Gifted Connections 4

“Whoever designed this simulation is twisted,” I muttered. “Now, how am I supposed to get my boot back?”

“Put your helmet back on.” Gavin laughed wickedly, and I knew he was the one who designed this one. I could hear the laughter from the other spectators as well.

“You just want to see my wicked dance moves,” I said acerbically.

I heard laughter in my ears confirming my suspicions. “Oh, we have it on video,” Marcel said smugly.

“Yuck it up now,” I warned him. “When I get my gifts back, I have a list.”

“Bring it on! Now, dance for us,” Marcel responded.

I growled at him before I began to walk through the obstacle. One zap, and I knew I had to do as he said.

“Can we not go?” I groaned as we walked towards the training room. Today was sparring day, and I really didn’t want to go. I knew Adams was going to be there. She was still relentlessly pursuing Troy, and I was getting tired of her.

Our winter break from training had ended yesterday. Today would be the first day I’d see her since her return.

“Is your arm bothering you?” Remy asked in concern.

I shook my head, not wanting to lie. The doctor already cleared me to return to ‘light’ duty, not that that had stopped me. I still ran every day and lifted weights with Micah, Kade, and the guys every other day on top of continuing my private martial arts lessons with Troy and Kade. Admittedly I wasn’t pushing myself to the full extent, but I had been enjoying the fact that I hadn’t been down in over a week (knock on wood).

“Adams is back,” Troy stated grimly as he grabbed my hand.

“You’d think she would have gotten the picture by now,” Noah muttered as we entered the training room.

“Honestly,” Jaxson added.

We all filed in and noticed Terrance and his team were already in there. Since our ski trip, we weren’t considered an outcast as much. A lot of the Nons and newly discovered gifted liked to hang out with us more and more. We had already proven ourselves to most of them. They had grown to like us.

There were still people, like Adams, that always treated us like outsiders, but I think it mainly had to do with jealousy. Adams clearly liked my men, Troy in particular, but she hated me.

“Finally completed a simulation,” Terrance stated smugly as we joined them.

“Finally,” Jace admitted with a small smile.

We were close enough that teasing was a given. We weren’t going to take offense to it. He was able to use his gifts, along with the others on his team. He knew it was going to be a different story when or if we got our gifts back.

“It took you some time,” Marcel joked. “Sweet dance moves, by the way, Blake.” He shot me a wink. “Tonight, I’m going to find some music to go with it.”

I shot him a mock glare.

“Laugh it up now boys.” Jaxson frowned. “Wait until we get our gifts back.”

“If,” Jemmy said snidely. She was still hateful towards us. I probably owed her an apology, but she wouldn’t even look at me, and when I tried to talk to her, she had just walked away. I figured she needed time to cool down.

“When,” Dawn stated emphatically as she shot Jemmy a look.

“Okay guys and girls,” Henderson blew on his whistle as he walked into the room followed closely by a tall, distinguished looking man that had an Asian look to him. “Let’s get this training started the fun way. Sparring. I hope you all didn’t grow lazy over your holiday break,” he said gleefully.

Henderson was the primary trainer in mixed martial arts training. He was probably the only man here that could give Troy a run for his money in the ring as well. Unlike most of the people here, his whole family lived on base. He had two school-aged children, and his wife was one of the nurses here

His best friend had been killed in combat, protecting their unit. The friend had also been gifted and had shared his secret with Henderson. It was because of him that Henderson had such an affinity for our cause.

“That’s Kirk, my brother,” Ford said quietly from behind us.

I started and looked at him. I didn’t think the South Carolina team would come until tomorrow. I looked at his brother, then back at Ford. They had a lot of similarities, but Ford was slightly cuter, in my opinion. They both preferred to keep their hair short, but Ford was shorter and stockier.

“He would have come before the rest of them, knowing him,” Ford said in fond exasperation. “He’ll also try to infiltrate and jump into as much as possible. He’s intrusive like that.”