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Life is a drink and love's a drug
Oh, now I think I must be miles up

Chapter 21

Merlin had noticed his pay increase from the drugs and it wasn't a good thing. He had all this cash and felt like he couldn't do much with it. He could easily go to Uther and pay a large proportion of the debt off with the cash and Uther would probably accept it but it looked so suspicious. Merlin had managed to put some of the money into his bank account and given some to Gaius to do some overdue repairs and improvements to the shop. He even brought his mother an expensive necklace to make up for a few birthdays that he had missed due to having a few money problems. She had questioned him over it and he was quite impressed when the lie came so easily. He wished that he didn't have to lie to her. He wished that things could be totally different and he wasn't mixed up with three different things all happening at the same time.

Merlin knew that the people who said that money doesn't matter, had too much money that it didn't matter. He was starting to get that way as it seemed like most of his problems had been solved. He had the money to do the things that he wanted to do. But the added layer of how he was getting that money just made him deeply paranoid. He had no idea when one of Alvarr's men would come over to him to give him the package and there were no tellings about who might be watching them.

It made him even more jittery when Alvarr told him that he wanted a quiet word in his office. He was in deep in a world that he didn't want to be in and it scared him that Alvarr could take it all away from him as easily as he made him enter it.

"You know Merlin, there was always something that I like about you."

Those were words that he thought he would never hear from Alvarr's mouth.

"What do you mean?"

Alvarr smiled at him. "I like what you are doing. There are quite a few customers that don't like it when they are asked questions. Some will take a few questions but some people can get rather nosy. You, Merlin, don't ask any questions at all."

"The less I know, the less I can spill if I get caught."

"That is what I like about you. Smart thinking." He paused for a moment. "There are some customers that come to me for more than just drugs. I offer some other services that a number of the girls have taken up the offer of. Basically, they go and deliver the drugs and offer these other services. I don't take a cut from these other services. You would be able to charge what you think is appropriate. A number of customers have expressed a… interest if you were to offer these services."

Merlin knew what he was talking about. He had helped one of the girls he was on about after one of his customers had been violent due to being high whilst she was offering this service. She was lucky to be alive.

"I appreciate the offer. But it wouldn't be something that I would be interested in. I have just started a new relationship and it seems to be going well. It is still early days but I don't want anything to disrupt it."

"Shame. You could have paid Uther back quicker." He paused for a moment to change the conversation. "I am hosting a party on Saturday. I want you there, handing out drugs, just to keep the party buzzing. You know what I mean. I am releasing a new kind of drug. Something with a bit more of a kick. They will have a free sample as they enter but the rest will be down to you and the other dealers to start to sell it. It will go out onto the streets the day afterwards. It is going to be massive."

"I am sure I can do that."

There was a way that Alvarr started to delved into his plans with Merlin which he suspected meant that Alvarr trusted him a lot more than other people.

The club was heaving and the only reason that Merlin knew that Morgana had turned up was due to the fact that she had to climb the stairs up to the top part of the club that had been rented out for Alvarr and his closest friends. He was glad to see Morgause with her, hoping that she was helping to protect Morgana. He had overheard conversations that Alvarr had with certain people and Merlin knew that Morgana was trying to spend less time with Alvarr, spending many of her nights at where Morgause was staying. He wondered whether there was more to Morgause that met the eye.

He delved deeper into the crowd, hoping that she wouldn't see him. Morgana couldn't see him here. She couldn't know that he was dealing drugs for the boyfriend that she wanted to leave.

He kept telling himself that he was doing this to pay back Uther. He kept telling himself that the sooner he paid Uther back the better. He kept telling himself that he was doing this for them. If he had the money, he could get himself and Morgana away from the likes of Uther and Alvarr.

He looked back up at where Morgana was and could just about see how uncomfortable she looked with Alvarr's arm around her waist.

This was for her. This was for them. This was for a better start.

There was a small part of him that knew that they might never be able to get away from Uther and Alvarr and the drug but he knew that they had to at least try to. Merlin was already done with the deal he had with Alvarr. He wanted out.