Boy, did I ever.
I clapped my hands together happily and bounced up and down on the balls of my feet.
“Please,” I whined in an excited voice. There was no hiding just how excited I was at the thought of learning something new.
“What the fuck?” Addison growled. “He just tried to brain me to death with a hooker shoe and neither of you seem concerned about me in the least. I could be bleeding to death over here from the massive head wound I just received courtesy of my own goddamn brother.”
The smile on my face grew bigger by the second and I sincerely wished it had been me who’d thrown the shoe.
“Come here,” Abel ordered softly, and I didn’t hesitate walking straight to him.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Addison grumbled. Abel ignored him, so I did too.
Still smiling, I stopped directly in front of him. He grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me until I faced Addison and the way I had come from. His heat hit me as he pressed his front into my back. He placed his hands on my hips and pressed his face in my neck.
“Close your eyes and clear your mind,” he murmured.
Clear my mind? Was he crazy? He had to be. Clearing my mind sounded impossible with his big body pressed into mine and his heat all around me.
I closed my eyes, I could at least do that.
My eyes flew right back open when one of them snickered, I could never tell which one because they always sounded exactly the same. Still, my money was on Addison. Abel had no reason to laugh at me at the moment.
Abel put slight pressure on my hips, squeezing. “Ignore my brother,” he said. “Now, close your eyes and clear your mind. Otherwise, this will never work and we’re wasting our time.”
Abel’s lips, soft and smooth, brushed against the pulse in my throat and I stoppe
d breathing for a second.
“Close your eyes,” he murmured against my overheated skin. “Close your eyes and let it all go.
I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath, ready to try it again. I couldn’t give up after the first try. Addison could laugh at me all he wanted. Abel could get up in my space. Whatever. I could ignore them both.
I blew out another deep breath and relaxed against Abel’s big, warm body. The hands on my hips loosened, he wasn’t holding me to him anymore, just touching me for the sake of touching. I was happy to have him standing at my back, it made relaxing my body all the easier.
With effort, I pushed all the garbage in my head to the side. It wasn’t easy, and it took some time. I stood there, rearranging my thoughts, for a good twenty minutes before I was able to blank my mind and think of absolutely nothing.
The only thing I saw with my eyes closed was darkness. Until I reached for the now ever-present flame I knew was there waiting for me. It was tiny but grew stronger, burning brighter as I reached out to it in my mind.
“Good,” Abel murmured against my ear in encouragement. “Very good. Without opening your eyes, I want you to visualize the object you want to manipulate in your mind. Do you remember what the shoe that hit my twin looks like? Or, even any of the other shoes in this closet. Whatever shoe you pick, I want you to see that, and only that, in your mind’s eye. Nothing else. Once you have it in your sight, it’s yours to manipulate. Like your flame, it’s yours, just waiting for you to do something with it. So, do something with it.”
I was concentrating so hard that I couldn’t come up with something sarcastic to snap at him. Besides, it would ruin my concentration. I couldn’t remember what the shoe that had smacked into the back of Addison’s head looked like. But, I did remember a very pretty black one with only a three-inch heel that looked like something my mother hadn’t bought for herself but had probably been a gift.
I pulled the image of it into my mind and watched it dance around before my inner flame.
“What now?” I asked in a husky voice.
“Now, you manipulate it,” he whispered. “You make it yours and you do what you want with it. You put your energy into it and make it do your bidding. Eventually, you will be able to do this with your eyes open. It might take a while, but you’ll get there. For now, you need to keep your eyes closed so you can concentrate.”
I thought about what he’d said, really thought about it, and the shoe began to spin in circles inside my head.
From across the room, Addison gasped.
Now that it was mine to do with as I pleased, I actually had to come up with something to do with it. Nothing came to mind and the flame inside my head grew even brighter.
“She’s not disciplined,” Addison ground out. “You should stop this now. She’s not ready for it. She needs to be taught in a contained area. There’s too many things in here that could potentially be damaged.”
“Nonsense,” Abel told his brother in a confident voice. “None of this shit matters. Who cares if she destroys something in here. She’s fine. Leave her alone.”