Gifted Connections 2

Jaxson looked confused before realization dawned. His eyes grew round as saucers.

Shit! His inner voice muttered.

Yup I agreed.

Sierra, our new-found acquaintance, had a trident the size of a half dollar on her lower back. The situation between Jemmy and Gavin just got a whole lot more complicated.

It was almost two o’clock in the morning when I was finally able to relax. I had just taken a shower, and I had a bowl of Drake’s amazing chicken noodle soup in my lap, despite my protest of not being hungry. Patrick, Nadia, and Ella had just fallen asleep on one of the bean bag chairs. They had been distraught.

Will had left with Beth to break the news to all the families that had lost someone tonight. Including Michael. Cora was nearly inconsolable. She had been given a sedative to calm her down, for the sake of the children. Beth was handling this with stoutness. I could see the pain and devastation in her eyes, but I knew she was trying to be strong for the children. She was trying to be strong for their family.

Micah and Alex were sleeping on another bean bag chair. Drake had already covered them with blankets after we determined there was no use moving them. We were just as tired, but unable to fall asleep.

Sierra had insisted that she wanted to tell us everything she possibly could. She wanted to be involved with our operations. She wanted to help everyone that she had seen in the facility. Jace and Terrance was acting like Will’s second in commands and were currently drilling her for information. They were sitting at the dining room table. I couldn’t help but notice how many times Jace would look up from their conversation to look at me, as if he was afraid I might disappear.

I was comfortably ensconced between Remy and Noah. Drake and Jaxson were comforting Rachel. She had broken down again when she had seen how broken the children were. She waited until they fell asleep before sobbing once more. I didn’t feel threatened at them comforting her, in fact, it made my heart warm seeing their compassion. After all, Rachel was family now. She should be treated as such. Gavin and Jemmy were cuddled up to one of the couches, but I could see and feel the tension radiating from them.

I wanted to tell them that they needed to get their crap together. Didn’t they realize they shouldn’t take life for granted anymore? We weren’t promised tomorrow. Even with Horatio gone, we never knew if he had others working for him that were willing to pick up the torch and continue his work. We had been targets before, now we were made into larger ones.

We had taken a lot of his test subjects. We had taken Dr. Neil. We might not have taken down his whole operation, but we definitely put a hurting on it. Tomorrow, we would regroup and figure out if we could find this other facility. From the sounds of it, it worked like the main base of Horatio’s operations.

In the past, they had told me Horatio was notorious for buying and selling property. He had hundreds in his name. He had people that worked for him that had several properties in their names. We found out he had other aliases. Who knows how many properties were listed under their names.

Sierra was a font of information. I guess she knew more than what she realized. Rachel had volunteered to help with the questioning, but we told her it wasn’t necessary. We didn’t trust Sierra per se, but somehow, I had a feeling she was going to be sticking around for a little while. Especially when we told Gavin he had another connection.

I looked over at Gavin and my morbid sense of humor almost wanted to rise. He had been so horrified at the concept of having multiple connections, and here he had two. He was going to flip. I felt sorry for him, but at the same time I found it humorous. I guess he should have thought harder before teasing me about fostering more than one relationship. Karma was coming in full circle for him.

I still hadn’t told the guys about Sierra’s mark. I loo

ked over at Jaxson.

When do we tell them? I asked.

I’m not sure now is the right time Jaxson said hesitantly.

They’re going to know soon. Gavin keeps looking at Sierra, and Sierra keeps looking at him. Jemmy see’s it too, I sighed. They’ve been so distant lately, yet since we came downstairs, she won’t leave his side.

Troy came back downstairs with our air mattresses, interrupting our conversation. “We really need to just build Blake a bed large enough for all of us,” he grumbled good naturedly. He was trying valiantly to get us out of dark morose moods.

“I’m not into you guys watching me when I… well you know,” Drake blushed.

I smiled at him as the guys chuckled at him.

I secretly liked the idea of a bed large enough for all of us. I was with Drake. I wasn’t certain if I was ready for anyone to watch me in my intimate moments with any of them, but I wasn’t ruling out the idea just yet. The idea of us all sleeping together on nights like this, in the comfort of my bed, was appealing though.

“Seal the deal, do the horizontal mambo, knock boots, rock her world…” Noah teased him, and poor Drake got even more red.

“You guys leave Drake alone,” Rachel said defiantly as she leaned into him.

“We wouldn’t have sleepovers every night,” Noah stated with a grin. “Just occasionally, like tonight, because I’m not leaving her side. Is anyone else?”

All the guys said no or shook their head. Even Jace had paused in his interrogation to look at me with intensity. His look was clear. He wouldn’t be leaving me either.

“I’ll take measurements tomorrow and start building the frame and headboard sometime this week,” Remy said as he began to run his large hands through my hair.

I had forgotten that, before his grandfather had passed away and before his mother had met his step father, his grandfather would take him to his wood-working shop. He had loved and missed those times with him. His grandfather had imparted quite a bit of knowledge in him. And at Will’s insistence, he had even been able to take a wood shop class in high school.

I had just found out recently that all the bars in every single one of his restaurants were made by his hands. I would have to insist on watching him work on the bed frame and headboard—shirtless, of course. Maybe with a tool belt tied on his waist, wearing jeans that were low on his hips. I could feel myself getting aroused, and Remy growled in my ear before I quickly erected my barriers.