“As in…” Loki lets his words trail.
“You mean…” my brother does this thing with his index fingers, bringing them close and pulling them apart.
“Yeah,” I say with a small nod.
Loki and Roark look at each other before allowing their backs to collapse against the seat.
Their expression is unreadable.
“Finally,” Loki says at the same time as Roark says, “It’s about fucking time.”
“What am I missing?” I ask.
A slight smile curves Roark’s lips. “The prize that’s been staring at you for years, Rod. That’s what you’ve been missing.”
“Dom is something else,” Loki says. “I never dared to go after her for fear you’d castrate me—”
“Damn right he would’ve,” Roark mocks.
“Oh, fuck off,” I spit out.
Roark smirks.
“There’s another reason why Dom was never a consideration… why most of us in your entourage never bothered going after her.” Loki’s revelation surprises me.
I knit my eyebrows together. “Why?”
“She’s had eyes for one guy for a really long time… although he’s blind.” Loki pauses. “The tension between Dom and you has been intense for months. I guess you two getting together was the logical outcome. I’m glad you see more in her than just your sidekick or a little sister figure.”
“Or an untouchable saint,” my brother adds.
“I never saw her that way––”
“Please,” Roark sneers.
“Okay, maybe I have,” I concede. “I didn’t want to fuck up a really good thing. Women come and go in my life. Dom is my pillar.”
“She isn’t going anywhere, Rod,” Roark says.
“And you know that for certain?” I challenge.
“Dom has been with you through thick and thin. She accepts every part of you––the good, the bad, the ugly and even the nasty. She knows what hell you crawled out of. She knew you before you could afford three-thousand-dollar shoes. Not even your addiction days scared her.”
“Yeah,” I nod as the unpleasant memories flood my brain.
“At your worst, Rory and I thought we’d lose you to drugs,” Roark says. “Dom wouldn’t hear of it. She forced you to fight and get your act together. She slept in a knapsack on the floor near your bed to be at arm’s length when you needed comfort all those nights you were shivering from the symptoms of withdrawal.” I had no desire to go to rehab no matter how many times my brothers and Dom begged me, so I duped myself into believing I could kick my habit on my own. I was so arrogant and so full of it. After the third nightmarish day, I willingly checked myself in. “She refused toquiton you, Rod,” he says, making air quotes. “She’s this tiny little thing with a mighty will.”
“She is,” I can’t help but smile.
“She’d die for you and I suspect it’s mutual,” Roark says as he runs his index finger along the rim of his glass.
“It is,” I answer without a shred of hesitation.
“And let’s be honest, without Dom, you’d never be Rod Wolfe, the kickass drummer of Random Misconception—one of the edgiest rock bands of our era. You’d never have this extraordinary career nor would you be recognized as one of the Top 100 Greatest Drummers Of All Time. Without her unwavering belief, you’d never have been inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame.” John Bonham from Led Zeppelin was my idol. I lived to emulate him. Thank you, Dom.
“I know what she’s done for me.”
“Do you really?” Roark doesn’t allow me to answer. “She shot the videos of your killer renditions of‘Kashmir’and‘Black Dog’, figured out how to edit them and uploaded them on Xanga—when most of us couldn’t even spell the word.” Xanga preceded MySpace and YouTube. “And she was only fourteen at the time. Gideon would have never discovered you without them.” Gideon Wilding is the Samaritan who gave me my big break. “I know you’ve been best friends forever, but what she’s done for you goes above and beyond the call of duty. And you kept your promise to watch over her no matter where you were in the country or the world. I think it’s been more than mere friendship between the two of you for a very long time. Neither of you were willing to see it.”
