Gifted Connections 01

by S M Olivier

  “Honey, we understand,” Jax said in a mollifying tone. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Tamara, but honestly I’ve been dating her out of comfort. We’ve known each other forever, and when I started dating her, it seemed like the right thing to do. The quarterback of the football team, one of the head cheerleaders. It just made sense.”

  “Stacey and I have been fighting a lot lately. She wants a commitment I can’t give her. I still have to get through medical school, and I told her from the beginning I was a pair. I was part of a connection.” Noah explained.

  “Yet, you’re willing to make a commitment to someone you just met. You don’t even know me.” I cried out in exasperation.

  They exchanged one of their looks once more, and right when I was going to snap at them Noah turned in his seat to look at me. “We all are fated to be together. When we were taken into Knights Tower, we all grew to be very close friends. Remy was the first to arrive, Troy next, then me, and then Drake and Jemmy. Drake was gifted with manipulating the energy around us; kind of like a force field. Two years after he moved in he started saying he felt something was off. Then one morning, he woke up and asked us if we could see the threads around us. He told us he could see our threads and we were connected. We laughed at him and made fun of him. We teased him mercilessly until we woke up the next morning with searing pain and the etas. We didn’t think it was possible. Remy and Troy found it the hardest to believe because we are normally marked before our sixteenth birthday. Jace had just turned sixteen, Troy was eighteen, and Remy was nineteen.”

  I gasped, that must have been the same time mine had appeared.

  Noah continued hesitantly. “When Jace called me, Troy, Remy, and Drake, we thought he was mistaken. We had been looking for you for years; Jace, Troy, and Remy, more so. They were done with school and their work with Knight’s allowed them to travel more. Jace swore you had to be our nucleus, but he didn’t want you to be.” I must have made another noise because he quickly said, “You’re his student. He didn’t want to cross any boundaries that could jeopardize his career. His jobs in the schools help us find more gifted. His job is important to our cause. Well, we decided to humor him, and we came to visit the bar you worked in, and Drake knew immediately you were our nucleus. The way he described the thread that linked us before was a thin red line, but when we saw you he passed out, and when he came to, he said our threads had turned green, and you were indeed our connection.”

  “What happens if he decides to break our connection? What about Rose?” I asked in a small voice.

  “He’ll lose his powers,” Jax said grimly, “and it may affect us all. Not as disadvantageous if you choose not to complete our connection, but still harmful, none the less. Any connection beyond two is complicated. We know of a few Three’s, and when one of the three decided not to form the connection it left the nucleus weaker and his other connection almost giftless. But that won’t happen. Drake, more than all of us, understands the importance of his connection.”

  “And what happens if I were to make the connections and let you guys freely date and sleep with whomever you wanted,” I wondered out loud.

  Jax made a choking noise, while Noah laughed. “I guess that’s up to you, but in most cases, once the connection is made, we wouldn’t want to. We don’t lead normal lives. We can’t give one hundred percent of ourselves to any girl. Some of us have school, and when we’re not in school, we can be on assignments. Jace was placed in your school, next year his assignment may be elsewhere. Troy and Remy own their own businesses on top of being employed by Knights. Most girls, even the gifted, don’t understand that.”

  “What happens if you guys decide to settle down, decide to stop working for Knights?” I tried to reason with them.

  “We can’t,” Jax stated solemnly. “This is our fate, and we can’t run from fate. If we don’t do our jobs, people like Horatio are out there harming, using, and abusing the gifted for their own greedy gain.”

  “For what purpose,” I asked in frustration. Their arguments sounded valid. I could understand I may be a small part of a bigger puzzle, but it didn’t mean I should accept it lying down. Blindly go without asking questions. Sacrifice my own happiness, to ensure the happiness of others.

  “Horatio wants to rid the world of the non-gifted. He wants to build an army of stronger gifted people, and enslave the others.” Noah said solemnly.

  Chapter 11

  I braced myself for meeting Rose when we got to the house. If you could call it a house; it was a huge mansion. You couldn’t even get onto the property without entering a code in the gate. The long winding driveway led up to a large circular driveway with a water fountain in the middle of it. The landscaping in front was immaculate. The mansion was made of stone with a six-car garage attached to it. Jax pulled into one of the garage bays as Jemmy and Will were exiting their vehicle.

  Will came around to Ella’s side of the car and gathered her up in his arms. It wasn’t the first time that I noticed he was in excellent shape, despite the fact he had to be in his mid-fifties. “I’m going to put her to bed, if you don’t mind, and head up to bed myself.” He said quietly.

  I nodded with a smile. “Thank you.”

  “Going to bed already, Old Man?” Jax joked. Noah let out a loud guffaw.

  Will snorted at him. “I was up at five in the morning to run, when were you up, Young Pup?”

  Noah continued to laugh. “Got you there. It’s a miracle you get up for school on time.”

  “He is a little bit of a grump grump if he doesn’t get his beauty sleep,” I added mischievously.

  Everyone laughed at that as Jax turned to me with a mock serious expression. “You think I’m beautiful?”

  I lightly punched him, and I was glad I didn’t hit him harder in the bicep because it was rock hard. I was sure I could have broken my hand if I had. “You wish,” I scoffed.

  “Come on, Romeo,” Jemmy called as she removed some of our bags from the rear of the vehicle. “These bags aren’t going to unload themselves.”

  “Yeah, come on,” Noah said. “After we help you with your bags we’ll give you the grand tour.” He said to me as he grabbed some bags as well.

  “I’ll leave you to that,” Will said as he shifted Ella in his arms. “Good night, everyone.”

  “Good night,” we all chorused back.

  I grabbed some of the bags and followed Jemmy into the house.

  We entered a huge, tiled mudroom from the garage. Some shoes were neatly placed in cubbies and winter coats hung by hooks. Everyone took off their shoes, so I followed suit.

  “Sue comes in four times a week to clean. She’s Asian and hates for us to wear shoes in the house. She’s been with us twelve years, so she’s more family than our domestic help,” Jax explained. “I think she’s the only one that takes Dad to task, without fear,” he added with a grin.

  I nodded as I took that information in and continued to follow Jemmy through the next door that boasted a large chef’s kitchen. The appliances were made of black stainless steel. The cabinets were dark, but the countertops contrasted nicely; they looked like they were made of concrete slabs, and the floor was made of a light neutral colored tile. A large island with a built-in sink, dishwasher, and gas range stove dominated the middle of the room, and a raised bar was attached to it with eight barstools next to it. You could comfortably eat in here or walk twenty feet to the dining room to the left. It boasted a large circular table that comfortably sat twelve people.

  Jemmy led me through the dining room and we entered the front foyer. The staircase separated the foyer from the dining room and living room. I briefly looked into the living room that you had to step down into; it had a large fireplace, numerous windows, several seating options, and beautiful dark hardwood floors. A large pure white area rug made of plush faux fur looked welcoming in the middle of the floor. I looked up and saw that the top of the stairs looked down over the foyer and living room.

  “Pops, J
ace, Remy, and Troy have rooms down there,” Jemmy explained to me, pointing to the right as we got to the top landing.

  She led me to the left where I had a better view of the living room and passed two doors and lightly tapped on the third one. “This is my room, next to yours,” she smiled widely. She opened the fourth door and spun in a circle, bags in hand. “This is your room.”

  It was beyond huge; our whole trailer could have fit in this one room. I gaped at the king size bed that dominated the middle of the room. Double doors to the right of the room looked like they led to outside.

  “Walk-in closet,” Jemmy opened the door to the left, and then she opened the door to the right of the double French doors. “Bathroom, you have to share it with Ella,” she grimaced. “But we figured you guys might not mind, and that’s her room through that door.”

  I barely registered Ella’s door as I noticed the huge jacuzzi tub and large walk-in shower. Whoever decorated these spaces had an elegant, modern touch, and I felt like I may have been dreaming. Never did I think I would ever stay in a place like this. “I don’t mind. I’d much rather have it that way.”

  I wished I could sink into a bath right then and there, but I knew it was also a stalling tactic. Somewhere in this house Drake and Rose were here. Eventually, I would have to meet her since I was connected to the man she loved.

  Will had suggested that we refrain from coming out and telling people about our connections, but we knew it was only a matter of time before people figured it out. At first, I’m sure people will think I was just added to the Bell clan. It wasn’t unheard of, although, it had been years since Will personally took an ‘orphan’ in. He had other gifted families that volunteered for that now.

  We decided to keep as many people in the dark as possible, for now. Even the board was unaware of my real purpose here. There were some people Will had known since the institute days; people that followed him here and helped him set up a more conducive and nurturing environment for the gifted. They even branched out to accept all children. Most of the younger children that attended this prestigious school had no connections to the gifted at all. Their parents sent them to a boarding school that was known for its strong academics, sports, and music program. They liked the fact that their children weren’t held back or expected to catch up with their peers. Each child had a program designed specifically for them. Thus, the reason why I was now attending two college classes and hoped to get into the college music program. On the other hand, I would probably be surrounded by people much younger than me for my gifts training.

  “Come on, let’s get some of your things put away before the boys come back,” Jemmy bade from my room.

  “Okay,” I shrugged as I followed her into the walk-in closet attached to my bedroom. I gaped. “It’s bigger than the room Ella and I use to share.”

  Jemmy giggled. “It’s nice to know this waits for us on the weekends. Our dorms aren’t so lavish. When I first moved in here, I couldn’t understand how six people could live in such a huge house. Sue cleans the main parts of the house, but our rooms and bathrooms are our responsibility to keep clean.”

  I nodded. “That’s no problem. Why can’t we stay here during the week since we are so close to the school?”

  Jemmy sighed, clearly this was a sore subject with her. “Pops doesn’t want us to receive any special treatment. Thus, the reason why I have a horrible roommate at school, but all the board members’ children stay in the school until they graduate. Some of them stay until they graduate college, they love it so much.”

  I started to unpack my shopping bags, pleased to see my trunk had made it to my closet. Jemmy made short work of hanging, folding, and putting my purchases away. I noticed that I already had several blazers, blouses, polos, and skirts hung up. I assumed the grey, powder blue, and white clothing was my uniforms.

  I held up one of my skirts, looking at it. “Uniforms?” I asked with my eyebrows raised.

  “Yes,” Jemmy confirmed for me. “No pants for females. Will and the founders were extremely traditional when they founded the school. Your dorm room will have your gym uniforms and more school uniforms waiting for you. It’s not all that bad,” she said at my look of skepticism. “I try to jazz it up with accessories, tights, knee-highs, thigh-highs, shoes, and I even ‘borrow’ the guys’ ties on occasion.”

  It was what it was, and there was no use stressing over it. I stepped out into my room to find Noah and Jax reclining on the bed and pulling items out of a bag.

  I was mortified that they had found my bag of unmentionables. I wasn’t normally into unfunctional underwear and bra’s, but I couldn’t resist getting the cute, lacy underthings that Jemmy favored so much. She didn’t need to convince me too hard to get some cute bra and underwear sets. Although, I had gotten some functional underwear as well.

  I snatched the bras and underwear from their hands. I wish my foot hadn’t caught the edge of the rug at that time because I was unceremoniously dumped into their laps. “What are you doing?” I huffed breathlessly.

  Jax chuckled as he readjusted me on their laps. “We thought we could help you unpack.”

  “Much more…appealing than the other underwear I’ve seen you in,” Noah stated with an evil twinkle in his eyes as he picked up another lacey bra with bows on the straps. “Although, your bar uniform was…very appealing.”

  I choked on my indignation when I remembered that he had seen me in a sports bra before when he was healing me, and those scraps of fabric I called a uniform at the bar. I was about to give him an ear full when Jax spoke up with a wag of his eyebrows. “It really was a great ensemble.”

  I made a spluttering noise, looking at them in disbelief.

  Noah was calm as he sifted through the bag some more. He held up a pair of thongs with an eyebrow raised towards me.

  “Stop it,” I stuttered as I jumped out of Jax’s lap to grab the bag out of Noah’s hand.

  Noah hadn’t been expecting me, and I caught him— and myself— by surprise as I landed with enough force against him that he began to lose his precarious position on the edge of the bed. He tried to grab the bed but grabbed me instead, and soon I was being pulled off the bed with him.

  In my panicked state, I did notice how he turned to take most of the brunt of the fall. Even with his thoughtfulness, the air was knocked out of my lungs as I landed on his muscular body. Height-wise he wasn’t the tallest of the guys, but muscular-wise he was second to Remy.

  It took me a second to catch my breath.

  “Blake!” Jax called out in concern, his head popping over the side of my bed.

  “Are you okay?” Noah asked contritely, all traces of laughter gone from his eyes.

  “What in the world is going on-” Jemmy stopped as she rounded the corner of my bed. She then began laughing uproariously.

  I looked around in confusion but saw the humor in it all when I noticed I was sprawled on top of Noah with a rainbow of underwear all around us.

  I rolled off Noah, onto my back, and giggled. Soon, Noah and Jax had joined in the laughter. If you couldn’t beat them, might as well join them.

  After the laughter died down, I rolled over and picked up a handful of my undergarments. I winked at Jemmy as I walked towards the closet. “The boys decided to rifle through my unmentionables. Since they already got a sneak peek, I think I’ve decided to model them for one of the other guys. That’s only fair,” I said with malicious humor.

  I heard another peel of laughter from Jemmy as I entered my closet.

  Noah groaned. “She’s kidding, right? She’s not going to hold that against us, is she? We were only…helping.”

  Jax sighed loudly. “Shut up, bro. You got to see her when you healed her when she’s been nearly naked. I’ve known her the longest, I’m probably the closest to her. We’ve been talking for years. If anyone should get a private show, it should be me.”

  That only made Jemmy laugh harder. “Play your cards right, and you both can get a show.”


  I groaned realizing my plans of teasing them had backfired.

  We finished putting my stuff away and quietly left Ella’s bags in her room, planning to tackle them in the morning.

  My phone went off along with everyone else’s. I tapped my screen to check my Snapchat as Jemmy and Jax went running out of the room, pushing and laughing at each other.

  Drake had sent us a picture of three different flavors of ice cream and what appeared to be some homemade chocolate chip cookies. Dessert, anyone?

  “Let’s eat,” Noah said gleefully. He casually threw an arm around my shoulder. “I’m not a huge fan of chocolate, but Drake makes the best chocolate chip cookies.”

  I fought the urge to not stiffen and forced myself to relax. It really was comforting to have his warm arm around me. I couldn’t allow my past to constantly dictate the future. Not all men wanted to harm me. This was one of my connections, and I owed it to them to try to get to know them. I barely knew them, and I’ve already come to the realization, with the exception of Jace, they were a physical bunch. Even Remy seemed relaxed and comfortable when Jemmy had cuddled with him.

  “I’m sorry about earlier,” Noah said quietly as we went down the stairs together. “Does anything hurt? Do you need me to heal anything?”

  I decided to tease him, instead of reassuring him, giving him a caustic reply as my old self would have done. “Your gift must come in handy when you want to feel a girl up.”

  His jaw dropped open. “Did you just make a joke? Because I assure you, gift or no gift, I have no problem getting the ladies to want my touch.”

  His reply shocked me for a moment. I guess he would have no problem getting the girls with his good looks, but again, the past needed to stay in the past. We needed to focus on the future.

  “I don’t think you bragging about your past conquests is the wisest,” Jemmy said as we entered the kitchen. Her spoon poised to her mouth. Jax snickered, but Jemmy quickly looked over at a pretty petite girl that was sitting on the countertop next to Drake as he pulled more cookies out of the wall oven. “I mean, no girl wants to hear that. Right, Rose?”