Gifted Connections: Book 2(17)

I nodded, feeling melancholy creep in once more. “I was, am, an anomaly. According to Will Bell, it was rare that my gifts came to me at an early age. I had started showing signs long before I was a teenager, so I was told. And I don’t have just two connections, I have six.”

Gavin choked on his breakfast pizza, literally. After taking a long swig of his drink, he finally cleared his throat. “Excuse me.” Then something like horror entered his eyes. “Am I one of them?”

I didn’t know if I should be offended or amused. I put myself in his shoes and started giggling. I playfully punched his arm. “No.” I rolled my eyes. Then I said quietly, urgently, “You can’t say anything to anyone. The people that took away my connections, my memories and turned back time, are…afraid of me. No one, and I mean no one, outside of the Bells and my connections knew that I had six connections. I’m sure we kept them guessing since we are…” I paused and gulped back tears. “Were very close and everyone, including Jemmy and Rachel were openly affectionate with each other. To an outsider looking in, I’m sure we looked like brothers and sisters, but a few nefarious individuals seemed to be threatened by me.”

He gingerly patted me. “I promise I won’t breathe a word to anyone. You’re my first real friend I’ve had in a long time. When I came here it was obvious almost everyone had known each other for years, and since I chose to keep my gift hidden, some of the gifted treated me like a pariah.”

I could see how that was possible. I had noticed it with quite a few of our class mates. Most of them pretended like we weren’t even there.

When I looked at Gavin’s rugged handsomeness and realized how intuitive he was, I would think he was Mr. Popularity. He carried himself with confidence, but now I understood it was a defense mechanism. It must have been hard on him to go almost seven of his twenty years not knowing he wasn’t crazy, but gifted.

“Thanks,” I smiled at him. “So yesterday I woke up with a man I hadn’t seen in years and he’s proclaiming to be my boyfriend, and when I ran into one of my connections, he didn’t recognize me.” Once more I had to fight the tears. “I have no clue where my sister is, and I have no clue how to make them remember me.”

“Why don’t you just leave him and go find your sister? I’m sure we can find her, somehow,” he tried to sound reassuring.

I shook my head. “I can’t leave him, at least not yet. The night before I ended up….here, in this time, we found out for certain that Will had people working for him and people on this very campus that are working against him. Will’s no angel, he had a colorful past, but he realized the error of his ways. He wants to create a safe part of the world where we could peacefully coexist with the non-gifted and live in harmony together. There’s another man, his ex-best friend Horatio, that feels like we should rule the world. Enslave the non-gifted and brainwash newly discovered gifted to do his bidding and dirty work.

“The night before I ended up here, I had just met you. You witnessed the abduction of Krista and a few other gifted children. Including my half-brother. We also found out, for some unknown reason, they wanted Will and me. There was a gentleman by the name of Zach Young, a member of Will’s board that was working for Horatio—at least that’s what we surmised—and now I know Collin works for them too.

“The more people I found out about, the more names I can hand over to Will…eventually. I need to gather compelling evidence.”

Gavin looked at me dubiously. “Is it safe for a seventeen-year-old girl to take on these…men? I mean, they already messed up your life. They can do it again, or worse, end it.”

I gulped. “Right now, they have no clue that the same gift they used on the guys, didn’t work on me. I still remember them. In theory, when time went back, I should have naturally forgotten everything, but I didn’t. I think, for some reason, I’m too valuable alive. My gut tells me they want to lure me to the ‘dark side.’ I need to figure out a way to inadvertently spy on them. They already put a tracker on my phone, who knows what else they can or will do to keep me separated from the guys. I feel like together we can beat this, the guys and me. If I were to finish making my connections, we will be stronger together.”

He looked uncomfortable for a moment as he shifted his knees back and forth into his chest.

“Spit it out,” I said finally.

“So, you’ve been intimate with more than one guy…in what period of time?” he stammered finally.

I blushed, and I knew I had to be beet red. “It’s not what you think, honestly. It’s not like I hopped from one bed to another, each night. And honestly,” I whispered, embarrassed. “I have only had sex with one of them. He was my first…ever.”

He rubbed the back of his head and then started chuckling suddenly. “You’re living most men’s dreams, except reversed. I know plenty of men that would love to have a harem of girls waiting for them to grace them with his presence.”

I mocked growled at him before I launched myself at him, hitting him with my fist, but not with full force. “I told you it’s not like that.” I said through gritted teeth, jokingly.

“Everything okay here?” a familiar voice asked with some concern.

I froze and slowly turned. I would know his soft, melodious tone anywhere. Drake. My sweet, sensitive, shy guy, who had a lying, cheating girlfriend that Ella predicted he would marry…after she told him she was pregnant, but the baby wasn’t his. I closed my eyes and groaned, knowing who the baby’s father was.