The Dealers

Chapter 37 - Lena

Getting back to real life was harder than I thought it would be. Skipping class to take that road trip with Noah was worth it but resulted in a mountain of catch up work. Thankfully, that was just the type of distraction I needed.

By going to class again and working my usual shifts at the club, the rest of the week went by relatively smoothly. I was grateful because even though Azrael hadn't appeared since Tuesday night at the club, I kept expecting him to.

No matter where I went or what I did, I felt like it was only a matter of time before he would appear out of nowhere. I was constantly looking over my shoulder. Even in my own home I was paranoid. If he could pop up at the club and he really was all knowing like Noah said, Azrael was more than capable of showing up at my house.

Noah did his best to keep an eye on me but, he couldn't be everywhere I was. Eventually, we both knew he would have to leave for another assignment and then, what would we do?

Trying to enjoy the seemingly normal shift in my life, Noah and I actually found a few chances to spend time together, just the two of us. We did normal date night things like dinner and a movie, we even went to a poetry reading at a speakeasy a few towns away.

But, as much as we were enjoying the calm—it was essentially before the storm. We were just going through the motions waiting for the other shoe to drop. It was unlikely that Azrael had forgotten about me completely or abandoned the sick game he was playing with us.

When Friday afternoon rolled around, I had finally caught up in all of my classes and finals were nearing, signaling the end of the semester and my impending graduation.

Jacob had been incredibly busy with the renovations on his property and thanks to Dorian's presence in town, he was able to take some time off from the club. I was so proud of him but selfishly, I missed him. Having to deal with Dorian at the club instead was not ideal.

"You never look happy to see me." Dorian laughed at me when I walked into the club and saw him standing behind the bar on Friday night.

I rolled my eyes at him and locked my purse under the register.

"Don't worry," Dorian teased me, "Jacob is coming in later."

My eyes lit up and Dorian was the one to roll his eyes then.

"I see how it is." He teased before heading into the back office.

Behind the bar, I got ready for the inevitable Friday night rush. While the week had been low-key, something charged in the air told me that was about to change.

"So, what about your birthday?" Haley asked me as she came to the bar.

I looked up at her and shook my head, "that's at the bottom of my to do list."

Haley scoffed at me, "are you serious?"

While I usually enjoyed celebrating my birthday, last year sort of put a damper on things when Dorian broke my heart and left me. More than that, my twenty-seventh birthday was the least of my concerns, all things considered.

"You have to celebrate!" Haley begged me but I knew that she just wanted an excuse to party. The year before, despite Dorian's sabotage, Jacob threw me a killer party in the club. He even closed the whole place down for the night.

A year ago seemed like a lifetime.

"Celebrate?" Dorian's voice chimed in as he brought two cases of beer to the bar for me.

"Nothing." I said, taking the beer to the ice chest.

"—Lena's birthday." Haley added and I immediately shot her a nasty glare.