Текст книги "Tainted"

Автор книги: K. A. Robinson

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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 11 страниц)

4

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.

“I was starting to wonder if you’d make it,” Eric said as we pulled away from the hotel.

“I did but just barely. I knew you’d leave me, so I hurried.”

“We wouldn’t have left you, you idiot. It would be kind of hard to record anything if our vocalist was missing.” Jade said as she rolled her eyes.

I hadn’t thought of that. I was the most important part of the band. Without me, half of our fans wouldn’t even know who we were. I was the face of Breaking the Hunger, and everyone in this limo knew it. They could threaten to kick me out, but in the end, I knew they wouldn’t do it. They’d tank if I left.

When I chuckled to myself, Jade looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

“What are you laughing at?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking about a funny joke,” I lied.

“Okay then,” she said. I ignored the strange look she gave me.

After the limo pulled up to the building, we got out and headed inside. Alex didn’t accompany us up to Brad’s office this time. He must have figured we wouldn’t get lost at this point. When Eric knocked on the door, Brad opened it almost immediately and stepped back to let us in. I took a seat in the same chair where I had sat last time.

Brad walked around his desk and sat down. “Right on time. I just finished up my meeting a few minutes ago.” He smiled at us.

This guy sure seemed to smile a lot.

“Actually, the meeting was about the four of you.”

I raised a brow but said nothing, and the rest of the band remained silent as well.

“Don’t look so worried. The meeting went well. I played the main guys upstairs some of what we recorded yesterday, and every single person there loved it. I know this seems kind of fast, but we want to sign you.”

I sat straight up in my seat. “Wait, wait, wait. You’re telling me that after only one day of listening to us play, you want to sign us?”

“That’s what I just said. All of you have amazing talent, but especially you, Drake. There’s just something about your voice that draws others in. I haven’t heard anything like it in a long time.”

“What happens now?” Jade asked.

“If you accept our offer, we’ll give you the contracts to look over. After you sign, we’ll figure out which of your current songs to put on your first album, and then we’ll start working on a song to release to the radio stations. Soon after that, I’d also like to do a music video for your first single. We need to get your faces out to the public. You’re all attractive, and that will get you a fan base just as fast as your music.”

“What kind of time frame are we looking at—from when we sign the contract until the album is released?” Eric asked.

“It will take a few months to get everything ready. Considering it’s late September now, I’d like to have the first single out right after Christmas. Sales are usually down in January since everyone is broke from Christmas, but if we release it on the radio and online, we can at least start a fan base. Once we have that, we’ll plan for the album to be ready by late spring or early summer. That way, we can promote you guys for a while. The fact that you already have enough songs for two albums will help speed up the process.”

I just sat there and stared at him. This was it. Our big break was finally here. After years of playing together, we’d finally done it. My lips turned up as I let that sink in.

Brad continued to talk, going through all the details of our contract. Brad mentioned the amount of our advance when Adam was taking a drink from his bottle of water. He started choking, and Eric had to beat him on the back.

“Holy shit!” Adam shouted when he could finally speak.

Brad laughed at Adam. “Yes, we have been very generous with your advance, but we feel that you will be worth it.”

“Can we have a few minutes alone to talk this over?” Eric asked.

“Certainly. I need to run upstairs for a minute. Talk among yourselves while I’m gone.”

After Brad left his office, Eric turned to us. “What do you guys think?”

Jade grinned. “I say yes! How could we say no to that?”

“I’m in, too,” Adam said.

All eyes turned to me. “I’m in, too. Jade’s right. There’s no way we can turn down that kind of offer.”

“All right then. I just wanted to make sure we all agreed.” Eric smiled. “This is it, guys!”

“It is!” Jade shouted as she did a little dance in her chair.

There was a knock on the door, and a few seconds later, Brad stepped back into the room. “Did I give you enough time?”

“Yes, we’re ready to sign,” Eric said.

“Excellent! I have the contracts on my desk.” Brad walked around us and picked up a folder from the top of his desk. “Here we are. Feel free to read everything over before you sign, but I’ve given you most of the details.”

He handed each of us a set of papers, and I started reading through mine. I sucked with legal wording, but as far as I could tell, everything was exactly as he’d said. I grabbed a pen from his desk and signed my name on the line at the bottom of the last page. There—it was done. Adrenaline shot through me as I handed the document back to Brad. With that contract, our fates were sealed. I wanted to jump out of my chair and start running around the room. My leg started bouncing, and I had to force myself to sit still. I had so much adrenaline running through my body, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to move.

“Do you mind if I use the restroom?” I asked, finding an excuse to leave.

“Not at all. It’s right down the hall on the left,” Brad said.

I ignored the look Adam gave me before I slipped out of the office. I started walking down the hallway, and then I saw the restroom only a few doors away from Brad’s office, just like he’d said.

I pushed open the door and walked inside to see the restroom was even fancy. These people were really over the top. The sinks and floor were both made out of a beautiful black marble. A black leather couch was in the far corner, and the urinals were on the opposite wall. There were three black stalls next to them. I walked into one, almost expecting the toilets to be made out of gold.

I was relieved when I saw that they had at least left the toilets alone. I closed the lid and sat down. I pulled my bag and mirror from my pocket and started pouring the powder onto it. I made my lines and snorted them quickly. I wasn’t sure why I was snorting right now. I wasn’t upset or anything, but I just wanted to. Call it my private celebration—sitting on a toilet in a restroom stall. Yeah, apparently, I’d sunk that low.

Someone walked into the bathroom, and I quickly threw everything back into my pocket. I flushed the toilet and stepped out of the stall to see some guy in a suit at one of the urinals. I ignored him as I left the restroom and walked back down the hall to Brad’s office. When I walked in, Brad and the others were holding up glasses.

“Just in time, Drake! We’re celebrating our partnership!” Brad handed me a glass.

I clinked my glass against theirs and took a sip of whatever was inside. I almost gagged as the taste of champagne hit my tongue. I never understood how people could stand to drink this crap. I looked around to see Jade wincing as she sipped, but Eric and Adam didn’t seem to be bothered by the taste. They could have at it. That stuff was nasty.

I set my mostly full glass on Brad’s desk. He didn’t seem to notice it when he set his empty glass next to it.

“All right, let’s go down to the studio and get some work done,” Brad said.

We all followed him out of his office and to the elevators. As soon as we hit the basement floor, he instructed us to go into the studio and get ready. My head was spinning a little, and I tripped over a cable as I was walking toward the door.

“You okay there, buddy?” Tony asked, looking at me with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I shook my head to clear it.

I still felt a little weird, but I ignored it as I took my place and picked up the guitar sitting next to the mic stand. It seemed to be tuned good enough, so I waited as Jade, Eric, and Adam adjusted their instruments.

When they gave the okay, Brad’s voice came over the speakers. “Let’s do ‘Whirlwind’ again. I’m going to have you play it a few times, and then we’ll work through whatever needs changed.”

I groaned to myself. Of course that was the song they wanted to start with again. The red light came on a few seconds later, and I waited as first Jade and then Eric and Adam entered the song. When it was my turn, I started singing. I still felt a little dizzy, but I tried to ignore it.

I made it halfway through the song before I had to stop. The room was spinning around me, and as I tried to put the mic in its stand, I lost my balance. In what seemed like slow motion, I fell to the floor, and I heard Jade shouting my name.

The next thing I knew, Adam was shaking me. I groaned as I tried to sit up. My head felt like it was splitting open.

“Stay down for a minute. You hit your head when you fell,” Jade said, leaning over me.

“It fucking hurts.” I lifted a hand to touch the back of my head. Luckily, there was no blood when I pulled it away.

“Your head is too hard to be hurt,” Adam grumbled as he helped me stand.

Jade glared at him as she wrapped her arm around me to help support my weight. The room was still spinning, and I stumbled. Adam caught me as I started to fall again, and Jade grunted as my weight nearly caused her to fall.

Out of nowhere, Brad appeared in front of me. “You all right there, Drake?”

“I’m fine. I’m just dizzy.”

“Why don’t you sit down for a while? It might help,” Jade said.

She and Adam helped me out of the studio and into the control room. They sat me down in a chair next to the soundboard.

When I closed my eyes, the spinning got even worse. “This fucking sucks,” I groaned.

“Has he eaten today?” Tony asked with concern.

“I don’t think so. We were running late this morning,” Jade said, patting my knee.

Tony picked up the phone and ordered someone to bring me a can of soda and whatever food they could find. “There. They will have it down here in a few minutes,” he said as he hung up.

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

I was still dizzy when my food arrived. I choked down whatever it was and chugged my soda.

Jade hovered around me with a concerned look on her face. “Are you still dizzy?”

“I am, but I’ll be fine. Quit acting like a mother hen.” I leaned down and rested my head in my hands.

“Maybe we should call it a day. Let’s get Drake back to the hotel, so he can rest,” Brad said. He pulled out his phone and called Alex to come and pick us up.

My bed sounded heavenly right about now. Between the headache and the dizziness, I wasn’t sure I could stand, let alone sing. Eric and Adam helped me up and led me to the elevators. Jade promised Brad she’d call later to let him know how I was doing, and then we rode up to the first floor.

* * *

Once we made it back to the hotel, the guys helped me out of the limo and up to my room. They all but tossed me onto the bed as all three of them circled around me.

“Thanks for helping me, guys. I’m going to try to get some sleep. Maybe that will help,” I said, looking up at them.

“Do you want something for your head? Is it safe for you to even take anything with cocaine in your system?” Jade asked angrily.

I was not in the mood for this right now. “I’m fine. I just need to sleep.”

“No, you need to stop using. This is getting out of hand!” Jade shouted.

“No, it’s already been out of hand for a while,” Eric said, staring down at me.

“Just leave me the fuck alone right now, okay? I’m not in the mood to fight with you guys!” I yelled.

“Whatever. I’m so sick of this shit,” Adam growled.

“We all are. Drake, please get help before you kill yourself,” Jade pleaded.

“Get. Out,” I said in a deadly quiet voice that I’d never used with Jade.

“Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall!” She stomped her foot.

If I wasn’t so pissed, I would have laughed at her.

“What would Chloe say if she saw you like this? Maybe I should text her and tell her exactly what is going on instead of sugarcoating everything for her.”

I sat straight up in the bed. “You’ve been talking to Chloe?”

Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d said. “I…uh—”

“You have! What did she say? How is she?” I asked. I had to know how she was. If Jade had mentioned that she was still talking to Chloe before this, I would have been bugging her daily for updates. Instead, I’d spent the last two-and-a-half months going mad, wondering what she was up to.

“She’s okay. She checks in every once in a while to see how you are. She knows that you’re still using, but she doesn’t know how bad it is. She’s worried to death about you.”

She was worried about me. That brought me more happiness than I wanted to admit. I was afraid that she’d already moved on and forgotten about me.

“Amber has forced her to go on a few dates, but she’s not over you yet.”

And there went my happiness. Chloe was dating again. It didn’t matter that Jade had said Chloe wasn’t over me. She was trying to move on with someone else.

“With who? Logan? Jordan?” I asked.

“I have no idea who it is, but I don’t think it’s either of them. From what she’s told me, I think they’re guys Amber knows from around campus.”

I wanted to kill Amber for pushing Chloe to move on. I knew Amber was just being a good friend, but I didn’t want Chloe to give up on me. If she kept dating, she would eventually find some asshole who actually deserved her, and any hope that I had of winning her back would be gone.

“Can you guys please leave me alone?” I asked.

“I didn’t mean to upset you. It just slipped out,” Jade said.

“I’m not upset. I just want to sleep right now,” I lied.

“If you’re sure—” she said.

“I am.”

Adam and Jade left the room, but Eric stayed behind. I groaned as I rolled over until my back was facing him. Maybe he would take the hint and leave.

“Why don’t you focus on what Jade just told you? Maybe that will help you deal with this.”

“What? The fact that Chloe is dating other guys? Yeah, that’ll perk my mood right up,” I said sarcastically.

“Exactly. Maybe it’s what you need to wake up and see how messed up things are. You need to focus on getting clean and getting her back before some other guy snatches her up.”

I rolled over to look at him. “Just thinking about some other guy kissing her or touching her makes me want to fly back to West Virginia and kick his ass.”

“Then, you should use that anger to keep your focus. Every time you want to use, picture her with someone else.”

“That won’t help me. It’ll make me lose my mind,” I grumbled.

“Just think about it, okay? All that stands between you and Chloe is your powder.”

I stayed silent as he turned and left the room. He was insane if he thought his idea would work. Picturing her with someone else would make me go insane. It definitely wouldn’t help me stay in control.

I closed my eyes and let the spinning take over until I finally passed out.