by S M Olivier
Pushing the demons out of my head I sat up and moved down to his boxers.
His hissed out as I grabbed the waistband of his boxers. “Baby, you don’t have to do that. I’m perfectly content tasting you. In fact, I want another taste already.”
I shook my head. “Not yet and I want a taste myself.”
He tried to stop my mouth from descending but soon lost that battle the moment my lips wrapped around his manhood. I loved the feeling I felt afterwards knowing I had the power to make him fall apart as I had. He had cursed under his breath numerous times and I loved knowing I could make him lose control just as easily as he had made me lose control.
I crawled up his chest, rubbing my bare chest against his, relishing in this intimate moment as he pushed my legs apart, so I was straddling his waist. His massive, strong arms cradled me to him. One of his hands found its way into my hair.
“If you only knew the power you held over us,” he murmured tiredly. “Never, and I mean never...” He whispered before drifting off to sleep.
I wanted to question him, but I was too tired myself, so I curled closer to him and fell asleep.
Chapter 27
I woke up to a blood-curdling scream and Ella crying for me uncontrollably. I rolled off Remy disorientated. I searched the floor for my shirt and remembered it was torn so I quickly grabbed Remy’s as he threw on his pants. I ran into her room through the bathroom and saw Will and Drake had already beaten me there.
Will only raised his eyebrows slightly as he saw Remy following me through the door.
I crawled into the bed beside Ella and pulled her close. She was crying, and her face was red.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” I crooned softly as I rocked her against me.
Will perched on her opposite side as Jemmy and Rachel came stumbling into the room next. Followed closely by Jax and Noah.
“Don’t let them take me back,” Ella cried grasping the front of my, well Remy’s, shirt.
“Back where Ella?” I asked with alarm. She never had a nightmare this bad. “I thought you had a great time at Nadia’s?” I said with some confusion, thinking that could be the only conclusion to her concerns.
“No, not Nadia’s,” she said trying to catch her breath between sobs. “I don’t want to go back to Heidi and Tom.”
I patted her back, breathing with relief. It was a simple nightmare. Nothing bad had happened to her at Nadia’s. That would have been my worst nightmare coming true. “You’re not going back, ever.” I stated emphatically.
“I adopted you, remember?” Will stated softly as he pushed her hair from her wet face. “We’re your new family and we won’t let them take you back.”
She shook her head. “It’s your fault,” she pointed around the room. “They won’t believe you.” She looked up at me earnestly. “Pops doesn’t have me. Pops won’t believe you. Jemmy is mean. Drake’s with that girl that lies. Noah won’t ever leave Stacey. Jaxson’s still with Tamara and they’ll tease you. Remy and Troy won’t talk to you and Jace is with that beautiful girl on television.” She was starting to worry me. We had put her to sleep long before that fashion show had started. Then she looked over at Rachel. A wisdom beyond her years entering her eyes. “Find her. She’ll know you’re not lying,” Rachel gasped. I was the only one who knew her true gift. “She’s going to be mean at first. She won’t mean it. She doesn’t know any better. Everyone’s mean to her too. She misses her brothers and dad.”
Rachel came to the end of the bed. “Ella, how do you know these things?” She said quietly, then she turned and looked at us. “I thought gifts rarely manifested before puberty.”
Will was frowning as he patted Ella’s hand. It was clear he trusted Rachel, now that Ella was adamant that she was someone to trust…in the future? “She’s a precog.” He explained to Rachel using his soft voice. “Ella, pumpkin, was this a nightmare?”
“No,” she said ardently. “This was just like when we played chess. I knew what piece you would move. I’m sorry if I cheated.” She looked over at me and looked ashamed through her tears. “I’m sorry I cheated, Blake. I thought I was just guessing well at first. I know you always say cheaters don’t win, but I did…a lot.”
An uneasy laugh went through the room.
I tweaked her nose. “It’s okay, this time,” I tried to act like I was bothered by her cheating, but her…vision disturbed me more. “What did you see, Ella?”
“I was still with Heidi. I was never adopted. I never got to be here. I never met Pops,” I had noticed she stopped calling her ‘mom’ as soon as we moved in here. I never bothered correcting her. Maybe it was vindictive of me, but I couldn’t blame her for disassociating herself from Heidi. “And Tom got out of jail. He had a good lawyer, but you were here. But not here. You didn’t live with Pops, you lived with someone else, a boy,” she wrinkled her nose in distaste. “He wasn’t nice. He was really cute, but he lies. He lies a lot. You tried to talk to the family, but they didn’t believe you. They can’t remember you.” She looked over at Rachel. “You don’t either,” she said sadly. “But you know she’s not lying. You know when everybody lies.” Rachel looked awed and freaked out all at once. “You need to fix this.” She looked at me intently, then a thought occurred to her. “The funny man,” she looked over at Will. “The nice funny man that gave me to you. He can help too.”
Will looked confused at first. “The Judge? Judge Myers? In the court room?”
She nodded, a wide smile crossing her face. “Him. He will know. He can help.”
I looked at Will with confusion and he mouthed later.
“Ella dear, would you like me to make you some hot chocolate, so you can get back to bed?” Drake said softly after Ella yawned wide.
“Where’s Jace?” Ella asked plaintively. “He helps me when my tummy’s upset.”
My eyebrows knitted and then it occurred to me. He had asked me long ago if he could help her when she was anxious. She almost had a panic attack when I hadn’t shown up for the court date and he had to calm her down. It had helped, and I knew he wouldn’t harm her.
“Jace isn’t here, sweetie,” I told her softly as a thought occurred to me. Maybe I could push comforting thoughts to her and calm her.
Drake left the room and I knew he was making her some hot chocolate. I started thinking of soothing thoughts and tried to push the feeling over to her, but I kept getting anxious. My head was spinning with the possibility that she had seen the future and it was confusing and daunting.
Finally, I just started speaking out loud. Hoping I could speak the comfort into her. “Ella, do you remember Mr. Rabbit?” I asked her softly. “You loved that ratty old thing.”
She smiled. “It was the first stuffed animal I got from you.” Then she frowned. “Heidi said she washed it and he fell apart.”
It was the first stuffed animal I bought her. I used to tuck it in with her every night as an infant when she went to bed. I didn’t know stuffed animals were dangerous in our beds back then, or even that my pillows and blankets could potentially be dangerous as well. At five she started calling me mama for some reason. I tried to discourage her, but Heidi had heard one day, and she had destroyed a lot of my stuff and Ella’s favorite rabbit when we were at school one day. Ella hadn’t slept well for days. It took her a while to get over him, no matter how many things I tried to replace it with, it hadn’t worked.
“Well he was pretty old,” I tried to say airily. I imagined him in my head. “He was light blue with spaghetti sauce stains on him because you took him everywhere with you. You chewed off his nose, so I sewed a new button nose on him.”
As I spoke I saw Mr. Rabbit appear, Ella exclaimed and grabbed him excitedly pulling him to her chest. I tried to touch him, in wonder, but he wasn’t there.
My gasp wasn’t the only one heard around the room.
I had casted an illusion.
Remy and I went back into my room after Ella had fallen asleep. “Can I wear this?” I asked him
, gesturing at his shirt I was wearing as I grabbed a pair of shorts.
Remy looked over at me, his eyes darkening with desire. “Yeah,” he said and stalked towards me like a caged panther.
I let him pick me up and kiss me. His lips no less demanding than they had been earlier. I wrapped my legs around his waist and ran my hands along his strong back.
“I like the idea of you wearing my shirt, with nothing underneath it,” he muttered against my ear.
My eyebrows knitted as I felt the hard, raised ridges on his back. I knew the feeling of scars all too well. I felt them every day when I showered. I peered over his shoulders and saw the raised scars along his back.
“What happened, Remy?!” I asked aghast.
His eyes hid a myriad of feelings. Finally, he kissed my nose. “Before I got here, I wasn’t loved either,” he finally said softly. “Let’s go to my room so I can grab another shirt, and then let’s go downstairs. I have a feeling we might be having a long night.”
He let me down and led me to his room. It was him to a T. All dark and masculine. His bed was massive, his bedspread and curtains black, his walls a stormy grey. He threw on a white wife beater as I sat on the side of his bed. I couldn’t help but appreciate his sheer size as he came out of his closet.
“Keep looking at me like that and we won’t be leaving this room anytime soon,” he growled throatily to me as he stalked towards me once more.
I giggled and rolled to the other side of his bed. “Don’t tempt me, mister,” I said mischievously. “We shouldn’t keep everyone waiting.” I frowned, remembering we had a lot to discuss and figure out.
“So, how long can this premonition take before it comes into fruition?” Jemmy asked worriedly, as she took a sip of her coffee.
We all sat in the living room with coffee and the leftover carrot cake from earlier.
Will shrugged. “It’s so hard to determine that. It may be tomorrow. It may be never. It may be next year. Premonitions are funny, because a minor change can affect the whole future.” Will looked deeply into his cup.
“Oh good, so we can figure out ways to make those insignificant changes,” Jemmy sighed with relief.
“But what?” Will breathed deeply. “You know when 9/11 happened some people recounted tales on what saved them from that fateful day. One guy was late because of a late-night football game the night before, someone stepped out for a cigarette break, another person took another subway train than their normal route. We don’t know what small decisions we make today, may affect our future in a big way.”
“How is it possible that we won’t remember our past if this may happen in the future,” Noah said in exasperation. “It makes no sense.”
“I believe it can happen,” Drake said softly. “Ella’s gift is strong. Every day she’s developing it. I forgot to turn off the oven earlier and when I came into the dining room she reminded me.”
“She told me I left my lights on the other day,” Will stated. “I was sleeping, and she came into my room to tell me I was going to be late for my meeting because I forgot to turn off my lights.”
“There were rumors of a guy who could turn back time,” Remy said gravely from his spot beside me.
“But we’ll know she is our nucleus,” Jax said adamantly.
Rachel gasped and looked at us all in wonder.
I smiled sheepishly at her. She had seen so many things already and we already knew she may be a key to my future. If that future was to occur. “It appears to be that I am an anomaly. I don’t have two connections. I have six.”
She gaped at me. “No way! You guys are pulling my leg. There’s no way. I know I’m new to this community, but my brothers were gifted. They would have told me about more than two connections.”
“Were they your blood brothers?” Will asked with suspicion.
She nodded, a battle within was raging. She didn’t know if she could trust us. “My dad had four of us, but with three different women.”
“So, you know already that in and of itself it is an anomaly. Most gifted only have two children at max, even if they spread their seed freely,” Drake said. His ears went red, and I had to smile at him. He was a twenty-one-year-old man and felt uncomfortable talking about sex in mixed company.
“I tried,” Will said with regret lacing his voice. I wondered about his story. He never talked about it and the guys never did tell me theirs. I never even heard them talking about a wife or a mother.
Rachel stared down at her hands. “That’s why dad hid us for years. He said he would have been dissected and examined. He told us about you, Will, before he vanished. My brothers took care of me after that. He also told us about Horatio. A few days before my dad vanished, he said if anything were to happen to him, we were to find you and stay away from Horatio. My brothers chose to stay away from all gifted that we were aware of. Herman was a reader, he could spot a gifted a mile away,” she smiled sadly.
“What happened to them?” Jemmy had tears in her eyes.
“Horatio blew up the whole house. He didn’t know I had snuck out that night to meet my boyfriend. I wasn’t home,” she said softly, tears in her eyes.
“How did you get here?” Jax, sweet Jax, sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulders.
“June sixteenth,” Will stated. “I read the story in the papers and knew it had gifted written all over it, and I knew it was Horatio. So, I sent a team.”
“I found you in the shed behind the house,” Remy stated.
Rachel gasped. “You remembered. Why did you act like you didn’t know me?”
Remy shrugged and stared down at his feet. “I remember everyone I bring in and it’s easier…for me to keep my distance.”
“So,” Noah said clearly trying to steer the conversation back to our original dilemma. “If there is someone out there that can turn back time, how can they erase our knowledge of Blake. Since meeting her we all have felt her pull. We all know she belongs to us and we belong to her.”
“How,” Rachel blurted. “You still have a relationship with Stacey and Ella said in the future you would still be with her?”
Noah had the audacity to blush and duck his head.
“Once Blake came into my life, I couldn’t be with Tamara anymore, especially after the way she treated her at my party.” Jax added. “We’ve been talking to each other for years,” he looked at me. “That would never change. The moment she found us again, I’m sure we would be able to fall back to the way things are now.”
“If,” Drake said quietly. “Blake would have never caught Rose red handed, I would have never found out about her. I would have remained blissfully ignorant, and ignored the way Remy acted around her, as I always had.”
“We would still have our marks too,” Remy added. “So, if this were to happen then all she would have to do is show us her mark and we would know.”
“Not if someone were to mess with your memories and make a block so you couldn’t feel her…presence anymore,” Will rubbed his eyes wearily. “Someone like your sister,” he stated looking at me.
“Ella is a precog and she would never mess with my memories,” I stared at him in confusion.
“Not Ella, your cousin technically, but Ashlynn, your older sister.” Will said quietly.
“My what?!” I stood up angrily. “I have another sister out there and you never told me!”
“It was another rumor. The rumor was your mother had another daughter before she had you. When your mother came into her gift she was living on the streets with your uncle. Your uncle worked hard to take care of them. She took advantage of the situation and started running around with the wrong crowd. She fell into drugs, stripping, and prostitution. She ran away from your uncle and she gave birth to Ashlynn at sixteen. She was a kid and put her daughter up for adoption.” Will was pacing at this point. “She was seventeen when she had you. When we found out about her, she had put you up for adoption as well and we went searching for you both. We found you and put
you in the institute. A few years ago, I heard rumors Horatio may have found Ashlynn and groomed her for his cause. Supposedly, she could change people’s memories, tamper with their minds. She could make a man forget his wife of thirty years if she wanted to.”
“Why did he want me then?” I asked, my head exploding at the idea I had another sister out there and she was using her gifts for evil.
Will sighed. “Your gift is as strong if not stronger than hers. She has the ability to make people forget, but it’s only temporary. She would have to touch a person constantly to make those memories stay gone. The person with memory loss would think it was all just a dream. You can make people do things and forget they did them just by thinking them or speaking them. No touch is required.”
“What about that illusion thing,” Rachel said perplexed. “That’s Jax’s gift.”
“My original gift is compulsion,” I finally spoke up, and everyone turned their eyes to me. “Every time I make my connections, I seem to pick up one of theirs as well.”
“No way,” Rachel gaped. “So, what else can you do? Who have you hooked up with? Because if Jax and you have been hooking up back at school, I’ve never heard you guys.”
Jax and I looked at each other and blushed.
“At school?” Will asked sternly.
Rachel flushed, knowing she had said too much.
“It’s not what you think,” Jax stated quickly. “Yes, I’ve been sneaking into her dorm room at night, but she’s been having nightmares and they wake me up, so I go to her. Just to sleep and,” he looked pointedly at Rachel, “we technically haven’t hooked up at all.”
“I haven’t technically hooked up with anyone,” I blushed, ducking my head. “And I don’t get the gifts of the person I connected with either. It’s all been random.”
“No one!” Jemmy exclaimed. “You have six hot guys and you haven’t-” Jemmy stammered at Will’s pointed look.