Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (23 page)

Addy wore a short teal and blue halter dress and
matching platform heels. She’d been worried about being overdressed but ended
up looking conservative compared to the way the two girls at her table were
made up. Her hair was pulled up with a few strands pulled loose hanging down
around her face and neck.

 The girl named Aimee leaned toward Addy. “So you’re
the one Tanner cut his hair for, huh?”

Addy was caught off-guard by her question and shook
her head, a little surprised by the fact that he’d mentioned her to his friends
at all. “I wouldn’t say that he cut it for
me
, but I think he looks
pretty good.”

The three people at her table exchanged doubtful looks
and Addy felt under the microscope.

 Trisha stirred her drink with the straw. “We met your
brother Jax the other night—he’s a
handful
.”

“The girls couldn’t keep their eyes off him,” Stan
said, smirking. “Every guy here wanted to beat him down.”

“My brother’s good at making people wanna hit him,”
Addy said, shaking her head. “We’re
nothing
alike.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Jax; he was just
different from the people she normally associated with. When she pictured a
brother, it wasn’t Jax.

They made a little small talk and had a couple of drinks.
The DJ stopped playing music and Tanner came on stage. Addy felt bad she’d
never asked Tanner much about his band. She didn’t even know the name, which
was Twisted Memories, until they got there. She also didn’t know he played the
guitar and did most of the singing.

The other guys in the band looked pretty much like Tanner
did the first day she met him, except the drummer. His head was shaved and he
was covered head to toe in tattoos and piercings. He also didn’t feel the need
to wear a shirt—not that you could tell whether he was wearing one or not with
all the tats marking him.

The first song was hardcore rock and had the whole
place on its feet. Apparently, Twisted Memories had a pretty big local fan
base. After another two songs, Addy checked her phone and saw she’d missed a
call from Gage. There was no way she could call him back in there. She started
to get up to go outside and call him when she spotted him walking in.

The flashing lights in the club made Gage’s golden
hair and light eyes stand out even more than usual. Matt always said that human
girls were especially attracted to Akori guys, and it wasn’t their fault that
he and Gage always had girls falling all over them. Looking around, she
believed it.

 Some of the girls, including the two at her table
were following him with their eyes as he walked through and scanned the crowd. Wearing
dark pants, and a blue and black button down shirt with the sleeves cuffed, even
Addy had a hard time not staring.

 Standing up, she walked over to meet him near the bar.
“You made it!” She had to shout over the pounding music.

He broke out into a smile when he saw her. “You look
fantastic,” he said in her ear.

“So do you.” She motioned around the room. “Obviously
the other girls here agree.”

He acted surprised and looked around. “What other
girls?”

Addy instantly pretended to gag. “You can put away the
cheesy lines, I’m pretty sure we’re past that point.”

He smiled and turned his head. “You
sure?
I’ve got
more if you don’t like that one.”

“I’m good,” she said and took both of his hands, pulling
him behind her to the table where she’d been sitting.

Addy pointed at each person. “Gage, this is Aimee,
Trisha, and Stan. They’re friends with Tanner.”

They all greeted him and Stan flagged down their server
to get Gage a drink.

Trisha scooted closer to the table and shouted over
the music. “So you’re Addy’s boyfriend then?”

Addy felt her face flush. She couldn’t believe how
they just said whatever came to mind.

Gage flashed a grin at Addy. “I’m working on it.”

Tanner was incredibly talented on stage. Addy would’ve
never imagined he could be like that, and it
really
made her wonder why
he’d ever want to put up with the issues at the estate. If she was him, she’d
have bailed as soon as Jax made the pulling feeling go away.

The band vacated the stage and the DJ started playing
loud club music. The packed area around the stage became a dance floor again
and it was completely crowded as they made their way through.

Addy’s head spun as she and Gage danced with the rest
of the group to the loud music. The lights flashing on and off made rainbows of
colors that were hypnotizing.

Gage pulled her into his arms; she was out of breath
and hot. He bent down and picked her up so they were face to face and her feet
were dangling below her. Addy slipped her arms around his neck tightly, pulling
herself against him.

Gage leaned his forehead against hers. “Do you
remember dancing with me before?”

She did remember and she wished she could forget it. Doris
and Stubbs were teaching them how to do some traditional Akori dances and she
was paired up with Gage. She was 12 then, and she stepped on his feet and
tripped him, causing him to fall. It wasn’t one of her better moments.

“Yeah,” she said, biting her lip.

He grinned at her obvious embarrassment over the
memory. “You’re much better now.”

Once they went back to the table, it wasn’t long
before Tanner joined them, looking surprised to see Gage.

 “Thanks for coming, man.” They did the guy
handshake-half-hug-back-pat thing.

“That was awesome,” Addy said, stepping forward and
smiling at Tanner. “You were so good.”

 He stepped over and hung his arm around her neck. “Thanks,
girlie.”

“Yuck Tanner, you’re all
sweaty
—get off.” She
laughed and pushed him away.

He tried to act offended, but once she stuck her
tongue out at him they both started laughing.

Gage grabbed her by the waist and pulled her up
against him. His timing told her that he wasn’t completely convinced that she
and Tanner were just friends yet.

Addy got Gage and Tanner talking and they discovered they
both liked video games and motorcycles, and video games with motorcycles,
a
lot
. From that point on, they forgot she was even there. She didn’t really
mind though. She wanted them to get to know each other and be friends.

After a few more drinks, the other girls dragged her
out to dance. The floor was still crowded and the lights were flashing fast to the
music.

Addy thought she caught sight of a pair of Akori hands
draped around a nearby girl’s shoulders. It looked like whoever it was had a
ring similar to the one Gage wore. She tried to see if it was anyone she knew,
but lost sight of them in the pulsing crowd.

She stopped dancing and just stood there, being
slammed around by the dancing masses. Looking around, she could have sworn
someone was calling her name. There was no way she heard anything over the
music, but she still felt something odd and started to walk to the back of the
club.

Approaching the far end of the dance floor, she saw
the blue glow of Akori hands. It was a guy who was turning down the hallway
that went to the bathrooms. He tucked his hands in his pockets and she saw him
look at her out of the corner of his eye.

As she stepped off the dance floor Gage grabbed her
hand, spinning her into his arms. “We’ve been looking for you.”

Tanner was standing behind Gage. He looked toward the
hallway, then back at Addy. “You ok, girlie?”

“Yeah, I just thought…never mind.” She glanced at the
direction she’d been headed and suddenly the urge to go that way faded.

It was way past last call and everybody started to
spill out onto the sidewalk in front of the club. Gage told Tanner he was gonna
take Addy back with him and they headed out.

The tropical night air was still hot from the sun
blazing down all day. They traveled the roads along the ocean back to the
estate. The top of his Jeep was off and the wind whipped through her hair. It
wasn’t long before it was pulled free from the hairpins she had holding it up
and flying all over the place.

Gage had his hand was on her leg, tapping his
fingertips to the song that played on the radio. Her shoes were in the back
seat and her feet were up on his dashboard. They could’ve been any young human couple
driving home from a date.

For the last few hours she’d pushed every terrible
thing that was happening in their lives out of her head, but the closer they
got to the estate, the more difficult it was becoming. She wondered if once Jax
gained his power she’d be able to leave. Getting away from Tremain and having a
normal life somewhere sounded incredibly appealing.

Addy leaned her head back and turned to Gage, reaching
over and running her finger along the side of his neck. “Would you ever leave
the estate, like just
go
—live like the humans?”

Gage shifted his eyes to her briefly, and then looked
back at the road. “That’s a random thing to ask.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to be free from all the drama?”

“Is that what you want?”

Addy turned the idea over in her mind. “Jax won’t need
me. I think I wanna get away.”

He was quiet until he stopped at the next traffic
light and she was beginning to regret what she’d said.

Gage slipped his fingers through hers. “After
everything settles down we’ll take a long road trip away from the estate,” he said,
kissing the top of her hand, “and if you decide you don’t wanna come back then
we won’t.”

“That sounds so perfect,” she said as they were
turning into the driveway. “We have to bring Moose though.”

“And your reversible kitten blanket?”

“Of course.” Addy’s smile immediately faded when she
saw the estate.

The lights were all on in the main house, which was
unusual for 3am.

Gage sighed and let go of her hand. “What now?”

She checked her phone. “Seven missed calls from
Bernard.”

Gage parked without even bothering to put his Jeep in
the garage and they ran into the house.

Juliette was talking to a group of Akori when she
spotted them. “Addison, your human friend released all of our prisoners.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Bernard said.

“Addison, your human friend and all of our prisoners
are gone—I
wonder
what happened,” Juliette said sarcastically, glancing
in Bernard’s direction.

Addy couldn’t speak, her head was spinning. That just
didn’t sound like something Kim would, or even could, do.

Stubbs walked up fast with Patrick and joined them.

“It was Matt,” Stubbs said to Juliette, “he made her
do it.”

 Juliette’s eyes met Stubbs then she shifted to look
at Patrick. “Have you finished searching their rooms?”

“Yeah,” he said, glancing in Addy’s direction, “and we
found some interesting things.”

“We should speak privately.” Juliette started to walk
away with Patrick, but looked back over her shoulder. “I’ll meet with you in
the morning, Addy.”

Stubbs gave Gage an odd look. Addy followed his eyes
and realized Gage was holding her shoes and purse, which he must have grabbed
from his back seat on their way in. She sheepishly reached over, taking them
from him.

Gage ran his fingers through his hair and shook his
head. “How’d they get away?”

“Someone unlocked their cells and they walked right
out.” Bernard threw his hands in the air. “And no one saw anything.”

Addy put her hand on her forehead. “So what do we do?”

Stubbs gave her a reassuring smile. “We all get some
sleep and pick back up tomorrow.”

Bernard and Stubbs walked away, Winkie and Brutis
trailing behind them. The older men looked exhausted.

 Gage took her hand once they were alone and stepped
in front of her. “Just stay here tonight. You shouldn’t be alone with them out
there.”

She didn’t object, and they walked to his room.

“Why would Kim do that?” Addy dropped down on the edge
of the bed. “I told her to stay away from him.”

 “People do crazy things when they think they’re in
love.” He handed her one of his t-shirts to put on. “I’ll set up on the couch
tonight,” he said, grabbing one of the pillows off of his bed.

She slipped his shirt on over her dress then slid her
dress off and sat back down on his bed. She was surprised he was gonna sleep
across the room since he’d just spent the last two nights in her bed.

 “We should’ve known something was going on the night
Kim was fighting on the beach.” Gage tossed the pillow on the couch. “Remember
the way her, Matt, and Renee were looking at each other?”

Addy remembered. “It was like they had an entire
conversation going without us.”

“Something’s not right.”

 She reached up, pulling her hair into a ponytail. “This
entire place isn’t right anymore.”

Gage nodded his head and came over to sit next to her.
“It can only get better though.”

“I hope you’re right.” She doubted it could get any
worse.

He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her over to sit
on the floor by the couch.

“Do you remember the year you begged Fate for a cat
for your birthday, but he said no?”

“Yeah, that was my 11
^th
birthday, the first
year you and Mattie—
you guys
didn’t come to my party. Molly said you both
went on a ski trip.” Thinking about Matt put a knot in her stomach.

That was her worst birthday ever. The boys screwing
around and causing trouble was her favorite part of every party they had at the
estate and it wasn’t the same without them.

“It was a last minute thing. I planned on coming Addy,
but it was just—”

“No worries, it was a long time ago.” She hadn’t meant
to make him feel bad. “Anyway, what about it?”