13. REAPER
13
REAPER
W alking back into the hotel restaurant with Shadow in front and Siren at my side, a strange sense of contentment comes over me. It’s something I’ve never felt before and something I can’t even begin to understand, but before I get the chance to question it, the waiter who so painstakingly took our orders earlier steps out of the kitchen.
“No,” he gasps in terror, the sound so subtle, and yet somehow it’s capable of drawing the attention of the whole room.
I resist the urge to smile. A man like this would never survive in my world. He’d be the first to go on principle alone. When Siren and I left barely ten minutes ago, he was thrilled. I could see the relief in his eyes as we walked out the door. It’s as though he held his breath the whole time we were here, and now that we’re back, he looks about ready to shit his pants.
We continue striding through the restaurant, and as we approach him, I pause, placing a hand on Shadow’s shoulder, bringing her up short. “Let me make this clear,” I tell the waiter. “My friends and I are going to go and sit down at a private booth, and in exactly three minutes, you are going to come to our table with a glass of wine for the lady, and a burger for the kid. Is that understood?”
The bottom half of his jaw begins to chatter, and I have no doubt that he’s remembering exactly what was overheard before. It’s no secret to the locals of Blue Springs that something has been going down in their town. The multiple deaths, the unusual police presence, and the sense of unease they get when they step foot outside their doors. Their town isn’t safe, and he knows it.
“Y—yes,” he stumbles out, his gaze dropping to Shadow. “A burger, Miss?”
Shadow glances at me for a second before turning her gaze back to the waiter. “Can I have a soda as well?”
“Of course,” he says, trying his hardest to look cheerful. “Coming right up.”
The waiter scurries off, and we continue through the restaurant, weaving through the busy tables. “Seriously?” Siren says beside me, her words barely audible. “The guy is already terrified of us. Was that really necessary?”
I turn my gaze, meeting her stern stare. “How do you mean? The child is hungry. I was simply putting in her order. Would you have preferred I waited until after the waiter had finished shitting his pants?”
Siren rolls her eyes, knowing damn well that I see right through my own bullshit. I enjoyed that, and she knows it. What can I say? There are certainly perks of being part of the one percent. People give me a wide berth and when I want something, it tends to fall right into my lap. I don’t ever have to try, to plead, to beg. It comes to me naturally . . . and by naturally, I mean through others’ fears.
People don’t want to cross me or risk upsetting me. They may not know who or what I am, but they feel it in their chest. They know I’m not someone they want to fuck with, and because of that, they go out of their way to please me.
“You don’t scare me, Reaper,” she murmurs.
I hold her stare, pausing right in the middle of the restaurant, preparing to call her bluff, and as I take a step toward her, I wait for the inevitable flash of her eyes, warning me to back off, but it never comes.
Unease rocks through me, and I realize that she’s not lying. She’s genuinely not scared of me anymore, and I don’t know how to feel about that. My whole brand is based on the sole fact that people are terrified of me. Yet, all I see in Siren’s eyes is need.
“You’re treading on shaky ground,” I warn her. “Be careful what you wish for.”
Siren steps even closer, her body pressing against mine and making my skin burn from her touch. “Here’s the thing,” she whispers, her soft breath brushing across my collar. “I don’t think I’m the one making wishes they have no business making.”
With that, she steps back and continues on her way to a table, leaving me standing motionless in the middle of the restaurant, unable to do a damn thing but stare after her.
What the fuck is happening here? Why has this woman so completely fucked with my head?
As I watch Siren and Shadow make themselves comfortable at a private table in the corner, I get my shit together and keep walking toward them, that strange feeling of contentment returning.
Ease weaves its way through my veins as I walk toward the two women who have, in one way or another, left me completely stumped. Yet being here with them both at this moment just feels right.
Joining them at the table, I can’t help but notice the way that Siren and Shadow watch each other. They’re both unsure, don’t know what’s about to come from this unexpected meeting, or if they can risk trusting one another, and when I take my place at the table, it’s almost impossible not to notice the way the two of them seem to relax.
Siren watches me, her gaze suggesting that I’ve got a shitload of explaining to do, but she’ll get nothing from me until I know she can be trusted. For now, it’s Shadow we need to focus on.
Turning my attention on the terrified kid, I fix her with a heavy stare. “You were following me again.”
She shakes her head and flicks her gaze toward Siren for the briefest moment before returning to me. “I was following her actually,” she admits before returning her stare back to Siren. “You know this guy is stalking you, right?”
Siren lets out a heavy sigh. “It has come to my attention on a few occasions.”
Shadow nods, probably not knowing what to do with that information. She might understand that Siren intrigues me, that I’m attracted to this woman, but it’s clear in the way she watches Siren that she doesn’t understand why she hasn’t attempted to deal with me yet. And to be honest, I’m relieved. She’s very clearly a smart kid, and from what I gather, her innocence hasn’t been corrupted. She knows I like Siren, but doesn’t know what I want to do with her, and for that, I’m grateful.
“You realize at some point, he’s going to try and kill you?” Shadow questions as though Siren’s completely forgotten why she’s here in this godforsaken town.
Siren laughs. “I’m more than aware,” she tells the kid. “But here’s the thing. He’s had more than enough chances to take my life. He could have killed me whenever he wanted, but I’m still here, sitting right across the table from you. I may not be able to trust a single soul in these games, but I can trust that men are simple creatures. And more than that, I can trust my gut, and right now, my gut tells me that he has no intention of killing me yet . . . if at all.”
I scoff, my gaze whipping to her. “That gut of yours is going to get you in trouble,” I warn her. “Don’t think for a second that I won’t kill you when the time comes.”
Siren winks, and something inside me crumbles. “Not if I get to you first.”
“Fuck me,” Shadow mutters under her breath. “The two of you just need to do it already.”
My gaze whips around to Shadow, gaping at her as I mentally go over the words that just came out of her mouth, making sure I heard her correctly. But fuck, there’s no mistaking that, and judging by the way Siren is gaping at her too, it’s clear that I was wrong. Perhaps this kid does know exactly what I want with Siren.
“I . . . ummm . . . what?” Siren says, her face flushing just as the waiter arrives at the table with her wine and Shadow’s soda. Siren takes the wine from him, and before it even hits the table, she lifts it right to her lips and downs every last drop. She immediately hands the glass back to the guy. “I’m gonna need more, and keep ’em coming.”
The waiter scurries off like a good little boy, and the second he’s gone, Shadow launches her inquest. “So like . . . are you two a thing? Working together?”
I scoff. “I work alone.”
A smirk stretches across Siren’s lips, and as she glances at me, a strange fluttering occurs deep in my stomach. “Ahh, so you don’t need me then,” she states, her voice lowered. “You’re content with jerking off alone in a cold shower.”
My gaze narrows on her. Maybe she has a point. Perhaps I don’t always prefer working alone.
“Watch yourself, Little Siren.”
Shadow watches us from across the table, scrunching her lips into a disgusted cringe. “You two are gross.”
Siren simply smiles, more than proud of herself as she settles her stare back on the kid. “Why were you watching me anyway? Do you do that often?” she asks, right as the waiter returns with a burger bigger than the kid’s head.
Shadow can hardly answer the question because she’s staring at the burger as though she can’t possibly think about anything else. “Ummm . . . What?” Shadow grunts, her hands already scooping up the burger.
“You were following me,” Siren repeats. “Why?”
Shadow takes a bite, and her eyes roll in her head. “Ohmygod,” she groans around the food, her words smooshed together. “Thisissogood.”
“Shadow,” Siren pushes.
“I follow everyone.”
“Everyone?”
“That’s what I said.”
“You’re able to track everyone? Just like that?”
She takes another bite, barely having finished off the first one, and before she even chews her food, she shoves the straw of her soda into her mouth as well. The fuck is up with this kid? She’s acting as though she hasn’t eaten in months, but that couldn’t be right because I only just gave her money to make sure she had everything she needed.
Shadow simply shrugs. “You gotta be the best to beat the best,” she says, and as she eats her burger, I watch as she relaxes, getting chatty as she eats. “And you two? You’re the best. Right after me, of course. But you know who’s not the best? Those brothers.”
“You knew they were brothers?” Siren asks, her brow arching, clearly impressed.
“Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out,” Shadow continues, and I do what I can to not take offense. I didn’t realize that immediately, and it wasn’t until Siren’s confirmation that I believed it to be true.
“Don’t you go searching out trouble with them,” I warn Shadow. “They’re not like me or Siren. If they catch you in a back alley, they won’t offer to feed you. They’ll beat you to death.”
“I know,” she says, a wariness in her eyes. “I’ve already had a run-in with them tonight, but after I saw how they killed Sharkbait the other night, I knew to get out of there. I’m not looking to be a victim.”
Siren clenches her jaw, her eyes flashing with anger. “They targeted you?”
Shadow shrugs her shoulders and keeps her gaze focused on her burger. “Yeah, sure. They targeted me. Or maybe I might have targeted them.”
“Are you insane?” Siren demands. “You’re a kid. You can’t be putting yourself in unnecessary danger like that.”
“Just because I’m a kid doesn’t mean I can’t handle myself,” Shadow throws back at her. “I know what I’m doing.”
“I’m sure you do, but these aren’t the kind of people who are going to take it easy on you because you’re a kid. They’re going to kill you, and it’ll be brutal. They don’t give a shit. You can’t go out looking for trouble. Sure, track them all you want. Do all the recon you need, but choose your targets wisely.”
“Like you do?” Shadow demands around a mouthful of food. “I saw your kill tonight. That was nothing. You should have just let Eagle walk. That kill doesn’t count.”
“So you’re saying that I should have allowed her to go and given her the opportunity to potentially kill me later or kill . . . I don’t know . . . you, maybe? Maybe I should have let her live with her broken ribs and burned arm and let the brothers or Gasoline come back to finish the job in a much nastier way. She was lucky that I was the one who came after her tonight, and she knew it. Having compassion doesn’t make me weak. It makes me human.”
Shadow presses her lips into a tight line and dips her chin before slowly nodding. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”
Siren watches her through a narrowed stare, and after what feels like a lifetime, her body finally relaxes and she moves the conversation along. “What’s your plan, Shadow? How are you going to get through these next twenty days?”
She takes another bite, and I stare at her burger, shocked by how quickly she’s putting it away. “I’m a watcher,” Shadow explains. “I don’t like getting involved in all the bullshit. I’ve been trained to learn everybody’s weaknesses, and at the very last moment, swoop in and end the game.”
“And how’s that going for you?” I ask.
“So far, I don’t know. Apart from you two, there are six other contenders who need to be taken out. The brothers, Gasoline, Raven, Silver, and The Executioner. I’ve been able to figure out every single one of them and can already see how they’ll meet their end during these games. The only two I can’t seem to figure out are you two.”
“What do you mean?” Siren asks.
“Neither of you are playing by your usual MO.”
I nod, approving of this child more with every word that comes out of her mouth. “You’re clever.”
Shadow shakes her head. “Considering I’m sitting at a table across from the very two I can’t seem to figure out, perhaps that means I’m anything but clever,” she says. “How do I know you’re not working together and plan to shank me out by the dumpsters after you finish feeding me?”
“You don’t,” Siren tells her. “But like I said, it’s about trusting your gut. You can either choose to trust that Reaper and I mean you no harm, or you can choose not to. That’s your prerogative. I can’t force you to believe something, and I can’t force you to believe someone’s intentions based on nothing more than their words. This game is a fight to the end, and while I would be honored to earn your trust, the truth is, you shouldn’t trust a damn soul in these games.”
“She’s right,” I add. “The single most effective way to survive is to trust only yourself.”
Shadow holds my stare. “You’re saying you don’t want me to trust you?”
“Not at all. I’m saying to be wary. At the end of these games, there’s going to be a decision that needs to be made. Only one of us will be able to walk free at the end of the month. I know who I’d like that to be, and I assume Siren is on the same page. I trust her to make the right decision, just as she’s trusting me to do the same. It’s now up to you if you can live with that.”
“It sounds like you’re asking us to work as a team,” Shadow questions.
Siren narrows her gaze, her heavy stare locked on mine. “Hmmmm. Peculiar.”
“I work alone,” I remind them.
Shadow laughs to herself before finishing off the rest of her burger and scooping up her soda instead. “Something tells me this is going to be fun.”
Siren rolls her eyes and fixes her stare back on the kid. “Where have you been staying?”
Shadow’s carefree attitude quickly disappears, her shackles rising back into place. “Why?”
“You have bags under your eyes. You’re not sleeping, and judging by the way you just annihilated that burger, you’re not eating either. Do you know how to care for yourself? Have clean clothes, toiletries?”
“I . . .”
She glances away, not wanting to answer, and I press her to continue. “Answer the question, Shadow. I gave you money to buy yourself groceries. What happened to that?”
Siren’s brow arches, and she whips her gaze back to me. “You did what? When?”
Ignoring her inquisition, I keep my stare focused on Shadow, not allowing her the chance to slip past this conversation. “What good is having groceries if you can’t do anything with them?” she questions, her voice low and ashamed. “Apart from the fact I already told you I don’t cook. It’s not as though I have a way to transport them. Shall I pile up the back of someone’s Honda and steal their car—a car which I don’t know how to drive—or should I just carry them on my back?”
I let out a heavy breath. I fucked up.
That was a huge oversight on my part. I gave her the resources I thought she needed to look after herself, but in reality, I did nothing but make myself feel like I’m some kind of hero. I didn’t help her at all.
“Okay, here’s the deal,” Siren says, clearly seeing I’m at a loss. “I’m assuming you know where my villa is?”
Shadow simply smirks and Siren rolls her eyes. “Of course you do,” she says. “I like to cook. I cook myself something every single night, and while I might not have a wide variety of dishes that I’m willing to experiment with, they’re still delicious.”
Siren grabs the napkin off the table and pulls a pen from somewhere inside her cropped tank before writing down a six-digit code. “Here, this is the code to my villa, not that you’ll actually need it to break into my home. Every night, at precisely seven o’clock, there will be a freshly cooked meal on my kitchen table for you. Eat it or don’t. It doesn’t matter to me, but it will be there all the same,” she tells her. “If it’s not eaten by seven thirty, it will be waiting for you in the fridge. There is also a blanket on the sofa, which folds out to a bed if you so happen to feel the urge to stay for a while. Just . . . Please don’t stab me in my sleep.”
Shadow gawks at her, just as lost for words as I am, and honestly, I don’t know if I should applaud her for going out of her way and showing so much kindness to this child or if I should berate her for being so fucking stupid. After all, Shadow will eventually have to kill her because, let’s face it, despite the tough game I talk, I’d prefer to fuck her than kill her, and welcoming her right into her home like that is asking for trouble.
Shadow visibly swallows. “You’d really do that for me?”
“I’m not about to let you starve. While you might be some kind of creepy child spy turned assassin, you’re still just a child. You shouldn’t be here, despite how good you might be.”
Her gaze drops to her hands, and it’s as though she’s never had anyone care for her before. “Thank you,” she murmurs, the words sounding hard to say.
“My pleasure.”
“Speaking of being a child spy turned assassin,” I say. “How did you become this way? Who trained you?”
Her gaze snaps up, and suddenly that childlike innocence and gratefulness vanishes, leaving nothing but the terrified child I saw in the back of the alley. Her gaze flashes between me and Siren, and as we both start to raise our hands to calm her down, she rushes to her feet and makes a break for it, vanishing out of the restaurant like the ghost that she is.
“Fuck,” Siren says, an accusation clear in her tone. “Now look what you’ve done. She was only just starting to come around.”
I shake my head. “That kid’s got a long way to go before she starts coming around,” I tell her. “But one thing is for sure, it’s not us she’s terrified of, it’s her home.”
“That makes her a threat,” Siren murmurs, devastation thick in her tone. “She’ll be desperate to win that prize money and free herself. She won’t be reasoned with and will keep going after the others. We need to keep an eye on her.”
“If you haven’t noticed, keeping an eye on her is fucking impossible. She’s the only person who has ever evaded me.”
Siren’s gaze widens in shock. “She did?”
I nod, almost ashamed to admit it. “Twice, and if it weren’t for you seeing her outside the restaurant earlier, it would have been three times.”
“Shit.”
“Mmhmm,” I say. “All I know is that this game won’t be ending because there’s no way in hell I’m going to let her get the drop on me, but I won’t allow you or anyone else to end her life either. She’s too young for this shit.”
“I agree,” Siren says, picking up the wine glass she didn’t even see the waiter refill. She throws her head back and drains the glass before getting to her feet. “We have to protect her.”
I stand with her, placing my hand on her lower back after tossing a hundred-dollar bill on the table. “The question is, how the fuck are we supposed to protect a ghost when we have no fucking idea what she truly needs protection from?”