“Now it’s four on four,” I called. “I’m going to help him.”
Together we went back into the mansion. We already decided to eat light, because the gig was at a bar/ restaurant. They could always get something at the restaurant and I could eat between sets if I was hungry. We worked in companionable silence making roast beef sandwiches on whole wheat bread with provolone, a horseradish spread, lettuce, tomatoes, and red onions. For the girls, we made them simple roast beef and provolone sandwiches.
Nadia’s parents were watching them tonight, since we watched Nadia for them last night. I had only found out a little while ago that they had a date last night.
Looking up at Drake I finally asked, “How do connections stop the jealously between them? Do they get jealous? Does Nadia call both Beth and Cora ‘mom’?”
Drake looked over at me with one of his gentle smiles and I noticed he hadn’t put his glasses back on. His vivid blue eyes were so much more noticeable without them. “I’ve heard of some connections that struggle with the multiple bonds at first, but they learn to adapt. If they have a selfless nucleus they realize they each have qualities the other does not, and their uniqueness sets them apart.
In the gifted community, it is rare for a family to have more than two children. Even if the nucleus has two connections. Some have tried to circumvent the situation by having a non-gifted person carry their child using their gifted sperm and egg and they weren’t successful. No one can understand it. Even when the donors and carriers were perfectly healthy and viable candidates.
“Nadia calls both Beth and Cora mom. Unfortunately, Cora is unable to carry a baby to term. Beth decided to have Nadia for them. Beth never wanted a child of her own. She came from a troubled background with no real mother, so she thought she would fail as a mother. Her love for Steven and Cora changed her mind. Although, Cora is the more maternal of the two.”
“Wow, just wow,” I muttered as I cut another sandwich in half.
“What’s wrong, Blake?” he stopped and turned me gently, so I was forced to look at him. He lifted me and put me on the counter in front of him.
“I would be a terrible mother,” I spoke quietly, suddenly trying to fight tears that I had no clue where they came from. I just met my connections. We technically hadn’t even had sex yet, I don’t know why I was worrying or thinking about these things right now. For all I knew none of us wanted children. Maybe I couldn’t have them either. My thoughts were a jumbled mess and warring with each other. I was becoming a mental case. “Say I can only have maybe two children, and all of you guys wanted a way to have your name go on, then what? Do we plan it out month by month until I become pregnant, so we know who the father of my child is? Will you guys grow to resent each other? What happens if I don’t want to be a mother?”
“Oh, Blake,” Drake took me in his arms and hugged me close. He felt warm and comforting. “You really shouldn’t concern yourself about stuff like that now. You will be an amazing mom, if you choose to be one, but I don’t think you should worry about that for some time. Look how you are with Ella. You couldn’t be a better mother if you would have given birth to her yourself. Ultimately, we all want you happy. Children, no children. We can cross those other bridges when we get to them.”
His soft, melodic voice soothed me once more. He was right. I should be focusing on my performance tonight, graduating high school, deciding what my next step was, and other high school related issues. I had plenty of time to navigate the other stuff.
“Always so wise,” I smiled up at him and grabbed his face. “Thanks, Drake.”
A look crossed his face before he bent and slowly placed his lips on mine. His lips were soft and exploring against my own. It was the embodiment of him. Gentle, undemanding, hesitant, and sweet.
“Well Rose was quickly forgotten,” Stacey’s cold voice came from the doorway. “But it’s no wonder someone fell for her charms, because of the disgusting way she continually throws herself at you guys.”
Drake turned, his eyes cold. I had never seen him so…angry. “You forgot Rose cheated on me…many times. I just finally got the wake-up call to end it. And maybe if you paid a little more attention you’ll notice that we-”
“Is it almost time for dinner? You need to get ready soon!” Jax came into the room in his usual outgoing fashion, but I noticed his eyes were calculating. He was doing a great impression of his normal rambunctious self, but his eyes said he had heard the conversation and he was preventing Drake from saying anything accidentally before we were ready to be exposed to the gifted world for what we really were…a threat.
Chapter 26
The guys came to pick me up, so we could do a final sound check and lighting check before the show. We were resting our voices, but they still wanted to make sure we got our stage placements correct and projected the images we wanted for each song. As the time drew nearer for the actual show, I felt my anxiety mounting.
Finally, it was time for us to go backstage and I found myself pacing. Ben handed me a bottle of water.
“You’re going to do great,” he reassured me.
I feigned a smile. “Thanks. Is it bad I feel more nervous than I did when I auditioned for the music program?” I joked.
He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “But tonight, you have us on stage with you,” he grinned. “You look great by the way.”
I smiled once more. “Thanks. Good ol’ Jemmy to the rescue once more.”
He chuckled. “She has her moments.”
Tonight, she had dressed me in black leather pants, black ankle boots, and a white racer back tank top, my black bra straps were purposely on display. We decided to keep my hair down and in its natural curly state liberally tamed by product, so it was a frizz free and controlled mess. She said it gave me more of the look we were trying to achieve tonight. She gave me some somewhat gaudy rings to put on my fingers, silver bracelets, and a long silver necklace with a black pendant that fell directly on top of my cleavage.
The guys took the stage first and sang a few songs before I heard Ben introducing me.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special surprise for all our fans out of the loop, we have asked one of our friends to join us tonight for a few of our songs. Please help me show some love to Blake.” Ben’s sultry voice crooned in the mike.
I swallowed and walked out onto the stage. I could hear yells and shouts as I came out on the stage, the lights nearly blinding me. I distinctively heard Jax yell my name and I had to smile. I wasn’t comfortable enough to speak yet, so I waved my greeting as I took my spot to the left of Ben, behind the piano.
“Look at me, if you have to,” Ben said comfortingly in my ear in the guise of giving me a hug.