“No, she was taken by surprise, then put through pain,” Jaxson elaborated as he warily eyed the patio door, ensuring the younger children were still out there. “She wasn’t able to use her gifts. We need to find a way to recreate the experience in a controlled environment so she knows how to react next time.”
“Not that there will ever be a next time,” Jace stated emphatically before pulling me from Troy’s embrace and into his. I thought I felt a tremor run through him, but chalked it up to my imagination. Remy and Jace loved holding their cards to their chest, even if Jace had admitted to having deeper feelings for me last night.
“We can never guarantee that,” Will said slowly. “I like her way of thinking. It’s time we bump the level of difficulty in our training. We need to be prepared for anything.”
Troy nodded. “I have some guys working for me that used to work for the navy seals, the Green Berets, spec ops, and other elite military groups. I’ll bring some of them in and they can help me with ramping up our self-defense techniques. I have a few in mind that I can interview. They’re not gifted, but I have a feeling if they were to see someone accidentally use their gift, they wouldn’t blink an eye with what they’ve seen.”
“Why?” Jemmy wailed from the doorway. “Just kidding,” she rushed over to me with tears in her eyes. “I hate you, don’t ever scare me like that ever again,” she said fiercely. “We shouldn’t rely on our gifts all the time.” She said maturely and so un-Jemmy like. She pulled back and kissed me on both cheeks.
I turned and hugged Gavin and Micah. “Thanks guys,” I whispered fiercely to them.
“Why do I let you talk me into this stuff?” I groaned half joking, half serious as I looked at myself in the mirror.
I was Wonder Woman. My red and gold heart-shaped bodice was in danger of allowing the girls to spill out at any moment. The blue skirt barely covered my lady bits, so I insisted on wearing a pair of blue spanks under it, despite Jemmy and Rachel’s protest. I slid on my red knee-high boots (since they haven’t been worn outside yet) and zipped the sides up.
“Because you look hot, chica,” Jemmy smiled sweetly as she threw me the gold forearm bands, the “W” gold belt, and the matching head band with red star in the middle of it. “Don’t forget these,” she said in a high sing song voice.
“Why couldn’t I be Cat Woman?” I eyeballed her outfit. It was skin tight, but at least she was covered completely. I didn’t think I could pull it off like she did, with her tall, lithe frame, but I would have tried. She looked sexy and beautiful as she slid on her mask that covered the top half of her face.
“Because Gavin’s Batman,” Jemmy scoffed as if it made perfect sense.
“I thought we were keeping our costumes a secret,” I narrowed my eyes on her as I slid my headband on my straightened hair.
She grinned slyly before she lamented. “Did you really think I would let him be a gladiator? He wanted to be a gladiator.”
“He would have been a sexy gladiator,” Rachel said as she walked into the room. “Have you seen how defined his muscles are getting with all these extra work outs?!”
Rachel was the perfect Harley Quin with her red and white vintage baseball tee that had “Daddy’s Lil Monster” plastered across it. A shiny red and blue jacket accompanied it. She had elected to wear the short spandex red and blue shorts over fish net stockings. We had spent the late afternoon dying her hair to a platinum blond shade, and I had to admit it looked fabulous on her. We had sprayed temporary blue hair spray in one of her pony tails and reddish-pink in the other.
“Just remember he’s mine,” Jemmy joked good naturedly. “All of his sexy, tall, ruggedness.”
Rachel groaned. “You don’t have to remind me. Can we make it our mission to find me a boyfriend?” she looked over at me mischievously. “You have a boyfriend, and Blake has six. I feel left out.”
I groaned as Jemmy hooted with laughter. “That’s our mission tonight.”
“Really guys,” I said good naturedly rolling my eyes. “You think it’s easy juggling six relationships. It isn’t.”
Rachel frowned. “Jemmy can you help me with my makeup.” Then she looked over at me with that crap eating grin again. “I never said I wanted six men adoring me, protecting me, sexing me up, but I would settle with…four.”
I threw my brush at her retreating back. “Laugh it up,” I grumbled at her as I applied my bright red lipstick.
Ella came bursting in my room, through the bathroom. She stopped short as she appraised me. “You look really pretty, Blake,” she smiled up at me.
“Thank you,” I smiled. “Are you guys ready to get dressed so we can go trick or treating?”
“Yes,” she squealed happily before yelling through the bathroom. “Nadia, they’re ready to get us dressed!”
The guys had volunteered to get the boys and themselves ready, while we got ourselves and the girls ready. I could hear the boys hooting and hollering up and down the stairs. It was no surprise that they were finished first. We had to do our hair and makeup and that added at least an hour to our time. They had even given us a head start and they still beat us.
Oh well, I thought. I was a fairly low maintenance girl. I deserved a little extra time to get ready, every now and then.
After the boys yelled at us for the third time to hurry up, we decided to make our entrance. We were going to light their jack-o-lanterns before we headed out to Nadia’s development. Jemmy, Gavin, Rachel, and Drake were heading to We 7. While Troy, Jaxson, Jace, and Noah were accompanying me to take the kids trick or treating. The party was starting at eight, so we would be late, but we were okay with that.
I walked down the steps and saw Gavin, Jace, Troy, Noah, and Jaxson dressed and waiting for us. I looked at Jemmy in exasperation. “Whatever happened to keeping it a secret?”
“Jemmy can’t keep secrets, you should know that by now,” Will laughed good-naturedly. “That’s why I had her spy on the boys for me, when they were growing up.”
I smiled, imagining them as teenagers. I could see the boys trying to hide their escapades and antics from Jemmy. I could see her being the bratty little sister trailing after them and then telling on them.
Every flippin’ one of the guys were dressed as a comic book character. I had to admit they made damn good comic book characters. They certainly didn’t need those costumes with the fake muscles built into them, that’s for sure. It was no surprise that Troy was Captain America. How befitting that the man that obsessed over war movies, chose the superhero that served in the military.
Jaxson was dressed as Spiderman. His face fell as he looked at Jemmy accusingly. “You told me she was going as Mary Jane.”
“And you believed me,” she pointed at him as she doubled over in laughter. “Who wants to go as Mary Jane?”
It was mean of Jemmy to lie to him, but I had to admit that it was hilarious. Honestly, if he had remembered their love/ hate relationship, he should have realized she was setting him up.