K. Robinson - Tainted

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I thought you would’ve figured it out by now.” Drake grinned at me.

“I have no clue what you guys are up to.”

“You’re an idiot, Chloe. You’re about to get married,” Amber said as she handed me a bouquet of flowers.

My mouth dropped open as I looked from Amber to Drake to where everyone else was standing. “No way.”

“Way,” Amber said matter-of-factly. “Come on, let’s get started.”

“Did you plan this by yourself?” I asked Drake.

“Nope, Amber helped. I called and told her you were freaking out about planning a wedding, so I wanted to have the most non-wedding possible. I told her about this spot, and everyone arranged to meet here. The only thing that makes this a wedding is the preacher, who is hiding behind Adam and the flowers.”

My eyes filled with tears. He’d known how scared I was to plan a wedding, so he’d done it for me. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“All you need to say is, I do. I think you can handle that.” He took my hand and led me to where everyone else was standing.

I smiled and hugged everyone, noticing that Jordan was missing. It made me sad to realize that he had to know what was going on since Danny was here, but he hadn’t had the heart to show up. I regretted the fact that I’d hurt him that much.

“I’m so happy for you, Chloe,” Logan whispered. He kissed my cheek and hugged me. “You deserve to be happy.”

“Thank you,” I whispered back, glad to know that Logan was okay with this.

The preacher had been hiding behind Adam when we arrived, but since Adam had moved to hug me, I now saw him standing by the water. He was waiting for Drake and me to walk up to him and say the words that would bind us together forever. I held Drake’s hand as everyone stepped aside to allow us to walk to the preacher. My hands were sweating, and I looked over at Drake. He was no longer pretending to be quiet and stressed. Instead, he was smiling from ear to ear, looking completely relaxed. There was a happiness to him that had been missing while he was stressing over everything in L.A.

“Chloe and Drake, are you ready to begin?” the preacher asked.

“I am,” Drake said.

I nodded.

“Good. Let’s begin.” The preacher looked around at everyone. “This is where I would normally welcome you all and ask Chloe and Drake to repeat after me, but I was informed that this is going to be the most casual wedding ever planned.”

There were several chuckles from our friends behind us. This was absolutely perfect. By planning almost nothing, Drake gave me the best wedding ever. All of this was perfect for the kind of couple we were. Things between us were never planned. They just happened, and we rolled with the punches.

“Anyway, I’ll let Drake and Chloe say what they need to say. Drake, care to go first?” the preacher asked.

“Sure.” He turned to me. “Chloe, there’s not much left to say since I’ve already said it all to you. Someone like you comes around once in a lifetime, and I’m lucky to have found you. From the moment I saw you when you sat down next to me in class, I knew you were mine. I’ve never wanted or cared about another person the way I do with you. Neither of us is perfect, but you come pretty damn close. No matter how long I live, I’ll never be able to tell you that I love you enough times. Life will throw shit at us because it always does, but we’ll make it through. There is nothing in this world that could tear me away from you. I love you.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but he stopped me.

“Oh, and I think I was supposed to say, I do.”

The preacher smiled. “Not yet. Chloe needs to make her speech first.”

“My bad. Go ahead and tell everyone how much you like me, Chloe.”

I laughed. “I’ll try.” I took a deep breath, thinking of what I wanted to say. “You were an asshole when we met. I wasn’t sure if I liked you or hated you. From the first time you looked at me, you threw my entire world into chaos. Once I really got to know you, I realized you weren’t an asshole at all. You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met. No matter how bad things got, you never gave up on us even though I did. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you, but I’m grateful for every day I’ve spent with you and for every day that I will spend with you. I will never give up on us. I will never hurt you. We’re in this until the end. I love you, Drake Allen.”

“Does anyone have a reason these two should not be joined in holy matrimony?” the preacher asked. When no one spoke up, he continued, “All right then. Will Amber and Eric please bring the rings up?”

I turned to see them each pull a ring out as they walked to us. Eric gave a ring to Drake, and Amber handed me one, and then both of them walked back to where they were standing. I looked down at the ring in my hand. Once I put this on Drake’s finger, he would be mine forever.

“Drake, do you take Chloe to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do,” he said proudly.

“Please place the ring on her finger.”

He reached for my hand and slid the ring onto my finger. Tears formed in my eyes as I stared down at it. It was a simple gold ring with a row of diamonds across the top. It was perfect.

“Chloe, do you take Drake to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do,” I whispered.

“Please place the ring on his finger.”

My vision was blurry from my tears as I reached for his hand and slipped the ring onto his finger.

“By the power vested in me by the state of West Virginia, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

The words were barely out of the preacher’s mouth before Drake had me in his arms, kissing me like I’d never been kissed before. I could hear our friends shouting behind us, but their words barely registered as Drake pressed his lips against mine. The kiss went on for what felt like forever before he finally pulled away.

“I fucking love you, Chloe Allen.”

“I fucking love you, too, Drake Allen.”

The preacher laughed. “I’d like to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Drake Allen.”

Holding each other’s hands tightly, we turned to face everyone as man and wife for the first time. This was only the beginning of our new life, and I couldn’t wait to experience a single moment of it. I fucking loved this man.

Seven Years Later

I took a deep breath as the stage lights dimmed. This was the last show of the tour, and I couldn’t wait to get back to Chloe. She’d been on every tour with me since the beginning, but she was forced to stop traveling halfway through this tour due to the pregnancy. She was due in two weeks, and I couldn’t wait to get back to her and our baby. Once I found out that I was going to be a dad, I’d decided that L.A. was no place to raise a child. I wanted him or her to grow up in a small town, like I had for most of my life.

Three months after I found out she was pregnant, I arranged for a house to be built in the clearing by Cheat Lake. It had always been our spot, and I couldn’t think of a better place to raise our child. After the house was built, I had a crew come in and clear some of the trees, so we could have a big yard for our kids to play in when they were older.

We’d debated on whether or not to know the sex of the baby, and we had decided to wait. We both wanted it to be a surprise. Since we never planned anything in our lives, we didn’t want to start now. It sounded stupid, but it was just the way our lives were.

I grabbed the mic from one of the crew members, and when the lights brightened, I ran onto the stage. Thousands of screaming fans were below me, all trying to push forward to get closer. I closed my eyes, soaking in their energy. While I was anxious to get home, I couldn’t help but love this crowd. When it came to music, performing live was still my favorite thing to do. There was just something about it that made me feel alive. It was like I was meant to be up here.

“Are you ready to rock, Las Vegas?” I screamed into the mic.

Their answering screams were enough of an answer for me to cue Jade to start beating the hell out of her drums. Eric and Adam came in next, and then it was my turn. Our music had evolved over the years, and we’d started treading into metal instead of just rock. I loved it, but screaming into the mic for hours tended to leave my voice raw. I limited the harder vocals as much as I could though, still keeping our sound mostly rock.

I sang song after song until sweat was pouring off of me. The crowd was insane until the very end, and I hated to tell them all good-bye.

“I want to thank you guys for coming out tonight. This is our last show on the tour, and you guys have been one of the best crowds we’ve had. As much as I’d like to stay and hang out, I have a wife at home. She’s about to have my kid, and I think I should probably get back to them.”

The lights dimmed, and I walked offstage as the crowd protested. Usually, I’d give in and do an extra song or two, but not tonight. Not when a very pregnant Chloe was waiting for me. I had made it no farther than the end of the stage when I saw the crew manager running toward me.

“Drake! Chloe went into labor early! She’s in the hospital now,” he panted.

“Fuck!” I shouted.

I took off running. I pulled my phone from my pocket and called Brad to tell him to have our plane waiting for me at the airport. He promised that it would be ready by the time I made it there. As soon as I hung up with him, I called Amber. She’d been staying with Chloe while I was away in case she needed anything.

“Oh my God, Drake! Where are you?” Amber shouted as soon as she answered.

I reached the car and told the driver to take me straight to the airport. “On my way to the airport. What’s going on?”

“Her water broke about two hours ago. I wanted to call you earlier, but she wouldn’t let me. She wanted you to finish your show. She’s hurting, I won’t lie. The doctors say she’s not fully dilated yet, but you need to hurry.”

“I’m trying. Are you with her now?”

“No, they kicked me out of the room, so they could check her again. I should be able to go back into the room in just a few. I don’t like leaving her alone.”

“When they let you back in, tell her I’m on my way and that I love her.”

“I will.”

“And tell her to wait for me.”

Amber laughed. “I don’t think she has much say in that. Just hurry.”

I hung up with Amber and then made a call to ensure I would have a car waiting for me when I arrived in Pittsburgh. I didn’t want something as stupid as forgetting to arrange for a car to cause me to miss the birth of our first child.

As soon as the car stopped outside the airport, I was out and running. I knew I was taking a chance of getting mobbed by not having security with me, but I didn’t care. I’d like to see anyone who could keep up with me right now. A few people glared at me as I pushed through the crowd, but no one stopped me. Once I was cleared and on the plane, I waited impatiently for takeoff. I cursed as I continued to wait. I had no idea what the pilot was doing, but he obviously didn’t realize that I was in a hurry.

I was reaching to unbuckle my seat belt, so I could get up and let the pilot know my emergency, and then the plane started to move. I sighed in relief when we were finally in the air. Now, all I could do was wait.

As soon as the seat belt light went off, I was up and pacing. This was going to be the longest flight of my life. I was terrified for Chloe. She was going through this without me. I’d promised that I would be there for her, and I prayed that I would be able to keep that promise. I didn’t want her to go through this without me beside her to hold her hand.

I finally collapsed back into my seat, exhausted from nerves and lack of sleep. This tour had been especially brutal, and I hadn’t had a chance to sleep much. If we had more than a day between performances, I always flew home to be with Chloe. She’d decorated most of the nursery by herself since I was gone so much, but when I was home, I had spent most of the time doing the things she couldn’t do. I was so damn proud when I’d put together the crib. The look on her face had been worth every curse word I’d said as I worked on it.

At some point, I fell asleep, and I woke up when the pilot announced that we were preparing to land. I fastened my seat belt and waited impatiently as the plane slowly descended from the sky. I could have cried in relief when I felt the plane touch the ground. As soon as I was cleared to leave, I ran off the plane and into the airport. I continued to run until I reached the area to pick up the key for my rental. The lady behind the desk seemed to be determined to go as slow as possible until I told her what was happening.