Gifted Connections 4

“Hey, isn’t this the girl you dated?” Jaxson held up the magazine he had been leafing through.

Troy shot him an irritated look. “What of it Jax? Blake knows I have a past. Shall I pull out your high school yearbook?”

Jaxson laughed mischievously. I climbed up on his lap and immediately noticed the girl was a brunette, so I barely spared her a glance. There was no use comparing an ex to me. “Always have to be stirring trouble,” I said quietly to him.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been myself lately,” he murmured as he leaned me forward and began rubbing my neck and shoulders.

“Mmm,” I moaned in bliss. It felt amazing. “I understand,” I said placatingly. “It bites knowing Otto is out there, and we are happy just the way we are.”

“Otto?” Dawn asked with an arched brow.

I laughed. “Troy and I have decided to call him Otto, Eight until he is worthy of a name.”

I had my eyes closed so I could enjoy my impromptu massage, but I heard the laughter around me. “Done deal!” Jemmy crowed in laughter.

“I’m sure he’ll be as thrilled as Ma,” Rachel giggled in her hands.

Jemmy was known to push buttons, and the moment we found out that Pops and Megan were back together again, Jemmy asked Megan what she would like to be called: Megan, Aunt Megan, or Ma. Megan said Megan or Aunt Megan, and needless to say, Jemmy now called her Ma. To make matters worse, Rachel, Dawn, Marcel, Noah, and Troy also called her Ma now, too. She learned quickly just to accept it. You couldn’t show any weakness around these sharks.

“So…” Troy said from his position at the table. “I checked my calendar. We have two-holiday parties next week.”

“Ooookay?” Jemmy asked in confusion. “What holiday parties?”

“Not here.” Troy frowned. “My company has two jobs for holiday parties next week. Both should have a massive amount of celebrities, models, and the who’s who. Should I tell Leo we’ll be back on these jobs? Otto must be someone recognizable to most people. Ella drew him on the red carpet. The time frame in the dream seems like he would be located on the west coast, probably California. And he’s sleeping with two celebrities as well.” He coughed as he gave me a roguish look. “Well, at least one of them was.”

I wanted to pick up a pillow and launch it at his laughing, face. See if I ever tell him about my jumps ever again. “It sounds like the best option to me,” I commented slowly. “However, I think we all need to agree on the decision.”

“When are we leaving? What should I pack?” Jemmy asked giddily.

“We are going,” Troy stated matter-of-factly. “I can justify an additional seven people on these jobs but not ten, eleven, or twelve.”

“Why can’t I just go?” Jemmy whined. “Gavin and Sierra won’t mind.”

“If she’s going, so am I,” Rachel insisted.

“Me too,” Dawn said stubbornly.

“There ya go,” Troy said with a pointed look.

“It’s not fair. You wouldn’t let me go on any jobs when you were there full time. You said I was too young. Now I’m old enough, and you still won’t let me go,” Jemmy continued to pout as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You know how bad I would love to meet some of these people.” She waved one of the gossip rags up over her head.

“Well, look on the bright side,” Rachel said with an impish grin. “If Otto is famous, you’ll be practically related to him through Drake, and you can hang out with all of his famous friends.”

I groaned, not ready for that type of humor yet. Not from them. “We don’t know if Otto is famous.”

“But all signs point to it,” Dawn said smugly.

The apartment door opened and the rest of my guys, along with Micah and Kade, came walking in the door. “Did we miss something?” Noah asked in confusion as he saw all the magazines scattered everywhere.

“Just Troy being a douche and not allowing me to go with you guys to California,” Jemmy muttered.

“For reasons like that,” Troy said in evident frustration.

I could understand his ire. She knew that this was an urgent matter to discuss as a ‘family’ and she decided to spill our secret before we could explain to the guys what was going on. This was the first breakthrough we had gotten in over a week, and she was throwing a temper tantrum because she wasn’t getting her way.

“We’re going to California?” Drake asked in confusion.

“Let’s go to lunch,” I stated standing up. “We can discuss it there.”