Torn to Pieces (The Boys of DownCrash #2) (new adult contemporary romance / rockstar romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

guy until Tatum turned the corner and was gone.  I told myself all it would take was a few seconds of running to catch up to him.  Jump on his back and casually slide my hand down over his nipple ring to see what it felt like.  He could take me back to Un and we could...
    “No,” I whispered.
    I clutched the drumsticks and walked around the driver’s side of my car.  I wasted no time leaving, the lingering emotions thanks to both Danny and Tatum were almost too much to take in. 
    On my way home I looked at the drumsticks about ten times.
    Tatum purposely went out of his way to give me drumsticks.  All because some guy basically stole the one he wanted to throw to me. 
    I parked the car, noticing Scarlett wasn’t home.  I knew she wouldn’t be home for the rest of the night.  She’d stumble in sometime in the late morning, looking like a sexy mess, with that hopeless look in her eyes that Tripp gave her.
    Funny how it wasn’t that long ago our roles were reversed.  Scarlett would come home and find the apartment empty while I was out. 
    I grabbed the drumsticks and started to study them.
    Why two?
    I got my answer a few seconds later. 
    One of the drumsticks was clean, minus the flaws from Tatum playing drums with it.  The other stick had something written on it, in pen.
    A phone number.
    Tatum’s phone number.

~5~
     
    I tossed and turned half the night, each time waking and looking at the drumstick on my nightstand.  Of course it was the one with Tatum’s phone number on it.  I still couldn’t believe he went out of his way like that to give me his phone number... and to replace the drumstick stolen from me.  That drumstick was on my desk.  I was more concerned about the drumstick with the phone number on it.  I seriously thought about sleeping with the drumstick but then feared the pathetic embarrassment of actually waking to myself hugging a drumstick, fantasizing it was Tatum’s strong body against mine.
    I reached out at one point and ran my finger along the number, feeling the small ripples caused by the pen digging into the wood. 
    What if I called him right then?
    What if I texted him...?
    My phone was right next to the drumstick.
    But what would I say?  How would I even begin a conversation with Tatum?  It was bad enough he probably figured me to be some easy girl, but now he had the power over me because he saved me from Danny.  That meant he could either pull out the you owe me one card or he could let the damsel in distress thing create something that really wasn’t there.  But once he was done saving me or worse yet, found out I couldn’t actually be saved all the way, then what?
    I finally rolled over and pulled the covers over my head, begging I wouldn’t wake up again.  At that point, I didn’t even want to dream.  Not even about Tatum.  Not about his sexy lip ring.  Not about his chiseled body.  And certainly not about his tempting nipple ring.
    No.  No way...
    When I opened my eyes again, I rolled over and figured it would have only twenty minutes since my mental argument about dreaming about Tatum.  It was almost ten in the morning.  I rubbed my eyes and checked the clock again.
    Yup.  Ten in the morning.
    I rolled to my back and stared at the white ceiling.  My mind instantly went back to Tatum.  I kept seeing him punching Danny in the face, over and over.  That killer strength, that commanding voice.  It pinched my nerves in a way that I wasn’t sure if I actually liked it or not.  It definitely touched on some memories that I thought were long dead.  I did feel bad for Danny though.  To be that desperate to try and force a girl like that.  Whatever demons had their hold on him had it good.  I tried to picture him walking around campus with a bruised face and puffy nose.  I wondered what he would tell people.  It wouldn’t be the truth, that’s for sure. 
    When I got out of bed I looked at the drumstick.  I touched it and then tossed it into