Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (9 page)

“Wanna go walk on the beach? Now that you look like a
boy band reject it won’t matter who sees us.”

Tanner laughed and stood up. “Keep piling it on
girlie, I can take it.”

They headed over to the bar where everyone knew him by
name and Tanner ordered a couple of drinks. Then they made their way over to
the walkway leading down to the water.

The beach was empty, except for a few couples walking
hand in hand. In the distance, she could see lightning flashes over the ocean.
The sky above them was clear and full of stars.

They chatted while they walked down the shoreline.

Again, he was so great to talk to about anything. It
was a nice escape from all the weirdness of the estate, even though Tanner
brought his own kind of weirdness. She thought about the easy way she could
talk to Tanner and how tough, almost painful, it was to think of something to
say to Gage. It was such a huge difference.

She could tell he was becoming more and more uncomfortable
as they traveled farther away from Tremain. They got about a mile away before
she suggested they turn around.

When they got back to the beachfront at the resort, she
realized they hadn’t discussed the issue of why he was there in the first
place.

“Are you feeling any better at all?” Addy asked
Tanner.

“Nope, if I could leave I’d have jetted; my band is
playing without me tonight.” He took off his shoes and stepped into the edge of
the water. “Are you gonna tell me what’s going on with me and how you moved
that house there overnight?”

Addy slid her sandals off and dipped her toes in the water
next to him. She was surprised the sand still felt slightly warm under her feet.

“I don’t know why you feel like you need to be near us.”
She picked up a shell and fiddled with it nervously. “And I can’t tell you
about our estate.”

“I’m gonna roll with my own theory then,” he said,
raising his eyebrows at her. “You’re aliens and that giant house is your mother
ship, which forces me to assume that I’m some type of alien
hunter
. Eventually
I’m afraid I’ll have to turn on you.”

 “That’s ridiculous.” Addy rolled her eyes. “You’re an
alien like us. We’re just here to claim you because you were left here as a
baby—kinda like a Changeling.”

“Finally, the truth.”

“You forced it out of me.”

Tanner lightly splashed her with his foot and she
watched him shake his head, smiling at her.

She tossed the shell into the water feeling bad about
his situation. “I’m sorry you’re stuck here and I can’t give you answers,
Tanner.”

His smile faded. “Who can then?” He turned his palms
up in frustration. “Should I just go up to your house and knock on the door? Hell,
I doubt I even
could
, between the guy who watches your place and—“

“Wait, what
guy?”
She was alarmed at the thought
of being watched and immediately thought of the humans who’d killed her parents.
“What does he look like?”

“I saw him by the fire the first night we met, tall,
blond.”

“You saw
him
outside my villa? When was this?”

Tanner said he’d been trying to catch her or just
knock on her door for the last couple of nights, but couldn’t because the guy
was around.

“I gotta go,” she said. “I promise I’ll try harder to
find out what’s wrong with you. I’ll see you soon.”

Without giving him a chance to respond, Addy took off
for the path leading back to Tremain. When she got to the top of the path, just
down from her villa, she stopped.

“I
know
you’re out here—you may as well come
out.” There was no response at first, but then she heard someone behind her. She
turned her head and saw Gage standing there. “What are you doing?”

“You said come out,” he said as he jammed his phone in
his back pocket.

“You know what I
mean.”

“Like I said last week, Bernard told me to keep an eye
on you. I’m not thrilled about sitting out here in the dark, but it’s what they
want. Malcolm’s stuck out here during the day.” Gage looked around. “I thought
you were home already—what’re you doing out so late?”

She really wanted to call him out on not even knowing
she was gone, but since she didn’t wanna have to explain where she’d been, she
let it go.

 “I was told at breakfast four days ago that they
weren’t concerned about the guy from the beach anymore. And regardless of what
Bernard says, I don’t wanna be watched. I’ll talk to Fate tomorrow and have you
relieved of
stalker duty
.”

Gage smiled, tilting his head.

Addy was annoyed and started to walk away.

“When did you become like this?”

“Like
what?”
she asked over her shoulder,
continuing to walk.

She heard his footsteps behind her and he caught her
by the shoulders, stopping her.

“Damn, Addy—just
wait
a minute.”

“What?” She didn’t turn around.

Gage didn’t say anything, but she heard him take a
deep breath over the sound of the ocean. His hands were still on her shoulders;
he slowly ran them down her arms and laced his fingers through hers. Pulling
her arms with his, he wrapped them around her.

Her first thought was that she must have mistakenly
put on a shirt that said
Free Hugs
because just like last time, she
found herself wrapped up in his arms through no fault of her own.

Without thinking, she leaned her head back against him
as she contemplated breaking free of his arms. Gage pulled her closer, making
her feel dizzy. He shifted to rest his chin on her shoulder. He smelled
incredible and his soft breath near her neck sent chills through her.

Standing with Gage’s arms around her wasn’t exactly
the worst thing that could’ve happened, but it was still awkward. He wasn’t
saying anything and she was just about to tear herself away when he finally
spoke.

“When did you become like this?” he asked her again. He
was speaking barely above a whisper. “You’re different than I remember—you’re not
like I thought you’d be.”

Forcing her head to clear, she thought about his
question.

“I grew up, Gage. You’d
know
that if you hadn’t
stopped being my friend. I tried to stay your friend, but you forgot about me.”

He dropped his arms, turning her around to face him.

“
That’s
what you think happened? I’m five years
older than you Addy; you were still a kid when I could drive. I never—” He
broke off, sounding hurt.

She turned her head away from him, unable to stand the
expression on his face.

He slid his hands up her neck, and turned her face
back to look at him. “I
never
forgot about you, I just grew up first.”

Addy was overwhelmed with emotions when she realized
how hurt she actually felt about how he’d turned his back on her when they were
younger. She knew she had to get away from Gage before the tears welling in her
eyes fell in front of him.

Reaching up, she wrapped her fingers around his wrists
and tugged his hands from her cheeks.

“I gotta go.” She made a break for her door. Her eyes stung
from burning tears.

Chapter 8

On her way into the library the next morning, Addy heard
voices coming from the door that was cracked. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but
once she realized who it was, she couldn’t walk away.

“Gage, listen to me. I know it seems harsh, but it’s
the best way,” Fate said, in what sounded like a forced even tone.

“You don’t understand. It’s not that I’m refusing to
do it. I can’t do it—
not anymore.”

 She heard footsteps, so she took a few steps back and
then slowly walked up again. Gage opened the door all the way and walked into
her.

“Sorry,” he said, grabbing her shoulders to steady
her.

She felt a flash of heat that made her face flush.

He glanced down at her for a split second, then let go
and walked away.

Addy entered the library and studied Fate. He looked bothered,
but seemed to snap out of it at the sound of her voice.

“What’s wrong with him?” she asked, gesturing to the door
Gage had just exited through.

“Difference of opinion,” Fate said. “He’ll be fine.” 

He put her right to work retrieving books for him from
different shelves around the library. She worked with Fate until lunch, when he
told her he was going to be leaving the estate to meet with some old friends and
she could have the afternoon off. Addy was looking forward to a free afternoon
and she headed to the dining room to meet Kim.

“So what do you think they were talking about?” Kim
asked.

Addy shrugged as she finished chewing. “Probably about
Gage not wanting to babysit me anymore.”

 Addy was telling Kim about her encounter with Gage
and the conversation she’d overheard between him and Fate in the library. The
girls were seated on the terrace eating lunch.

 “After last night, I can’t blame him,” Addy said.

She was seriously embarrassed about what she’d said to
him, but if the end result was not having him outside her door at night then she
could live with it.

“It couldn’t have been
that
bad.” Kim suddenly smiled
at her mischievously. “Here he comes with Mattie. Should we ask him what
he
thought about it?”

Addy looked up catching Gage’s eye and quickly looked
back at her sandwich, suddenly losing her appetite.

“Don’t you dare,” she whispered to Kim, who just kept
smiling.

Matt pointed to Kim’s plate. “What’s
that
?”

Kim didn’t eat meat, so her plates were always full of
some strange mixture of odd colored veggies and non-meat, meat flavored items. Addy
and Matt were always grossed out by her food concoctions.

Kim smiled at Matt. “Taste it and find out.” She
scooped up a fork full and aimed it at him.

“That sounds awesome, but I’m gonna pass.” Matt made a
disgusted face and took a seat next to her.

Gage pulled up a chair and gave Addy a nod. That’s how
he always greeted her when they were in a group, which made her relax a little.
She hoped what happened between them wasn’t such a big deal after all.

Addy pushed her plate over to Matt who picked up her
sandwich and took a bite of it without even acknowledging the fact she’d put it
there. He’d been eating her leftovers since right after the day she met him. It
was just their thing after so long.

“I wanna go down to the beach after lunch,” Kim said.
“Are you guys free this afternoon?” She caught Addy’s eye and smiled.

 Matt glanced at Gage and answered for both of them. “Yeah,
we were talking about heading down.”

Kim shifted her eyes to Addy. “What about you?”

Addy thought about saying she had to get back to the
library, but remembered she’d already told Kim she was free. She decided some
sunshine would be nice, and that she was gonna
kill
Kim for putting her
in a potentially awkward situation.

“I guess I’m in too,” she said.

“Great.” Kim smiled at her innocently, taking a bite
of her mystery meal.

Addy and Kim spread out a large blanket in the sand and
used their shoes to hold the corners down. Matt snagged a big umbrella from the
resort next door and stuck it in the sand to cover part of the blanket.

Addy was lying on her stomach getting sun, and she
could hear Kim and Matt in the water splashing around and laughing. They’d been
at the beach about an hour and Gage still hadn’t shown up.

Gage’s behavior toward her had been odd since the
estate relocated, but last night was the cherry on top of his Sundae of
Strangeness. She’d written off his behavior the night after healing her as just
being overly emotional about using his newfound power. Last night was different
though, and she’d been up late thinking about him and what he’d said.

Most Akori were pretty quick to invade each other’s
personal space with hand holding and touching, but she’d never seen Gage act
that way. He’d always been much more reserved than Matt, who was typically the
one all over her.

 “I hope you’re wearing sunscreen, girlie.” A familiar
voice said, startling her from her deep thoughts.

Addy looked up and Tanner was inches from her blanket.
He didn’t look like the same guy she and Kim spotted on the beach their first
day there. He was barefoot and shirtless, wearing only shorts and sunglasses.
He skin was tan and tattoos covered the tops of his arms and shoulders.

“I’m sorry about bailing on you last night like that,”
she said, looking around for her friends.

“No big deal. You forgot your sandals though. I
grabbed them—they’re back at my place.” He motioned toward the water. “You
don’t swim?”

“I do, I just felt like getting some sun.” Addy sat up
and put her sunglasses on. She grabbed the sunscreen realizing she was feeling
a little crispy and started applying it to her shoulders, stretching to get her
back.

“Here,” Tanner said, squatting down and taking the
bottle from her. He began rubbing sunscreen on her back.

“Oh,” Addy said, turning a little further toward him.
“Thanks.”

“My band has a show tonight over at the resort. Since
I can’t leave, I got them to let us play. It’ll be a lot mellower than what we
usually do, but it’ll be good. You should come by.”

Addy smiled as she watched a couple of girls walking
by checking him out. “You’ve made some friends over there, I take it?”

“Spending a lot of time and money at the bar has its
advantages.”

Addy spotted Gage walking toward them, closing in fast.
He was wearing sunglasses, but she could tell his gaze was fixed in their
direction.

“I’ll have to see what’s going on, but maybe.” She was
in a panic to get rid of Tanner. “Thanks,” she said, taking the bottle of
sunscreen.