The Dealers

Chapter 49 - Lena

I was almost afraid to turn around but it didn't matter because I knew whom I would find. Without seeing him, I knew that Azrael was standing there. As usual, he hadn't made a sound as he entered. I was angry. I was hurt—both physically and emotionally. I needed space from everyone and everything—that included, Azrael.

Finally turning to face him, I expected to yell at him and curse him out for being such an asshole and I expected his smug face not to budge when I did. I knew that he didn't give a damn what I thought about him and all he cared about was himself. Still though, as I did turn and glance up at his annoyingly perfect face, I was caught off guard by his look of dismay. It was hard to ignore because he seldom showed emotion other than entitled arrogance.

The words I intended to hurl at him were lost to me and I wasn't sure what to say at all. Thankfully, he spoke first; even his voice was softer than usual. I was an emotional wreck as I tried to fight back tears. "I'm sorry," he said and I almost thought that I was hearing things.

"You're what?" I scoffed at him, thinking surely it was a joke.

Azrael had intentionally sabotaged my life and for what? A game? I still wasn't sure but I hardly believed that he was actually sorry. He had gotten what he wanted, hadn't he?

"I'm sorry." He repeated and if I didn't know him any better, I would have thought that he meant it.

Looking up at him, he could see the suspicion on my brow as I contemplated his apology. While he seemed sincere, I knew better than to let my guard down enough to accept it.

"Why are you here?" I asked blankly, ignoring his apology entirely.

Azrael paused but didn't push it any further, "I needed to make sure you were okay."

"My house is in shambles and so is my life," I huffed at him, "so no, I'm not okay."

"I'll get someone to take care of this." Azrael assured me as he gestured to the demolished furniture around us. I honestly didn't give a damn about my house and I certainly didn't want him to take care of anything.

"That's not necessary." I argued but he put his hand up to silence me.

"—where's Noah?" Azrael interjected as if he didn't know. I had learned that there was very little Azrael didn't already know about.

"You know where he went." I said under my breath and Azrael was at my side before I could regret it.

"What was that?" He asked, his voice sharp and his eyes narrowed at me. He was close enough that I could feel his breath on me as he leaned over and I suddenly had nothing to say.

"Nothing." I said simply and my submission seemed to please him.

"I thought so." He smirked. "Now let me have someone take care of this. You'll stay elsewhere."

"Oh, I will?" I said without thinking. I didn't mean to challenge him like that but it was such a natural instinct for me. That particular outburst didn't seem to please him as much as the first.

Lifting his index finger to my lips, Azrael pushed against them harshly and I was instantly silent. Glaring at him as he stood mere inches from me, I wasn't sure what was going on. I knew that I needed to stay as far away from Azrael as possible but that was proving more difficult than I anticipated.

But, did I really want Azrael to leave? A small, rebellious part of me wanted to do reckless things to spite Noah. While I knew I could probably never go through with it, I wanted to hurt Noah like he hurt me and the biggest opportunity to do that was staring me in the face.