have two point five children and live in a log cabin by a lake.”
She grinned. “I never understood that whole point five thing, but I wouldn’t mind kids someday. I love you Drake, I don’t think I could be any happier than I am right now.”
“Me too baby, me too.” I said as I attacked her mouth. I was going to make up for every lost moment with her, even if it took me all night, or all year. I didn’t care. I had her in my arms and there was nothing in this world that would ever tear us a part.
I knew we had a lot to figure out, especially with me living in Los Angeles now, but I wasn’t worried. Sometimes life throws you curve balls, but other times it seemed like everything fell into place. I was determined to make sure Chloe had her happily ever after, starting right now.