Braxten High

Chapter 33

A/N: Big thanks to @Khanjr who helped us with the new cover!

Zara's POV:

I had been noticing Azriel's behavior since the time we came back from Scar's mother's place. Something seemed off about him.

We were all almost done with dinner when I spotted Azriel pushing the lasagna around his plate with his fork, seeming distant.

"You've barely touched your food. Is everything alright?" I asked and placed my hand over his, lightly brushing my thumb over it comfortingly.

"No, Zara," he said, and his harsh tone caught me off guard.

"Everything is not fucking alright. And you'd know that if you and your little group were not so fucking busy playing police with whatever's been going on. I'm fucking done here," he growled and stood up, pushing the chair back so harshly, it fell. I heard Scar gasp and followed Azriel out, trying to get him to listen and not disappear like he does.

I felt Scar and Ayden follow me out just to catch the taillights of Azriel's car zooming away in distance.

"I don't know what would happen if he just talked instead of running away from his problems like he always does," Ayden said, angrily calling Azriel over and over again.

I headed back inside and grabbed my car keys before either of them could come in and stop me. I'm not going to let him get away this time.

"Where are you going?" Scar asked, blocking my way. "I'm going to follow him."

"Like hell you are. We're coming along; you aren't going alone," she said, opening the door to the shotgun seat.

"Exactly, we won't let you go alone. Who knows where he'll be and in what temper," Ayden chimed in.

"I want y'all to stay back in case he comes back. I'll be just fine," I said stubbornly, and drove away before they could stop me.

I connected my phone to the car's bluetooth and kept calling Azriel's cell as I followed him along weird roads that I've never driven on before. His car finally came to a halt in front of a run-down two-storey red-bricked firehouse.

I pulled up a few metres away and switched off the headlights and the engine so he wouldn't notice the presence of my car, and crouched down on my seat, sitting only high enough to see what his next move would be.

I didn't want to confront Azriel just yet because I knew it would just make him angrier. Which is why I held in my gasp when I saw Isa walk out the gate of the house, and get right in Azriel's car; his slimey, good-for-nothing grin was visible even in the dark.

The next step, I decided, was to follow them. I had already come this far and I wasn't about to lose their trail or have Azriel run away from me anymore by stomping over to his car.

After driving on bumpy roads with broken, fused street lights for over thirty minutes, I pulled up near a dodgy-looking building right after Azriel did.

I had a bad feeling about this place, and I was pretty sure it was because of more than just the peeling paint and broken window panes of the building.

I waited out for about fifteen minutes before entering, because I didn't want to be seen following Azriel just yet.

After fifteen long, boring minutes of being sent to the voicemail and ultimately hearing the robotic voice on Azriel's end say that his phone was switched off, I finally pulled my key out of the ignition and walked to the shady building, which seemed to house some sort of a bar in it. This guess was affirmed when a group of scantily dressed girls stumbled out, giggling and talking animatedly in a high-pitched voice.

I walked in through a small door right by the main entrance that led to a dimly-lit hall and I was immediately hit with the foul smell of cigarette smoke. The narrow hallway was filled with smoke and coupled with the terrible lighting and deafeningly loud music and chatter. I could barely see or hear where I was.

I put a hand up to my face to cover my nose and mouth, the smell of smoke becoming unbearable the closer I walked to what I hoped was the main bar.

Streams of people kept walking in the opposite direction of me, reeking of alcohol and even more smoke. There was an unmistakable stink of coke in the air too, I was trying my best to push people out of my way and try to spot Azriel among the crowd.

Just as I got to the bar, I bumped into a tall, burly man. I stepped away, starting to apologize when I noticed who it was.

"Isa."

"Oh hello Zara, didn't expect to see you here. But then again, humans live to surprise and disappoint, don't they?" Isa said, with the same shit-eating grin on his face.

"I'm looking f-" I stared, when Isa cut me off.

"For Azriel? You think I wouldn't notice if a car is following us all the way to a lesser-known club? I didn't tell Azriel though, because what fun would that be?"

"Just tell me where he is," I breathed out, trying to keep my anger at bay.

"..besides, I couldn't pass up the opportunity of showing you your lover boy in his natural state, now would I? Just imagining the look on your face gives me such immense joy-" he continued, pretending he never heard me.

"What do you mean? If you're not going to lead me to Azriel, I'll go look for him myself," I said and started to leave, when he took a hold of my arm to stop me. I shook him off and glared at him.

"Please, let me do the honors of showing you a prime example of the statement 'people don't really change'," he grinned once again, and I considered punching him in the jaw so he would stop grinning like a slimeball.

"Hurry the fuck up, then."

"Patience, darling," he smirked, and led me through a few curtains to a bigger, even darker and stinkier room, with a light right over a circular center table, dusted with leftover fine white powder, cards, old cigars and ashtrays.

Positioned right behind it were stoned, sinister looking faces, and barely dressed girls giving out lap dances to men who threw what I guessed was stolen cash onto the table. There were a few casino tables with chips strewn about, and three poles in the front of the room. Three girls were dancing around it to what I think they thought was sensual music, and right among the biggest, loudest group in the room was Azriel.

-zoie and dawn