Adaline (The Wallflower Series Book 3) (5 page)

As she approached him, she couldn’t help admire his lithe form in the fashionable trench coat. Because of the slight fall chill in the air, the collar was propped up protecting his neck and unintentionally giving him a dark, brooding look. He still looked unfamiliar; the smug, arrogant grin that was so often characteristic of him was not decorating his features.

Even when she stood in front of him, his mind seemed to be somewhere else, not aware of her sudden presence. In an effort to grab his attention and pull him out of his thoughts, she lightly tapped him on the shoulder. Dominic jumped slightly but immediately calmed when he saw her face.

“Oh, sorry about that. I sort of have a lot on my mind.”

Once again, she felt guilty for calling him out of the blue. It had never been her plan to immediately contact him the day she moved into her new place. But the need to see him had overcome her and so she had acted on instinct. She justified her actions by their conversation at the wedding. He
had
said that he wanted to keep in contact. What was so wrong about doing so immediately?

“If you really don’t have the time, it is okay, Dominic. I won’t be upset.”

He shushed her with a shake of his head. “Come on, I’m starving.” He held the door open to the café and followed in after her. They stood in line to order their food before taking a seat in a secluded booth in a corner.

Adaline watched Dominic closely. His mind seemed to have wandered once more as he looked down at the sandwich and coffee on the table. She knew something was wrong and it disturbed her a bit seeing him so out of it. When they had been closer, he had always been comfortable expressing himself to her. She wondered now if that were possible again.

“Well…I wanted to take you out to celebrate my new job but I see you’re going to be a stick in the mud.”

At the sound of her voice, he looked up with a look of annoyance on his face. Realizing that teasing him wasn’t going to work, Adaline decided to change tactics.

“You said you needed a friend…and since you obviously don’t feel up to talking, why don’t we do something to get your mind off of whatever it is that’s got you down?”

He gave her a confused glance as she began to pack up their meal after fetching a to-go bag. Ignoring the silent questions he directed her way, Adaline took his hand and led him out of the café. Checking their surroundings, she almost whooped in joy at the sight of a cab rounding the corner of the street. Flailing her arms and jumping up and down like a maniac, it finally came to a stop at the curb in front of them. Within those moments, Dominic hadn’t said a word. Despite the melancholic mood he was in, he almost cracked a smile at her doing so much simply to hail a cab. It was a clear sign of her unfamiliarity with the city and quite adorable.

They scooted into the backseat one after the other and Adaline gave the driver a name that Dominic was unfamiliar with. He wondered why she was taking them from a café to a bar. The last thing he wanted to be around was a bunch of alcohol; he would be tempted to drown his sorrows in it. On top of that, he had much better vodka at his own place. Dominic turned to tell her exactly that.

“Adaline-”

“No,” she said immediately. “Give this a shot. I don’t like seeing you like this. And since you’re not ready just yet to tell me what’s wrong, I’m going to try a different approach. This is for you, Dominic. Not me.”

He was touched by the softness in her tone and taken aback by the potent concern in her voice and marring her expression. They continued the ride in silence. Intermittently, he would look over at her, confused still but thankful that he wasn’t spending the night completely alone after the news he had just received. It even surprised him how much he was hurting. He had never fallen for a woman so deeply before but neither had he ever been much of a womanizer. In fact, Nadia used to constantly tease him about how much of a hopeless romantic he was. He had always scoffed at the idea. He may not have been throwing himself into bed with every other woman that approached him but neither was he scouring the city for a true love.

But now look at him? Pining over a woman that not only fell in love with someone else but also then up and left the country only to come back and act as if their relationship had never existed. Dominic’s fingers curled into his palms at the thought of how he had waited for her. He thought it had been an unspoken promise that when she finally returned, they could continue where they had left off. Well, Dina had certainly proven him wrong.

When the cab finally stopped, he was so deep within his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed. It took Adaline tugging on his muscular arm for him to finally return to the present. Shaking his head to get rid of his muddled thoughts, he paid for the cab before she could delve into her purse and exited the vehicle. When they stood on the sidewalk, he looked up and faced a large portrait of a green lizard. It was on a brick building with the headline ‘The Lizard Lounge.’

Adaline led him inside to a small, intimate room with a stage at the back. There was a good amount of people lounging around, socializing and drinking. They both took a seat at the bar as a man walked to the microphone at the center stage and announced that the microphone was open to any brave performer. As soon as the words passed the man’s lips, Dominic knew why Adaline had taken him here.

Watching the awareness cross his features, Adaline smiled warmly. “They have Open Mic Night the same time every week. If you can’t talk about it…maybe you should sing. It was always your way of…letting go of things.”

It had been a secret. Still was. The only person he had ever told of his personal therapeutic methods was sitting beside him. For a moment, he was shocked she even remembered the day he had told her. Then, he had always hidden himself away in the empty garden of his home to write, sing, and play his guitar. No one had ever found out about his habit because his future had already been set. There was no need to let anyone know.

But he had told her.

Turning back to the stage, he realized he wasn’t angry with Adaline. He had no need to be. It’s not like he suffered from stage fright. In fact, Dominic felt a splurge of energy course through him at the thought of singing his sorrows away. And he eagerly stood up and gave the pianist a title.

Clearing his throat he took center stage and his eyes immediately landed on her. She sat with a large smile on her face, giving him a nod of approval. Dominic sat down causally on the stool they provided, one leg stretched out comfortably as the keys from the piano immediately changed the ambience of the intimate lounge.

Loving can hurt

Loving can hurt sometimes

But it's the only thing

That I know

Adaline felt her breath catch at the song he chose to sing. She watched him- his eyes closed in deep thought as he effortlessly sang the proper notes to Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph,” but the sheer emotional turmoil was also displayed in his furrowed brow. She felt goosebumps cover her skin as his deep voice washed over her. And her heart began to flutter. She wished the words he spoke were for her. There was so much want oozing from him for this mysterious woman. Adaline found herself angry that anyone would ever hurt him. While she yearned to be the object of his desire, more than that, she wanted him to be happy again.

We keep this love in a photograph

We made these memories for ourselves

Where our eyes are never closing

Hearts are never broken

And times are forever frozen still

There was a stunned silence in the Lizard Lounge as everyone took in Dominic’s words. They were simultaneously comforted and heartbroken for him. The song became more than just lyrics as it passed through his lips, but a message. And people wondered to whom it was directed. Women, like Adaline, wished it were for them. He was a dark, handsome stranger who had obviously had his heartbroken. And every woman within the radius of his voice wanted to be the one to heal him.

And if you hurt me

Well that's ok baby only words bleed

Inside these pages you just hold me

And I won't ever let you go

When I'm away

I will remember how you kissed me

Under the lamppost

Back on 6th street

Hearing you whisper through the phone

Wait for me to come home

As the song came to its conclusion, Dominic finally opened his eyes and, once again, his gaze landed directly on her. Adaline couldn’t look away despite her best efforts. She didn’t want him to see the yearning in her eyes for him. She couldn’t possibly destroy the friendship they were beginning to rebuild. And so she blinked and looked away. It was then, when her senses were not overcome by his presence that she began to notice the soft pain beginning to escalate across her scalp. She grimaced slightly but refused to leave. She needed to keep listening. Automatically, she switched the processor in her cochlear implant to reduce the loud noises coming from the speakers.

When Dominic finished and stood, the audience’s exuberant applause made her smile. She could tell that there was a new skip in his step and the light in his eyes was genuine once again. As he came to her seat, their eyes connected over the heads of the audience. She couldn’t help the blush that spread to her cheeks despite the darkness of her skin because of the intensity in his gaze. It was as if he only saw her in the sea of the crowd, but she knew not to get her hopes up. He had just been singing about another woman, after all!

“Thank you for this, Addy,” he said as soon as he had returned to his seat. He leaned over and placed his hand gently on her forearm. “You have no idea how much this means.”

She smiled cheekily and shrugged her shoulders, “I think I have an idea. So…do you think you’ll ever feel up to talking about it?”

Dominic opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by a young woman who came to stand beside them. He turned to her with a raised brow and couldn’t help the cursory glance he gave of her many attributes. She stood tall in high stilettos and a white midi bandeau dress that classily accentuated the curve of her hips and her ample cleavage. In fact, Dominic felt as if he could fall right into the soft, creamy skin of her bosom from how close she stood to him.

Adaline watched on in a mixture of shock, outrage, and curiosity as the woman steadfastly ignored her existence and placed a well-manicured hand on Dominic’s enticing bicep.

“You have an amazing voice. I thought I’d come over and let you know,” she whispered airily, flicking her platinum blonde hair over her shoulder.

Adaline flinched as the obvious weave hit her in the face. It was a literal slap in the face that the woman would be so blatantly rude to her. Not once did her glance acknowledge Adaline’s existence sitting beside the man she hunted for. And that was the perfect word for her, a huntress. And she had found her prey.

“Well, thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it. It was actually my friend’s idea that I even make it up there,” he waved a hand to Adaline sitting beside him.

The blonde woman turned her head to Adaline and nodded. Addy could physically feel the way the woman judged her; the green gaze took in her clothes, the cochlear implant partially hidden by her hair, and her overall look dismissively.

“How sweet of your
friend.
” The sweetness in the woman’s voice was clearly an insincere platitude to Adaline’s ears.

Either Dominic wanted to ignore the faux compliment or was completely ignorant of it, but he merely smiled with a nod to Addy. The space between them was suddenly interrupted however as the blonde huntress leaned onto the bar to form a barrier between the two of them, sufficiently blocking their view of one another.

“Well, if you ever want something a friend can’t help you with, I’m your girl,” she supplied seductively, leaning forward to reveal her breasts to him once more.

With a bored expression on his face at her blatant behavior, Dominic stood from his chair and reached a hand out to Adaline. He put on a forced smile as he leaned down to whisper into her ear, “While I greatly appreciate your interest in me honey, I’m not in the market for a girl. I’m looking for a woman who can respect the company that I’m with. Now, if you ever reach that- trust me, I know it’s hard for a girl like you- then and
only then
can you approach me like you own shit.”

With a soft tug on her arm, Dominic led Adaline away from the bar and the blonde who stood with her mouth gaped open in shock that her seductive wiles didn’t work. When they were safely on the sidewalk once again, he settled her down against the brick wall and clasped her face in his palms so that she would look directly at him.

“I’m sorry about that. Are you okay?” he spoke slowly just in case she needed time to transition to the new sounds surrounding her.

Adaline was slightly taken aback by the sequence of events. She hadn’t heard what Dominic had whispered in the young woman’s ear but could tell from the redness of her cheeks that he hadn’t taken her up on the offer. Adaline wanted to throw a smug smile back at the woman as they made their way out but had found enough strength to refrain from the petty behavior. After all, his rejection of one woman was not suddenly an admittance of his attraction to her.