The streets were still slushy from the snow, and the few lights that shone down into the alley were barely enough illumination to see where I was going.
"What the hell you doing here?" I heard a voice calling from down the street. I knew that voice anywhere. Rowan's faint smile lit up my spirit. I felt horrible I hadn't talked to him in months.
"No hard feelings… even if you did ditch us for the demon," he laughed, but his eyes told me something different.
"Yea, umm…thanks. Hey, by the way, what ever happened to you guys that night on Samhain? I called for you, but nobody answered."
"We were all pretty tranced out from the wine or something. We must have blacked out cuz when we woke up, everyone was gone. The place was empty. " Rowan explained.
"So what happened to you Laurel?" Rowan persisted.
I was still bound to Dantalion, even though it seemed like it was over and we would never see each other again. I didn't want Rowan or any of my friends to know what really happened.
"I was with him for awhile. I thought I knew him" I lied.
I wouldn't dare tell Rowan the truth, about how Dantalion and I had met once before, in the Courtyard of the Undead. And how I accidentally evoked a demon! I knew for a fact I couldn't talk about how much I actually loved Dantalion. No-one would believe me. Even if Rowan tried to believe me, I know it would hurt him. He really cared about me. He didn't know all the details of the night in the Courtyard. He thought I tried to kill myself with a dagger. And I really needed a friend right now, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.
I leaned over to give him our usual hug and he reached toward me and embraced me back. The hug was sincere. It was desperately needed. I tried to look okay with everything but he always seemed to know something was wrong. It wasn't easy to pretend with Rowan, but at the same time I had suffered so much, I just didn't know how to respond.
It was so cold we could see our breath, and when we finally got back to my house, we both hurried inside. He took off his jacket and helped himself to some wine, setting it on the coffee table in my living room. When he leaned in to take off his hoodie, his tee shirt pulled up slightly showing off his abs. I tried to forget how much I missed Dantalion and concentrated on Rowan. I didn't say anything, but I wanted him to lean closer. I wanted him to lay next to me close so I could close my eyes and pretend that Dantalion was holding me again. That nothing had changed between us. But he was gone. And Rowan was here. He noticed the bandage on my forearm when I took off my jacket.