“Jemmy,” Drake said with exasperation as he came up behind her.
“What? The kid isn’t yours. That’s why she won’t take the DNA test until after the baby is born and keeps trying to get money from you,” Jemmy said stubbornly.
“Jemmy,” I said gently as I looked at Drake. “I don’t think your brother wants talk about it right now.”
She snorted. “Well someone has to.”
I wondered what put her in such a foul mood. I looked over at Gavin and noticed he wasn’t by her side as he normally was. Uh oh, looks like I needed to talk to him.
“Don’t let her put your name on the birth certificate, bro,” Marcel suggested to Drake.
I set my plate to the side and leaned up to Jace. “I’ll be back,” I whispered to him.
He looked at Gavin, then Jemmy and nodded. I marched over to Gavin and grabbed his hand and dragged him to the den.
“What’s going on?” I demanded with my hands on my hips.
“I might move out for a little while,” he said tentatively as he stuffed one hand in his pocket and the other grasped the back of his neck. He wouldn’t look at me. He seemed fascinated by the floor suddenly.
“Why?” I gasped.
He flushed red. “I’m not sure…Jemmy and I are going to work…”
“Are you nuts?” I asked him in bewilderment. “You do realize you’re connected, right? Of course it’s going to work.”
He looked up at me, with a shrewdness in his eyes. “Like you a
nd Drake are? Like you and Noah did?”
I felt momentarily hurt, like he was attacking me. “That’s not fair,” I said quietly. “Drake and I are really good friends, and when this Rose crap has blown over, I know we’ll be amazing lovers. Noah and I had problems connecting initially because of my naivety, and I essentially gave him permission to continue seeing Stacey. We had issues we both had to get through, but we’re better now. We were given a second chance, and we’re better than ever. All relationships take work, but we’re lucky because we know who we are destined to be with—our connections.”
“I’m sorry, Blake.” He grabbed my shoulders gently. “I shouldn’t have lashed out at you to protect my own insecurities. The truth is, Jemmy and I are in two different places in life. I want to wait before we finally seal the deal. I want to get to know her more. I want her to turn 18. I know she’s had quite a few boyfriends, but she’s my first real girlfriend.” He blushed. “She was fine with that at first, but now she’s starting to take it more personally. She sees how you guys have gotten stronger through your connections, and she wants to see if we can or will get stronger. I don’t want that to be the driving factor for us.”
“You guys haven’t…” At his uncomfortable look, I scrunched up my nose. “I’m sorry. I just thought you guys were. I thought you guys were sharing a room.”
He shook his head. “No, we’ve fooled around, and we’ve had sleep overs, but like I said, I’m not ready for that.”
I hugged him. “You are such a rare man, and I adore you for that. Talk to her. You guys can and will work this out. You belong together.”
“Hey, guys?” Jaxson popped his head in the room. “Dad’s back, and we’re going to start going over the tapes.”
When we walked back into the living room, I was surprised to see three white boards. Will was eating with one hand and putting up 4 x 6 pictures on the board with the other. Jace was at one of the boards making four columns, and on the top of each column was a picture of himself, Terrance, Will, and Steven. I sat down between Drake and Noah and smiled when Drake handed me my plate of food.
“As everyone knows,” Will said as he continued posting the pictures on the board. “We have a major mission I will like to set into motion by Friday. I want teams of ten. Right now, we have eighteen of us. That leaves us with twenty-two spots to fill. This is the pool we must pick from. Unfortunately, due to the sensitive nature of these missions, you will be split up. I don’t even want the other members on your teams to know what or where we are going. The team leaders and the people in this room, will be the only ones who know when, why, and where we are going.”
“Our reconnaissance team is currently gathering all the intel necessary for these missions,” Steven stated as he took a drink from his beer. “Everyone selected for these teams could have less than twenty minutes to meet at the training center and leave for their designated spot. Everyone needs to have their phones on them at all times. In other words, don’t make any plans this week. Right now, we’re saying next Friday, but it can be as early as Wednesday morning. Tomorrow morning, we will be contacting the candidates for the open spots.”
“Was the meeting moved to here because of Ms. Bullock?” John asked shrewdly.
Will, Steven, and Jace exchanged looks. “Yes,” Will admitted with a nod. “With the help of Gavin and Jemmy, we have been able to investigate people on our payroll for weeks. Her name, and a few others, have red flags on them. After the attack on Blake today, and because we don’t have enough evidence on them yet, we are keeping our cards close to our chest. We don’t need Horatio tipped off on our next moves.”
I looked over in surprise at Gavin and Jemmy. I wasn’t aware that they had been doing anything for the investigation. I also noticed they weren’t sitting next to each other, and I hoped they resolved their issues soon.
Jace spoke, “We know Jemmy and John will be on two separate teams because of their ability to take out any cameras. So that leaves us with finding two other people capable of taking out cameras.” Jace took a picture of Jemmy and John and placed them under himself and Terrance.
“I can do it,” a voice on the cusp of changing, stated from above.
I hadn’t even noticed the children and teens had crept to the balcony above. The last time I saw them they were happily munching on pizza, watching movies, and playing in the boys’ room. It was Micah who had volunteered.