“Well this has been an eventful night,” Audrey said as she leaned back against her SUV as we watched a blue sedan drive past us and exit the parking garage.
“Tell me about it,” I smirked.
“So what’s next, Mr. Superhero?” she asked. “What other earth-shattering surprises do you have in store for me?”
“I dunno. I could show you some of my abilities if you want,” I shrugged.
“No thanks on the powers, Sir! I think I got enough of that when you nearly yanked my truck off the ground! I’m pretty sure you gave me whiplash, too!” she joked.
“Give me a break!” I laughed. “You were barely going two miles an hour! There’s no way you were injured at that speed.”
“Yeah, well we’ll see what my attorney has to say about that!” she chuckled.
“Oh! So now you’re suing me?!”
“Damn right I am!” she replied, trying her best to hold back laughter as she pretended to be serious.
“So, I tell you my biggest secret and you repay me by slapping me with a lawsuit?!” I jokingly groaned, as I playfully smacked myself on the forehead. “And you wondered why I didn’t tell you in the first place!”
“Okay, I’ll make a deal with you. If you take me to your secret hideout… perhaps I’ll think about dropping the charges,” Audrey replied, smiling and biting her lip as she looked up at me.
“You’ll think about dropping them?” I repeated.
“You heard me,” she playfully insisted.
“Sorry babe, but it’s gonna take a lot more than that to gain access to the secret hideout.”
“Really? And just what does it take to get you to take me there Mr. Reaper,” she asked, in an interesting tone.
My heart rate tripled as I thought about what I really wanted to say to her but I decided to continue to be a gentleman instead. Something on my face must have given me away, however, because Audrey suddenly started to blush as she smiled back at me.
“Well? What’s it going to be, Mr. Reaper?” she continued.
“Okay, okay! I’ll take you to the secret hideout… but only because you twisted my arm about it!” I chuckled.
“I did not twist your arm!” she jokingly protested.
“Well I guess you made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” I replied.
“But I didn’t offer anything,” she said.
“Not yet,” I replied under my breath as I wiped my mouth with my right hand and smiled.
“Excuse me?” she chuckled, narrowing her eyes as she smiled at me.
“Oh! Um… I said… let’s… get out of here,” I lied as I tightened my stomach to keep from laughing.
“Sure you did,” she said sarcastically. “So, where are we going?” she asked as I walked around to the passenger side door of her SUV.
“The secret hideout, of course,” I answered as I opened the front passenger door and took a seat.
“Seriously?” she asked as she climbed into the driver’s seat and fastened her seatbelt. “Adam—I mean, Reaper, I was just kidding, you know?”
“Yeah, I know. I don’t mind taking you there, though. It’ll be fun. Plus I’d hate to have to deal with that pesky lawyer of yours,” I joked.
“Okay. If you say so. So where to?” she grinned.
“Lexington, Florida,” I replied.
“Wow, Florida?! I guess we’re going to the airport then?” she asked as she started the engine.
“No, we can drive,” I said, as I reached into my pocket and fished for my wormhole beacon.
“That’s a seventeen hour drive, Sir. It sounds like fun but I don’t know if I’m up for that right now,” she admitted.
“Just trust me, Audrey,” I said as I withdrew my wormhole beacon.
“What’s that?” she asked curiously, as her puzzled eyes focused on the virtual display that appeared above the device after I turned it on.
“It’s a… well, to be completely honest I still don’t know exactly what it is. I just know we can get to Lexington in about thirty seconds if I do… this,” I said as I pressed the combination of virtual buttons in the same sequence that Howie had shown me. Suddenly a loud crackling noise filled the garage and a colorful speck of light appeared just in front of the SUV and ballooned outward until it formed into a gigantic orb of rotating light.
“Okay, drive!” I said quickly as I realized that I had once again forgotten to check for bystanders.
“What do you mean, drive?! What am I supposed to do?!” Audrey asked as she stared at the rapidly rotating orb of light and energy in amazement.
“Just drive through it before anyone sees us! But take it easy because you don’t want—” I started just as the SUV sped forward. In a matter of seconds we emerged from the spinning orb within 3D where we nearly crashed into a nearby wall but fortunately Audrey was able to slam on the brakes just in time.
“So… I’m thinking I should drive next time!” I exclaimed as I stared at the wall that stood two inches in front of the SUV.
“What’s wrong with my driving?” Audrey asked, jokingly downplaying the narrowly avoided accident.
“That was just a little too close for my comfort,” I chuckled.
“Whatever, punk!” Audrey quipped a she unfastened her seatbelt. “Seriously though, what in the heck just happened?” she continued as she turned her head and looked throughout our former secret hideout.
“We just went through a wormhole. It’s kind of like teleporting,” I said proudly.
“Are you kidding me?” she asked, her eyes wide with amazement as she looked over at me.
“Nope. This little buddy right here allows me to travel thousands of miles in the blink of an eye,” I advised as I held the wormhole beacon in front of my face. “The only part that sucks is I can only use it to travel to three places—which, by the way, means we’re going to have to drive back because there’s no way I can use this guy to get us back to Nevada. Well, I suppose I could but I’d get into a lot of trouble if I suddenly showed up at Area 51 with a civilian with me.”
“Yeah that does suck,” Audrey grinned. “Especially for you since I’m not letting you ride back with me!”
I chuckled and smiled warmly at her as I admired the innocent gleam in her smiling eyes.
“I think you’re forgetting the fact that I could outrun this car if I wanted to,” I boasted as I opened the passenger side door and exited the vehicle.
“Oh yeah. I didn’t think about that,” she giggled as she threw her keys into her purse and stepped out of the SUV. “Exactly how fast can you run, anyway?” she asked as we met at the rear of the SUV.
“Believe it or not, I’ve reached Mach 5 before, which is the equivalent to just under 4000 miles per hour. I can only move that fast at certain times though—only when my adrenaline is really flowing. Typically, I average around three to four hundred miles an hour.”
“Really?” she asked skeptically. “That’s an awfully large gap. How is it that your average is so far below your top speed?”
“It’s sort of complicated. I’d honestly need my friend Howie here to really explain it in a way that would make sense. Come on, let me give you a tour of the place.”
“Sounds good,” she replied as we walked further into the front room of 3D.
Mentioning Howie had made me momentarily worry about how pissed he’d be if he found out that I had brought a civilian into our sacred club house/hideaway. I knew how serious he was about safeguarding the sensitive information and equipment that was stored in 3D but I quickly shrugged off my worries because I knew that Audrey was harmless.
“Do you want to watch a movie?” I asked after giving her a brief tour of the place.
“Sure, that’s fine,” she responded as she followed me over to the large sectional couch that sat in front of the massive projector screen on the back wall of the front room.
“I wish I had had a place this cool to hang out in back in high school! That must have been pretty awesome,” she chimed as w
e both sat and got comfortable in the center of the large couch.
“Hell yeah it was,” I admitted, smiling as my thoughts momentarily lingered in the old days.
WE ENDED UP WATCHING A HORROR MOVIE THAT I HAD picked out, however we didn’t really pay much attention to it because Audrey seemed much more interested in asking me questions about my past and my abilities. I couldn’t help but be amused at how amazed she was by it all.
The movie played on in the background as I laid my head on a small pillow in her lap and told her about the time Howie and I discovered my abilities. She was shocked when I told her that the source of my abilities was the fact that my father was technically an alien but after I explained that Anokians look nearly exactly like humans she seemed to be more accepting of the idea of me being half alien. I didn’t tell her about my dysfunctional family or my adoptive mother’s suicide but I did tell her what I knew about my real mother—the woman who had given me away when I was just an infant; the woman who Director Wells had called a traitor.
“Do you ever wonder what she was like?” Audrey asked as she ran her soft fingers through my hair.
“Sure I do. All the time, actually. It’s too bad I’ll never get a chance to meet her though,” I said, as I clenched my jaw and fought back the tears that were forming in the corners of my eyes. Talking about my birth mother always brought on thoughts of my adoptive mother as well. I still hated her for standing by and allowing my adoptive father to torment my older brother P.J. so relentlessly that he was ultimately driven to becoming The Suspect. It had been over two years since she took her own life but I could still remember the pain that I felt as I watched her gently swinging from the rope she used to hang herself as if it were yesterday. I still hated her for not protecting us from our father but for some reason I still missed her more than almost anything.
I closed my eyes as Audrey softly wiped my tears away then pulled my head upward and planted a gentle kiss onto my lips. My heart pounded ferociously as our kiss continued, and became more passionate by the second. The movie continued to play in the background as Audrey paused to take a deep breath then instantly yanked my head towards her again. A surging tide of warmth overwhelmed my entire body as her insistent lips pressed against mine as she practically tore my shirt from my chest. Her aggression and passion were exhilarating but as my heart rate climbed I soon began to realize that even though I didn’t want to, I had no choice but to stop before things got too out of hand. The excitement brought on by the thought of getting intimate with Audrey had unleashed a load of adrenaline that was flooding my system and exponentially driving my already superhuman strength to astronomical proportions. I knew that if I didn’t stop, my strength could increase to a level where I may not be able to stop myself from inadvertently hurting her—or perhaps even worse. I barely clenched my right hand as I fought to overcome the temptation but my strength had increased so drastically that my hand completely crushed the piece of the sofa’s frame that I had been holding onto.
“What’s wrong?!” Audrey asked, between gasps as I pulled my face away from hers.
“I just—I can’t do this Audrey. I don’t want to hurt you,” I said as I stood and backed away from her.
“It’s okay, Reaper,” she coaxed as she stood and pressed her body against me while placing her arms onto my shoulders. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” she asked while tenderly brushing her lips against mine as she spoke.
“It is,” I admitted as my resolve began to crumble, but as my eyes lingered on the crumpled steel frame that my hand had barely gripped I knew that my skyrocketing strength would put her in much more danger than I was comfortable with.
“But it’s just too dangerous, Audrey. I don’t know what could happen if we don’t stop. When my adrenaline starts flowing even I don’t know how powerful I’ll become. Just look at what I did to the couch—and I was barely touching it. What if that had been you? What if I had been holding you when that happened?”
“I’ll be fine, Reaper,” Audrey purred as she placed her soft hands on my cheeks. “I’m a lot stronger than you think.”
“I just can’t take that risk,” I insisted as I placed my hands over hers. “You mean far too much to me for me to put this over your safety.”
I could see within her eyes that she desperately wanted to continue and I think we both knew that she could certainly have her way if she pushed the issue but fortunately for both our sakes she ultimately decided to respect my wishes.
“Are you sure?” she asked as her hands fell from my face.
“Not really,” I admitted. “But I think it’s for the best—for now at least. Maybe I’ll talk to Howie about using that big brain of his to come up with a way to keep my heart rate in check, you know?—Something to make it safer.”
“Alright, Sir, well let me know if you change your mind in the meantime,” she grinned, winking at me as she exhaled and flopped back down onto the couch.
“Will do,” I said, as I tried my best to force back the childish grin that was fighting to make its way onto my face.
“So… have you changed your mind?” Audrey jokingly asked as I sat down beside her.
“No. I haven’t,” I chuckled as I looked at her silly grin.
“Not yet,” she muttered under her breath, as she wiped her mouth with her right hand, just as I had done earlier that night.
“You think you’re funny, don’t you?” I grinned as I pulled her closer and threw my left arm over her shoulders.
What are you doing, Reaper? my conscious suddenly screamed at me as I thought of Monica for a fraction of a second. Luckily, Audrey had not seen the guilty expression that had flashed onto my face, and I kissed the top of her head and leaned back on the couch as I tried to take my mind off Monica.
“So what should I call you in public?” Audrey suddenly asked as she rested her head on my chest.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, I can’t exactly call you Reaper, can I?” she replied.
“Yeah, I guess you have a point there.”
“How about… Maximilian?” she jokingly suggested.
“Absolutely not! Anything but that!”
“What’s wrong with Maximilian?” she asked. I could tell she wasn’t serious but I played along anyway.
“Well… number one: it makes me sound like a Holy Roman Emperor and number two: I don’t look anything like a Maximilian,” I said, laughing as I watched her struggle to keep a straight face.
“Okay, okay! I’ve got another one. What about Max?” she suggested, still grinning from ear to ear.
“No dice babe,” I said before pulling her closer and planting another kiss onto her forehead. “What do you say we table this discussion for now before I end up with a name like Bartholomew or something?” I continued.
“Fine,” she sighed, as she crossed her arms and pretended to be disappointed. “But don’t think I’ll forget. I’m giving you a new name whether you like it or not, Mister.”
The way she said the word Mister once again made me think about Monica because she used to do the exact same thing whenever she pretended to pout. With that, the warnings of my subconscious mind slowly started to return—but even as they became louder I continued to ignore them as I held Audrey in my arms and finally tried to focus on the movie that was nearly finished by that point. I had told Audrey a lot about my abilities and my past that night but I had purposely failed to mention Monica. In my mind, I knew that at some point I would have to choose between them but in my heart I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to do so. Audrey made me feel more alive than I had ever felt but Monica’s very existence is what gave me purpose in life. How could I ever choose between that?
I grabbed a small pillow and laid my head in Audrey’s lap once again as I fought hard to ignore the growing sense of dread that was festering in the back of my mind. It saddened me that I had allowed my situation to become so impossibly complicated and I was extremely frustrated by the fact t
hat it was threatening to ruin my time with Audrey.
What are you doing, Reaper? my conscious repeated once again as Audrey ran her fingers through my hair as I stared up at the ceiling.
“So, this may be a weird question, but… how much do you weigh?” she suddenly asked.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I replied with a chuckle.
“Really? How much are we talking?”
“Close to 1000 pounds last time I checked,” I said.
“Holy crap?!” she exclaimed. “That’s crazy! You look like you only weigh around 200.”
“I know. My body’s a lot denser than a regular human body.”
“Well, now that I think about it, that actually explains a lot,” Audrey giggled.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well that explains why your head is as heavy as a bowling ball,” Audrey teased as she shifted her legs under me.
“Oh crap! Do you want me to get up?” I asked, suddenly feeling guilty and inconsiderate.
“It’s fine, Reaper,” she coaxed, placing her hands on my shoulders just as I was about to sit up. “I was just kidding,” she continued.
And just like that I was relaxed once again. Audrey always had that sort of effect on me. Whenever I’d find myself worrying about anything I could always rely on her to put my mind at ease. She was never able to make me completely forget about my issues, but she could always make me feel as though they didn’t matter as much. As I continued to lie there, I became so relaxed that my eyes began to grow heavier by the second. Our conversation went on for almost another hour and Audrey gently ran her soft fingers through my hair as we talked until I eventually drifted off to sleep.
22. SOMETHING MAKE BELIEVE
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Savior Part 2: Son of Eden (The Savior Series) Page 22
