Will looked at me with a thoughtful expression. “After I witnessed you heal Collin, I wondered if there was more to your gifts.”
I looked over at Jaxson. I didn’t know if now was the right time to tell Will that my gifts weren’t the only ones affected now. All of the guys’ gifts were growing in an uncharacteristic capacity.
“How did her aunt or uncle die?” Jace asked as he reached out to squeeze my knee.
Will shrugged. “It was her aunt. The only witnesses to her death were her sister, your mother…” He looked at me and Kade again. “-your grandmother, and someone we just found. They said it looked like her gift had taken over and destroyed her.”
“Can I talk to the other witness?” I asked. I had to find some answers on my own. Maybe they had the key to helping me.
“You can when he’s up to talking,” Will said somberly. “It was Rachel’s Dad. Apparently, your families were once very close.”
To say I was shocked would have been putting it lightly.
After Will and Megan left with Kade, we turned on a movie. None of us were able to sleep; our minds were still in hyper drive. I found myself laying on Remy’s lap while Troy had my feet in his lap. I was done being angry at them. They knew they had been in the wrong, and I knew they felt remorse over their behavior.
I didn’t think complete repair would be done over night but the first steps needed to be taken.
I sat up and looked over at Jace and Jaxson. “So are we going to talk about your mom or are we going to pretend like she wasn’t with Horatio? How long has she been with Horatio?”
Jace looked over at me impassively. “She’s been with him since the day my father walked away from the institute. She was having an affair with Horatio for years and chose to stick by him.”
Jaxson sat up and looked at his brother in shock. “How long have you known this? Why did you let me think she ran away? Did dad know?”
Jace sighed and rubbed his face with a weary hand. “You still slept with a teddy bear when we left. You weren’t ready to hear the truth. When you were old enough, you didn’t talk about her anymore, so we didn’t think it was necessary to tell you.”
“So, dad and you decided to keep it from me,” Jaxson stood up with rage in his face.
I kind of regretted bringing the subject up, but I didn’t think it was healthy for them to have kept it in for this long. It couldn’t be good for their mental states.
“It’s nothing that Dad and I discussed, Jaxson,” Jace said resignedly. “I never even told him I caught Horatio and that woman in bed together. I was just privy to some of their more heated debates, and I was old enough to see through her crap.”
“It would have been nice to know this before we saw her today. I nearly risked all of us when I let her get in my head!” Jaxson stood up and stormed out of the room.
I went to follow after him but Remy held me tight. “Let him work it out, he’ll be back.”
Jaxson, I called out to him, despite Remy’s recommendation.
Later, Blake, later, he responded back in a defeated tone.
Chapter 16
“Your grades are slipping,” Mr. Bates stated with a frown as he looked up at me from his position at his desk.
I shrugged refusing to meet his eyes. I had been on edge the last week. My family life and my relationships with the guys felt like they were suffocating me. The pressure of everything was taken a toll on me.
My relationships with the guys still seemed to be rocky. Jaxson had withdrawn into himself. He was pretending he was okay, but I knew better. The others, with the exception of Drake, seemed to want to ‘fix’ things, but I didn’t know how to tell them how. Remy and Jace threw themselves into helping the transition with the other communities. Troy had immersed himself into martial arts training and teaching. Noah was helping the clinic become more functioning and was helping with the hiring process of qualified nurses and physicians.
Then my family was adding additional stress. Every time we thought we were close to finding my grandmother, we found out our lead was incorrect. Kade was withdrawn. Alex was struggling in school now. Ella seemed to have decided to hit her obstinate, argumentative teen years way too early. She was constantly fighting me. The only person helping me in my family was Micah. He was stepping up and helping in more ways than I thought he was capable of doing.
“I know. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately,” I mumbled.
“A lot more that most teenagers,” he said sympathetic frown. “If you want to finish this year early, you can’t. Not at this rate. Tell me how I can help you. I’m here every day until three. Your training isn’t as important as your education.”
I wanted to snort and blurt out everything in my head like that I wanted—a normal family. A normal relationship. A normal teenage life.
“I’ll be able to catch up and do better,” I reassured him. “Since we’re off for the holidays, I plan to do nothing but work on my school work.”
“Is your…family aware of your plans,” he asked a bit skeptically.