“But it worked,” I tried to plead my case as tears coursed down my face. “I knew it was going to work. My gift isn’t strong enough to push through all seven of us.”
/> Drake nodded in understanding. “I know what you’re saying, and maybe we should have trusted your instincts, but even we could feel how strong your gift is. When we’ve connected before it was powerful, but now…it’s beyond anything we’ve ever felt. It’s grown.”
“Isn’t that normal? Especially if our connection gets stronger, shouldn’t our gifts?” I wiped a hand across my eyes, trying to wipe away my tears.
“But everyone seems to have a cap-off,” Noah patiently explained. “We’ve known connected people for years. Pretty much all of them have grown stronger, but there’s a point it stops its progression. Yours feels like it doesn’t have a cap-off.”
Jaxson and Noah had fallen into steps beside us. Jaxson grabbed my other hand. “It’s not like a fire. We can’t continue feeding it wood and it will continue to grow. Since we made our connections complete, there’s no doubt we have all grown stronger. Level upped, even.”
“With you, though, it seems to want to grow. Especially when we’re channeling our gifts together,” Drake explained. “We just have to be careful when or how we use them until we can get a better understanding of it all.”
“Maybe if you continue to hone your gift, the easier it will be to control it. Like when we trained Micah to transport further distances. On his own he could transport maybe a quarter mile or so. Now he’s able to travel further. You’ve used your gifts, and you tested them, but I wouldn’t say you’ve mastered any of them. Not really,” Noah commented.
I wiped my tears away, angry once more. “How? You guys keep telling me I’m naturally strong. I don’t understand how much more I can work on it.”
“It’s kind of like an…athlete,” Jaxson said slowly. We all looked at him in confusion. “Some athletes are naturally strong, agile, fast, and everything comes easier to them, but the elite athletes don’t rest on their laurels. They push themselves. They train harder. They do everything that everyone else does and then some. They have the eyes on their ultimate goal; the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, the Olympics—whatever it may be, and they chase after it.”
I looked at him in stunned silence for a moment. “That’s pretty insightful for my Mr. American meathead,” I joked.
Jaxson feigned a hurt look. “You forget, I get good grades too!”
“It’s easy to forget when you still need to be reminded to turn off the bedroom light when we leave the room every morning,” Noah teased.
“Or to close the refrigerator door after you get done grabbing your drink,” Drake added.
“Don’t forget how many times he had to run back to the room for his assignments,” I commented.
“Not fair!” Jaxson feigned anger as he stomped off.
“Get back here,” I called after him with laughter.
I was still hurt but talking to them had helped. They had helped me put everything into perspective. I knew I had a lot of groveling to do. I had to find a way to show Troy, Remy, and Jace that I was sorry. I didn’t think I could stand them being angry at me for long. I had a knot at the pit of my stomach making me feel like I could physically get sick over all of this.
“I forgot how to,” he called back pulling me out of my troubled thoughts.
Chapter 12
Tonight wasn’t going to be my night. Paul, Will, and Megan met us at the door. They told us we had an hour to shower, eat chow, and head down to the training gym for a debriefing. I couldn’t help but notice that Megan and Will seemed pleased to see us back first. I also noticed Paul seemed somewhat surprised. I knew he had seen what we could do. I think he just thought the odds were against us. Especially with the gifted on the other team.
Troy, Remy, and Jace immediately dropped their bags when we got back to the apartment. Then got their shower stuff and left the room. I assumed that they were headed to the showers located near the gym. By their behavior, I knew they still weren’t talking to me.
“They’ll cool off,” Drake reassured me as I watched them leave the room.
“Why don’t you jump in the shower first?” Noah asked sympathetically.
I nodded. I didn’t trust myself to speak. I jumped into the shower and let the tears fall. It had taken an additional hour and a half to reach the facility after our altercation. I thought they would have cooled off by then. I didn’t expect them to be acting so coldly towards me.
I wanted to stay in the shower longer and wallow in my own self-pity, but it wouldn’t be fair for the other guys to wait on me. I reluctantly got out and wrapped a towel around myself and my hair before I opened the door of the bathroom. Jaxson was waiting on the opposite side and kissed my cheek on the way in.
I opened the closet across from the bathroom and pulled out a pair of grey sweatpants and a fitted white Henley. I looked at the mirror that Troy mounted behind the love seat and above the white cubicle shelf.
I looked like I had been crying. My eyes were red and puffy. I couldn’t do anything about the redness, but I could try to fix the puffiness. I went back to my closet and pulled out my cosmetics. I hadn’t worn any for the past four days, and I didn’t feel like letting everyone see my moment of weakness. I applied the makeup heavily around and on my eyes before putting on some lip gloss. I placed my makeup bag back into the closet when I had finished.
“Did you want to take my dresser and closet in my room?” Jaxson asked as I was putting it away.
I tried to smile and shook my head. I knew he could see my moroseness and wanted to cheer me up. “No thanks. I’m fine keeping my stuff in here. As much as I share your beds it’s no use.”
“Well, if you every change your mind, let me know,” Jax insisted.