He looked at her closed door and then at me. He cleared his throat. “Interesting roommate.”
I shrugged and smiled. “She reminds me of Jemmy.”
He laughed and nodded. “Now tell me where it hurts and if you want to strip down, I won’t complain,” he winked at me.
I made a tsking sound. “I’m sure Stacey wouldn’t like that,” I teased him, but internally I was still fighting the urge to tell him how much his relationship with her was hindering my ability to get to know him and want to make a connection with him.
I walked to my closet and turned my back to him, slipping off my shirt and sliding on a tank top and then stripped off my jeans. Not caring that I stood in a tank top and boy shorts. I shrugged, it was somewhat modest, and I was going to bed soon anyways.
When I turned, I saw the appreciation and chagrin in his eyes. “I’m trying to give you time, love,” he said as he came closer.
I sighed and pointed to my thighs and calves. “I know, and I really do appreciate it, but Will seems to think these connections should be made sooner than later.”
His hands skimmed over my thighs and calves and I sighed in relief as I felt the warmth seep in and the pain leave. Somehow, I knew he was touching me a little more than necessary.
“Where else?” he asked softly. I pointed to my upper chest and arms. “I realize that, but you’ve made two connections and you have four more to go…so. I don’t love her,” he stated firmly, and I believed him. “The truth is,”
he lowered his voice, “I have a high drive and you’re not ready for that…yet.”
I blinked at him in shock and gaped at him, not knowing how to respond to him.
His healing hands skimmed my arms and chest, intentionally brushing against my breasts. I inhaled sharply at his touch, my back arching towards his hands.
He gave me a knowing smile and dropped a kiss on my nose. “See ya later, love.”
I don’t know what triggered them, or why they began, but tonight, I was locked in a nightmare. Tom was back, and he was pushing me around once more. His nasty paws pushing my dress up. He wasn’t alone. The other men that had touched me inappropriately or made me touch them were with him. They watched, waiting for their turn.
I tried to wake up but I couldn’t. The nightmare continued. I felt frozen in place as Ella stood in the corner crying. She shouldn’t be seeing this. I took her, with the help of Will, away from that life. Hopefully, her memories would fade one day, and she wouldn’t even remember the things she had seen.
My panic was rising, and I was yelling at myself to wake up. I couldn’t.
I vaguely heard a knock in the distance. I heard a murmuring of voices and I felt a warm body wrap around mine. My body relaxed. The nightmares receded.
“Sleep, honey, sleep,” I heard Jax murmur in my head and I did.
When I woke the next morning, I felt more tired than I did before I fell asleep. My body felt off and sluggish. My pillow smelled like Jax and I was highly confused. Had I dreamed him coming to me, or had he been there?
I sat up and jumped when I saw Rachel sitting on the bottom of my bed.
“You’re an elevated level gifted, aren’t you?” she asked calmly.
I contemplated lying to her, but somehow, I knew it was futile. I had probably said or did something in my sleep and she had seen or heard me.
I wiped my face wearily. “Yeah.”
She nodded, seemingly satisfied. “You have connections, more than one, and you know who they are.”
I gaped at her, then nodded. “You can’t tell anyone. Not a soul. We’re still trying to figure things out.”
I didn’t trust many people, I had learned that the hard way long ago, but I sensed I could trust Rachel. Something within her resonated with me.
She smiled genuinely, “Thank you for not lying to me,” she smiled sadly. “There are not many people that are like you out there. My gift,” she swallowed, “is a lie detector. I can tell when people lie. It happens…a lot. Our instructor doesn’t know that, and I don’t want him to.”
Chapter 23
My first week of school was going rather quickly and I was beyond excited that it was already Friday afternoon. I was looking forward to seeing Ella for more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time. Between work and band practice, I was busy at night.
Noah was still stopping by every day after school to heal my sore muscles from phys ed, but I could tell the soreness wasn’t as prevalent anymore. I found out cardio (which normally involved a minimum of a three mile run) was three days a week and strength training (lifting weights) were the other two days. Unfortunately, Noah devised an evil plan to continue my training on the weekends. So, it looked like I had a scheduled run with one of the guys tomorrow morning.