I blanched at her words. “I would do anything to keep him from hurting, Em,” I whispered. “If you don’t know that, then you don’t know me.”
Hurt by her words, I scrubbed at the tears that leaked from my eyes and hurried into the house. I looked all over the house, trying to find Drake. Finally, I climbed the stairs and knocked on his bedroom door. He didn’t answer, but I could hear him moving around inside. Carefully, I opened the door.
He was sitting on the edge of his bed, a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand. Fifteen minutes—tops—had passed since I had last seen him. I wasn’t sure if the bottle had been opened before now or not, but it was halfway gone. His face was pale and his fingers trembled. I crossed to the bed and dropped down beside him. Drake didn’t even raise his head.
“Are you okay?” I murmured.
“Getting there,” he muttered, taking another chug from the bottle. Two more swallows and the bottle was empty. I grimaced as the bottle hit the floor and he fell back on the bed, one arm covering his eyes.
“Does that really help?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
“It does a pretty good job. But, no, it doesn’t really help.” He sighed and lifted his arm from his eyes. “Is she still ready to leave?”
“I’m confident that once Jesse has talked to her she will be packing her bags for another reason.” His face darkened and I sighed. “Jesse bought the house two houses over. He’s going to ask my sister to marry him. I’m leaving, but I’m not going very far, Drake.”
“Oh,” he muttered.
I fell down beside of him, using his shoulder as a pillow for my head. “Are you drunk yet, Drake?”
“Yes and no. I shouldn’t have drank that so fast. It’s going to catch up to me soon.” His arm wrapped around my waist. “I don’t want you to go, Angel.”
I smiled and leaned in to kiss his rough cheek. “I’m not going anywhere right now, babe.”
Somehow, I managed to get us both turned right on the bed and under the covers. Drake had chugged the whiskey, leaving him half asleep, so I settled down to take a nap, not wanting to be anywhere but right here in his arms. Just before I closed my eyes, my cellphone buzzed, and I pulled it from my hip pocket to see that it was from Jesse.
She said yes! Do me a favor and stay in my room tonight. You don’t want to come home.
I grinned, happy for my sister and Jesse.
Finally, I let myself drift off to sleep, safe in the arms of the man I loved…
Chapter 5
Lana
Something tickled my cheek. Without opening my eyes, I lifted my hand to brush it away. When I felt nothing, I tried to drift back to sleep.
The tickle came again, and I moved my hand quicker than before, but still came into contact with nothing. Sighing, I turned my face away, snuggling into a pillow that smelled like Drake. A smile teased my lips as I inhaled deeply, savoring the scent.
When a tickle to my other cheek came, I frowned and opened my eyes. Drake was propped up on an elbow, leaning over me while his long fingers caressed over my cheek.
“I thought you were never going to open those beautiful eyes,” he murmured.
There was something different about Drake. I was sure that he was drunk, but he didn’t talk like he was. His speech wasn’t slurred and his movements weren’t awkward. However, there was a glassiness in his eyes that told me he wasn’t himself. At the moment, he was staring down at me with hunger in his blue-gray eyes.
I caught his fingers that were still caressing my cheek and linked our fingers together. “How are you feeling?”
“I feel as if I will lose my mind if I don’t kiss you right now, Angel. That’s how I feel.” His voice was deeper, full of promises that I was sure he wouldn’t have been offering if he were sober.
Maybe it was taking advantage, maybe it was being selfish, but I really didn’t give a damn. I released his hand and wrapped my arms around his neck. “There isn’t anything stopping you, Drake,” I told him. “Kiss me.”
“Is it what you want, Angel?” he asked, his eyes focused on my lips. “Is it what you really want?”
“I want you, Drake. It’s all I will ever want,” I promised him, letting my fingers comb through his unkempt hair.
My answer was all he needed. His dark head lowered. The first brush of warm lips against my own, how my heart stopped for just a second only to race the next, was a feeling I would never forget as long as I lived. My blood turned to lava as his tongue barely brushed over my bottom lip, and I felt like I was going to singe the sheets. My own tongue snuck out, and I got my first taste of Drake.