The Exclusive One

Chapter 6

Day 3.

8:00 a.m.

Parker:

When I wake up my eyes are crusty because of all the tears I shed. My face feels sticky and I look to my right and see Ryan lying on my bed. I decide not to disturb him and walk to my bathroom. I turn on the shower and wait till I see steam before entering.

I close my eyes trying to keep the image of Nikki’s head rolling on the ground out of my head.

I strip and step into the shower. I try to let my muscles relax and to let myself enjoy this moment because since Nikki died and we didn’t find Bella and Lorelei things are sure to be hectic today.

But every second a new image comes into my head.

The blood in the snow.

Nikki’s screaming face.

The bruises everywhere on her.

And more than anything these words keep replaying in my head:

“Tell me is it you or her?”

“Her.”

Hunter’s stunned face when Nikki told him that.

Why did she lie?

Why did she let herself die?

By the time I get out of the shower and have thrown on my robe I walk back into my room and Ryan is gone. I sigh sadly, I was hoping he could help be my distraction.

I hear a lot of commotion outside my door, so I rush back to my closet. I pick out a pair of burgundy yoga pants and grab a black tank top and a matching burgundy hoodie. I throw my hair up in a messy bun and rush out the door where everybody turned to look at me and everything went so quiet you could hear a pen drop.

All of the boys’ stare at me as if I’ve grown a second head and I say, “Um, good morning?”

They all look at each other and avoid my gaze. My brow furrows in confusion because obviously I’m interrupting something. Ryan heaves a heavy sigh catching everyone’s attention. He looks at me, “Hey Par, you wanna go get some breakfast?”

“Sure…” I say slowly and Ryan comes over linking his arm together with mine as he leads me towards the front door. He asks, “Car or motorcycle?”

“What’s going on, Ryan?”

“I’ll tell you soon, I promise. But for now, car or motorcycle?”

“Motorcycle.”

He smiles and we both grab a helmet before we walk towards Ryan’s favorite bike. He gets on first and I get behind him and wrap my arms around his waist. He is the only thing keeping me sane and secure right now. He backs up and soon makes his way to the road. He takes off and tries to make the ride as fun as he can. He drifts at certain points making me hold on tighter, but I trust in him. I know he won’t do anything that he thinks could end up hurting me.

He drives us a bit further away than I would’ve anticipated. We’re at least half an hour away from the house and I’m surprised none of the others joined us.

He walks towards the restaurant and holds the door open for me as I follow him in. It’s a place where you seat yourself, so he takes us to a corner booth that seems to be pretty secluded from everybody else. I didn’t mind, but it made me wonder what exactly he was up to.

He ordered for both of us because I’ve never been here before and he knows what I like. To most people it would look like we’re out on a date, but neither one of us ever saw each other in that light. We are strictly platonic.

He gets his cup of coffee while a hot chocolate is set in front of me. We both take a sip and then he asks, “Hey Parker, do you ever wish you were one of us?”

I chuckle softly, “Are you kidding? I’ve always wished that. I’ve always felt like an outsider compared to the rest of you.”

“Really?” His eyebrows raise in surprise, “I never noticed that you felt that way.”

I nod and take another sip of my drink and ask, “Why do you ask?”

“Well…” He trails off and glances up as the waiter brings us our food. We both thank the waiter and Ryan sighs and says in a questioning tone, “We have a suspicion that Nikki might have tried to transfer her powers over to you?”

I straighten up in my seat intrigued by his comment. I ask, “What would make you think that?”

“Well… she said she wasn’t the ‘Exclusive’ and insinuated that she thought it was you. Which is impossible when you don’t have any powers. I think that Hunter couldn’t tell that she lied because technically she didn’t. Ava found some things in her room that point to this idea that she was going to transfer her abilities over to you.”

“Well, if she did that wouldn’t we already know?”

He shakes his head no and glances around the room. I can tell he’s checking other’s minds to make sure that no one is eavesdropping on our conversation. Once the concern has passed for him, he says, “No, we wouldn’t. Things get kind of tricky and pretty technical when it comes to transferring abilities.”

“So, when would we know if she did? And are you okay with it if she did that?”

“When we get back home we’ll sit down with Tom, Emma, Jasper, and Ava and they will be able to explain better than I am. They were concerned that you may would have a hard time accepting this, so we all agreed it was best for me to talk to you. And no, it doesn’t bother me. If anyone has to have her powers, I’m glad she chose you.”

I smile softly, “I appreciate the concern, but no it doesn’t really overwhelm me. Quite the opposite honestly, I’ve always wanted to be like you guys.” I pause as I take a bite of my food and process what I want to say next. I continue, “Although, I hate that it had to happen this way I would be proud if I’m the reason Nikki’s legacy lives on.”

He grins at me, “That’s my girl.”

 ******

Day 3.

8:35 a.m.

Ryan:

When I woke up Parker wasn’t in the room anymore and I hear her shower running. I get up and walk out to the kitchen and I’m surprised to see that everybody: Tom, Emma, Jasper, Ava, Travis, and Ashton are all in there.

I greet, “Good morning.”

Ava huffs blowing her red hair out of her face, “It’s morning alright, but I’m not sure if it’s a good one.”

Jasper places his hand on hers in an attempt to comfort her and she smiles softly at him. I slowly sit down beside Ashton and Emma passes me a cup of coffee and I mouth ‘thank you’ because Tom began to speak, “How’s Parker doing?”

I shrug, “I don’t really know. I haven’t seen her this morning and I mean last night she was a wreck, but we both were.”

He nods in understanding and Jasper says, “Ryan… we have reason to believe that Nikki tried to transfer her powers.”

“So… what you’re saying I should be on the lookout for new powers?”

It made sense I suppose. That if she knew she was going to die that she would send them over to me because I’m her brother and the one most likely to be able to handle it.

Ashton puts a leather-bound journal on the table in front of me and Tom says, “Ashton, Jasper, Emma, Ava, and I were reading it all night. It’s Nikki’s journal. She had been training Parker behind all of our backs trying to get her physically and mentally prepared for the power transition.”

My eyebrows furrow together as I pout and try to make this all out, “No, no, no, Nikki wouldn’t do that. Parker’s a human. Nikki knew there was a high chance that Parker wouldn’t be able to survive getting transferred powers. It’s difficult for us to receive them how can an ordinary human be able to handle that kind of pain?”

Ashton speaks up, “I understand, man, and I agree, but regardless if you read this, you’ll understand why we think this.”

I look at everybody’s faces and watch as Travis exits the room with a scowl on his face. What the hell crawled up his ass?

I shake my head as I try to process everything I’ve been told and asked, “If and it’s a big if, but if Nikki did that wouldn’t Parker have already started the transition?”

Ava shook her head, “No, Nikki was very thorough and precise about this. She knew she was going to die and that it would be sooner than later, and she knew that she couldn’t transfer her powers to one of us because that’s exactly what the Aberrations would be expecting from us. And she knew they would be expecting the change to happen immediately so she made it where it wouldn’t.”

“So, when will it happen?”

Jasper answers, “The next full moon.”

“When is that?”

Ashton groans and rubs his head, “In three days.”

“Three days?!”

Everybody nodded and no one knew what to say in response to all of this. How do we tell Parker that she might die in three days?

The process to get powers is extremely painful. She would either become one of us or she would die.

I sigh, “Who’s going to tell her?”

Everybody just stared at me and I groan, “Why do I have to tell her?”

Ashton grumbles, “Because she trusts you the most.”

I almost smirk at his jealousy. If he wasn’t so obvious and desperate, he may would have a chance with her. I breathe out heavily, “Fine I’ll do it.”

The sound of a door opening has us all snapping our heads back towards Parker. I’m surprised she’s not dressed in sweatpants and a baggy sweatshirt normally after going through something so traumatic you wouldn’t be dressing so normally, but here she is in burgundy yoga pants with a tank top and a matching hoodie. Her hair looks a bit messy, but I can’t tell if she styled it that way on purpose or not. I notice that everything’s too quiet as she looks at us with a puzzled expression and she says, “Um, good morning?”

We all look at one another awkwardly and I sigh loudly catching everybody’s attention and I look over at her and ask, “Hey Par, you wanna go get some breakfast?”

“Sure…” She says hesitantly and I get up and link our arms together as I lead us to the front door before anyone else can say anything. I ask, “Car or motorcycle?”

“What’s going on, Ryan?” I look at her and see her eyes full of concern and I respond, “I’ll tell you soon, I promise. But for now, car or motorcycle?”

“Motorcycle.”

I smile because that will make for a much less awkward trip. We go to my favorite bike and I get on it first and smile softly as I feel her get behind me and she wraps her arms around my waist. She has the same stature as Bella that for a second if I closed my eyes, I could almost envision her being here with me instead.

I drive us about 45 minutes away from the house mainly because I wanted to make sure no one would follow us to eavesdrop on our conversation. And this place is a small quiet place that Bella and I always went to whenever we had some more serious things to discuss.

We seat ourselves and I take us to a booth that’s away from pretty much everybody in the restaurant.

The waiter comes and I order for both of us. I honestly didn’t mean to it was more out of habit because I always did that with Bella.

I get my cup of coffee and I watch as the hot chocolate gets set down in front of Parker and it has a mountain of whip cream on it that is tempting me to buy one for myself.

I sip my coffee and feel disappointed that it’s not as sweet or delicious as her drink is. I decide to go ahead and get this over with and ask, “Hey Parker, do you ever wish you were one of us?”

She chuckles softly almost as if I told her a joke and she responds, “Are you kidding? I’ve always wished that. I’ve always felt like an outsider compared to the rest of you.”

“Really?” I’m shocked to hear this. She had never acted that way before at least not in front of me, “I never noticed that you felt that way.”

She nods and asks after she takes another sip of her drink, “Why do you ask?”

“Well…” I trail off because I noticed the waiter bringing us our food. We both thank the man and I sigh as he walks away and say, “We have a suspicion that Nikki might have tried to transfer her powers over to you.”

I watch as her body posture changes because she seems interested in what I said. I ask, “What would make you think that?”

“Well… she said she wasn’t the ‘Exclusive’ and insinuated that she thought it was you. Which is impossible when you don’t have any powers. I think that Hunter couldn’t tell that she lied because technically she didn’t. Ava found some things in her room that point to this idea that she was going to transfer her abilities over to you.”

“Well, if she did that wouldn’t we already know?” Parker responds with a shrug like she’s dismissing the idea. I shake my head no and glance around the room. No one is near us, but I have to be safe, so I check everyone’s minds to make sure no one is noticing us. Once the coast is clear I say, “No, we wouldn’t. Things get kind of tricky and pretty technical when it comes to transferring abilities.”

“So, when would we know if she did? And are you okay with it if she did that?”

“When we get back home we’ll sit down with Tom, Emma, Jasper, and Ava and they will be able to explain better than I am. They were concerned that you may would have a hard time accepting this, so we all agreed it was best for me to talk to you. And no, it doesn’t bother me. If anyone has to have her powers, I’m glad she chose you.”

It’s a partial truth. I wish Nikki would’ve given them to me. Because I’m her brother I think the transfer over would’ve been easier. I’m also concerned that she may have signed Parker’s death certificate by doing this.

Parker smiles softly, “I appreciate the concern, but no it doesn’t really overwhelm me. Quite the opposite honestly, I’ve always wanted to be like you guys.” She pauses to take a bite of food then continues, “Although, I hate that it had to happen this way I would be proud if I’m the reason Nikki’s legacy lives on.”

I grin at her, “That’s my girl.”