Forsaken (20 page)

Dom
walked over, sat on her bed, and pulled me down next to her. "It's
hard because you still love Alec. There isn't any use denying it;
there have been plenty of signs over the last week or so."

I
shrugged uncomfortably. "I was the one who walked out on him.
It doesn't feel like I should be able to say that I still love him
after doing that to him."

"That
doesn't change the facts of the matter. You still love him, and I can
understand why you left without necessarily agreeing with all of your
reasons. In many ways, you left
because
you love him."

This
was the first time Dom had come so close to condemning me for
leaving. I didn't want to know the details, but I knew I should be
brave and face her criticisms.

"You
don't think I should have left. What should I have done differently?"

Dom
pursed her lips and thought for a few seconds before shaking her
head. "The real question is whether or not you still feel like
your original reasons for leaving are valid."

She
was right. It was hard to nod. The decision to leave Alec had been
the hardest thing I'd ever done. In some ways it was even more difficult to
reaffirm the decision now that I knew how much grief it had caused
the rest of the pack, but I couldn't see any other course of action
that I could have taken in good conscience.

"I
guess so. It's hard knowing my leaving hasn't helped, has made things
worse in a lot of ways, but I couldn't just stand by and do nothing
when I thought Alec was headed down such a dark path."

"There
is your answer. What I think doesn't really matter, Adri. You stayed
true to yourself. That is what is most important. How can I claim to
still be your friend if I criticize you for being the best you that
you can be?"

I
found myself smiling a little. I gave Dom a hug and pointed at the
hall. "There is a perfectly well-stocked closet in my room. You
and I are close enough to the same size that there's bound to be
something in there you can wear. Not only that, if you're going to
wear something out of my closet then it will give me an excuse to
wear one of those ridiculously gorgeous sweaters Rachel bought me."

A
few minutes later we were both dressed in jeans and sweaters courtesy
of Rachel. Dom had picked out a soft gray sweater and I'd picked out
a green one that was almost the same shade as the dress I'd worn to
the Ashure Day festivities.

I'd
told Albert that he and his band mate could pick us up at my house,
because I hadn't wanted to have him come up and think I lived here.
It was the perfect refuge from the city, but that didn't mean I was
comfortable with other people knowing that I hung out here. It felt
like a lie, like I was pretending to be rich.

As
we walked from Dom's building over to mine, I started to become
uncomfortable even with the idea of Albert and his friend coming
upstairs to pick us up. It felt a little odd to have a boy come to my
house while my mom was nowhere in sight.

"Hey,
Dom, do you mind if we just wait downstairs for the guys?"

"That's
fine. Something wrong?"

I
shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess I'm just feeling odd. This is
my first date since Alec. Isaac and I hung out with Albert a little
while ago, but this feels different."

"No
worries, Adri. We can wait wherever you want, but I like the idea of
inside better than outside. I never thought I would miss the heat so
much, but this city has some really cold weather."

My
feeling of unease started to fade away after the boys picked us up.
Albert's friend was an overly skinny redhead named Daniel who was the
band's drummer. I kicked myself for not having dressed down a little
when I saw them. They'd obviously made an effort to look nice, but
their wardrobes ran heavily toward rock star casual. Albert didn't
seem to mind though, and Daniel didn't complain because he was too
busy trying to come up with something to talk about with Dom to
notice if the sky had fallen.

We
walked to the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art, and then all sighed in
relief once we were out of the cold. It was obvious the boys wanted
to start out in the section of the museum that housed all of the
medieval armor and weapons, but they graciously agreed to let us
girls lead the way up to some of the Renaissance paintings.

About
thirty seconds after we arrived at the exhibit, Albert's phone
started chiming. I almost wanted to chuckle at the pained expression
on his face. It was obvious he wanted to check his messages, but that
he was pretty sure it was going to lose him points with me.

"Go
ahead, Albert. I don't expect your life to stop just because we're at
the museum together."

"Thanks.
I normally would just ignore them, but this is John's first time
setting up without Danny or I being there. If he's got a question,
that probably means he's only a couple of minutes away from plugging
two things into each other that were never meant to be hooked up."

I
laughed and waved for him to proceed. My phone had vibrated on the
walk to the museum, so I figured it was fair for me to check my
texts, too. They were both from my mom. Now that I had a cell phone
she usually checked in with me a couple of times a day whether she
was in the country or not.

Hope
your date goes well. This Albert sounds like my kind of guy. Text me
when he drops you off at home.

I
shook my head at Mom's first message, but her second text made my
stomach do flip-flops.

Russ
wants to do Christmas together, just the three of us. I'm telling you
now so you don't feel like I'm springing stuff on you at the last
minute, but I'd really like this to happen.

I
debated what to say for several seconds before finally inputting a
response into my phone.

Albert
is really nice, you'd like him. Not sure about the Russ thing, but I
guess it won't be all bad if it means you'll be around for a few
days.

I
knew I was heaping on an extra-large helping of guilt there, but
honestly, it felt like I needed to do something at this point. Mom
was around less and less. I'd thought it was bad back when we'd been
in Sanctuary, but I saw her even less now than I had back then.

Albert's
phone chimed again. He sighed and put it away. "Okay, I think
he's got the right pieces all hooked together now. You'd think a guy
who does all of the electronic bits of our stuff would be a bit more
technically savvy than he is. Sometimes it's like things don't exist
for him if he can't see them on his computer screen. I know I'm a
geek, but he's a whole level beyond me."

I
smiled at the thought of Albert-the-math-tutor calling
anyone
a geek, but then again he looked even more the rock star today than
he had last time I'd seen him. There weren't any new piercings or
anything, but his level of confidence seemed to be growing by leaps
and bounds.

"I'm
glad you got him straightened out without anything blowing up."

"We'll
see. He probably wouldn't even notice a small explosion. You got your
text taken care of?"

I
sighed and nodded. "Yeah, it was my mom. She thinks I'm going
out with Albert-the-tutor today. I haven't told her about
Albert-the-rock-star yet."

He
looked at me oddly. "Is that a problem?"

"No,
that's all fine. It's this new guy she's dating. She keeps
wanting me to meet him, but I really, really don't want to get
involved in my mom's dating life. Plus, I'm having a hard time not
being jealous of him. Right now I think he gets to see my mom more
than I do."

Albert
nodded, seemingly relieved by the direction the conversation had
turned. "I can see how that would be hard. Your mom works a lot
then?"

"Yeah.
We moved to New York so she'd be closer to the center of things, but
all it's really meant is that she shaved five hours off her commute
to Europe."

I
needed to dial back the bitterness, but I was finding it really hard
to do so. Mom had helped convince me that I needed to walk away from
Alec, and then she'd abandoned me to deal with the aftermath all by
myself.

"Maybe
you should meet this guy, Adri. If he really likes your mom and she
really likes him, then he's probably not any happier about how much
she's gone than you are. Maybe the two of you can double-team her."

I
wasn't convinced, but I nodded anyway. It was better than any of the
ideas I'd managed to come up with on my own so far. The conversation
turned back to lighter subjects and I actually found myself having
fun.

Albert
swore he'd told Danny that Dom had a boyfriend, but it looked to me
like Dom's date had already forgotten that fact. I couldn't blame him
though. Even with her scar, she was so pretty and exotic that any guy
would have done a double-take if he'd walked by her on the street.
The fact that she was a genuinely good person just magnified her
appeal.

It
was obvious though that Dom's frustration was starting to pile up.
Danny kept trying to lead her off so they could be by themselves.
Even if James hadn't been in the picture, Dom still wouldn't have
gone off with him. She was 'working' right now and I could tell she
was starting to get frazzled from the effort of keeping Daniel at bay
while still keeping Albert and me in sight.

We
were in the middle of some kind of rebuilt Egyptian temple when I
finally nudged Albert and pointed at Dom. "Can we head to dinner
a little early? I think Dom needs a rescue."

"Sure
thing. I'll see if I can redirect his focus a little, too. He's
usually a pretty good guy, but the fame is starting to go to his head
a little."

Albert
grabbed my hand and tugged me forward as he called out to Danny. A
few minutes later we were all bundled back up and headed back
outside. The restaurant the boys had chosen was a twenty-minute walk
from the museum, but Albert kept Dom and me entertained with stories
about the band's misadventures.

"...so
I looked back to see what was going on and I couldn't see Danny
anymore. We'd tested the mist machines out on either end of the
stage, but Danny had decided it would be a lot cooler if we stuck
them in the middle of the stage, right behind him."

Danny
nodded and smiled wryly. "Yeah, I was trying to upstage everyone
a little. I probably would have been okay if I hadn't thrown in a new
mixture without testing it. The stage hand turned them both on and it
was working pretty well for a couple of minutes until all of a sudden
I couldn't see my drums anymore. It turns out I wouldn't make a very
good blind drummer."

We
all laughed and then Albert was grabbing the door for us. We'd
arrived and it was the kind of charming hole-in-the-wall you'd have
expected a New York native to take you to. The menu had a little bit
of everything on it, but the prices were a lot more than I remembered
back from the couple of times I'd eaten out in Sanctuary. Albert saw
my look of concern and waved away my worries.

"Don't
worry; the band isn't starving or anything. We actually sold out of
our T-shirts earlier than expected, so even after ordering
replacement inventory we still have some cash left over. My share
will cover a meal with you and still allow me to eat for the rest of
the week."

Danny
nodded in agreement so I figured I was safe and ordered lasagna. Dom
ordered rice and beans while the boys both ordered pizza. A few
minutes before the food arrived, Albert's phone started vibrating. He
ignored it for the first couple of times, but then Danny's phone
started chirping too.

"Sorry,
Adri. It's probably John again."

"It's
really fine. Go ahead."

Albert
flipped his phone out and then sighed. "This is probably going
to go faster if I just give him a call. I'll be back in a second."

There
was silence at our table for a couple of seconds before Danny cleared
his throat. "Sorry, you would think that the other guys would be
able to set up on their own once in a while, but Albert is pretty
much the organizational brain behind the band. John is the idiot
savant when it comes to the music, but Albert is the one who makes
sure we make it to our gigs and get paid."

I
shrugged again. "It's no big deal for me. I'm still having fun,
and I understand that he's got commitments. Actually, I'm surprised
he was able to get away like this only a few hours before you guys
are supposed to play. That's not normal, is it?"

Danny
shook his head and took another bite of pizza. "Nope. I don't
think anybody else would have gotten away with it, but everybody owes
Albert for having taken down almost by himself at the last two
shows."

The
way that Danny trailed off would have told me all by itself that he'd
just realized he was touching on something he shouldn't have, but Dom
leaned forward with a look of innocent curiosity on her face as soon
as he finished talking.

"Why
did he have to clean up by himself?"

Danny
shifted a little in his seat and took another bite of pizza to buy
himself some time. "Well, he didn't have to take down completely
by himself. John was there, but John tends to get lost inside of his
own head after a show. The other three of us kind of went to parties
after the last couple of shows."

Dom
looked at me and raised an eyebrow. Her confirmation was nice, but I
would probably have figured out that these weren't just 'parties' all
on my own. Albert hadn't been kidding when he'd said Danny was letting his
newfound fame go to his head. It wasn't particularly surprising, but
I still lost some respect for him. More interesting was the fact that
Albert hadn't been joining in the fun.

I
was still rolling that bit of information around in my mind when my
phone vibrated with another incoming text.