> He shrugged. “That’s two questions. For every question you ask, I get to ask one.” He looked at me expectantly, and I realized he was waiting for me to agree.
I reluctantly nodded.
“I know enough,” he finally answered. “I know that my mother could do things that would blow most people’s minds. I know that my sperm donor was supposedly just as talented. Do you really work for a security firm? How have you been able to take my gift?”
I took a deep breath and took a drink of my orange juice with shaking hands. Might as well rip the band-aid off now. “Yes and no. I am getting paid to do these jobs, but that wasn’t the main reason I came here. I came here to find you or the person that carries that mark.” I pointed to the tattoo on his chest. “I never took your gift, at least not intentionally. I didn’t even know I was capable of doing it until recently.”
He chuckled at me dubiously. “My mom told me that it was a mark of a connection, but then again, she was losing her mind at the end of her life and would speak a lot of nonsense. She never said anything about a connection when I first got my mark at twenty-one.”
“So, you’re twenty-five,” I stated as I did the math in my head. If Remy were nineteen when he got his, then he would be a year older than Remy. I was trying to approach my next statement diplomatically, but he cut me off.
He laughed sardonically. “So, you Googled me, good for you. Gifts come in during adolescence, or in my case, slightly younger. How are you just now finding out you can jump?”
I sighed at his hostility, telling myself that I had to play nice for the sake of Jaxson, Noah, and Drake. “I was thirteen when I got my mark,” I stated as I stood up and showed him the mark on the back of my neck. “I never googled you until yesterday, and that was only to confirm my suspicion that you may be my connection. Honestly, I never even knew you existed until recently. Jumping isn’t my only gift, I have several, in fact.”
He looked at me with narrowed eyes, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he saw the identical mark he carried, but unlike him and the guys, I never tattooed over mine. It looked more like a scar, much like his did when it first came in.
“You’re so full of crap. You’re not the first crazed fan to come up with some bizarre story to get close to me. If you’re not a gift stealer, show me what you got.”
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “I can’t! I’m losing my gifts. We need to make this connection soon, or we’ll all lose our gifts, you included. You say you feel weak, it wasn’t me using your gift. It is you losing your gift. For us, we’ve already pretty much lost it.”
His brows knitted in skepticism. “Us? How do you propose we make this connection? You want a quick shag? Shall I bend you over my couch and give you what you’re so thirsty for? You’re a cutie I give you that, but I don’t screw crazy.”
I bristled at his arrogance. “I don’t know how or why but somehow, someway, I was given six connections; seven, including you,” I began to explain. Then I laughed harshly. “If you don’t do crazy, then why are you with Eva?”
He started to laugh without any mirth. “You do realize how crazy you sound? What little my mother did tell me is when a person is connected they have a maximum of two, and no one has more than one gift. I’m not with Eva, but she gets the job done.”
I shuddered at his crudeness. God must have a sense of humor to connect me with someone so repulsive no matter how hot he may be. “Do you have a laptop?” I asked in frustration as I remembered the training videos we had. Maybe showing him could prove it to him.
He gave me a look of disbelief before he went into a room in the back and returned with a laptop. It was already opened. I clicked the internet icon and waited for it to load. I navigated to the page of Knightstown Academy.
“Is that the school you attend?” he asked, surprise lacing his voice—and something else indiscernible.
I really didn’t want to do small talk, but I needed him to believe me. “Used to…right now all my classes are done remotely.” I entered my username and password and waited for the page to load. I went into a back door that was so heavily encrypted that the typical hacker wouldn’t be able to find it unless they knew exactly what they were looking for.
“You say you got your mark at thirteen. How old are you now?” he asked as if he was just amusing me.
“Eighteen,” I said waiting for more of his rude sarcasm. “We got it the same day, if I’m not mistaken. I woke up with mine. Around the Fourth of July, I think.” I closed my eyes for a moment. “Yes, it was around the Fourth of July because the children down the street kept on setting off fireworks, even though it was illegal.”
I looked back at him, and he looked a tad pale. I knew I had guessed it correctly. Talking to the guys, we had all been marked around the same time, give or take a few days.
The page finally loaded, and I clicked on the videos taken at the obstacle course. In the video, you could see me use several of my gifts.
After several moments of silence, he cleared his throat. “I don’t know what your end game is, or what you think all these lies would accomplish, but tell your special effects man or woman that they did an excellent job. Now, please leave and move your RV or I’m calling the cops.”
I stood up and clenched my fist. “You are delaying the inevitable unless you’re okay about losing your gift permanently. There are days I can’t even leave my bed anymore. My limbs won’t let me. Noah is starting to suffer the same effects. Drake is becoming blind, and this morning Jaxson had to go to the ER for seizures. I don’t know if it’s going to start affecting you the same way, but don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.”
He clapped mockingly. “You’re a really great actress. You should get in touch with my agent.”
I was so infuriated with him I could only growl at him in frustration. I turned, knowing there was no getting through to him. My frustration and fear were mounting in me. I felt really close to having a panic attack.
I turned back around and glared at him one last time. “I don’t know if you pay attention to current events or the news, but some laws are trying to be passed against us. We’ll have to get mandatory testing, we will have to be registered as potentially dangerous citizens. If some congress members get their way, we will all be thrown into camps and be monitored before we are deemed safe to be among the average population. Where we are located, we are exempted from the law if or when it is to be passed.”
I paused, going for the jugular. “Imagine what Hollywood and your friends would think if they knew who you really were.”
I knew he needed to be swayed. If he didn’t care about losing his gift, maybe he would care about the issues we were now facing. He didn’t need to know he may have a significant role in helping to prevent it from coming to fruition, but he needed to understand the dire situation we were in.
I went to rip open his front door as Anna was coming up the stairs. “Blake,” she cried happily. “How’d you know I was here?”