Mason
The waiter comes and we order.
I don't even register what I say. My attention's on him.
"So.." I say once we're alone again, leaning back. "You said you had something"
"Yes I did say that" he answers, but he doesn't reach for it yet. "You always cut straight to business, let's have dinner first mace" he let out a small laugh.
"It's a bad habit Damian, I'm sorry" I said as I nervously scratched the back of her head.
"It's who you are, and I like it. I miss it mace, I miss you" I looked at him and saw his eyes soften at me.
That lands harder than it should.
He folds his hands on the table. "Before we get to that... I just-I wanted to see you again. Catch up, it's been so long and wow" he couldn't complete his sentence, I watched as his eyes trailed from my face to my chest area and back to my face, except this time it just stopped at my lips.
I raise an eyebrow and cleared my throat making him look into my eyes . "Twenty-one years is a lot to summarize Damian"
"Try me"
I study him. He looks nervous, and I don't know why, and he also looked... invested.
"Okay, what do you want to know?" I asked him as I leaned on the table staring at his beautiful green eyes.
"How was college? How's your mom?" He asked me as he gave me a small smile
"Well, I graduated top of my class" i started, "after dad died I Joined the academy two years later to catch the evil man who had taken him from me"
"I'm sorry Mason"
I shrug. "Don't apologize Damian, you didn't do anything, it was all that man's doing, and I promise, I promise to bring my father the justice he deserves"
The words hang there.
Damian doesn't look away. "I know you will Mace, I promise to help you get him, I don't care how deep of a trouble I'll get in"
"Trouble?" I said as I looked at him, many questions were raised but I only asked one.
"Damian, what's your relationship with Demon Salazar?" I asked him carefully, hoping he will give me an honest answer and not try to divert the conversation.
"I work for him" he said simply.
I stared at Damian with widened eyes, this cannot be real, he works for the drug lord?.
"Wha-why? How? What?" I have so many questions.
"I had no choice, after my dad died-" I cut him off.
"Your father's dead?" Shock went through my body as I asked that. I didn't know Mr Rafael was dead. No one told me.
"Yes, he died on the same day as your father" so he had murdered not just my father, but his.
"And you chose to work for him?" I am getting angry now.
"Yeah, what else do you want me to do?, he would have killed me also if I hadn't chosen to work with him" I saw his jaw clenched and my heart sank as he said that.
"Oh Damian" was what left my lips. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to judge you like that" I said embarrassed, I should have let him finish talking instead of judging him like that.
Silence stretches between us, thick but not hostile.
"It's fine, you're only worried about me" he said as he reached his hand to mine and then taking it in his.
"I didn't want to work for him, but when he brought me out of my hiding place, he told me I would either join him or end up like my papa and I didn't want to die, I was a little kid, I didn't know better" he sounded sad, I rubbed my hand on his hands to show him I'm here for him.
"And how did you know I was after him" I asked
"I remember you said you wanted to be cop like your dad when we were younger and I knew that if you found out he killed your father, you would go after him, so I waited, I waited for the right moment to reach out to you" he answered, I stared into his eyes and I can tell he was telling the truth.
The food arrives. Neither of us touches it right away.
"Will you let me help you catch him?" He asked carefully.
I took a few seconds before I nodded my head.
He reaches into his jacket and slides a folded paper across the table. I don't open it yet.
"There's a drop three nights from today" he says quietly. "Pier 14. Unmarked trucks. It's not Demon Salazar himself, but it's his inner circle. If you move on it right, you could flip someone. Maybe get a line to him"
"And you're just giving me this out of the goodness of your heart?" I'm still skeptical about this.
Yes he's the Damian from before, he's my Damian, but he has spent over twenty years working for this man.
Who's to say he hasn't started believing the man's lies or he isn't loyal to him.
His jaw tightens slightly "I'm giving it to you because you're the only one I trust to help me get revenge for the deaths of our fathers, they didn't deserve to go so soon, especially in the hands of that monster, I need your help to finally put an end to him"
"We owe it to them" he added and that made my heart squeeze.
I do, I do owe it to them, I feel a bit guilty about his father dying because I know if my father wasn't too worked up on finding the monster, he wouldn't have come for him, and I'm pretty sure Mr Rafael was at the wrong place at the wrong time, that was why he also faced the same fate as my father.
His eyes flick up to mine. There's something raw there. "You were the only person who ever made me feel safe growing up. Even when you didn't know you were doing it half the time"
That catches me off guard.
"I didn't do much" I say as I played with the table cloth to try and distract myself, I don't want to get flustered.
"You did more than you think Mace"
For a second, the restaurant noise fades. It's just us.
"You ever...?" he starts, then stops.
"What?" I urged him.
"You ever think about what would've happened if you hadn't chosen to go to college in a while different state?"
I nodded my head. "Yes, maybe if I had gone to college there, I would have been at home and I wouldn't have let him die"
I've had sleepless nights thinking of possible ways I could have kept my father alive.
He studies me again. That same look from earlier, it was intense.
"I wish you were around, I wish he never killed our dads, I wish we had a normal life" he said lowly, if I know Damian well, he wanted to say something else.
"Me too Damian, me too" I said before silence took over again.
"Just... be careful on the job. Salazar doesn't tolerate leaks."
"You worried about me?"
"Yes, always" he answered.
The answer is immediate. No hesitation.
I finally unfold the paper.
Coordinates, time, the truck descriptions.
It's solid, it's detailed, too detailed to be fake.
"You realize" I say, folding it back up, "if this goes bad, he will be out looking for the rat and you might get in trouble?"
"I know"
"And you're still willing?"
He holds my gaze. "For you? Yeah"
I don't know what to do with that.
So I default to what I know.
"I'll verify it" I say. "If it checks out, we move"
He nods.
But his expression softens again, something almost fond in it.
"It was good to see you, Mason, thank you for coming tonight"
I hesitate.
Just for a second.
"Yeah" I admit. "I'm happy I came, it feels nice to talk to you after so long, I did miss you Damian"
We ate and he offered to drop me off.
As we arrived at my place, I unbuckled the seat belt.
I looked over at him and saw he was already staring at me, he had this look in his eyes.
I stared at him for what felt like a minute before I took his face in my hand and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Good night Damian and thank you" I said before I got down and walked into my building.
I got upstairs, disposed of my clothes, took my bath and made myself a hot cup of tea.
I sat on my desk and began looking through the file he gave me.
I guess I'm getting closer to him, and it's all thanks to Damian.
Damian.