“In my mind, she isn’t there. Her body is, but her soul has moved on. She’s happy now. Molly tries to get me to go with her every year, but I can’t. I don’t want to see her grieving. I don’t want to remember that Anna was taken too soon.
“I know I don’t handle emotions well. I know I’m known for shutting people out. I need time to myself to lick my wounds and come back when I feel mentally capable. I don’t like talking about my feelings.
“I realize now, I can’t shut you out,” he stroked my arm. “We almost lost you yesterday, because I couldn’t answer my damn phone.”
I turned and stroked his cheek. “We’re both broken people, we all are, so we’re going to have to learn how do this right. Yesterday wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t,” I insisted before I leaned in to kiss him.
We shared a sweet kiss full of promise, before he pulled away and I had a fork full of pancakes with strawberries on it, in my face.
I giggled before I took a bite. He didn’t care for strawberry pancakes. He preferred blue berry or banana fosters. He had ordered them for me.
Chapter 26
“Wake up, Baby,” Remy grunted when my alarm went off for the third time.
“Ugh, do I have to?” I grumbled, burying myself in deeper on his chest. “Can’t we sleep in and skip the games today? We can just show up afterwards to the meeting.”
He chuckled, his voice still thick with sleep, “I wish, but we wouldn’t want to let our team down.”
I groaned. “Team, seam, I want to sleep more. Maybe if someone hadn’t kept me up most of the night.” I teased.
He pinched my butt, making me yelp in surprise. “If I recall, it was you that was the initiator and you who suggested I didn’t leave.”
“Semantics,” I grumbled as I slid out of bed, and he chuckled at me.
Ever since he let me catch a glimpse of him yesterday, he had been smiling more often. His austere features were arresting and captivating when he smiled. I loved seeing him this relaxed.
I walked over to my closet. I pulled on a pair of yoga pants, a sports bra, and a racer back tank top. Remy had brought his clothes in the night before, so he wouldn’t have to go back to his room this morning. When I turned around he held out a familiar hooded sweatshirt. The lettering was faded and had clearly been worn and washed several times.
“You remembered,” I declared happily as I slid it on.
“It was the first memory I had of you,” he said gruffly, as if he was embarrassed at the small gesture. “The night you were here with Gavin. You ran into me, and when you stood up, I had a flashback of you wearing my hoodie. We were at a football game and you were standing on the seats, cheering your little heart out. You were so beautiful.”
I climbed onto my bed, so I could be eye level with him, and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you,” I kissed him softly. “I really missed it.” I buried my head in the neck line, it still smelled faintly of him. “And I forgive you for keeping me up all night and pinching me,” I patted his face, with a cheeky grin.
He chuckled at me, before he lifted me up and kissed me soundly. “Let’s get going, we’re going to be late.”
This was the most Knights I had seen in one place. It was hard to believe there were so many of us. All fourteen teams were present. As with most teams, trash talking occurred. Each team thought they were the best. We had finally decided to put it to a test.
Will, Steven, Beth, and a few other members of the board had thrown together an obstacle course for us. It was supposed to test our physical abilities as well as our gifted capacities. The first team back had bragging rights and the opportunity to pass on certain assignments. Generally, teams were made of six to ten people.
Our team consisted of Remy, Jace, Troy, Noah, Drake, Jaxson, Rachel, and myself. Terrance, John, Michael, Dawn, Sam, and Marcel had petitioned to run with us, but was denied, so Gavin and Jemmy volunteered to go onto their team. We still had every intention on working together. Especially after we found out some of the teams were going to be working together and gunning for us. The new team Ned was placed on was one of them.
I was surprised to see Rose on one of the other teams determined to take us down. “I thought she wasn’t that gifted,” I whispered to Jemmy as I looked pointedly at Rose. “Plus, why is she running when she’s pregnant?”
I sat on the ground next to Jemmy and started stretching with her. Jemmy looked at me confused for a moment. “No, she’s a five I believe,” she shrugged. “She can manipulate water sources.”
In the past, Jemmy had accused her of being a two or three, but I saw now that she must have spoken out of anger. She had wanted to strike back at Rose for her personal attack. Jemmy always had intense emotions that burned hot and bright but could fizzle out just as quickly.
Drake sat down beside me. “Sorry, I didn’t know she was going to be here. I guess she got the clearance from the doctor.”
“Hmm,” I nodded noncommittedly. She was wearing a skin-tight track suit, where she only had a little baby bump showing. She was definitely blessed with good genetics. “When’s your next appointment?” I asked him as I reached out to squeeze his hand.
“Next Thursday,” he grimaced. “I think I’m going to get a new number and request that she contact me by email in the future. If she’s this crazy before the baby is born, I’m scared how she’s going to behave after the baby is born. My lawyer advised me from financially supporting her any further.”
“Has it gotten that bad?” I asked with a frown.
“Beyond,” he muttered uncomfortably.
“Do you want me to go talk to her?” Jemmy asked as she stood up with her hands on her hips.
He ducked his head and shook it. “Nah. I’m going to tell her when I see her at the appointment.”
“I’m going with you, right?” Jemmy asked.
He nodded pensively. “If you could.”
“Okay, teams,” Steven said into a bullhorn, cutting off our conversation. “You should have all read the rules to this friendly competition. Please follow them, or we will be forced to disqualify you. Please stay on the course. We will have monitors on the course, to ensure that you are. If a monitor feels you have cheated in any way, you will be asked to leave the competition. If one member on your team fails to follow the rules, the whole team will be disqualified. You start as a team and you will end as a team. The time will not stop until every member on your team has finished the race. Understood?” He waited until most of us made some kind of noise in affirmation before a whistle was blown.