by SM Olivier
I sighed and went to him, embracing him. “We will be,” I promised. “And I’ll even let you be the first to spank me,” I breathed in his ear as he lifted me up into his arms.
He squeezed me momentarily, and I knew he was reassured by my promise.
We came downstairs as the children, teens, and some of the adults were carrying their pumpkins out to the patio. Drake was pulling a tray of pumpkin seeds out of the oven. Jace and Troy were cleaning up the newspapers that littered the bar with pumpkin guts and chunks of pumpkin. Noah was sweeping the floor of everything that hadn’t made it to the newspaper.
I watched the scene in front of me and gave a silent prayer of thanks. I was lucky. I could be dead right now. I could be with Horatio right now.
Will looked over at me, where he had been picking some of the warm pumpkin seeds off the sheet pan. Will gave me an assessing look as I entered the kitchen. “I’m glad to see you’re okay, but I don’t want you ever out in public by yourself again, understand me?”
I saw the concern and relief in his eyes, and I almost teared up at his care for me. In that moment I knew he saw me as one of his own. I knew he would want to protect me and was treating me like he would any of his other children. I nodded and hugged him. I didn’t know who I surprised more, him or myself. “I will never go anywhere by myself ever again,” I said with conviction. “I learned my lesson.”
“Now,” I said as I turned around and saw everyone watching me. My heart sank when I noticed Remy still wasn’t around. “Who’s going to help me learn how to protect myself when I’m too hurt or frightened to?”
“What are you suggesting?” Troy asked warily before drawing me into a fierce hug.
“I’m suggesting I learn how to protect myself when I can’t use my powers,” I explained before returning his hug.
“That’s what our martial arts classes are about,” Noah stated.
“No, she was taken by surprise, then put through pain,” Jaxson elaborated as he warily eyed the patio door, ensuring the younger children were still out there. “She wasn’t able to use her gifts. We need to find a way to recreate the experience in a controlled environment so she knows how to react next time.”
“Not that there will ever be a next time,” Jace stated emphatically before pulling me from Troy’s embrace and into his. I thought I felt a tremor run through him, but chalked it up to my imagination. Remy and Jace loved holding their cards to their chest, even if Jace had admitted to having deeper feelings for me last night.
“We can never guarantee that,” Will said slowly. “I like her way of thinking. It’s time we bump the level of difficulty in our training. We need to be prepared for anything.”
Troy nodded. “I have some guys working for me that used to work for the navy seals, the Green Berets, spec ops, and other elite military groups. I’ll bring some of them in and they can help me with ramping up our self-defense techniques. I have a few in mind that I can interview. They’re not gifted, but I have a feeling if they were to see someone accidentally use their gift, they wouldn’t blink an eye with what they’ve seen.”
“Why?” Jemmy wailed from the doorway. “Just kidding,” she rushed over to me with tears in her eyes. “I hate you, don’t ever scare me like that ever again,” she said fiercely. “We shouldn’t rely on our gifts all the time.” She said maturely and so un-Jemmy like. She pulled back and kissed me on both cheeks.
I turned and hugged Gavin and Micah. “Thanks guys,” I whispered fiercely to them.
“Why do I let you talk me into this stuff?” I groaned half joking, half serious as I looked at myself in the mirror.
I was Wonder Woman. My red and gold heart-shaped bodice was in danger of allowing the girls to spill out at any moment. The blue skirt barely covered my lady bits, so I insisted on wearing a pair of blue spanks under it, despite Jemmy and Rachel’s protest. I slid on my red knee-high boots (since they haven’t been worn outside yet) and zipped the sides up.
“Because you look hot, chica,” Jemmy smiled sweetly as she threw me the gold forearm bands, the “W” gold belt, and the matching head band with red star in the middle of it. “Don’t forget these,” she said in a high sing song voice.
“Why couldn’t I be Cat Woman?” I eyeballed her outfit. It was skin tight, but at least she was covered completely. I didn’t think I could pull it off like she did, with her tall, lithe frame, but I would have tried. She looked sexy and beautiful as she slid on her mask that covered the top half of her face.
“Because Gavin’s Batman,” Jemmy scoffed as if it made perfect sense.
“I thought we were keeping our costumes a secret,” I narrowed my eyes on her as I slid my headband on my straightened hair.
She grinned slyly before she lamented. “Did you really think I would let him be a gladiator? He wanted to be a gladiator.”
“He would have been a sexy gladiator,” Rachel said as she walked into the room. “Have you seen how defined his muscles are getting with all these extra work outs?!”
Rachel was the perfect Harley Quin with her red and white vintage baseball tee that had “Daddy’s Lil Monster” plastered across it. A shiny red and blue jacket accompanied it. She had elected to wear the short spandex red and blue shorts over fish net stockings. We had spent the late afternoon dying her hair to a platinum blond shade, and I had to admit it looked fabulous on her. We had sprayed temporary blue hair spray in one of her pony tails and reddish-pink in the other.
“Just remember he’s mine,” Jemmy joked good naturedly. “All of his sexy, tall, ruggedness.”
Rachel groaned. “You don’t have to remind me. Can we make it our mission to find me a boyfriend?” she looked over at me mischievously. “You have a boyfriend, and Blake has six. I feel left out.”
I groaned as Jemmy hooted with laughter. “That’s our mission tonight.”
“Really guys,” I said good naturedly rolling my eyes. “You think it’s easy juggling six relationships. It isn’t.”
Rachel frowned. “Jemmy can you help me with my makeup.” Then she looked over at me with that crap eating grin again. “I never said I wanted six men adoring me, protecting me, sexing me up, but I would settle with…four.”
I threw my brush at her retreating back. “Laugh it up,” I grumbled at her as I applied my bright red lipstick.
Ella came bursting in my room, through the bathroom. She stopped short as she appraised me. “You look really pretty, Blake,” she smiled up at me.
“Thank you,” I smiled. “Are you guys ready to get dressed so we can go trick or treating?”
“Yes,” she squealed happily before yelling through the bathroom. “Nadia, they’re ready to get us dressed!”
The guys had volunteered to get the boys and themselves ready, while we got ourselves and the girls ready. I could hear the boys hooting and hollering up and down the stairs. It was no surprise that they were finished first. We had to do our hair and makeup and that added at least an hour to our time. They had even given us a head start and they still beat us.
Oh well, I thought. I was a fairly low maintenance girl. I deserved a little extra time to get ready, every now and then.
After the boys yelled at us for the third time to hurry up, we decided to make our entrance. We were going to light their jack-o-lanterns before we headed out to Nadia’s development. Jemmy, Gavin, Rachel, and Drake were heading to We 7. While Troy, Jaxson, Jace, and Noah were accompanying me to take the kids trick or treating. The party was starting at eight, so we would be late, but we were okay with that.
I walked down the steps and saw Gavin, Jace, Troy, Noah, and Jaxson dressed and waiting for us. I looked at Jemmy in exasperation. “Whatever happened to keeping it a secret?”
“Jemmy can’t keep secrets, you should know that by now,” Will laughed good-naturedly. “That’s why I had her spy on the boys for me, when they were growing up.”
I smiled, imagining them as teenagers. I could see the boys trying to hide their escapades and
antics from Jemmy. I could see her being the bratty little sister trailing after them and then telling on them.
Every flippin’ one of the guys were dressed as a comic book character. I had to admit they made damn good comic book characters. They certainly didn’t need those costumes with the fake muscles built into them, that’s for sure. It was no surprise that Troy was Captain America. How befitting that the man that obsessed over war movies, chose the superhero that served in the military.
Jaxson was dressed as Spiderman. His face fell as he looked at Jemmy accusingly. “You told me she was going as Mary Jane.”
“And you believed me,” she pointed at him as she doubled over in laughter. “Who wants to go as Mary Jane?”
It was mean of Jemmy to lie to him, but I had to admit that it was hilarious. Honestly, if he had remembered their love/ hate relationship, he should have realized she was setting him up.
“She told me Blake was going as Harley Quin,” Noah said dryly in his Joker costume.
That had everyone laughing once again as Noah ran a hand through his green hair. Rachel strutted up to him in her outrageously high heels and circled around him. “I guess you’re stuck with me tonight, unless,” she grinned wickedly. “I find my four or six connections.”
“You need more than one man to handle you so they can give each other breaks,” Noah joked good naturedly.
Rachel sighed dramatically. “Oh Noah, we all know if Blake weren’t around, you would be chasing me.”
“You know it,” he joked with a wink at me.
“You look beautiful, sweet heart,” Jace kissed me on the top of my head. He was dressed as Flash. I knew instinctively he wouldn’t have asked Jemmy what I was in hopes of being my ‘pair,’ but that didn’t bother me. If all six of them constantly tried to please me and be yes men, I would get bored. To tears.
“Thank you,” I murmured, feeling slightly self-conscious in my miniscule outfit.
“The lanterns are lit,” Drake said triumphantly as he came into the room. He stopped short when he saw me. A slow smile spreading across his face. He was dressed as Superman. I was surprised to see him without his glasses, outside of the pool or shower.
“You told him?!” Jaxson said accusingly.
“Wrong,” Drake smiled. “She casually dropped the comment that Blake was going as Rogue, hoping I would go as Gambit. She forgot two things. One, I know her tells. Two, sometimes I know her better than she knows herself. She saw the opportunity to mess with us, and you guys fell for it.”
I couldn’t help but giggle at Jemmy’s crestfallen expression.
Nadia’s neighborhood was a large affluent one. The children and teens were excited, to say the least, when their bags were nearly full towards the of end trick or treating. I let them pick a few pieces, after inspecting them, to put in their overnight bags. There was no way I trusted them enough to limit the amount of sugar they would consume. The rest of the bags were coming with us.
We hugged and kissed them, telling them we would see them by tomorrow afternoon. They bounded towards Steven, Beth, and Cora’s house, with barely a backwards glance. I felt my heart warm as I watched them laughing and talking up the driveway. Micah, Ella, and Alex had never experienced trick or treating as they had tonight.
Trick or treating for Ella, in the past, had consisted of used or homemade costumes. We would walk or catch the bus to the nearest neighborhood. Half of the houses wouldn’t pass out candy, so that left us with half a pumpkin, if that, of candy. Ella was happy with whatever she got, but I had always wished for more.
I could remember Dad taking me to huge neighborhoods like this growing up. He had let me pick out whatever costume I wanted, and I always walked away like a bandit. I had tried to recreate that experience for Ella on numerous occasions in vein. I just didn’t have the means or way to do it.
From Micah and Alex’s behavior, their experience couldn’t have been that good as well. My brothers didn’t like to talk about their past, too much. Micah regaled us with stories about his veteran buddies, but he never talked about much else. Will had suggested therapy for them, but my memories of the therapy I was forced to go through left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t see how beneficial it could be for them.
“Well, I feel loved,” I joked when the door closed behind them.
“I’ll show you plenty of love, if you take your coat off.” Troy jokingly leered at me, wagging his eyebrows.
“Shut it!” I joked rolling my eyes. “So, what you’re telling me is your love is conditional to the amount, or should I say the lack of, clothing I wear?”
It was cold outside, and no matter how many times Noah, Troy, and Jaxson suggested it, there was no way I was traipsing around a neighborhood full of kids in my miniscule outfit. I would shed my coat in the warmth of the restaurant around people my own age range.
“That’s not what I’m saying at all,” Troy nearly tackled me from behind unexpectedly. I could feel myself falling, and a moment of pure unadulterated panic gripped me. I had a flash back of my earlier incident and froze.
“Easy, Blake,” Jace said soothingly as he grabbed my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. I could feel his warmth engulf me, so I knew he had used his gift on me, but I couldn’t be upset at him.
“Sorry, Blake,” Troy muttered as he hugged me close.
I feigned a smile. “It’s fine. I’m okay,” I tried to lie, knowing they weren’t buying it. I was terrified earlier. I knew in time I would cope with it better.
Troy slid into the very back of the vehicle and pulled me with him. He pulled me in close, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “I’m sorry, Blake,” his voice was hoarse as he talked softly to me. “I should have gone with you. I knew you were upset. They wouldn’t have gotten the jump on you if I had been there.”
“You don’t know that,” I tried to reassure him. “I didn’t have to take that route. I could have stayed on the property.”
He shook his head. “I’ve been trained, Blake; I would have seen them,” Troy said confidently. “We would have seen them before they even tried to attack us. We could have handled them on our own.”
I linked my hands with his and leaned my head on his broad shoulders. “It’s all water under the bridge. I’m alive. I’ll get over it.”
He sighed deeply in frustration. “I’ve never been more frightened in my life, seeing you like that,” he whispered hoarsely.
I didn’t know what to say, so I just leaned on him and stroked his arm.
We η 7 was located on the outskirts of a town that once housed industrial plants. Remy had a good business head on him and saw the potential and growth trend of the area, so he purchased two properties within a reasonable walking distance of each other. He had re-zoned the smaller of the two warehouses into residential. He had gutted and fixed up the larger of the two for his restaurant and renovated it, while keeping the charm of a warehouse.
The property he had zoned for residential was the place he had renovated into his home. The ground level of his warehouse home was where he kept his gym, a bathroom, bedroom, and where he parked his vehicles. The upper levels held enough bedrooms for each member of the family with room to spare. He had put his bedroom and bathroom on the roof of the building. The roof also had a hot tub and gardens.
When we pulled up onto the street, it was clear that Jemmy and Rachel had clearly gone overboard. Vehicles were parked along the street, and the parking lots were completely full. Jace pulled up near one of the entrances.
“Somehow, I don’t think Remy anticipated this kind of Halloween party,” Jace said dryly. “I’ll park the truck at Remy’s and walk over. You guys can head on in now.”
“I told her she needed to cool it,” Jaxson said with little conviction. It was clear that he was excited to get inside.
“I’m sure you did.” Noah ribbed him as he held his hand out to help me out of the vehicle.
I threw my coat in the vehicle before Jace drove off—I didn’t want to forget
it anywhere or carry it around. We walked up to the door and I could hear the music pouring out. We packed turnouts like this when I had been performing in the band. It had helped the restaurant in sales, and we had gained a name for ourselves. People from all over came to watch us sing and perform.
There was a guy I didn’t recognize manning the door. “Five dollars,” he said cheerfully.
“I don’t think so, buddy,” Troy stated with an easy smile. “This is our party.”
The guy looked skeptically down at his clipboard. “Troy, Jace, Jaxson, Noah, and Misty?”
I snorted knowing Jemmy had told him my name was Misty. “That’s us. Flash is right behind us.”
The guy gave me an appreciative look. “You’re probably the third Wonder Woman I saw tonight, but you,” he eyed me up and down. “Fill out the costume the best,” he smiled at me with a wink.
“Look away, my man,” Jaxson said with an easy smile, but steel was in his voice. “She’s taken.”
He quickly held up his hands, clip board and all. “No sweat, dude. Didn’t hurt to try.”
I was ushered inside ahead of the guys and was momentarily taken aback at the transformation inside. There were wall to wall people. I could see several people eating at tables, getting food, and dancing on the makeshift dance floor.
Ben, Taylor, Rick, and Mike were currently playing some upbeat music on the makeshift stage. Remy had built a stage for us originally, but I guess without me influencing his decisions this time around, he hadn’t.
I grabbed the closest hand to me. On stage I didn’t have any issues with the amount of people around me, but among them I had anxiety issues.
Noah squeezed my hand reassuringly. “It looks like Jemmy has a VIP area near the stage. We can head there, there aren’t as many people.”
“I’ll go get us some food,” Jaxson stated. At the mention of food my stomach growled. I hadn’t eaten much food today.