The Dealers

Chapter 51 - Lena

Staring at Noah as he spoke to his brother, I knew something was seriously wrong. It was rare that things caught Noah off guard and to see the terror spreading across his face with each word, I knew that he didn't have the situation under control.

Trying not to panic, I didn't want to stress Noah out more so I stayed quiet while he finished up the phone call. Without a goodbye, Noah let the phone slide from his ear and nearly dropped it to the asphalt. Without looking at me, he tried to process whatever Eli had told him.

"Noah," I urged him, "say something."

Opening and closing his mouth without a word, Noah struggled to formulate a sentence and the longer he took to speak, the more my imagination ran wild. Finally, he raked his hand through his thick hair and made eye contact with me.

"After I left, were you alone?" Noah asked blankly and it took me a minute to figure out what he meant.

While I wasn't proud of the fact that I had willingly gone with Azrael, I had to be honest with Noah about what happened. Not to mention, it seemed to be a matter of life or death at the moment.

"I left town for a bit so that my place could get repaired." I said simply.

"Repaired?" Noah raised his eyebrow at me and I knew that trying to skirt around the truth was both futile and a waste of the minimal time we had.

"Azrael..." I started but Noah put his hand up and I fell silent.

"Did you go with him?" He asked bluntly, clearly not trying to beat around the bush, either. "Were you with him the whole time?"

I nodded because I was too embarrassed to speak. Noah closed his eyes to fight back the anger. Again, I only nodded.

"Jesus, Lena!" Noah scoffed but quickly pulled himself back and put a lid on his disapproval.

"What did Eli say?" I asked him.

My words seemed to cut Noah to the quick. Instead of the usual way he sugar coated things for me—especially about being a reaper—he looked me dead in the eyes and didn't hold back, "you're in danger."

"How?" I asked with a dry voice. Thanks to all of the things Noah showed me—things that I otherwise would never have believed, I decide to give him the benefit of the doubt this time.

"I can't explain here and we don't have the time." Noah said hurriedly as he scanned the parking lot for signs of Azrael but we were seemingly alone.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "You have to..."

"—we don't have the time." Noah argued. "We have to get back to Moorehouse and I'll explain everything on the way."

What the fuck?

I was so sick of being shuffled from place to place for my protection. I wasn't made out of porcelain and I sure as hell deserved an explanation.

Opening my mouth to make my point to Noah, I saw the urgency on his face as well as the genuine terror. He wasn't trying to be an asshole; he was scared. I closed my mouth and decided not to push it.

For whatever reason, I was doubting Noah and that wasn't like me. I hadn't felt like myself for a bit—since Azrael and Noah destroyed my living room. The feelings that I felt so strongly for Noah were somehow muted and I started feeling unwanted things for Azrael instead. I couldn't comprehend what was happening to me but that had to have something to do with whatever danger I was in. Whenever someone was in danger, it usually had to do with Azrael.

"Fine." I said simply and Noah almost keeled over in surprise. He knew me better than that and so with my submission, he realized that something was indeed wrong.