Gifted Connections 3

I grabbed Jaxson’s hand, stopping him from hiding in the store. “Should I look through your phone, just in case you decided to keep any of those pictures?”

He quickly turned and pinned me to the side of the building before he took my lips with aggression that surprised me. When he lifted his head, he looked at me with an intensity I was surprised with.

“I deleted those photos the night you came into my life, and you can look through my phone whenever you want. I have nothing to hide,” he said before kissing my nose and walking into the store.

I really didn’t think he did, but it was nice to know that he didn’t care if I did go through his phone whenever I wanted to, but I knew it wasn’t necessary.

“Who are you texting?” Noah asked with a mischievous smile as he plopped down on the couch beside Kade.

Troy hopped over the back of the couch on the other side of Kade and leaned over his shoulder. “Who’s Faith?”

Kade reddened before he made his screen go black. “No body,” he muttered.

“Do you have a girlfriend? Is she from back home?” Noah asked nudging him with one of his elbows.

“Is she that cute little red head at base?” Troy asked with mischief dancing in his eyes.

“Isn’t that Henderson’s daughter?” Noah asked stroking his chin.

“No, Henderson’s daughter is a cute little brunette girl,” Jaxson’s chimed in with a crap eating grin as he pulled on his coat. “Faith is probably the girl he was flirting with at the coffee shop.”

“Dude!” Kade shot Jaxson a look of annoyance.

I couldn’t hold my laughter in any longer. “He wasn’t flirting with her,” I defended my brother, although I had noticed that he hadn’t stopped texting her since we got back to the house a little over an hour ago. “He was just being nice to her because her step sister and her friends were being intentionally cruel.”

Kade gave me a grateful smile. “She just got there,” he stated as he stood to grab his own coat. “Are we about ready?”

“Where are we going?” Noah asked eagerly as he stood up to grab his own coat.

“Snowboarding?” Troy asked excitedly as he grabbed his hat and gloves from the basket we were keeping them in, near the door.

Jaxson laughed. “Well Kade and I was. We’re going to pick up Dawn and Ford on the way out.”

“We’re going, too. I want to see who has captured our little brother’s attention so thoroughly.” Noah insisted. “Blake are you coming?” he asked, looking at me, surprised.

I was curled up in the oversized recliner next to the fireplace. I had already changed into my comfortable clothing and was taking advantage of the fact that Drake was still busy with the techies. I had already enlisted Gavin’s help with warning me when he left their cabin.

“Not today,” I said regretfully. “I’ll come tomorrow. I have to finish working on Drake’s Christmas present.”

Remy chose to return to the cabin at that time. “You are letting Jaxson know about a secret?” he snorted. “I guess since it’s not Jemmy, it should be okay.”

Jaxson gasped in mock affront. “I can keep secrets. I kept Blake from you guys for years,” he said smugly.

Remy gave him a stern look. “You were just being selfish and hoarding her away from us.”

“Yeah, bro,” Noah cuffed him on the back of his head. “Not cool.”

“Well, we’re all together now,” Jaxson loudly protested.

Kade was noticeably fidgeting at this point.

“You guys better getting going.” I refrained from adding Faith is waiting for you guys. I didn’t need to embarrass Kade any further. The guys were going to do plenty of that soon enough.

“Remy you coming?” Troy asked as he slipped on his coat.

“Nah,” Remy shook his head. “I think I’m going to slip into the hot tub. I forgot how physically demanding skiing could be.” He twisted back and forth as if he was trying to work out some kinks in his back.

“Old man,” Jaxson jabbed before running out the door. “Let’s go Kade, Troy, Noah!” he called out.