Page 8 of Surviving in Everton

I huff at him. “Well, stop reading my damn mind if you don’t like what I’m thinking about,” I argue then stick my tongue out at him, like the grown adult I am.

“Oh, trust me, it’s not that I don’t like your thoughts, in fact, I rather love it when you think like that. It’s just not exactly a good time for me to be hard as steel,” he defends.

Well, damn. Guess I can’t argue with that. Just then the doorbell rings and Ayden goes to get the pizza.

Chapter 4

Declan

When Nate carries Rowen off to her bedroom, we all watch on, desperately praying that he’s able to give her a moment of happiness and take her mind off of everything going on right now. Everyone looks a little lost, so I offer to order the pizza. Hopefully, whatever they get up to in there doesn’t take too long. Rowe needs to eat. The guys told me their lunch got interrupted by the doctor calling, so I know she’s gotta be hungry.

I tried to get a read on Rowe when they got home, but she was so closed off, her mind was completely blank. Even in sleep, she was so numb she wasn’t thinking about anything. It was pretty scary. I was glad to see her come back to herself a little bit when she woke up. Hopefully, her “bath” relaxes her a bit.

I swear, not five minutes after they leave, I start getting flashes from her, even across the house. Her bathroom isn’t that far from the living room, but I wasn’t expecting to get anything from her. I wasn’t even listening for it. At first, it was just flashes of what she was seeing. Nate undressing her, stepping into the hot water, grabbing Nate’s arm when he turned to walk away.

The guys are all looking at me, wondering what’s going on. They’re the only ones who know the extent of my “mind reading” powers. It’s a lot more complicated than just reading minds. Yes, I can hear people’s thoughts on occasion, but I can also see things. Sometimes, like now, it’s glimpses of what the person is seeing. Sometimes I can see what they see in their head. Think dreams and fantasies. I’ve evenfeltanother person’s feelings before. Not really something I always want. It’s hard feeling other people’s feelings. I thank god I don’t have to deal with that often.

Suddenly, I’m bombarded by a feeling of utter rightness. I feel complete for the first time in a long time. It makes me stagger and I stumble to a seat. Damn. Can it really be? I’m glad I sat down because she keeps sending me through a loop.

“What’s wrong, Declan?” Hudson asks me with concern.

“I… fuck man. I canfeelher,” I announce and everyone reels back.

“No fuckin’ way!” Ayden exclaims. “But you haven’tfelther this whole time have you?” he asks me accusingly.

“Of course, I haven’t,” I grind out. “I would have told you as soon as it happened. You know that.” I glare at him. He has the good sense to look contrite.

“Sorry, Dec. I didn’t mean that. We’re all a little stressed right now,” Ayden apologizes.

“Fuck, you canfeelher now? How can that be?” Kayden asks, completely baffled that this could be happening again.

I don’t know. I didn’t honestly think it was possible either, but here we are. The only other person I’ve ever felt was Jane, and I didn’t think it would ever happen again when she died. I try to think back towhenI started tofeelJane as I’m hit with wave after wave of pleasure. Fuck! Whatever Nate’s doing to her, she’s definitely enjoying it. I can’t help but moan at the immense pleasure flooding my brain right now.

“Well, based on that look, I’d say Nate’s doing a pretty damn good job taking her mind off of things,” Ayden remarks with a smirk.

“This is going to be interesting,” Kayden responds. “Hey Dec, did youfeelJaneallthe time? Because I mean I would totally be down forfeelingsome of the time, but if you can’t turn it off, I’d go fucking crazy.” He shudders in mock horror at constantlyfeelingsomeone else.

“It was… hard at first,” I grind out, unconsciously pressing my hand down on my hard dick trying to alleviate some of the ache I’m feeling thanks to Rowen. Sucking in a deep breath I slowly let it out. “After a while, I got used to it and was able to figure out how to block it. Jane helped, of course, she knew what I was going through and was able to block herself after a while. Once we both figured that out, I onlyfeltwhen we wanted me to,” I tell them groaning again. “Like right now, if it was me with Rowe, I would want tofeel. But seeing as I’mnotthe one with her, it’s not quite as enjoyable.”

The guys snicker around me. “Yeah, I don’t envy you now. I’m sure I will later though. It must be amazing to feel both your pleasure and hers during sex,” Ayden says thoughtfully.

“Oh yeah, ten out of ten would recommend it,” I admit. “But it’s not always sunshine and daisies. With everything going on right now, do you really think I’m going to be getting a lot of happy feelings from her?” I ask them rhetorically. Their eyes widen as they realize what I mean.

“Fuck. You need to figure out that blocking thing likenow.You are not going to want tofeelher when she’s going through this. We’re all going to be stressed, but I can’t imagine what Rowe is or will be feeling. We can’t afford for two of us to be paralyzed by fear right now,” Ayden unnecessarily points out.

“I’ll work on it, but I don’t want to tell Rowe right now. At least not tonight. She doesn’t need the added stress of knowing I can feel her emotions. That might be more than she can handle at the moment. She’s been very understanding about the occasional mind read, but this is different,” I tell them.

“Okay, but don’t wait too long or that’ll just make it worse. She deserves to know,” Hudson commands.

“I know, I’ll tell her soon,” I assure them.

As we wait for the pizza, we fall back into a tense silence. Everyone is lost in thought, and I’m no different. It’s been so long since Ifeltsomeone, I honestly didn’t think it was even a possibility anymore. I’m trying to think back to the first time it happened. Jane and I had been dating for about six months, and I took her to a fair that had come to town.

* * *

“Where are we going tonight?”Jane asks me.

“It’s a surprise. You know what those are, right?” I tease her and laugh at the face she makes at me. She can’t hide her excitement though. She loves it when I surprise her with date night.

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