The Dealers

Chapter 18 - Noah

After an entire day and night of driving, I still couldn't get the image of Lena's face out of my head as I said goodbye to her in the parking lot of the club. I didn't break my word to Eli about leaving first thing Wednesday morning even though I'd broken my promises to Lena instead.

As much as I was tempted to make a pit stop at Lena's place before hitting the road, I knew it would be harder on the both of us if I did. So, instead, I headed straight for Moorehead and didn't look back.

Haunted by what I was driving away from, I headed towards the life I chose to leave behind many years before. Nothing felt more like home to me than being with Lena and I was leaving her to visit a family that had forsaken me.

I texted Eli with one hand as I skillfully maneuvered my Mustang at high rates of speed on backroads I still knew like the back of my hand even despite the amount of time that had passed. Letting my eldest brother know that I was nearing Moorehead, I was tempted to send Lena a text as well.

I didn't know the protocol for a relationship like ours. I didn't know the protocol for a relationship at all. That was all new to me and I didn't know if reaching out would only make things worse.

Running out of time, I saw Moorehead peeking out in the distance of the nearby hillside as I swayed through the curving roads that wound up towards the top. I chucked my phone into the leather overnight bag on the passengers seat beside me. I had to get my game face on because it was not going to be a welcome homecoming.

The last time I left Moorehead, I was eighteen years old and overflowing with rage towards my father and what was happening to the life I thought I knew. I said things that I didn't necessarily mean at the time but came to mean whole heartedly after I had time to realize just how fucked up everything was. Job after job, I learned just how dark and toxic my life was destined to be.

Bound by my family name and the blood of my father flowing through me, I had no choice in anything. The decisions were made for me. It was then, at eighteen, that I decided if I had to obey a system I couldn't even fathom, I would at least never step foot back in Moorehouse again.

For seventeen years, I stayed away. For seventeen years, nothing had been worth going back there. Still, there I was driving up to the oddly familiar ranch style home in the Manchester hillside. To my surprise, my alarm code still worked at the large, iron entry gate but, it felt almost intrusive being there after everything that happened.

Parking in the front driveway, I noted my brother's Hummer tucked into the large four car garage across the freshly manicured lawn. It was so odd being back. While some things had been updated in the many years I was gone, it was the same childhood home I remembered.

I grabbed my overnight bag and checked the iPhone I tucked inside earlier. Eli had replied to my text and instructed me to meet everyone in the study.

Who the fuck was everyone? I wondered.

Finding the large front doors unlocked, I pushed my way inside and found the interior more or less the same from when I lived there as a kid. The rustic hues of browns and golds were woven throughout the large, stucco structure. Even the same art pieces and family antiques were in their usual places.

Through the house, I tried not to let the unexpected nostalgia derail me from finding Eli. As much as I was overwhelmed by the memories of my childhood, including the elusive good ones I had up until I turned eighteen, I needed to focus. I could walk down memory lane later. I had limited time to get shit done and get back to Cedar Falls.

Finally at the double wide wooden doors that led to the vast study, I paused. Who was behind those doors other than Eli? Maybe Finn but, even that wouldn't be too bad. My father? No, he was supposedly on his death bed. Could it be Azrael himself?