“When I decided to take the teaching job, and she went off to New York City, I felt like my job was finished. The day I met you, again, I knew it was you. I knew you were our Amanda, but it took me time to suspect that you were our nucleus.
“I could see you had more shadows in your eyes. You came in one day with a bruise on your shoulder. I accidentally brushed you. I knew two things in that moment. You were in trouble and I was inexplicitly drawn to you. I wanted to protect you and care for you once more but do it right this time around. I also thought it was morally wrong to be attracted to you. I was your teacher. Even if you were only a few years younger than me. I wanted to wait until you were 18 before I told you about me, about us, but I knew time was running out. Your feelings of stress and hopelessness were increasing.
“I had to call the guys to confirm our connection. I wanted to make sure you weren’t just the girl that Jaxson and I once knew, but you were the girl who belonged to us. I didn’t want to continually fall for you if you weren’t the one. Even if you weren’t, I was going to find a way to get you out of there. Then Drake confirmed our connection and I felt…whole.”
He had basically told me that he had already started to fall in love with me. I didn’t know if I was ready to label it yet, but I knew I cared for him deeply. I cared for them all deeply. I had spent years building my wall. I didn’t want to get hurt anymore, but I knew with the guys’ help, they could help me dismantle it brick by brick. They had already shown me the many ways they wanted to protect me and make me happy.
They helped me care for my siblings. They let me set my own pace without pushing me beyond my comfort level. We still had work to do, but we all were taking steps in the right direction. Drake would need time, but this time we would have it. I hoped.
“Is Molly…okay?” I finally asked. I couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for her. I could only imagine myself in her shoes. She met Jace as a teenager. I could see how easy it had been to fall in love with him. I could only imagine how she had ingratiated herself into the family (beyond her obvious relationship with Remy). She probably hung out here and was made to feel welcome. She probably saw this as home, as I had.
He sighed. “She will be. She’s been dating some guy the last few months, but she had hoped I would come back around.”
I couldn’t silence the voice that tried to tell me I couldn’t compete with a girl like Molly. She could give Jace all the attention he deserved. If he was still with her, he wouldn’t have to compete for my attention. I couldn’t forget the fact that they even looked like they were the perfect couple.
He noticed my quietness and gave me a long lingering kiss. “You’re my connection. You’re the one I want.”
I believed the sincerity and conviction in his voice.
I blinked around in confusion. I stood in the door way of an office of a large room with book shelves lining the wall. An expensive mahogany desk sat in the middle of the room dominating it. There were files and papers strewn across it. The carpet beneath my feet was a rich burgundy. Where was I? I felt my anxiety rise and tried to run. I couldn’t move.
I felt a large hand take mine, a warm hard chest, pressed against my back. “Blake? Where are we?” Jaxson asked in a hushed tone.
I looked up at him startled. It looked like he had just woken up. His dark hair was tousled. His steel grey eyes were heavy with sleep. I couldn’t help but notice that he wasn’t wearing a shirt with his flannel pajama bottoms. “I don’t know. How did we get here? I just fell asleep, next to Jace.”
Jaxson gave me a dimpled smile at my ogling before he frowned. “We’re in your dream.”
“How?” I asked him in shock. “We’ve nev—"
“I brought you,” Alex explained as he strolled into the room from another door. “Cade asked me too.” He pointed behind him.
In strolled a handsome teen of mixed heritage. I gasped as I recognized the boy from Ella’s drawings. Jaxson squeezed my hand, and I knew he recognized him as well. He wasn’t as tall as Micah, but definitely taller than me (which wasn’t hard, let’s be real). His hair was as dark as mine but had a shininess that Hispanics or Asians stereotypically had. It had a slight wave to it as one side continued falling into his eye. His eyes were dark, but there was something familiar about the shape of them and his nose.
“Who’s Cade?” I asked Alex slowly, wanting to snatch him closer to me.
Cade looked over his shoulder with paranoia. “I’m your brother,” he said hurriedly in hushed tones. “I don’t have much time, but I had to reach you before it’s too late. Right now, I’m in Horatio’s office, he’s really angry at you guys. He is going to set some traps the next few days. He’s convinced some of your operatives of the locations of some women in danger, but he’s already moved them.” He hurried to the desk and pointed to the papers strewn across it. “Remember these addresses. These are the right ones. He had forty-two more unwilling females in his facilities. They need you.”
“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” I asked him suspiciously as Jaxson held onto me tightly.
Alex crossed the room and grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “He is. I know he is. Please help him.”
Something in his eyes convinced me that he was telling me the truth. I had so many questions. Alex told me he talked to our brother when we first met, but never told me about any further conversations. I guess I should have pressed him more.
I walked over to the desk and tried to commit everything to memory. “How am I supposed to remember all this?” I asked baffled.
I quickly perused the correspondences, emails, and papers on the desk. There was a possibility that this was all a set up, but instinctively I knew it wasn’t. I was actually standing in one of Horatio’s office. I tried not to get distracted by the other papers.
There was a sound down the hall. Cade paled. “Someone’s coming. Remember what you can,” he whispered. He visibly relaxed. “They went the other way, but you still need to hurry.”
If we were in my dream, with the help of Alex, who could possibly hear us, why was he whispering? We weren’t physically here. We only existed in Alex’s head. My head was spinning. None of this made sense.