by S M Olivier
I realized how close Jemmy came to allowing our secret to slip. I turned to look at Rose more closely. I always thought I was tiny, but Rose may be slightly tinier. She had a mature looking face, compared to my baby face, but she didn’t have the curves I did. She was very pretty, with her extremely blond hair cut in a pixie style that most girls couldn’t pull off. Her eyes were a unique shade of blue and were very large, but it was charming and cute. Her make-up was on the dramatic side, much like Jemmy’s. I was surprised to see she had a nose ring, and I noticed a belly button ring peeking out beneath her bubble gum pink crop top. Somehow, I imagined someone more subdued and unassuming for Drake. He didn’t seem to like to draw attention to himself, and Rose looked like she embraced a more outgoing lifestyle.
“Hi,” she said warmly as she hopped down off the counter and held her hand out to me. “I’m Rose, you must be Blake. And Jemmy’s right, Noah, bragging isn’t the most desirable trait in a man.” She looked suspiciously at the arm still draped over my shoulder. “How’s Stacey doing?”
“Nice to meet you,” I murmured as Noah ducked his head.
“I told her I needed a break. She wants me to go home to meet her parents for Thanksgiving, and I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”
I carefully extricated myself from him and moved over to the island to get some dessert. Sooner or later she will be told the truth, and I didn’t want her to have any bad initial impression. From what I gathered, I had no control who my connections were. They had no power who their connections were.
“I told you I would like you too! It wasn’t a requirement. You could have just man upped and talked to me about it! You didn’t have to ignore my texts all day,” a cool, feminine voice said from the opposite side of the kitchen under the arch that led to the living room.
Jax cursed under his breath. “How did you get in here?”
I looked over and saw a very tall, very model like redhead in the doorway. Her pale skin was flawless and her hazel eyes were stunning. She was just as tall as Noah, at I’m assuming five feet ten. She was extremely thin and looked like she could have stepped off the pages of any magazine.
Behind her was an equally beautiful girl that was average height and size but had the beautiful uniqueness that people of mixed races carried. She had light brown skin, hinting at an African American heritage, but her eyes were blue, and her hair was long. She may have had extensions in, but they looked natural to me.
She made an immediate beeline to Jax and wrapped her arms around his neck, plastering her body against his. “The door was open, so we let ourselves in. We always do. Why haven’t you been answering my texts? Where have you been?”
Jax looked over at me with a little discomfort in his eyes. She must have noticed his edginess because she turned and looked at me.
“Who the hell is she?” she bit out with vehemence.
And that’s how I met my connection’s girlfriends.
Chapter 12
“So, are you visiting?” Stacey asked me as I dug into my rocky road ice cream with warm chocolate chip cookies. I took a seat next to Jemmy at the bar, figuring it was the safest place.
“Umm, no,” I said as I finished chewing a piece of cookie. “I’m staying here…for a while.”
“Dad has temporary custody of her and her sister,” Jax explained as he poured more chocolate sauce on top of his ice cream.
“Why?” Tamara asked bluntly.
I knew immediately I didn’t like her.
I blinked slowly at her. I wasn’t going to be a victim of bullying anymore. I wasn’t going to try to appease any jealousy she may be feeling because of me. “I’m not sure that’s any of your business.”
Noah choked on his ice cream as he laughed, and even Jax had to hide a smile. I didn’t understand why the guys had invited the girls to stay if they had no plans of staying with them. I think I would have been more understanding if the guys truly cared for the girls, but after being in the presence of Stacey and Tamara for fifteen minutes, I knew they weren’t the nicest of girls.
“Whatever,” Tamara rolled her eyes and gave an annoyed look at Noah. “My dad’s part of the board. He’s good friends with Mr. Bell. I’ll find out.”
“Is it really that important?” Rose asked crossly. “I mean, if she doesn’t want to tell you, isn’t that her business?”
I liked Rose in that moment, which made it harder for me, knowing if Drake and I were to complete our connection we would be hurting her. It was clear she doted on him and cared about him.
I looked over at Drake and noticed the sad look in his eyes. Like he knew his days with her may be numbered. I would have to tell him that our situation didn’t need to affect their relationship. Maybe when the time was right, we could tell Rose, and maybe she would be understanding. According to Jemmy, the guys had always let their girlfriends know that they had a connection out there.
“You know,” Stacey said with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter. It’s just rude. We just want to know who our boyfriends are with. They disappear for a couple of days, and the day they come back, so does some random girl.”
“Well,” I said, pushing my chair out from the island. “This random girl is going to bed. Nice to meet you guys,” I said sarcastically to Tamara and Stacey.
I wasn’t done with my dessert, but I couldn’t stay in the kitchen any longer. I grabbed a couple of cookies as I headed out the door and up to my room. Drake really was a magician in the kitchen.
I wasn’t tired, so I decided to take a bath. I pinned my hair up and inspected the bathroom closet, then I grabbed some bath bombs to throw in the tub. I washed the makeup off my face while I waited for the tub to fill. Before I got in the tub, I pulled out my iPhone and set it at a low volume so as not to wake Ella.
As I sunk into the warm, fragrant water, my phone chimed.
Troy: Getting settled in?
Me: Yes, thank you.
Troy: How was the meeting with the girls?
Me: Jemmy has a big mouth. Remind me never to share any secrets with her. Not a fan of Tamara or Stacey, but Rose seems nice.
Troy: Lol, those girls are high maintenance, and Rose is…nice.
I mulled that over for a moment; I didn’t know how to respond to that.
Troy: I should be getting home by Sunday. Want to go out for dinner somewhere? Get to know each other better?
I really wanted to turn him down, but I really didn’t have a valid excuse. I did need to get to know them.
Me: Sure.
Troy: Ouch! Don’t sound too enthusiastic.
Me: Your reputation proceeds you, sir. :-P
Troy: Jemmy has a big mouth! I’ll text you the time.
Me: K.
Troy: Double ouch.
I giggled to myself as I sunk deeper into the tub, letting the warm water ease the tension from my body. After nearly nodding off for the third time, I finally stepped out, and blotted my body dry before slipping on the thigh length robe Jemmy insisted I get. I had to admit, I appreciated her insistence now as I felt the cool silk rub across my warm, bare skin. I went into my walk-in closet to grab my body lotion as a knock sounded on my door.
“Come in,” I called from my closet, assuming it was Jemmy.
I rubbed the lotion in my skin and pulled my hair down. I ran a brush through my hair as I called out to Jemmy. “Are Tamara and Stacey normally that bitchy?” I asked as I put some face lotion in my palms, rubbing it in as I walked out into my room.
I don’t know who was more surprised me, or Drake.
“Sorry,” I turned red. “I thought you were Jem.”
He was slightly red himself. “Sorry, did you want me to come back in the morning? I saw your light on, so I thought…”
I cut him off. “No worries. Let me slip into my pajamas.” I quickly ducked back into my closet and pulled on a pair of flannel shorts and a matching tank top. I pulled the tags off and threw them in an empty shopping bag I was temporarily using as a trash can.
&nb
sp; I walked back out and took a seat at the end of my bed. “What’s up?” I asked, surprised that he was here.
“Well,” he cleared his throat. “I came to apologize to you. I should have told you about Rose.”
I hugged my knees to my chest and shrugged. “We just met each other. I didn’t expect you too. This has to be extremely hard on you. You’ve been dating this girl for years. Even though we have a connection, it’s not like you could throw out any feelings for her the moment you met me.”
He pointed to the end of my bed wordlessly. I nodded. “That’s the thing,” he sat down and leaned over with his elbows on his knees as he ran his hands through his slightly curly hair. “I love Rose. I’ve always loved Rose, but I think I fell out of love with her long ago. Sometimes, I would listen to the guys talking, and they would describe,” he coughed looking for the right words, “their escapades, and I would think wow, I’ve never felt that…passion. I don’t think Rose has either. I know she’s cheated on me,” he shrugged. “Hell, I’m pretty sure she’s cheating on me right now, but I love her.”
I stared at him, my jaw dropped. “Does your—” I began.
He shook his head, anticipating my question. “No, no one knows. Although, I think Remy does. A couple of years ago we had a little party here when Pops was out of town. We invited some friends over, and had some drinks and got a little lit. I must have passed out at one point. When I woke up the next morning, Rose was gone, and when I went looking for her, Remy got really tense and said she was gone.”
I gasped. “Do you think they slept together?”
He shook his head firmly. “No. Remy would never do that to me— to any of us. He’s rough around the edges, but he would never do anything to hurt any one of us. From the way they acted towards each other for a while, I think Rose came on to him and Remy kicked her out.”
I sat there for a moment before I scooted closer to him and linked our hands together. Not caring about my own aversion to touch, knowing he needed some comfort. He seemed to appreciate it as he leaned in closer to me. Thoughts were running wild through my head, and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. “How is that any different than what’s expected of me?” I said, unable to hide the distress in my voice. “In order for me to make this connection with you guys it requires some level of intimacy. I don’t want to be that girl messing around with six guys. You deserve to have a passionate relationship. You should be with a girl that would never want to hurt you. Someone who would love you and be faithful and loyal to only you.”
He turned towards me and grabbed my face. “But you are our nucleus. We always knew we would have to share you. We always expected to. Since the moment I saw you, I immediately felt this draw that I never felt for anyone, not even Rose. With you around, I can see that any feelings I felt for Rose were tepid, something lukewarm.”
“How can you say that?” I said, fighting back the tears, my voice breaking. “I’ve never felt strongly enough for a guy to want to pursue a relationship with him, but I had imagined if that man were to ever enter my life, it would be a forever kind of love. Just me and him. Not me and him and his five best friends. I don’t know how it’s even possible to give you guys the attention you may deserve. How is it even fair that I can have all of you, and you guys have to share me?!”
I didn’t know what to expect from Drake, but I hadn’t expected him to kiss me. I was in a state of shock as his mouth moved against mine. As he pulled me closer, I gripped his wide shoulders and opened my mouth to his insistent lips. His tongue found mine, and I let my tongue slide against his. I knew at that moment that all the kisses I received in the past, paled in comparison to his. This was a real kiss.
He leaned back and pulled me onto his lap, forcing me to straddle his hips. I found my hands tangling in his soft hair, deepening our kiss even further. I don’t know if it was my curiosity that led me to rub against him or the passion I felt in his kiss, but I felt myself melting further into him.
He let out an impassioned groan as his lips found my sensitive neck, and I arched back, letting him have access to it. He grabbed my hips and rolled me underneath him, and I could feel that I had excited him as I felt the hardness between his legs.
My breathing felt labored, and I was both shocked and surprised by my response to him. His lips found mine once more, and I felt a jolt of energy course through my body. It empowered me and scared me at the same time.
He froze for a moment; his eyes glazed with passion and wonder. “Do you see it?” he asked in awe.
I reached out for his face, and my eyes widened in amazement. His hands reached for mine, and I saw this odd fog like strings of green and purple intertwining, connecting my hands to his.
“What is it?” I asked in fear and marvel.
“It’s our connection,” he said quietly, reverently, dazed. “The guys never saw it before, but you can.” There was excitement in his voice.
“Noah and Jax said it was red when you first saw it, then green when you first saw me. Where did the purple come from?” I moved my hand and watched as the light moved with it but remained connected to him.
A serene smile spread across his lips. “I think we made our connection. We’re connected.”
“But I thought-” My words halted as Jax and Noah came crashing through my bedroom door.
“What the hell happened?” Jax’s eyes were wide.
Noah came to a skidding halt at the foot of the bed. “Bro, I see it,” his eyes were huge as he looked at us.
Drake sat up, slightly embarrassed as he pulled me up to sit next to him. His eyes searched mine and then looked back at the guys. “Did you feel it?”
I heard my phone going off in the closet but chose to ignore it as I looked in confusion at the guys.
“Yes,” Jax sunk down beside me as his phone went off. “I have always felt her emotional highs. What…what happened?”
“I felt it too,” Noah took a seat next to Drake. “Did you guys…connect?”
“Yes,” Drake reached over and brushed a hair off my face, and I could slowly see the colors surrounding us fade. “But we didn’t do it the conventional way. All I did was kiss her.”
Soon, all our phones were going off.
Noah looked at us skeptically. “Are you sure?”
I snorted as I felt a feeling of extreme fatigue. As the light faded, I felt like it was draining my energy. “We just kissed.” Even to my ears, my words sounded slurred and far away.
“Dude,” Jax said with worry, “what’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know?!” Drake was clearly panicked.
As I slipped into oblivion, I could hear Noah. It sounded like he was on the phone.
It was on speaker.
“What happened?” the voice was clipped, angry. Remy.
“I don’t know, we just got in here. We saw it. We saw the connection; we felt it.” Noah sounded shocked.
“Who?” Jace’s voice, much like his expressions, was hard to decipher. If I weren’t stuck so thickly in this fog, I would swear I heard anger and sadness.
“Drake,” Jax called out, and I could feel a cool cloth on my face. I could smell Jax distinct scent of sandalwood and cinnamon.
“No way!” Troy exclaimed in astonishment. “He loves Rose. I would have sworn he would be the most reluctant and last one to make the connection.”
Drake snorted. “You’re on speaker. I can hear you. Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” I felt another hand stroking my mine, and I knew it was Drake’s. His hands were soft.
“Where is she? She’s not answering the phone,” Jace said heavily.
“She passed out,” Noah said, fear creeping in to his voice.
“She what?! Drake, I swear to-” Remy roared.
“No, no. It’s not what you guys are thinking.” Jax said hurriedly. “All he did was kiss her.”
“Bull. Shit.” Troy snapped. “You don’t make a connection with a kiss. He must have been intimate with her.”
&n
bsp; “No man, no,” Noah said. “We swear it. We were all downstairs when Drake told us he was coming up to…apologize to her…to talk to her. He was gone five minutes tops. They’re both fully clothed. We got up here so quickly; there was no way they could have gotten dressed before we got up here, and we saw it. We saw their connection. Well, not the actual act of it, but we saw the threads that Drake saw.”
“What did he need to apologize to her for?” Remy said, deadly quiet.
“Look, that’s not important,” Drake snapped. “What do we do? She’s deathly still and ice cold.”
“Put her in her bed, cover her up, and share your body heat,” Jace said level headedly.
“What happened?” Noah asked as I felt my body being moved, and then I felt this instant warmth spreading through me as I felt the hardness of two warm bodies pressed against my back and my front.
Jace sighed heavily. “Who knows. Maybe all she needs is to feel any heightened physical contact and a connection is made. This is all new to us. It’s not like we can ask anyone. We don’t know anyone who has had more than one nucleus and two connections.”
“What about Brian, Heather, Caitlin, and Harry,” Noah suggested.
“No,” Remy stated. “Brian and Heather are connected. Caitlin and Harry don’t really have a connection. They just made their situation work for their desires.”
“Well, let us know when she’s awake,” Troy said. “A kiss?” he asked skeptically.
“Yes, man,” Drake said with exasperation. “Just a kiss.”
“Damn,” Remy muttered.
I heard no more.
Chapter 13
After a slightly awkward morning of seeing the guys off to school, Jemmy gave Ella and me a grand tour of the house. Will told us to make ourselves at home before he left to go to some meetings. During the tour, Jemmy gave me several questioning looks, but I was unwilling to divulge what transpired the night before. I still couldn’t wrap my head around it.
