Redemption (Bennett Sisters Book 5) (19 page)

“Concentrate. Imagine
Lydia
is standing behind you and this ball is a knife that I’m going to use to kill her.”

Rick narrowed his eyes and glared at the ball. There was no way in hell that the ball was getting past him. The first three tries, he caught the ball in his hands as Brody moved the ball to hit him.

“Damn it, Rick, you can do better than that. What’s going to happen to
Lydia
if she’s drained of her gift and helpless? How are you going to stop this asshole, or aren’t you man enough to try?”

Another ball levitated between them. The two balls hung in the air, mocking him. “Maybe she does need me. She needs a real man, and you aren’t going to do.”

Rick growled at Brody’s insults. His heart was racing. He wanted to knock the crap out of the jerk. He had no idea how telekinesis worked, but he used that focus and anger to concentrate on the balls. Rick could feel the energy in the room. It made the small hairs on his arms stand up. His chest expanded when he inhaled. He felt the energy from the air around him travel into his body. It caused an electrical current to run through his veins. He concentrated on the feeling until it sizzled out and dissipated. The balls dropped instantly and bounced on the floor.

Brody’s mouth hung open.

“How was that?” Rick asked as he bent down to pick up one of the balls. “Is that what you were talking about?”

Brody snapped his mouth closed and tilted his head. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it was possible.”

Rick tossed the ball to Brody. “I guess we know he was trying to stop her. Do we need to go tell the general?”

“I think you’re right about stopping her. But I’m not sure we need to say anything yet. We have more work to do.”

Rick picked up the towel he’d dropped on the bench and rubbed off some of the sweat from his earlier workout. “How do you feel? Do I need to worry about draining you like
Lydia
when she’s using her gift?”

The lines in Brody’s forehead bunched. “I hadn’t thought about that.” He thought about it in silence. “I don’t feel drained, but I’m not
Lydia
either. I think you’re going to have to practice with her to see if you siphon any of her energy.”

Rick knew exactly how he was going to try out his newfound gift. His lips tilted into a grin. “I think you’re right. How about we practice more later?” Rick’s mind was preoccupied with a redhead that needed his attention. Rick threw the towel over his shoulder and walked to the door. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

Chapter 20

Rick walked into his quarters and jumped in the shower. His heart raced thinking of the possible ways that he and
Lydia
could use his newfound gift. He had no idea if it was going to wear off or if it would be something he had to live with for the rest of his life. It wasn’t the uncertainty of those questions that bothered him. It was how it was going to affect
Lydia
’s gift. He prayed it didn’t drain her. If it did, then he would definitely need to keep his distance from his redheaded beauty, and that wasn’t something he could live with.

Rick threw on clothes, and headed to the one woman who’d consumed his thoughts since he’d been abducted. He tapped on the door.

Lydia
pulled the door open. “I was hoping it was you.” She left the door open and walked to the
little fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. She held it in the air. “Jamie thinks it would be best if I had another type of pick me up…something a bit more healthy.” She poured two glasses and handed him one.
“I went looking for you earlier, and they told me you were training.”

Rick pushed the door closed behind him. “I was training with Brody.”

Lydia
walked over to the couch. She patted the space next to her. “Come sit and tell me how it went.”

Rick plopped down next to her. “First, I need to do this.”

He leaned into her and pressed his lips to hers. 
Lydia
moaned as she moved to straddle him on the couch. She tilted her head and deepened the kiss. Rick lifted his hands and rubbed up and down her back.

Lydia
broke the kiss and sat back. “As nice as that was, you’re avoiding my question. How did it go?”

Rick leaned forward and pressed one more kiss to her lips. “I wasn’t avoiding your question; I was getting my priorities straight. I’ve missed you all day.”

Lydia
leaned into his chest and smiled as she pressed her own kiss to his lips. “I missed you too. I’ll have to show you how much later. First, I want to hear about what happened.”

Rick let his head fall back against the couch. “Well, I talked to the general. There was nothing new yet with my blood work, so they’re still looking. I went to hit the bag for a while and managed to knock it off the bolts in the ceiling.”

Lydia
rubbed Rick’s arms. “Superhuman strength. That could come in handy.”

Rick couldn’t help but grin. “Not as much as what I learned I could do next.”

Lydia
raised her brow. “Well, tell me already. I’m dying here.”

Rick’s grin fell. “Don’t say that. Don’t even joke about dying.”

Lydia
ran her thumb over his lip. “I’m sorry.” She leaned in, pressed another kiss to his lips, then leaned back. “So what did you learn?”
Lydia
grinned. “Oh wait, don’t tell me… you’re like Yoda, and you can flip around the room, and you have some type of mystic Jedi magic kicking in.”
Lydia
nodded. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Rick chuckled. He wished that was all he’d been given. If what he thought might happen actually happened, it almost guaranteed they would never be able to be together. No matter how much he wanted her. She’d become special to him, and honestly, he couldn’t imagine a life without her in it. “I’m afraid it’s nothing as cool as that.”

“Oh darn. That was my only guess, so tell me what you can do.”

Rick rubbed
Lydia
’s arms. “I’m not sure what to call it, yet. But I guess I can kind of absorb the energy in the air. Brody tried to toss balls at my head.”

Lydia
slid off of Rick and placed her hands on her hips. “I’ll kill him.”

Rick pulled her back down to his lap. “Actually we should thank him. Had he not tried, we would have never figured out one of my new talents.”

“What happened?”

“Brody was being Brody, and he pissed me off. I think it was my anger that stopped the balls and made them fall to the ground. It was weird. I could feel the energy being sucked from the room and into my body until it dissipated.”

Lydia
moved off of Rick’s lap and sat beside him. She was silent. He’d learned a long time ago that a silent woman could be a bad thing. He rubbed her back as she leaned over to pick up her
juice
. “What are you thinking?”

Lydia
leaned back into the sofa and propped her feet up on the coffee table.
She kept her gaze on her cup
. “If you’re able to drain the energy out of a room, what does that mean for us?”

Rick put his arm around her and pulled her to lean on him. “I don’t know yet, but we’ll figure it out. I really had to concentrate to do it with Brody. He suggested that I train with you to see how it affects you.”

Rick sat up, slid the
cup of juice
from her hands, and set it down on the table.
“I know where I’d like to start.”

Lydia
smiled and
leaned in to kiss him, pressed her body against his. “Me too.”

She pressed a kiss to his lips and down his neck as she rubbed her palms over his chest. “How about we test how much energy you can absorb.” She pulled his tucked-in shirt out of his jeans and ran her palms against his skin. Rick closed his eyes. Her touch alone was driving him mad. He’d wanted to make love to her since he walked into the room. He leaned down and captured her lips. His tongue slid into her mouth, and she moaned. He lifted a hand and cupped her cloth-covered breast and gently squeezed. He whispered against her lips. “I want you.”

Lydia
’s eyes were closed. “I want you too.”

A loud knock sounded on the door.
Lydia
slid from his lap. Rick pushed himself up and straightened his clothes.
Lydia
’s cheeks were flushed. Her red lips were plump. Had the knock not interrupted them, he would have taken her, right on the couch.

She walked to the door and threw it open. Brody stood grinning on the other side of the door.

“What? I didn’t kill the security system… yet.”

She tried to shut the door on Brody. His uncontained laughter rang out to her ears, but he put up his hand and stopped the door. “I’m not here for you, Red. I’m here for Romeo. The general wants to talk to him.”

Brody put his arm around
Lydia
’s waist and pulled her close. “But if you need any help killing the security system, just let me know.” He placed a peck on her cheek and released her.

Rick grabbed his cup and set it in the sink. “She won’t need any help from you.”

Rick grabbed Brody by the arm and pulled him out of the room. Rick placed a kiss on
Lydia
’s head and winked as he passed. “I’ll be back to collect and check see if we can kill the system ourselves after I talk to the general.”

****

Rick had only been gone five minutes when another knock on the door pulled
Lydia
out of her thoughts. Rick had consumed her thoughts all day. She hadn’t thought it was possible to be given gifts like hers. She’d thought they were things that could only be inherited. The thought that Floyd had access to something that could potentially disable all of their powers scared her. There would be no defeating him if he knew that he’d succeeded with his experiment.

Lydia
remembered the door. “Coming,” she hollered as she set her
cup
in the sink. She pulled her door open and was surprised to see Marlaina standing on the other side.

“I need to talk to you.”

Lydia
opened the door farther and motioned for her
to enter
. “What can I do for you? I thought that everyone would be eating dinner by now.”

Marlaina gave her a sweet smile as she walked past. “That’s why I stopped by. I thought that maybe we could eat together.” Marlaina tapped her red-painted nail against her chin. “You know I never taught you how to block your thoughts from mental attacks.”

Lydia
leaned against the counter. Her head had started to pound; as if tiny pinpricks were attacking her brain. A migraine was starting to form. The pinpricks became more profound and apparent.
Lydia
lifted her hand to rub her temples. “I’m sorry. I’m not feeling very well. If it’s all the same to you, I think that I’ll just skip dinner and go to bed.”

Marlaina took two steps toward her. “You feel that, don’t you?” Marlaina tilted her head to the side. “That’s me causing your headache.”

Lydia
dropped to her knees. The pain intensified ten-fold, worse than any migraine she’d ever had. She clasped her palms around her ears. “I think you’ve made your point. You can stop now.”

Marlaina walked around
Lydia
’s fallen body. “Oh, I don’t think so.” She dragged one of her red dragon nails around
Lydia
’s shoulders. “You didn’t listen to me when I told you leave him alone, and now you’re going to pay.”

Lydia
’s head felt like it was going to explode. She hadn’t meant to piss Marlaina off, but the bitch was trying to torture her.
Lydia
fell on to her side, holding her head. She needed to think, but with the mental assault that Marlaina had on her, it was almost too much. Almost.

Lydia
glanced around the room, and her vision landed on the half-full warming coffee pot.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Lydia
closed her eyes and thought about the gun that Rick had given her. She imagined the coffee pot lifting in the air and hovering in front of Marlaina, distracting her.

“Is that all you’ve got? Really, you don’t stand a chance against Floyd. He is coming for you, and I’m going to hand you over to him on a silver platter.”

Lydia
mumbled, “I thought we were friends. You’re supposed to be one of the good guys.”

Marlaina laughed. “You don’t know me at all.”

Lydia
squirmed on the ground. Her hand coming in contact with the steel hiding beneath her couch. She slid the gun from beneath the couch. Marlaina lifted her hand to block the coffee pot that was aimed at her head when
Lydia
aimed and pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot rang out through the room. The pain in her head immediately ceased, and
Lydia
pulled in a breath. She used the remainder of her strength on the lights. The lights blinked three times before the power went out. She knew if someone had heard the gunshot and the lights had gone out, someone would come looking for her. They’d know she was in trouble.