Gifted Connections 3

I gave her my best innocent smile and shrugged. I turned to Ella and Alex and smiled conspiratorially. “When Jemmy gets here, make sure you ask her if she’ll play duck, duck, goose with you.”

“I love duck, duck, goose!” Ella exclaimed.

“Me too!” Alex agreed.

Noah, Jaxson, and Drake began laughing.

Remy, Jace, and Troy did not.

We all filed into the training room after our late dinner, and I took a seat in between Jaxson’s legs after he patted a spot. I was glad that he wanted to be close to me. I was feeling vulnerable and needed his silent support. Jace, Remy, and Troy still refused to talk to me at dinner. They had talked around me and to everyone except for me.

We were all sitting near the fighting mats, and Jaxson had his back against the wall, so I could sit comfortably in between his legs. He wrapped his arms around my stomach, and I leaned back into him. Now that I was full, and the adrenaline of the day was wearing off, I was struggling with feelings of arousal and sleepiness.

“I hope this isn’t a long debriefing,” I yawned barely covering it with my hand.

“Me too,” Jaxson mumbled as he buried his head into my hair. I had left it down, which was rare nowadays. If it wasn’t in a sock bun, I had it braided. Having it down wasn’t often conducive to the training we did daily. “Mm. I love the way your shampoo smells. Noah’s shampoo’s alright, but yours is better.”

I felt a pang in my chest remembering Troy washing my hair days earlier. Now he refused to look or talk to me. I really hoped these cold shoulders wouldn’t last long.

I forced a laugh. “Thank you. I guess.”

“Hey man, at least I brought something for us to wash up with,” Noah protested loudly as he leaned forward looking at Jaxson from the other side of Drake. “And we left it behind.” He frowned.

“We’ll have it for next time,” Drake reasoned.

“If there is a next time.” I snorted.

Drake gave me sharp look. Honey. They’ll get over it soon. Let them burn off their anger and they’ll understand it eventually. Trust is important to them but it is a two-way street. You should have trusted them to think of another solution, but they should have trusted you to know your instincts, he said silently.

“Oh, my goodness!” Jemmy exclaimed as she sat down next to me and Jaxson. “What is going on?” She glared at Drake and me.

“That seat’s reserved for my new best friend,” I stated tongue in cheek. “I sent out applications the moment you broke up with me.”

Jemmy let out a dramatic groan. “Stop trying to evade my question and tell me what’s up with all these long looks, like you’re having secret conversations. It’s creepy when you do it with Jaxson. Now you’re doing it with Noah and Drake, too!”

Gavin gave me a wicked grin as he sat down on the other side of Jemmy. I was pleased to see that this little trip had helped them grow close once more. Or so it seemed. “Blake’s gift has not only grown in strength, but she’s gained the ability to talk to all her connections silently.”

I gasped at him. “I thought we were friends. Best friends even.”

“I may have applications for a new best friend out too,” he said smugly. “Do you know how unfun fifty games of duck, duck, goose is?”

“I was ‘it’ at least twenty times,” Terrance grumbled as he sat down.

“Time out!” Jemmy exclaimed. “How long have you known they could talk with each other without actually talking?” Jemmy gave Gavin a peeved look. Then turned to me. “Why wouldn’t you tell your best friend this?! That’s…epic news.”

“I had my suspicions when we were healing Spencer,” Gavin said sheepishly. “They confirmed it moments ago when Jaxson gave me a surprised look. You have a horrible poker face, man,” Gavin prodded Jaxson.

Jaxson looked at Noah, Drake, and I, sheepishly. I just smiled and shook my head. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t find out eventually. They were family, after all.

“You’re not my best friend, remember?” I asked smugly with a smile. At her loud disgruntled sigh, I added. “It was something we just found out about,” I said slowly. “It’s not something we really want to spread around either,” I murmured.

“That had to come in handy the last few days,” Terrance rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“I’m surprised we didn’t find out. Jaxson keeps a secret as well as I do,” Jemmy said ironically.

Jaxson grumbled something unintelligible under his breath as Paul and Will came striding into the room.

“Okay let’s get this over with,” Paul stated as he clapped his hands. “I’m sure most of you are ready to sleep in your own beds tonight and get into those showers.”