Chapter 4 Deterrent

When the final bell to dismiss the campus rang, I was already halfway to my car. I was just getting to the car lot when I noticed that Edythe was walking ahead of me. I kind of wanted to catch up to her but I was in a rush. I needed to get home and change and drive to Seattle. I sighed and walked past her to my car. The car enthusiast had finally settled after having my car in the lot for a couple of days. I remote started the car and the V8 engine roared to life. I got in the car and saw Edythe's Volvo and her right next to it. She was looking at me and smiled. I couldn't help it. I had to smile back. For a split second I thought about ditching this meeting and asking Edythe to dinner or something, but then I thought about the reason I was here and every single bit of happiness and joy that was there a second ago disappeared as anger and rage flowed through me like magma. I put the car in drive and raced home. Surely Edythe and the other students would have wondered about my brash departure, but then again they probably thought it might just me being a rich prick or something.

Two hours later I was walking into a Russian restaurant called Apollo's. It was a front for the Russian crime syndicate here in Seattle. I was dressed in a black and grey suit. I had a pistol concealed in my waist band if I needed it, but there wasn't a soul brave enough in this building to try anything with me present.

I could hear the different groups chatting and arguing in the main room. The Russians, the Italians, and the Chinese were present. Normally it would take an act of God to make these three groups be on the same street, but now they were all in the same room and they did it out of fear. I walked into the main room. My entourage held the doors open for me. As soon as I walked in the room went silent. I scanned the room noting everything and everyone. I quickly identified the leaders of each of their respected groups. I walked to the large table in the middle of the room and sat down at the head of the table.

I waited a minute for everyone to sit before I began.

"Gentlemen, I am Jaxon Stone, I'm sure most of you already know that and also know why I'm here," I was deliberately being monotone and making my voice cold. It was doing its purpose, making these thugs unsettled, a feeling they wouldn't be used to.

"What has happened in this area cannot happen again, and it won't happen again. The reason for that being is because from this moment on all of you are on notice," that did it some of the members were starting to get irritated.

The Italian man who was called Rictor looked at me with a fierce glare. He expected me to cower in fear. I stared at him. "Do you have something to say, Rictor?" I asked coldly.

"You expect all of us to take orders from some pup who is still wet behind the ears," Rictor finally muttered. The rest of the room stared at this man as if he were already dead. This amused me, these grown men, who all were seasoned killers, were scared shitless by me.

"No, I don't expect you to take orders from me. I expect that by me just being here should be enough. If I have to make orders then that means one of you fucked up," I let that sit for a minute. None of these men were used to being disrespected and Rictor was a couple seconds from having steam coming out of his ears. I was going to use Rictor as an example. I just needed to push him over the edge.

"Well in all honesty if any of you could keep control of your territory and assets I wouldn't be here to clean up your mess," I said looking right at Victor making it seem like he was the one at fault. That did it.

Victor stood up in anger and slammed his hand on the table. "You know what you little shi," he roared

I grabbed Rictor's right wrist and and slammed a knife into the back of his hand, pinning him to the table.

Rictor let out a gut wrenching scream. The other just gasped in surprise.

I looked Rictor in the eyes."From now on I expect that all of you will not disappoint me," I glanced around the room. Everyone nodded in agreement

I let go of the knife and stood up."With that gentleman I will bid you a goodnight."

I turned to walk out the door,"Welcome to the order."

I walked out into the dark streets next to Apollo's, it's raining like it normally does. The meeting went almost as I had expected it. I had known going into this that I would need to make some show of force and stabbing Rictor in the hand more than did it.

One of the suits that were sent with me as my guards opened the door for me to a black SUV. Once I was settled I checked my phone. I had a new notification from Instagram. I normally don't receive notifications for social media due to all the messages and interactions. Someone with the account name pianogirl1901 liked a post from a year ago. That was kinda random, it was just a selfie of me reading a book, called the Martian. It was actually my favorite. I had some dorky smile on my face and the post had some stupid caption.

That's when I noticed the account's profile photo. I was almost certain that it was Edythe. Now I had to know more. Was she scrolling through my Instagram. Her account wasn't anything special; she only had maybe 20 followers and she didn't have a single post. I decided to be funny and follow her account. Maybe it would make her laugh or be embarrassed that she got caught stalking my account. I also sent her a message smiling at myself as I typed.

"So is someone stalking my account? Lol." Jaxon

She didn't respond right away. It took about 15 minutes before I got a reply.

"Sorry I didn't mean to like the post my hand slipped lol." Edythe

I laughed she was embarrassed but it was kind of adorable. She had scrolled through hundreds of photos and she liked the only photo of me that had a genuine smile.

"So is this your way of telling me that was a bad photo of me." Jaxon

She read the message and started to type. I didn't want her to think I was upset.

"JK." Jaxon

"So what are you doing?" Jaxon

"Homework, I have a test in trig tomorrow. What about you?" Edythe

"Well, it sounds like you are having a fun night." Jaxon

I took a selfie of me in the car

"Driving home." Jaxon

I decided to be cheeky and mess with her.

"Do you need any help studying for your trig test?" Jaxon

That would make her either giggle or irritate her which I figured would be funny.

"No, I've got it completely under control. So where are you driving to?" Edythe

"Home. I went to Seattle," Jaxon

"Is that why you left school in such a hurry?" Edythe

So she had noticed my quick departure.

"It was part of the reason." Jaxon

I didn't want to have to explain or lie to this girl though I would if I had too. Why was I labeling Edythe as if she was the only girl in the world?

My phone went off. She had sent a selfie replying to the one I sent earlier. She was wearing the cream colored sweater she had been wearing earlier. She was sitting on a black couch, I guessed in her house. The angle was weird like she had never taken a selfie before. It made me chuckle.

"So what was the reason?" Edythe

I sighed, I'd have to lie now.

"I had a business meeting, normal stuff lol." Jaxon

She responded quickly.

"Oh yeah I know tons of kids that go to meetings after school discussing billion dollar investments." Edythe

Ah sarcasm. It seemed like she was a sassy person and it was kind of charming honestly.

"Actually that would be hundreds of billions of dollar investments." Jaxon

I knew this would either make her laugh hopefully.

"I stand corrected hundreds of billions." Edythe

I heard the car come to a stop and was surprised that I was already home. I put my phone in my pocket and got out of the car.

Alexi, my right hand man, rolled down his window.

"Hey kid, we will have to go back to Seattle next week so those scum can pay us for their protection."

Alexi was a middle aged Russian man who was trusted in the order and had worked with my father for over a decade before I was born. He was loyal.

"I know, keep an eye on Rictor. I want to know whatever he does, and I want to know as it happens. I don't trust him."

"Will do. I don't like him either, he was too loud. Maybe the Italians are being controlled and Rictor is just a puppet." Alexi said.

I sighed and thought. It did make some sense.

"You might be onto something. Keep an eye on him and keep me updated. I'll see you later."

I turned and walked into my house. It was 8:27 and I still had to finish the homework for school. My life was so weird now. I would make a good plot for some cheesy tv show.

I walked over to the fridge and pulled at an apple and a juice. I pulled out my phone and saw that Edythe had sent two messages.

"So when do you do homework when you have meetings?" Edythe

"That's a lame topic, you don't have to answer it lol." Edythe

I wouldn't have taken her for someone who second guessed herself. I wanted her to be able to ask me anything. That was weird, this girl was making me seem normal.

I had layed out all my homework on my bed. I actually had quite a bit to do. I had to do trig homework and read two chapters of a book and read something about the Krebs cycle. I took a photo of all my books and papers and sent it two her.

"Well I'm actually going to do it now." Jaxon

"Do you want any help?" Edythe

I could imagine her smiling at her phone a call back to earlier.

"No, I think I'll manage." Jaxon

I smiled and thought for a minute.

"I could use some company, this homework is a little boring." Jaxon

It took her a minute and then she replied.

"My number is 360 467 9880." Edythe

She gave me her number. Honestly I was a little nervous, this girl was different. She treated me like I was a normal guy and not well me.

I typed in her number and sent a message

"Hey this is Jaxon." Jaxon

The little dots to indicate she was typing appeared and then her text came through.

"Who is this? How did you get my number?" Edythe?

Maybe I put in the wrong number

"Jaxon Stone." Jaxon

"Wait, you mean the Jaxon Stone, the billionaire." ?

Maybe I was being pranked or something but my phone went off. I was getting a phone call.

I answered.

"I'm kidding, it's me." She giggled in her musical voice.

I was speechless for a second

"Oh hey, I kinda figured." I said a little tense

"Sure you did." She laughed

We talked on the phone for the next few hours. She would ask me questions about me and what I liked and I would ask her questions but most of the time I was explaining my answers to her, she always had a counter question to make me talk more. It was similar to being interrogated but nicer. I made her laugh and it was such an amazing sound like if angels could sing honestly.

"So what subject are you on now?" She asked

" I am doing trig. What about you." I asked, focusing on the problem. I didn't need to do the actual work, I could do it in my head.

"Oh, I've been done for an hour and half." She said. I could hear her grin.

"Really then what have you been doing?"

"Listening to you." She said not missing a beat.

God she must have been bored out of her mind

"Why I can only imagine you have been bored listening to me ramble about all my favorite stuff and interests" I was a little baffled.

"Actually you are pretty interesting. Seriously, I got to talk to Jaxon Stone on the phone all night. All the other girls will be so jealous." She said the last part in her sarcastic voice.

I chuckled

She then asked, sounding a little insecure, "Were you bored, I didn't mean to be so nosy."

"No, I had fun. You are the first person in a while to actually seem interested in talking to me."

"What do you mean, almost everyone at school tries to talk to you. You have been big news in the school the moment the rumors about you attending Forks started in September." She replied

"Well most people talk but they don't actually care about what I say. They are more interested in my image than actually me." I sighed

"Well they are missing out. You are pretty interesting," she said warmly

"Oh no, I didn't mean to."

"What?" I looked at my phone. She had accidentally FaceTimed me. I decided to answer it. I wanted to see her face and I was dressed for the most part. My shirt was unbuttoned but she wouldn't be able to see my scars or tattoos.

Her image popped up and she had a surprised look on her face and she looked adorable honestly.

"Hey" I laughed

She didn't respond for a second

"Umm hey." She finally was able to say.

She has obviously never FaceTimed a guy not wearing a shirt.

"Sorry," I said, buttoning my shirt a little bit to be polite.

"You're fine, I mean it's fine." She said nervously

I laughed and noticed the time.

"Who it's late. I didn't mean to keep you up for so long." I said apologizing

"I'm fine but you're right it's late. I guess I should go to bed."

I sighed. I liked talking to her.

"Yeah I should too."

We stared at each other for a second.

"Jaxon, can I ask you a question?"

She had never spoken my name but it sounded so amazing on her voice.

"You just did." I laughed

She laughed

"Go ahead." I replied

"Would it be okay if I sat with you tomorrow at lunch?" She said quietly.

I was frozen for a second.

"Yeah, of course, that would be cool." I smiled like a dork at her and she then laughed

"We'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight Jaxon." She said sweetly

I smiled again "Goodnight Edythe."

She said "Sweet dreams." And she hung up the call.