Gifted Connections 1

“We’re not,” Jax said quietly. He looked like he was in shock.

Noah and Troy stared at him in disbelief.

Jax and Remy exchanged a look. “You are,” Remy stated.

“You have until Sunday,” Jax stated. “Find a way to let him go without destroying him. He loved you, you were his first girlfriend, the first girl he slept with, he never deserved any of this.”

“What was I supposed to do?” she asked with her hands spread out, tears still coursing down her face. “I loved him too, but he never gave himself fully to me. He was delusional enough to believe his connected was out there, that his gifts were more important than us!”

“Leave, just leave,” Noah said. “You’re only digging yourself a deeper hole.”

She gathered up her clothes and left.

Chapter 16

When I woke up the next morning, I felt the worst I’ve ever felt in a long time. It wasn’t just the raging headache I had, or the extreme dryness in my mouth that bothered me the most. It was the ache in my heart. Bits and pieces of last night were blurred, but not the end of the night. I remember clearly walking in on Rose and Collin, and it made me hurt that Drake would soon be suffering.

Even if he wasn’t in love with her anymore, he still loved her. He would always love her. She would always have a piece of him. I hated knowing she would be ending things, and he would never have the chance of letting her go if he had ever decided to. I know I would have sacrificed complete happiness with him if he wanted to keep her in his life. I couldn’t be hypocritical and expect him to stay exclusive to me if I wouldn’t be exclusive to him. I couldn’t be.

I had only known these guys, well most of them, for a brief period of time and they were already growing on me. Each one had some unique characteristics that attracted me. Each one made me feel special in a different way. Even Jace.

I know I couldn’t hide in bed all day, even though the idea was tempting. To say the night, or should I say early morning, ended awkwardly would be an understatement. I know the guys didn’t know what to say to me. I had been drunk, my filter had been turned off, and my emotions had been running high. I had acted stupidly.

I got up and dressed in Remy’s hoodie from the night before and a pair of leggings.

I walked into Ella’s room, finding her still sound asleep. I decided to leave her be and walked downstairs. I wasn’t surprised to find the house eerily quiet.

Will was the only one who was up. He was sitting at the island drinking coffee, reading a newspaper. I didn’t think anyone read the paper anymore. Not with the world wide web at their fingertips, but I already realized he liked to cling to tradition with some things.

It looked like he had already made a run out that morning. There were at least ten dozen donuts on the counter, along with eight carafes of coffee. It was obvious he was no longer the monster my dad…uncle… took me away from. He was genuinely good with Ella. He had taken in five adolescents, provided them a home, and treated them like his own.

They had already flourished under his care. He had two that were independently wealthy because of their businesses, he had one in medical school, and one working on a degree in child psychology. It was still to be determined what path Jemmy would choose, but I was certain it would be an ambitious one as well; if it wasn’t, I knew he would still encourage and support her.

“How was your night?” he asked, looking at me closely.

“Umm fine,” I said as I poured myself a cup of coffee.

He was a shrewd man. I didn’t want him to see my myriad of emotions right now. I was too emotionally raw.

“I didn’t figure you guys and girls would be up before noon. I thought for sure Ella and I would be camped out with Saturday morning cartoons,” he said with a knowing smile.

“Yeah, well, thanks for that. You’ve been wonderful to her. You’ve really gone above and beyond for her, for us,” I said, not turning around as I added some cream and sugar to my coffee.

“You okay this morning?” he finally asked after some silence.

I turned, trying to plaster a smile on my face. “Fine. Do you mind if I go and get some practice in?”

His eyes were narrowed as he scrutinized my face. He finally must have seen something as he slowly nodded. “This is your home now; do as you like.”

“Thanks,” I made a hasty, well as hasty as I could in my hungover state, exit making a beeline for the music room.

On my way there, I froze as I saw people camped out on the couches and floor in the living room. Someone had even taken the time to cover them up. I quietly passed them and made my way to the music room. As I sat down on the piano bench, I couldn’t help but notice

that the day matched my mood. A storm must have rolled in sometime this morning because now rain poured from the sky. It looked positively depressing and gloomy out there.

As the first key to my warm-up rang out, I winced. It probably wasn’t the best idea to practice with this headache raging in my head, but the ache in my chest insisted on being released. I needed to find my center again. I needed to release my emotions in the best way I know how.

After a few minutes of warming up, I let my heart lead my fingers and I found myself playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. twenty-three, second movement. It was haunting and sad. Resonating perfectly with how I felt.