The Dealers

Chapter 16 - Noah

Leaving Lena's house was harder than I thought it would be that morning. While I didn't regret what happened the night before—or didn't completely happen—I hated leaving her feeling like there were unresolved issue between us.

To be fair to her, those issues wouldn't just resolve themselves over breakfast. She was meeting with Jacob and was going to be unavoidably faced with how she felt for him versus how she felt for me.

But, until that did happen, she and I couldn't move past it. How Lena and I spent the rest of that week together would depend on how things went between her and Jacob. I was nervous and I hated feeling vulnerable but, there was nothing that I could do except wait.

Pulling into the hotel, I got out of the car and my heart sunk immediately as I saw my brother's Hummer sitting in the valet parking lot.

I froze.

What the hell were my brothers doing there?

Gritting my teeth, I locked my car and stormed towards the hotel room. I knew they would be inside. Sure enough, swiping my keycard and barging in, there sat Eli on the couch.

But, he was alone.

No Finn.

"What's going on?" I asked him blankly as I was not surprised to see him sitting there.

Before I even closed the door behind me, I demanded an answer. I had other things on my mind—and my plate—just then, so whatever he wanted, he could go to hell.

"It's just me." He said as if that weren't obvious.

However, it was intriguing that Eli came back alone. While I didn't mind running solo, my brothers were rarely away from each other. Only 10 months apart, they were more like twins and certainly shared that bond—often to my disadvantage. Still, there Eli was without Finn and he wanted me to realize that. Why? What was going on?

I walked over and unpacked my overnight bag from Lena's house.

"Again, I'll ask you," I sighed with frustration as Eli said nothing further, "what do you want?"

Sensing the uneasiness in my voice, Eli debated how best to approach the reason that he came back to Cedar Falls.

"I have an idea." He said slowly after a short while.

"What kind of an idea?" I raised my eyebrow at him as I sat down apprehensively on the bed.

My brother, who was in casual clothes then and not the usual business suit he often donned, looked unsure himself.

"You won't come back home and we need you to." Eli said cautiously because he knew how I felt about it. "I understand why you won't but, the fact remains that we have business to attend to."

Normally, I would have ripped into him about coming to me about that again but he was torn and never before had I seem my older brother look vulnerable.

"And you think that you can bribe me to come home with what?" I asked.

Eli sighed and leaned back in the couch that was small for his tall frame.

"I know the only thing that you care about more than your hatred of home and your family," Eli scoffed, "is Lena."

Eli never referred to her as Lena, only as the bartender or other demeaning nicknames. He could see how deep my feelings for Lena ran.

If Eli knew how I felt about Lena, he could use her against me—just as he was doing. He knew that I would do anything for her and to be with her. If he could somehow use that to his advantage, he could get me home.