“Don’t ever change,” he chuckled lowly. “Yeah. Let’s go rinse off. They can wait.”
We went into the shower and we did a little more than rinse off. We had another heavy make out session and I was more than satisfied by the time we dressed for dinner.
Chapter 24
It was hard eating dinner as the guys all exchanged knowing glances and did their secret communication thing. I didn’t look forward to the Q & A after dinner, but I knew it was inevitable. Jemmy and Will seemed to sense the underlying current and asked Rachel and Stacey if they wanted to have a swim in the pool before we all watched a movie. Rachel eagerly accepted giving me a questioning look before leaving.
“Go ahead,” Noah urged Stacey, “or did you want to stay and help us clean up?”
She gave me a disparaging look as I cleared the table. She had taken my earlier comment to heart. “No thanks. I’ll be waiting for you in the hot tub, unless you want me to wait for you in bed.”
She suggestively rubbed a hand down the front of his shirt.
Noah gave me an apologetic look, but I knew he must be straining too from healing not only me, but a few other people today, as he told us at dinner. As much as I cared for him, I felt a little disconnected with him the most. I didn’t know if it was because of Stacey or because of something else. Plus, after being with Jace tonight, I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else for a while.
I almost longed for a normal relationship. Each one of them had something special about them that I liked and given the chance, I don’t think I could just choose one, but I wished things had been different. I wished for the simplicity of one connection if I had to have a connection at all.
“I’ll see you in the hot tub,” Noah stated, clearing his throat.
“Does it get easier?” I asked as she left.
“What?” Jax asked as he put his arm around my shoulders.
“The straining?” I asked in a small voice, gathering more dishes.
“Sometimes it’s not as bad as others, or if you’re Remy, you disappear for days on end after a big gift use,” Jax joked as Remy picked up the bowl of leftover salad.
Remy flicked him off. “Normal people crave human touch in a …stressful situation. Some of us more than others.” He said gruffly.
“I’ve never heard about any of your girlfriends,” I tried to tease him.
He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Nor will you.”
“Do you guys plan on keeping girls around once all the connections are made?” I asked as I entered the kitchen.
Drake literally dropped a dish as he turned from the stove. He stumbled, and I knew he was going to step right onto the broken glass that had shattered on the floor.
I held out my hand, “Drake!” I called in concern.
Right before our stunned gazes a clear dome-like force field appeared around him, separating him from the glass he had almost stepped on.
“Well, that answers one of our questions,” Remy murmured.
“How about your other gifts?” Jax asked in awe.
I focused hard on the feeling I had when I produced fire and a ball of light danced above my palm. I realized the more I practiced my gifts, the easier they came to me.
“The dome is still up,” Jace stated in wonder.
I focused on protecting Drake, while thinking about the fire, and then I started to remember the day Heidi had broken my wrist after I threw out her drugs. I wouldn’t have thrown them out if I hadn’t come home to find one of Heidi’s boyfriends trying to show Ella how to hit a bong, while Heidi watched and laughed. Ella had been four.
I focused on that anger and looked at Noah. “Strip for us.”
He groaned. “Blake, why me? If Stacey walks in, she’s going to flip.”
I shrugged nonchalantly. “Let her, she jacked my wrist up today…purposefully.”
He reluctantly started to strip as the others looked on laughing.