The Break (The Aesir Saga Book 1) Read Free Page B

she kissed him on the cheek, “ready to go?”
    “I thought you’d never ask.” Gabriel replied as he put the truck in drive and pulled out onto the street.
              During their drive, Amber kept looking back and forth, from the road to Gabriel, hinting that she wanted to talk to him about something. Finally realizing that Gabriel was not going to ask what she wanted, Amber spoke up. 
    “Hey honey?” she said, turning to look at him as he drove.
    “What’s up?” Gabriel said without taking his eyes off the road. 
    “Did you see the news this morning? They found a cop car torched in the middle of the street. I bet it was one of those Aesir freaks. Now they’re probably running loose in our town.” 
               Gabriel already knew how Amber felt about the Aesir; he had heard this same argument every time something happened. Her beliefs were heavily influenced by her parents. With their ties to the NGC, they held the company line that the Aesir were a problem for society. While this was the message that was played through every news broadcast and political message, there were some who didn’t think they were that big of a threat. People were starting to grow eager for the end to all the restrictions, and with new Aesir popping up every day, it was harder to find someone who didn’t have a connection to one.  “Well,” Gabriel cleared his throat. ”Uhh, why do you think it was an Aesir? Maybe it was just an accident.”
    “What?!” she spun in her seat to face him. “We know what these people, if you can really call them that, are capable of. You see it on the news every day, one of them , robbing a bank, killing people.  You can’t trust any of them.” 
                  He could see the hate in her eyes. “I hope whatever they are doing with them keeps them locked up and out of society forever. The world will be better off without them.”
    “Maybe you’re right, but we’re here now. We can finish this talk later.” He said, hoping to end this conversation.
    “Fine” she huffed, letting him know she was mad about having to cut short her tirade.               

SIX
     
             Gabriel spent the next few hours wandering around the mall, watching Amber try on twenty outfits in each store. He hated having to stand there, telling her how everything looked great on her. He told himself this was the price he paid for having her as a girlfriend. Gabriel just didn’t understand trying on all those clothes and ending up with one shirt to show for it. With her torturous search complete, Amber wanted to have lunch, so they headed to the food court, where she got her usual salad and bottle of water, and Gabriel made the easy choice of his favorite Chinese food, General Tso’s chicken. 
    “Oh great.” Gabriel looked up just in time to see Jacob Ballard making his way across the food court, coming right toward them. 
             Jacob was the quarterback at their high school. He had a full ride scholarship to the same school as Amber, and had been trying to make his move to snatch her up.
    “Hey there beautiful. Excited to start college next fall?” Jacob hopped onto the table they were sitting at, positioning himself between Gabriel and Amber. “Oh, hey hot rod.” Jacob had started calling him that when they were freshman, because of his bright red hair. Gabriel hated that name; it always pissed him off when he heard it, and since Jacob was very popular, he heard it a lot.
    “I can’t wait; college is going to be so much fun!” Amber always perked up whenever he was around. Gabriel got the feeling that there might be something between them, but he brushed it off, telling himself he was just being paranoid. 
    “Hey Jacob, we’re trying to eat lunch here, do you mind?” Gabriel said, waving his hand over the trays of food. He hated Jacob and his arrogance, Gabriel could feel his anger start to build.
    “Not at all dude, go ahead."