Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (7 page)

Addy cut her eyes toward him and saw blood was smeared
across his cheek. “I’m fine.”

He moved his head and they were nose to nose, looking
to each other’s eyes.

“Pay attention,” she said, thrusting her body up
suddenly.

He was caught off guard and thrown to the side. She
worked to get to her feet, as he sprang at her, knocking them both back down.

“Both of you get to your feet!”

They froze at the angry sound of Bernard’s voice.

Gage stood up first, looking embarrassed. He reached
down and pulled Addy up. She was pretty unsteady on her feet, and she grabbed
his shoulder to brace herself. They were soaked with sweat and blood. His nose
was bleeding and blood was dripping from the back of her head. Each had red
welts that would probably be deep bruises before long, and both of them were trying
to hold back smiles.

“That
wasn’t
what I had in mind when I asked
you to work with her,” Bernard said, scowling at Gage.

Addy locked her eyes on the grey marble floor. She was
afraid if she looked at Gage she wouldn’t be able to hold back her laughter.

“And you…” Bernard sighed as he put his index finger
under Addy’s chin, tipping back her blood smeared face to examine it. “Do
either of you require medical attention?”

 “No.” They both said at the same time. It felt like
the time he caught them throwing snowballs at cars as they drove by the estate
when they were kids.

“Alright then, put the mats away. Then head back to
your rooms to get cleaned up. Fate wants to see both of you in an hour.”

With that Bernard turned and headed for the door, but
she saw him smiling as he walked away. When she was sure he was gone, Addy
busted out laughing.

“I
totally
had you,” she said, grinning.

“Really?”
Gage gave up trying not to laugh. “It
looked to me like you were about to give up when Bernard came in.” He glanced
over at her smiling, but his face quickly changed to a look of concern. “Are
you sure your head’s ok? That seems like a lot of blood,” he said, reaching for
her, “let me take a look.”

“It’ll be alright.” Addy ducked from his grasp and felt
the trickle of blood down her neck as she pulled her ponytail out. She was
feeling a little lightheaded, but really didn’t want him picking through her
bloody hair.

“Seriously,
let me see
.” He already had a hold
of her shoulder, turning her around. Gage took a deep breath. “Oh hell, it looks
pretty bad. Let’s go see—”

Chapter 6

“I think she’s waking up.”

Addy tried to open her eyes when she heard a door
close, but the light was blinding.

“Addy? Can you hear me?” The voice belonged to Molly, Gage’s
mother.

“What’s going on?” Addy asked. She opened her eyes
slowly and saw that she was in her own bed. Her cat Moose was laying at her feet
and Molly was standing over her. Addy tried to sit up, but she was met with
heavy resistance from her body.

“You passed out after practice. Do you remember?”
Molly reached down and brushed Addy’s hair from her eyes. “We were all very
worried.”

It all began coming back to her. She’d been at practice
with Gage. He was checking out her head after Bernard left.

“I remember.” She glanced at the window and noticed it
was dark out. “What time is it?”

Molly looked at the clock. “Just before midnight; you
were out almost twelve hours.”

Addy put her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes.
She spent the entire day like a corpse and missed meeting Tanner. She was
hoping he wouldn’t come snooping around the estate and get caught because she
didn't show up.

“I need to get up and use the bathroom,” she said,
slowly sitting up with Molly’s help. “Who else is here?”

“Kim and Matt are in the living room. Gage went up to
check on things at the main house, but he should be back soon. He’s been pretty
worried.” Molly looked pretty worried herself. “He said you practiced a little too
hard.”

“Yeah, I didn’t get much sleep last night and I’m
probably dehydrated.” She stood up and waited until the dizziness from lying
down so long subsided before trying to walk.

Looking down she saw that she was wearing a nightgown,
not the white and blue yoga pants and top she remembered.

“I’m gonna go wash up and get dressed,” Addy said,
heading for the bathroom that was attached to her bedroom. In the laundry
basket by the door she spotted her clothes from earlier, covered in blood.

Surprisingly, her head didn’t hurt at all. There was
no cut, just some dried blood in her hair and a few places on her skin. She
checked the rest of her body and couldn’t find any bruises. The hot shower
water melted the crusted blood from her hair and body. While scrubbing her scalp,
she searched for any sign that she had an injury but found nothing.

After she showered, she put on navy track pants and a
gray t-shirt. She just brushed her hair and left it wet. She was in too much of
a hurry to dry it.

Addy walked out into the living room and Kim
practically tackled her.

“You scared the hell out of us,” she said, hugging her.

She hugged Kim back lightly and then pulled away.

“Sorry,” Addy said, looking around the room where Matt
and Molly stood watching her. “I need to know exactly what happened while I was
unconscious.”

Matt started. “Gage said you guys finished practice
and were putting the mats away when you fainted. He carried you to Molly.”

“When she decided you were ok, we brought you here and
waited for you to wake up.” Kim finished.

“I had a big cut on my head from banging it on the
floor—a really big cut. It’s gone. I should have bruises too but...” Addy
trailed off, shaking her head.

Molly took a step forward. “You didn’t have any cuts
or bruises when Gage brought you to me, honey.”

“But there was blood on my clothes,” Addy said, still
trying to keep her voice even.

“Gage’s blood,” Matt said. “His nose was bleeding like
crazy where you popped him. Nice one by the way.” He gave her the thumbs up.

“Matt!” Kim scolded him, trying to suppress a grin.

They were all staring at her like she was delusional.
She decided she wasn’t going to argue with them and would just take it up with
Gage. She ended by saying she must’ve been mistaken, and let it go.

Molly excused herself and headed back to the main
house to check on Fate and let him know Addy was awake. They told Addy her
grandfather sat with her for a long time waiting for her to wake up, but he was
tired and not well himself and had to go rest in his room.

“You guys should go too,” Addy said, turning to Matt
and Kim. Kim started to resist but she could tell they were tired and ready to
go. “Just go, I’m perfectly fine.”

“I’ll be back first thing in the morning.” Kim
promised and hugged her. “Call me if you need me.”

“Don’t call
me
—I’ll be sleeping,” Matt said as
he gave Addy a quick hug.

In his typical style, Matt made a few comments about
taking pictures of her in compromising positions while she was unconscious as
Kim dragged him out the door.

Addy checked the clock as she sat down on her bed. It
wasn’t really much later than when she’d met Tanner the night before and she
really wanted to talk to him again. She stood up and went back into the living
room with Moose trailing behind her. Glancing at her hair as she passed by the
mirror made her glad it was dark out. She slipped her shoes on and headed out
the door to see if she could still catch Tanner.

Addy stepped out on her porch and froze. Gage was coming
up her sidewalk. She figured Molly would’ve told him she was fine and he
wouldn’t be back.

Taking a deep breath she spoke quickly. “You didn’t
have to come back tonight.”

He stopped when he saw her and looked around. “It’s
late to be going out.”

Addy tipped her head at him. “You’re out.”

Gage shrugged and started walking again.

Addy wasn’t planning on inviting him in and was
completely shocked when he stepped up on her porch and put his arms around her.
She stood there stiffly, not knowing what to do. It was beyond awkward standing
on her porch smashed against Gage. Matt was always throwing his arms around her
or grabbing her by the hand, but she and Matt were friends. Until yesterday,
her and Gage barely appeared on each other’s radars.

“I’m fine.” She pulled away and looked up at him. “How
am I
fine
, Gage?”

Even through the dark Addy could see that he looked
tired. He turned away and ran his hands through his blond hair.

“I should still have bruises and a pretty deep cut on
my head, but I don’t.” She moved to look at his face. “I remember everything
about practice.”

If the event was shifted, she shouldn’t even remember
having the injuries. Plus he was involved, which would’ve made it nearly impossible
to change.

“I think...” He tried to look away, but she moved over
again, forcing him to look at her. He sighed and placed his hands on her
shoulders. “I think I healed you.” He leaned over, resting his chin on the
crown of her head.

Addy was speechless and just stood there. She’d never
heard of such a thing—as far as she knew Akori
couldn’t
heal. Gage was
clearly shaken up and she mindlessly reached her arms up and looped them around
his neck.

“You just
collapsed
—I started to pick you up to
take you to my mom, but I noticed you weren’t breathing.”

His words sent a shock through her from head to toe.

“You were lifeless, Addy.” He picked his head up,
looking down at her. “I thought you were gonna die.”

Taking his hand, she led him inside her villa to the
sofa. She decided they both needed to sit down before one of them fell out
again.

Gage explained that he’d placed his hands on her to
start CPR, but instead, the Akori symbols on the tops of his hands flashed a
bright blue wave of light and she gasped for air. The bruises and cuts were
gone, but she didn’t wake up.

Addy couldn’t think of anything to say, so she reached
over and laced her fingers through his. Gage’s hands were bigger and so much
more grown up looking than when he used to hold her hand to cross the street. She
noticed he was wearing his family’s silver ring, with the letter
E
engraved
over an Akori symbol. Molly gave it to him when he turned twelve, but she’d
never seen him wear it.

After a couple of minutes, the silence was becoming
too much to take and Addy felt like she had to say something.

“Do you remember when we tricked your mom and Fate
into both giving us money for the candy store?” She had no idea what made her
ask him that of all things, but it just came out.

Gage leaned his head back and grinned. “Yes, you were
6 and you puked on my shoes.”

“Yep. You needed new shoes anyway.”

She’d been so afraid of being caught with the extra
candy that she’d eaten all of hers at once and gotten sick. Gage took care of
her until she felt better so they wouldn’t have to tell Molly and Fate.

Addy was his partner in crime on more than one occasion.
Gage always convinced her to do the things he’d get in trouble for. He figured
out at an early age she could get away with more than him because she was too
young to know better. He took advantage of it as often as possible.

Their conversation stalled out again and neither one of
them spoke. Moose jumped on the sofa and cuddled up next to her, forcing her to
shift closer to Gage.

He put his arm around her, and pulled her over so her
head was on his shoulder. He rested his head on the top of hers and twisted her
damp hair around his fingers.

After meeting Tanner the night before, sitting on her
couch next to Gage ranked way up there on her
Oddest Moments
list.

 “I’m glad you’re alright.” Gage murmured, sounding
almost like he was talking in his sleep.

Addy started thinking she should get up or something
before he went to sleep, but by the time she decided to make her move she could
tell by his even breathing it was too late. She wasn’t tired at all after being
knocked out all day, but not wanting to disturb Gage or the cat, she just closed
her eyes and forced herself to sleep.

The next time Addy opened her eyes it was to the sound
of someone knocking on her door. Daylight was pouring in through her windows
and she could hear the ocean. She was still on her sofa next to Gage who’d managed
to somehow get both of his arms wrapped around her. She tried to move but her long
hair was caught under his elbow.

Until two days ago, they hadn’t been alone together
for years. It was unreal to wake up face to face with him sleeping on her hair
after he’d basically saved her life. She’d never heard of Akori having healing
powers, and judging by how shook up he seemed, neither had Gage.

There was another knock at her door.

“Gage,
wake up,”
she said, shaking him lightly.

He opened his eyes and looked around, stopping on her.

“Someone’s at the
door.”

He smiled and motioned to the door with his head. “Answer
it.”

“But—oh
right
.” Addy peeled herself off him,
pulling on his arm to free her hair. She decided that other than the teasing
she was gonna get, it didn’t matter if Kim saw him there or not.

Reaching up and smoothing her hair down, she opened the
door. Her heart dropped to the floor and she bit her lip—
hard.

“Good morning. You look much better than the last time
I saw you,” Bernard said. “Your grandfather wanted me to check on you, and ask
that you join us for breakfast if you’re feeling up to it.”

Bernard walked in past her, not waiting for an
invitation.

Addy prepared herself to explain to him why Gage was
at her place, but she didn’t have to. He was gone.