Gifted Connections 1

I finally felt full enough for now. My anxiety and hunger warring with each other.

Drake gave me my coffee and I smiled up at him and I brought my knees to my chest and hugged them.

There was a lull in conversation as everyone was deep in their own thoughts. I had a lot on my mind and I knew I still needed to fill everyone in, but I didn’t want to repeat myself.

“Gavin is Jemmy’s connected,” I blurted out in the silence.

I heard a cup clatter to the table. “Who’s Gavin?” Drake asked.

“The guy who was protecting the kids,” I explained. “Apparently, he worked at the shelter downtown and he took special interest in the children that he suspected were gifted. He said he witnessed a few guys snatching one of the older girls and followed them to the trailer park. Since he’s gifted he knew calling the cops would be pointless. He was sneaking in the room when Mr. Young and two other guys came to spring the trap.”

“You’re going to have to start at the beginning,” Drake said, looking all types of confused.

“Hey, hey,” Jemmy said as she came into the room. “I said wait for me for story time.”

We all exchanged looks, deciding if we should break the news to her now or wait.

I stood up and clapped my hands and painted on a fake smile. “Shower time, Alex,” I said brightly.

“But you’re a girl,” Alex stammered.

Jax laughed and said, “How about I show you where you can shower and sleep tonight?” He winked at me and lowered his voice. “I can miss some of the story time.”

Alex seemed fine with that and he already taken a liking to Jax. He got up and willingly followed Jax.

I shifted through the bags and found some clean underwear and pajamas for now. Jemmy and Rachel did good picking out a few pair of jeans, socks, underwear, t-shirts, button ups, and shoes. I noticed she had picked out clothing the guys normally wore. I giggled but breathed in sharply when the movement hurt my ribs. “Thanks, you’re the best,” I tried to smile through my grimace.

“Did you get hurt tonight?” Jemmy asked sharply as she came around the corner.

Before I could stop her, she had the hem of my sweater in her hands and she was yanking it up. “Holy crap, Blake,” she frowned.

“Where’s Noah?” Remy asked with a deadly quietness as he came around the table to look at the few ugly bruises covering my ribs.

Jemmy looked down and shrugged. “We haven’t seen or heard from him since this morning.”

Remy pulled out his phone and immediately started calling Noah.

“I’m fine,” I insisted. “It’s late. I can wait until the morning.”

“He knew about the mission, he should have been on standby,” Jace detailed with a scowl as he looked at the bruising. “How did this happen?”

“There was this girl that had super strength,” I explained.

“I’ll run this upstairs,” Drake stated with a frown as he grabbed the pajamas and underwear for Alex.

Ella was worriedly staring at me and I tried to feign a smile. “It’s okay, sweetie,” I tried to reassure her. “Let’s put on a movie for you guys, so it’s ready when Alex gets back.”

She nodded and followed me into the living room.

“I’ll get you some blankets and pillows,” Jemmy said brightly.

“I’ll make you some popcorn,” Rachel added.

“How about a bowl of ice cream, pumpkin?” Will asked gently.

She seemed to brighten at this. “Is there any chocolate with the peanut butter cups in it?”

He smiled at her indulgently. “I’m pretty sure I saw some of that in the freezer.”