by SM Olivier
“I don’t know what exactly happened but I’m sure they were still worried about what happened with you last night. They were probably afraid that it would happen again.” Gavin said quietly as he started to help me fold the clothes.
“I understand that,” I grudgingly admitted it. “But today, when you guys were coming up the trail, I knew I could control my gift, especially with them.”
“Did you think that last night?” he asked quietly.
“No,” I acknowledged honestly. “Last night, I knew Noah and I needed you and Sierra if we were going to heal Spencer. I never had my gift act like it had a mind of its own. Today I knew if they were all with me my gift would behave, if that makes sense.”
He slowly nodded. “I guess. I think the more I use my gift the more I get to realize I need to trust my instincts with it. If I feel uneasy or start questioning myself, I stop. The only problem was last night I couldn’t do anything once I got that feeling.”
“Maybe it’s because I’m stronger now and your gift was powerless against my own,” I guessed aloud.
“It is,” Gavin nodded. “I feel it every time I mimic you. I see it when I allow myself to see the auras. It’s nearly blinding.”
“So yeah, now they’re mad at me,” I said bitterly. “They felt I disrespected them for compelling them. They felt like I didn’t give them the chance to think of another solution. I know I was wrong, but when I tried to talk to them, they refused to listen. They keep snubbing me. I guess the connected life for them isn’t what they imagined.”
“You can’t believe that,” Gavin commented bluntly.
“I do,” I said resolutely. “Why else are they hanging out with the Nons? Why didn’t they give me a chance to explain and let us talk it out?”
“Every relationship goes through roller coasters,” Gavin stated. When I gave him a pointed look he rolled his eyes. “Yes, Jemmy and Sierra are my first relationships, but I got to see two people who are madly, deeply, in love with each other my whole life. Give it to the morning and they’ll be more receptive. I’m sure of it.”
I snorted. “Gee, I can sleep so much better tonight now.”
I placed all our folded clothing into the basket. “Thanks for keeping me company and protecting me from the creeper.”
He gave me a lopsided smile. “What are best friends for?”
I almost smiled. He really was. I think in some ways I considered my guys my best friends, but sometimes having someone like Gavin in my life helped. He could always be an objective sounding board for me. My guys grew up with each other. Sometimes I think their judgement was clouded by that fact.
“True,” I feigned a smile and turned to leave.
“Ake,” he called to me. I turned. “Thanks for talking to me, too.”
“Anytime,” I said turning back around.
I got to the door when I remembered the guitar. “Can you do me a favor and take that back to the dayroom?”
“Chicken,” he mocked with a wink. “I can.”
I didn’t acknowledge his remark as I left the room.
I carried the basket of clothes and passed the dayroom, refusing to look in there. When I got back to the apartment, only our little lamp was lit in the living room. I assumed Drake had gone to bed. I was somewhat relieved. I didn’t want to see him right now. He would know immediately something was wrong, and I didn’t want to talk.
I emptied the basket onto the ottoman. I could put them away later. I needed to get back to get the sleeping bags. As I neared the laundry room I suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous. I held onto the wall and tried to make my way back into the laundry room. I wondered if I was so emotionally distraught that it was taking a toll on my body. As I entered the laundry room I grabbed the nearest folding table, trying to take deep breaths in my nose and blowing it slowly out of my mouth, willing the feeling to pass. I grabbed my drink taking another long pull from it. It didn’t help.
As I made my way to the first dryer, I felt my vision blur. Something was wrong was my first thought as the lights in the room went off. I heard the distinct sound of the door closing and the dead bolt being turned. I turned and saw someone coming towards me. I assumed it was Gavin.
“Gavin,” I muttered. “Something’s wrong…Turn back on the light.”
He advanced closer. My gift of empathy rose up. I felt his hunger, his desire. I felt his need to overpower me and validate himself as a man. I realized too late that the face that came from the shadows and into the weak dim lights of the hallway coming in from the window, wasn’t Gavin.
Cold dark eyes danced with satisfaction, a small cruel smile spread across Bradford’s lips. “Nope, not Gavin.”
His voice came from far away. Like he was at the end of a tunnel. My body was becoming numb. I couldn’t feel it. Panic rose within, and I tried to call my gift. I tried to make him leave.
I tried to lurch away from him. I tried to run to the door. My limbs were heavy. His hand shot out with quickness, hitting me across the mouth. I tasted the blood on my lip as it split open. “Damn teases,” he muttered almost manically. “Always spreading your legs for other people, but I try to be nice to you all and you snub me. You girls act like you’re so much better than me. Whores. You’re all whores.”
I couldn’t react if I wanted to. His hands then gripped me painfully as he forced me onto the ground. My head connected with the concrete, and I yelped in pain.
This couldn’t be happening. Not again. I thought wildly.
“Please,” I begged my gift to come.
He laughed, obviously thinking I was talking to him. It was distorted. When I was younger, I used to lay in the tub and hum to myself. The distorted sound had been so funny to me back then. His laugh in that same distorted tone, wasn’t.
I was vaguely aware of the cool air hitting my thighs as I heard a zipper being pulled down. I could hear him panting above me. He smelled nice. Shouldn’t the devil smell like brimstone and fire? I thought hysterically. His hands grabbed my thighs in a bruising grip, making me wince, as he forced my legs apart.
I closed my eyes and felt a steady hum begin to course through my body. I could feel my gift wanting to break free and I allowed it to. I allowed it to take over. I wasn’t going to try to control it. If it ended in my death, so be it.
I felt the warmth fighting the effects of whatever was making me feel sick and drugged.
I heard a startled cry and opened my eyes as I saw Bradford being lifted away from me. His body was convulsing like he couldn’t breathe. He was making gasping sounds, and I watched in cool detachment.
The door was suddenly thrown open and the overhead lights came on. Drake, Jaxson, and Will were framed in the doorway. They all looked like they had been dragged out of bed. Jaxson was in his normal pajama bottoms and bare chested. Drake was wearing boxers and a T-shirt.
I knew the scene was an odd one to walk in on. My sweatpants were down to my ankles and Bradford was blue and gasping. His dark eyes were bulging out of his face as he gripped his throat. Invisible hands had wrapped themselves around it and was squeezing the life out of him.
“Blake!” Drake called out in consternation.
Jace, Remy, Noah, and Troy came tumbling in the room followed by Adams, Yaris, and the other group that had been in the dayroom.
“Blake!” Jaxson called as he advanced forward, but he was thrown back as if there was an invisible force field around me and Bradford.
“She’s killing him!” Adams cried shrilly.
“Blake, stop!” Noah demanded.
I looked over at him slightly disembodied from it all… like I wasn’t really there. It was like everything was playing out in front of me like a movie and they weren’t talking to me. Each one of them was just a character on a screen.
I felt my energy begin to wane, but the gift wanted Bradford dead. I knew it. It was angry that he had attempted to harm me. I vaguely heard alarms going off in the distance. I saw bright red lights flashing from our alarm system. It seemed to shake me o
ut of my odd like trance.
I looked over at Drake, panicked. I can’t. I silently yelled. It won’t let me!
He was a great problem solver. I knew he could figure it out.
We need to grab her, I heard Drake urge the guys.
They rushed me as one and nothing happened to them. I felt them grab me and haul me up. I could feel them warring with my gift. They were trying to force it to comply. The gift struggled for a moment like it didn’t want to hand over control again. Like it wasn’t done wreaking havoc. I felt the gift slowly retreat. I immediately went limp and leaned into Drake.
“Is he dead?” I asked in a detached voice as Jaxson knelt to pull up my sweats.
I thought I saw Bradford’s chest rise and fall, but his lips were a disconcerting shade of blue. His face was a molten purple.
Will knelt next to him. “No. He’s still breathing.”
“She attacked him!” Adams screeched as Paul and several operatives came into the room, tasers and guns at ready. “I told you she was unstable and couldn’t be trusted.”
“What happened?” Will asked calmly as he looked at me.
“He tried to rape me,” I said impassively. I felt numb. Everyone’s voices seemed like they were far away. “My gift didn’t like that.”
Adams snorted. “As if! He can have anyone he wants. Why would he want her?”
I heard one of the guys snuffle. “You should know, he has you all the time.”
Some of the guys laughed despite the tension in the room.
She whirled on him, but I blacked out before I could hear her evil harpy response.
When I woke up, I was in one of the conference rooms by myself. I sat up and blinked in confusion before everything came rushing to me. Bradford’s warm breath on my neck. His attack on me. His attempt to rape me.
I reached up and gingerly licked my lip. It was swollen, and I could feel the dried blood crusted on it. I felt the throbbing on my thighs and arms. With little shame I pulled my shirt up over my head. My bra covered more than some bikinis did. Not ones I wore, but still. I saw the angry bruises on my upper arm in the shape of finger tips. I sighed and put my shirt back on. Next, I removed my pants. I was wearing one of my boy shorts underwear and not my lacey pair. Again, more coverage than a bikini. I noticed the welts in the shape of fingers on my inner thighs. I lifted my pants back up despondently.
I rubbed my hands briskly against my arms with a deep shudder. I had almost been a victim once more. One more man had tried to take my dignity away from me. I was faced with a feeling of hopelessness until anger nipped at its heels.
I wasn’t a victim anymore. Bradford may have tried to make me a victim. He had forced their will on me, but they had no control on how I handled it. He had no control over how I reacted to it.
I stood up angrily and paced to the two-way mirror. I knew someone would be on the other side. I tapped on it. “Is this how you treat assault victims or attempted rape victims?”
I didn’t have to wait long before all my guys filed in with Paul, Will, and some man I didn’t recognize.
“Hey Blake,” Paul said cautiously. “Can you tell us what happened tonight?”
I was on the defensive. Why did I feel like they thought I was in the wrong? Did I use excessive force on him? Yes. Well kind of. My gift did it. I had every right to defend myself, too. I’ll be damned if I became a victim once more.
I was going to give him the brushed-up version. He didn’t need to know everything. “I was in the laundry room doing laundry. Bradford stopped by earlier and asked if we could be friends and start over, but he seemed…off. Gavin came by and we hung out for a little while. I dropped off my basket and went to go back to get the rest of our stuff. On my way back, I felt really dizzy and nauseous. I was trying to get our stuff, so I could get back to the apartment. Bradford came in the room. He turned off the lights and locked us in.” Will gave Paul a pointed look. I continued in a robotic tone. “He wanted to rape me.”
I could see the guys tense in my peripheral. I heard Remy mutter a curse.
Paul rubbed his eyes. He looked like he wanted to believe me. “Can Gavin corroborate this story?”
I shrugged flippantly. “Sure. Why do I feel like I am on trial when I was the one attacked?”
Paul walked over to the mirror. “Can you send me Gavin Kincaid?” He turned with a grimace. “I’m sorry Blake.” He sounded genuine. “It’s just protocol. We have witnesses seeing you attack him. When he came to, he said you saw him walking past and attacked him. He claims that you were angry at him about a match on Friday. He said he tried to defend himself and that’s how you obtained the bruises. Unfortunately, the footage from the hallway isn’t downloading at the moment.”
“How convenient,” I said dryly. “What defensive maneuver requires the victim to grab the assailant by the inner thighs?” His eyes widened in surprise as I heard some of the guys mutter in displeasure. Remy stood up with a roar and sent his fist crashing against the wall. The wall was concrete, I knew it couldn’t be good on his hand.
I recognized this room. We were somewhere our gifts were useless. He just punched a concrete wall without his gift. Normally I would be concerned, but right now I was numb. Irrationally I blamed Remy, Jace, and Troy for the situation I was in right now. I wouldn’t have felt the need to do laundry if they hadn’t shunned me. I wouldn’t have been in the laundry room. I wouldn’t have been attacked.
“Remy,” Will said sharply.
“Let me see him,” he roared.
Jace and Troy guided him back into a chair. I briefly looked at the guys. They all had varying shades of anger on their faces.
“Don’t make me ask you to leave,” Will stated.
Remy nodded in understanding, his face a passive stone.
I looked over at Paul unblinkingly. Coldly even. “You know how strong my gift is. If I wanted to attack him, I could have done so without him knowing I did it, and he would have never remembered it.” His skin turned red from embarrassment. I’m sure the thought had crossed his mind, but I had pointed out the obvious. “I’m at least nine inches smaller than him. He outweighs me by a good seventy to eighty pounds. I’m not stupid. I would have never attacked him physically if I felt the need to. Not in the way that he could touch me and leave marks.”
“How did he get so close to you if your capable of doing that stuff?” Mr. No Name stated. It had to be past midnight and this man was dressed in a three-piece suit. His grey hair looked perfectly in place. His cool grey eyes had been dissecting me from the moment he entered the room.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know you,” I told him bluntly. I saw a small smile flit across Will’s mouth. He was old school. He felt children, teens, and young adults should respect their elders. He didn’t like us cursing either. He believed we could communicate without the use of them.
“I’m Senator Bowen,” he said with a frown. He clearly wasn’t happy at the way I had spoken to him.
I don’t know why I felt the need to be confrontational or snarky right now. I attributed it all to the anger I felt at the situation and at half of my guys. “Well nice to meet you Senator Bowen. What brings you to our lovely home at,” I went to look down at my watch and shot an exasperated look at Will and Paul. “Really, you took my watch? Am I a prisoner? Was I frisked for other weapons? What could I have done with a watch?” I heard Jaxson give a surprise laugh. Leave it to him to try and find the humor in the situation. “Did you strip me down? Make sure I wasn’t smuggling anything else? How did you miss the bruising on my thighs?” I dramatically tsked. “You boys run a tight ship here, but apparently you don’t have many sexual assault cases,” I leaned back and looked at the ceiling. I began to count the tiles above my head. “I guess that’s a good thing.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Senator Bowen reminded me as I continued to count the two by two ceiling tile.
“You didn’t answer mine,” I replied flippantly. “I will also like to make a complain
t against Bradford. I would need you to take pictures of my bruising as well, but don’t worry, I don’t need a kit done, since there was no penetration. I am also refusing any type of counseling, and I want Bradford gone.”
I heard some answering growls and muttering around the table.
“Blake,” Will said patiently.
“Why were you there?” I asked, barely looking at him. I knew. Somehow, I knew. “Did Ella see it?” I sighed. “She’s going to need counseling for the things she sees,” I muttered.
“Did you go to find me? Noticed I wasn’t at my apartment? The door was locked, so you probably had to open it, didn’t you?”
He nodded. He went to say something but there was a knock on the door.
Gavin came in looking just as tired as I felt. He stopped short when he saw me. “What happened, Ake?”
“We were hoping you can tell us that,” Paul said. “Can you tell us what you did this evening?”
Gavin looked confused. “When?”
“When you-” I started.
“After our debriefing,” Paul quickly cut in. He knew we had a friendship. I knew he wanted to make sure Gavin wasn’t going to give me an alibi due to that fact.
“Uh sure,” Gavin started. “I hung out with Sierra and Jemmy for a little while, and I decided to get us drinks and snacks at the vending machine. As I was passing the laundry room, I saw Bradford in there with Blake. I could see how uncomfortable she was, so I went in there to see if she was okay. We talked for a while longer, and then I went back to my room.”
“That’s it? Why were you alone then?” Senator Bowen asked me with a raised brow.
“I had to get the rest of our laundry,” I explained again.
“This is ridiculous,” Will finally stood up. “Take the pictures and lock that man up. He assaulted my charge and his story is full of holes.”
“So is hers,” Senator Bowen said. “She has this gift, but she couldn’t defend herself from the assault? Then several witnesses saw Bradford incapacitated on the laundry room floor.”
“I was dizzy, and I felt like I was going to be sick. I don’t know why I couldn’t defend myself initially.” I rubbed my temples feeling a headache coming on.
