Gifted Connections 3

It was a song Ben had written during one of the times he had been struggling in a relationship. With our help, he had been able to put music to it. The song was a song full of longing, anger, and confusion. He had written a song most people could relate to.

Jax was right; every couple fought. It was natural. But how many people could relate to my situation? It was one thing to feel the mental and emotional angst of dealing with one person. I was dealing with three of them.

I stopped singing and allowed my fingers to listen to my heart. I let my feelings pour out of my fingers as I wondered if my life would have been better off if I didn’t have a gift. Would my life be the same if this wasn’t the path I had been given? Would I still have been the result of an insemination procedure? Would I have been conceived by natural means?

I allowed myself to daydream of the life I would have chosen if I had the choice. I would have been born to a loving couple that wanted me. They would have put me in different programs to find my niche. I could have been a gymnast, martial artist, or dancer that loved to play music. I would have had my first crush at twelve or thirteen as most girls did. I would have been asked to the prom by my first real boyfriend. We would be happy. This year we would be planning on going off to college. Maybe we would go to the same college, well probably not—not everyone found their soul mates in high school. We would be sad that we would have to say goodbye at the end of the summer, but we would know that if we were meant to be, we would be.

Reality came crashing down as I heard a male voice speak from the doorway. “That’s really pretty. What song was that?”

I jumped, startled. It was Bradford, the trainer I despised the most. Even if he hadn’t been so hard on me for no reason, I really didn’t think I would care for h

im too much. There was something about him that I never liked.

Physically he was decent looking guy. He was in his late twenties I would say. He wore his black hair shorn close to his head. He kept his body in decent shape. His face was symmetrically pleasing, even. It was his cold dark eyes that left me wary. His eyes were dead. They were devoid of any emotion except for glimpses of cruelty.

He thrived on making others feel weaker. He loved training people because he wanted to break us. He reveled in it. It was like he got off on it.

“Don’t know,” I said coolly. “I just made it up.”

I realized the washers had stopped spinning so I jumped down off the table.

“So, I heard you had a successful training exercise,” Bradford said as he advanced into the room.

“Mm hmm,” I said noncommittedly as I began transferring the clothes and sleeping bags from the washer to the dryers.

“Look, Blake,” he said suddenly. “I think we got off on the wrong foot. Maybe we just had a little misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to be so hard on you, but I saw great potential in you, and I wanted you to rise to the occasion. I want us to be friends. Can we start again?”

I turned around cautiously. I didn’t know what he was up to or why, but I felt uncomfortable suddenly. “I thought it was frowned upon for the trainers to fraternize with us.” I raised an eyebrow at him.

I turned my back on him and finished loading our stuff into the machines.

He chuckled, but even that wasn’t natural. “You know we really don’t have a rule book, per se. Our situation here is different. A lot of my students are my friends. I want you to be one, too.”

I looked at him, trying not to let him see how uncomfortable he made me. “I’ll think about it,” I lied. “I’m pretty busy with school, training, my siblings, and family.”

“What about those men that always hang out with you? You have plenty of time for them, don’t you?” something unnerving crossed his eyes.

I felt my anger begin to rise. “I really don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

He advanced closer to me. Anger nearly making his lips snarl. “All my life I’ve known girls like you. You-”

“Hey, Blake,” Gavin said cheerily from the doorway. “What’s up?” he said aloud, then silently asked, You okay? What’s going on?

Bradford just came in here, and he is really making me feel uncomfortable. I don’t know what games he’s playing, but I don’t want to find out. I answered silently, but verbally I said. “Just doing laundry. It’s about time you got here. Thanks for congratulating me, Bradford. I’ll see you in class on Monday.” I dismissed him coolly.

I saw his fist clench and unclench before he smiled and reached out to touch one of my loose curls. “See you later.” Why did it sound more like a threat than a promise?

Chapter 13

“What was that all about?” Gavin asked as Bradford left the room.

“I have no clue,” I shuddered. “I was just doing some laundry and playing on the guitar. He came in, saying he wanted to start over and be friends. But I don’t trust him. Something about him creeps me out.”

He nodded. “I agree. I don’t like the way he watches you when he thinks no one is looking.”

I frowned. I thought the only thing he felt towards me was resentment. There was a saying that said Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. He was the perfect example of it. Rumors circulated around that he suffered from a severe case of PTSD and wasn’t physically capable of doing everything an operative was required to do, so he was given a position as a trainer. I always thought he resented me because I was young and recruited in, that he was denied a position that he coveted, mine. This revelation was news to me.

I snorted. “You must be mistaken. He hates me. That’s why I’m so confused at his behavior tonight.”