Savior Part 2: Son of Eden (The Savior Series) (7 page)

“You’re just mad because you lost, bro,” Reaper added. “Admit it, I’ve got more juice than you!”

“You probably cheated!” Jason joked.

“How can I cheat?” Reaper asked.

“You probably told them who you
really
were, didn’t you?” Jason teased.

“Of course not!” Reaper replied.

“In that case you must have paid them!” Jason responded.

“Hey, like the great philosopher once said… it ain’t trickin’ if you got it!” Reaper joked and we all burst in to uncontrollable laughter. A group of five guys at a nearby table frowned at us as we continued to clown around.

We finally quieted down when we noticed that the waitress had returned with our drinks.

“Are you guys ready to order?” she asked, still looking only at Jason.

“The usual?” Jason asked while glancing from me to Reaper.

“Definitely,” I confirmed as Reaper and I both nodded our heads.

“We’ll take three of the biggest cheeseburgers you have with as much bacon as you can fit on them,” Jason said to the waitress. Her warm smile grew wider as Jason smiled at her and she blushed for the one-millionth time while she took down our order.

I pressed a button on the right side of my smart glasses and leaned back to get comfortable as the waitress finally turned and walked away. I had just accessed the Deep Web when I noticed a tall, absolutely stunning redhead sitting at the bar and staring over in our direction. For a fraction of a second I thought she may have been looking at me, but of course I was mistaken.

“Hey, I think that girl over there is looking at you,” I said as I realized my mistake.

“Another one? Where?” Jason asked as he casually scanned the room.

“Not you. She’s looking at Reaper,” I replied, as I continued to gawk at her behind the security of my tinted smart glasses. I knew that I was being a gigantic hypocrite for continuing to stare at the scarlet bombshell after I had given our waitress such a hard time about gushing over Jason, but I was so transfixed by her beauty that I didn’t care.

“Seriously?” Reaper asked. “Where is she? What does she look like?”

“She’s… she’s… geez man,” I stammered as the very sight of her made my heartbeat quicken. “Reaper, this is quite possibly the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen in my entire life.”

“Oh yeah? On a scale of one to ten, what are we talking?” Reaper asked anxiously.

“Fifteen!” I said with no hesitation.

“Welp, that settles it. I’ll be right back boys,” Reaper said as he took a few gulps of his lemonade and popped a mint into his mouth.

“That’s my boy!” Jason chimed. “Good luck, Reap. You’ve got some catching up to do,” he said as he flashed a small slip of paper with a phone number written on it.

Damn she’s quick,
I thought as I realized our waitress must have slipped Jason her number without any of us seeing it.

“No freaking way!” Reaper suddenly said as he hurriedly sat back down.

“What?” I asked as Jason and I leaned in closer.

“That’s the girl!” Reaper said while looking at Jason.

“What girl?” Jason asked, obviously confused.

“The girl from Manhattan, the redhead that I saved from the stampede just outside the Empire State Building. I gave her to you before I went back in for her family, remember?” Reaper said in an excited whisper.

“Holy crap, you’re right!” Jason whispered as he glanced at the girl at the bar then back to us.

“What do you think I should do?” Reaper asked.

“What do you mean? Go over there and talk to her!” Jason insisted.

“No I mean, do you think she knows? Do you think she knows it’s
me?”

“Of course not. You were wearing a mask, you idiot,” Jason smirked. “Now get over there before she notices me and forgets about you!”

Reaper smiled and took a deep breath. As he stood and headed towards the bar, I noticed the five guys at the nearby table flash peculiar looks at him. These were the same guys who had appeared to be agitated by our laughter a bit earlier. They were giving off a sort of troublemaker-like vibe but they hadn’t exactly done anything at the time so I didn’t think it was worth mentioning to Jason.

Jason and I both watched as Reaper walked right up to the bar and took a seat next to the stunning ginger-haired girl that had been eying him. I took a sip of my water and looked over to Jason who looked to be checking something on his phone under the table.

“I’ve gotta use the restroom, bud. I’ll be back in a second,” he suddenly said as he pocketed his phone and slid to the end of the bench and stood. I was used to Jason slipping off at a moments notice, therefore, I simply nodded my head and pretended that I didn’t know he was lying. I glanced over to the bar as Jason walked away and I noticed that Reaper and the tall redhead seemed to be carrying on a polite conversation.

I wonder if he’ll tell her who he really is,
I thought as they smiled and chatted away. After a while, my curiosity got the best of me and I pressed a button on the left side of my smart glasses to eavesdrop on their conversation. Not only did their images suddenly appear much closer on the virtual display created by my glasses but I could also hear everything they were saying due to the miniature laser microphone that my glasses were equipped with.

I continued to observe and listen to them for a few more minutes but I lost interest once I confirmed that their conversation was nothing more than normal small talk.
I guess he doesn’t have to play the Reaper
card after all
, I thought—smiling as I pressed the button on the left side of my glasses in order to zoom out to the default viewing mode.

“Just what in the hell do you think you’re doing, boy?!” a male voice suddenly demanded a few feet away from me.

Butterflies fluttered in the pit of my stomach as I looked up to see one of the guys from the nearby table staring angrily at me. My heartbeat quickened as I soon realized that all five of them were glaring at me. My palms grew sweaty with anxiety as I quickly scanned the room for Jason but he was still nowhere in sight.

“Yeah I’m talking to you, you little perv,” the guy closest to me said as he and his group stood and approached me.

You’ve gotta be kidding me
, I thought as I looked to Reaper, hoping he would look in my direction, but his eyes were completely glued to the girl at the bar.

The guy who was doing all of the talking sat down on the bench across from me while the other four of them stood only a few feet away. The troublemaker who now sat across from me wasn’t a very large fellow, but it didn’t take much to be larger than I was. I placed my hands in my lap and nervously tapped my thumbs together as I noticed that all five of them had Greek Tragedy masks tattooed onto various parts of their bodies. Since the death of The Suspect, the Tragedy mask had become the de facto symbol for The Strangers. Though I was certain that these punks weren’t affiliated with The Strangers in any official capacity, I was still no less nervous to have found myself completely surrounded by them. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter if they were a ruthless squad of Stranger mercenaries or simply a bunch of Stranger fanboy wannabes—they had me out numbered and when it came to the combat side of our operation, as much as it pained me to admit it, I was completely useless.

“I don’t want any trouble,” I said carefully, as the guy who sat across from me tapped his fingers on the table before him.

“Well if you didn’t want any trouble, then maybe you shouldn’t have been sittin’ around recordin’ people on those dorky glasses you got on your face,” the troublemaker replied.

“I’m not recording anyone, okay? Honestly, I was just checking my email—”

“What kind of fool do you take me for, dweeb? As a matter of fact, I don’t like you even looking at me with that crap on your face. Take ‘em off right now, dammit!” he barked.

“Just calm down for a second,” I said as I quickly scanned the room for Jason again.

“I said take ‘em off!” the punk growled as he reached for my face.

“Adam!” I shouted to Reaper as I quickly pulled my head backward before the troublemaker could grab my glasses. Furious, the tough guy stood and rushed toward me with his fist drawn behind his head. I threw my arms out to shield myself and clenched my eyes shut, expecting to be pummeled at any second. Instead, I opened my eyes as I heard the troublemaker suddenly cry out in pain.

My heart thumped with excitement as I noticed that Jason was now standing between the troublemaker and me. Jason was twisting the guy’s right arm backward and glaring at the rest of his gang as they nervously watched, and debated whether or not they should jump in. They all flinched as Jason finally released the tough guy’s hand and shoved him into the rest of the group. The group caught their injured friend and backed away a few feet as Jason stood firmly in front of them.

“Everything alright here, Howie?” Jason asked without looking back at me.

“I’m fine,” I answered as I sat up straighter and glanced over to Reaper. He was still so locked in conversation with the girl at the bar that he hadn’t even noticed the commotion at our table. Now that Jason had arrived, I realized that it was probably for the best that he had come to my rescue instead of Reaper. Jason was much more controlled and could easily and quickly de-escalate a situation without causing too big of a scene. Reaper, on the other hand, could be a bit of a loose cannon when he didn’t have a handle on his temper.

“You’re gonna pay for what you did to my hand,” the tough guy snarled at Jason as he flexed his injured right hand.

“This doesn’t have to get any uglier, dude,” Jason said calmly. “You should just walk away while you still can.”

“Walk away?” the guy said sarcastically. “Yeah sure, I’ll walk away. Hey guys, what do ya say? Why don’t we all just
walk away
like this chump just suggested,” the guy continued as he turned to his friends and flashed a smug smile.

Jason sighed as the guy suddenly turned and fired a wild left jab at his face. Jason lifted his left hand and checked the time on his silver Rolex watch while simultaneously catching the troublemaker’s punch with his other hand. He then twisted the troublemaker’s arm behind his back and dropped him to his knees against his will. Still tightly grasping the ring leader’s arm, Jason turned and sent two of his incoming friends sprawling to the floor with two lightning quick kicks that slammed into their faces before they knew what hit them. In a flash, Reaper was suddenly standing between us and the last two of the punks left standing. The veins in Reaper’s chiseled biceps bulged beneath his skin as adrenaline flooded his system and he clenched his fists and dared them to make a move.

Fear ye The Reaper,
his graphic T-shirt read, with a picture of a menacing human skull printed across his broad chest. As he gritted his teeth and trembled with rage I suddenly realized that my worst fears were quite possibly about to come true. It was possible that no one had realized that he had moved slightly faster than humanly possible in order to position himself between the troublemakers and me. It was also possible that none of the restaurant patrons could figure out that he was The Reaper simply based on the ridiculous shirt that he was wearing—but if he started tossing around grown men as if they were nothing more than sheets of paper, I knew that someone might be able to make the connection.

Luckily, the bar manager and several security guards managed to surround us before things could escalate any further. Reaper was still fuming, but he was able to maintain enough composure to not flip out once the manager demanded that we all leave. Things got fairly heated once again as we exchanged insults with the other group as we made our way to the front exit, but fortunately, Jason and I were finally able to convince Reaper to leave once the manager threatened to call the police.

OUTSIDE, REAPER PANTED HEAVILY IN ORDER TO SLOW his heart rate as we walked around the building and headed for the back parking lot.

“How are you feeling, Reap?” Jason asked as we neared Reaper’s sleek black sports car, which was parked several meters away from the back entrance of the restaurant.

“I’ll be fine,” he answered, as he unlocked his car by remote. “I’d sure feel better if I got a chance to knock that bastard’s head off his shoulders though.”

“Who you callin’ a bastard, dork?” a voice rang out from behind us. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach as we turned to see that the gang of troublemakers had followed us to the back parking lot.

“Come on guys, give it a rest, will ya?” Jason said as they approached us.

“I don’t take orders from wannabe pretty boys like you, pal,” the ringleader replied as their group stopped their approach a few feet away from us. “And what the hell are you staring at?” he growled at me as he noticed my disapproving gaze.

“All right,” Jason firmly said as he looked at Reaper and balled his hands into fists. “Let’s do this.”

“On three,” Reaper said as he nodded his head and balled his fists as well.

The group of troublemakers clamored and prepared for battle as Jason and Reaper raised their fists. Their clamoring suddenly stopped and they watched in bewilderment as Jason and Reaper began a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, instead of attacking them.