Once Upon A Lie

Forty-eight:

Forty-eight:

The Crow Club was packed.

The only time Alina had been there had been for Aleksander's seventeenth birthday. Eric had rented out the club for them. She remembered sitting in the VIP booth, watching Zoya and Aleksander dancing, fighting the bile that rose up in her throat as she watched. It was her first night of working there. And it was fight night.

"Kaz has thrown you to the wolves," Nina Zenik told her. Nina was the bartender. She was twenty-two, and went to college at the Royal University. She had light, brown hair and green eyes. She wore a black tank top and a mini-skirt.

Alina looked out at the crowd of people there. The place was completely filled with young boys and young girls mostly from the nearby college. "This is intense."

Nina smiled. "Just hold your head high, shove anyone that tries to block you, and put your mean face on."

Alina frowned. "I don't have a mean face."

"Develop one." She handed her a tray full of drinks. "Those go to that table over there."

Alina took the tray, and made her way through the crowd. She placed the drinks down on the table, and rattled off the order to them. They nodded over the music, and then she turned around to go back and get another.

There was a tap on her shoulder. She jumped a little, and smiled when she saw Mal standing there. "Hey!" he shouted at her over the crowd.

"Hey," she said with a smile.

He was shirtless, she noticed, and wearing basketball shorts with tennis shoes. "I talked with Kaz. He said you could take a break when I was fighting, if you wanted."

She smiled at him. "You want me to?"

"Yeah," he said, "I really, really want you to. Please."

"Okay. I'll watch you."

"Good," said Mal, "um.... I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Okay. Good luck."

He smirked at her. "Thanks."

Alina went about her night. By the time it got to the fight, her arm was dead. "I can't do this," she whined as she stood behind the bar with Nina.

Nina laughed. "You're halfway through the night. Most people clear out after the fight anyway. Then, we'll clean up and close up. Did Mal find you?"

"Yeah, he did."

The bartender grinned at her. "He's a good one, Mal. We were skeptical when he showed up a few years ago but the fight night brings in a huge audience. Are you two dating? You'd be cute together."

Alina stared at her. "When he showed up a few years ago?"

"Yeah," said Nina, "he got kicked out of his old school for the fight ring. Some kid got into an accident or something. He came to Os Alta looking for work. Kaz found him fighting, and then he sent for his sister just recently."

Alina raised an eyebrow. "I was told that he just came to Os Alta this year."

"I don't know why he would say that to you. But he's definitely been here for a while."

"Like three years, at least?"

Nina nodded. "About that, yeah."

"Nina----I'm sorry to do this, but I think I have to leave now."

"Everything okay?" Nina asked.

"I'm not sure," Alina replied, "but um---tell Kaz I'm sorry, and I'll make it up tomorrow by coming in earlier."

She pushed her way through the crowds of people drinking and dancing. When she got outside, the night air was cool on her face. She walked a few blocks before she took out her cell phone. "Aleks-----can you come get me, please?"

There was a pause. "What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you when you get here," she said, "just please come get me."

"Of course. Where are you?"

Alina told him, and then there was nothing to do but wait.