Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (30 page)

Between the loud music, the
people, and Ash so close, it was all more than she could take. Getting out of
there sounded like a great idea. The room was closing in on her and she really
needed to escape.

Ash brushed his lips along
her neck as he placed one hand around her waist and the other on the small of
her back, moving her toward the stairs.

“We went to a lot of trouble
to find you,” Ash said as he guided her through the crowd. “By the looks of you,
it was—”

Shouting and pushing started
around them, snapping Addy out of the fog that swallowed her. Before she could blink,
Ash was on the floor and Tanner was scooping her up. He carried her down the
stairs and through the crowd to the door.

“I’m pretty sure I told you to
slow down with the drinks,” he said in her ear, as he carried her outside.

Fresh air made her feel more
alert, but she still kept her head on his shoulder and her eyes closed. She
felt like she was on a spinning ride at a carnival.

“You were so good tonight,”
she said, completely forgetting about Ash. “It was even better than last
night.”

He sat down sideways on his
motorcycle, still holding her. “Last night—you mean last
time.”

“No.” Addy put her hand on the
back of his neck, touching the symbol. “On the beach last night, I heard you.”

“You were there? You should’ve
said something.” He adjusted his grip so her weight was resting on his knee.

“You weren’t alone.” Her
head was spinning double time and she was crinkling her nose from loose strands
of her hair tickling it. “I didn’t wanna interrupt your date.”

Tanner brushed her hair out
of her face. “You’re
never
an interruption, girlie.”

The back door to the club flew
open and Jax came storming out.

“Nice,” he said, burning
through Tanner with an accusing glare. “Give her to me.”

Jax reached over, snatching
Addy out of Tanner’s arms.

“She had a few too many, man.
I wasn’t doing anything.” Tanner stood up and took a couple of steps forward.
“I didn’t even know she’d be here tonight.”

“Call me when she needs
something—I’m responsible for her.” Jax turned and carried her away, leaving Tanner
standing alone.

He hauled Addy around the outside
of the building to the valet.

“You’re a lot heavier than
you look.” He told her when he was setting her down in Juliette’s car.

She strained to look up at
him. “I wanted to tell you something, but I can’t remember.”

“Maybe it was why I’m out at
2am dragging your drunken ass out of some guy’s arms in an alley—I’d
really
love to get your take on it.”

“Ashford Worthington.”

Jax tossed his wallet down on
the seat after tipping the valet driver and turned her head to face him. “
What
about him?”

She opened her eyes long
enough to see worry flash across Jax’s face. It was a struggle to get her words
out. “He was dancing with me.”

“
Ash
was with you?”

“We danced, but then he
wanted us to leave.” She wrapped her arms around herself, scooting down in the
seat. “He said he’d been looking for me and I was hidden away.”

On the drive home, Jax was
talking on the phone to someone. He was telling him or her about Ash being at
the club and saying that they needed to push harder for the negotiation with
the
Mesen
. He must have thought she was asleep
because he went on to say he needed a better way to keep her away from Tanner.

Chapter 28

Hazy memories flooded her
mind as the water poured over Addy’s throbbing head. When she tried to sort them
out, one in particular kept resurfacing—Jax saying he’d been trying to keep her
and Tanner apart.

It made absolutely no sense
and really pissed her off. Tanner was a great person and he’d helped them in so
many ways. It wasn’t as if Jax had ever shown any distrust in Tanner, it was
the opposite actually. He was a big part of all of the planning and discussions
they had.

The only reason she could
think of to explain his behavior was that Jax was trying to protect her from
getting in a relationship with an Akori. If that was the case, then he was way
out of line. Their relationship wasn’t like that, he was just her friend.

Once she was dressed, she
headed over to Tanner’s place for the raisin toast she’d requested. Patrick
stopped her in the garden just as she was about to hit the path to the beach
and handed her an envelope he said was from Kim.

Addy thanked him and opened
it as she walked. The only thing in the envelope was a picture. It was the one
Kim took by the fire of her and Gage on their first night at the beach—it was also
the night she met Tanner. They were both smiling and his head was leaning close
to her shoulder. It was hard to look at and made her ache for the simpler days
at the estate so much.

Taking a deep breath, she
turned the picture over and read the back.

Tonight@10pm—same place
as last time.

Addy thought about the words
and decided Kim must’ve meant the warehouse. Her heart was beating rapidly as
it sank in that she was really going to meet up with Mattie. He’d been one of
her best friends for most of her life. Now she could only think of him as the
person responsible for taking Gage away and destroying her relationship with
Kim.

Taking a few deep breaths,
she tried to calm herself as she walked to Tanner’s place. What she needed was a
plan. There was absolutely no way she could just walk into the warehouse
unprepared after she’d witnessed what the Mesen were capable of doing.

Pressing the button to the
penthouse suite, she fiddled with the ends of her hair nervously as she waited
at the door.

Oliver answered and looked
surprised to see her there.

Addy smiled and waved to
him. “Isn’t he up?” she asked, walking in without being invited. “We were
supposed to have breakfast.”

Oliver shook his head. “It
was a late night.”

Addy looked around at the
doors along the hallway, she wasn’t sure which one was Tanner’s room. She
raised her eyebrows at Oliver and he pointed to the one on the left.

“I should probably—”

That was all he managed to
say before she was in Tanner’s room, closing the door behind her.

Once she was in there, she wasn’t
sure what she was gonna do exactly. His room was dark and the bed was a mess
with him sprawled out in the middle. She decided to open the door to the
balcony to let some light and fresh air in.

“Tanner,”
she said. He didn’t budge. She walked over to his bed,
which was the biggest one she’d ever seen, and shook it. “Tanner, wake up.”

He lifted his head and
looked at her, then pulled the blankets over his head. “Oliver’s fired. I hope
you can live with that on your conscience.”

Climbing over him, she plopped
down on the other side of his bed with her feet on the wall. “We had breakfast
plans—
remember?”

He peeked at her from under
the blanket. “Jax was a dick last night. I figured you were grounded, girlie.”

“That’s one of the reasons
you gotta get up.” She started shaking him with her feet. “Please Tanner.
C’mon, I have so much to
tell
you.”

He made a growling sound and
she watched as he tried to hide his smile. “You’re a mean and
awful
girl.”
He motioned for her to get out so he could get dressed.

Oliver had breakfast set up
on the balcony and she was pouring coffee when Tanner came out and joined her. Over
raisin toast and coffee, she told him about the scroll Jax had in the library
last week. Then she told him about the phone call in the car last night where
he was telling someone that he wanted to keep her and Tanner apart.

“That makes
no
sense,”
he said, tossing his toast down on his plate. “Hell girlie, I’ve known you
longer than he has. He doesn’t decide if and when we spend time together.”

It was the first time she’d
ever seen Tanner angry. Instinctively she reached over and smoothed her hand
down his arm. He smiled at her and his face softened.

“You’re right, he has
absolutely no say in our friendship—but dealing with my brother, the
self-appointed warden, is gonna have to wait. I have even bigger news.”

Addy explained to him what happened
when she met with Kim. She pulled out the picture with the message about when
and where to meet Matt written on the back and handed it to him. “Will you come
with me—I mean, if you’re not busy?”

Tanner gave the picture back
to her. “You’re gonna go even if I say not to, right?”

“I have to—it’s
Gage
we’re talking about. If Matt’s telling the truth and I can get him back…” Addy
trailed off, not wanting to get her hopes up.

He leaned back in his chair
and turned his eyes to meet hers. “You know I’m in, you can’t go alone.”

They made their plans and
decided they’d meet early, so they could get there before Matt.

Her phone started ringing
and she sent it to voicemail when she saw it was Jax. A few seconds later Tanner’s
phone started to ring.

“Jax?”

He nodded.

“I’m telling you,
something’s up with him.”

“One thing at a time, girlie.
Let’s just handle Matt today and deal with your brother tomorrow.” He smiled,
finishing his toast.

Molly was still around like
Will wanted and Addy headed back to the estate to check on her. She found her
in the music room sorting through a basket of clothes. Addy took a seat at the piano
and flipped through the sheet music. She selected one of Fate’s favorites and
began playing. Molly stopped what she was doing and came to sit next to her.

“Will told me you talked,”
Molly said when she was finished. “He was glad our son has someone like you.”

Addy turned sideways on the
bench. “I’d do anything if it meant getting him back.”

“So would his father.” Molly
took her hand. “The two of you are a lot alike in that way.”

Addy pulled out the picture
Kim sent her and showed Molly. “This was our first night back here.”

Molly studied the photo. “When
I look at your heads leaning together like that it reminds me of when you two
got your hair stuck together with gum.”

 “That was totally
his
fault.”

Jax strolled in and looked
between them, stopping his eyes on Addy. “So this is where you are. I’ve been
looking for you.”

Addy quickly tucked the
picture away. “You found me, what do you want?” She refused to meet his eyes.  She
was still too mad about learning he was trying to keep her away from Tanner.

He walked up and leaned on
the piano. “Feeling
better
this morning?”

“I had a wonderful breakfast
with
Tanner
and I’m feeling great—thanks for asking.”

“Well, that’s
wonderful.
”
He cleared his throat and wiped the irritated look off his face. “We’ve got our
meeting with the Mesen leaders set up. I need both of you to come to the
library.”

Jax leaned over Addy and played
a few notes of the same song she’d been playing. He smiled at her and said he
was going to round up everyone else.

When Addy and Molly entered
the library, Bernard was the only one there. She quickly told them about
Ashford Worthington trying to get her to leave the club with him.

“He’s
not
someone you
want to associate with,” Molly said. “I’ve heard from more than one person that
he and his father are ruthless. Ash supposedly has the ability to make people
do things.”

“How the
hell
are all
of these powers we’ve never heard about suddenly surfacing?” Bernard asked,
shuffling his stack of papers.

“They’ve found a way to
harness each other’s power and pool them together, unlocking abilities once
lost to us,” Will said, walking in and heading toward Molly.

Addy’s heart skipped when
she saw him; for a split second it was like looking at Gage. He walked over and
took Molly’s hand. Will leaned down and kissed her, making her cheeks flushed.

“Will, how wonderful to see
you.” Bernard stood up and shook his hand. “I didn’t know you were back.”

Addy was surprised they knew
each other. Bernard never mentioned knowing Gage’s dad before.

Jax came in, walking fast with
Juliette trailing behind him. “I hope you have good news for us.”

Will scooped Juliette up,
hugging her. “It’s great to see you, Jules.”

“My father was absolutely
thrilled
when he heard you were back.” Juliette told Will, putting her hands up and
looking at the group. “Brace yourselves—the
troublemakers
have been
reunited.”