Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (11 page)

“What the hell’s going on?” Matt asked, looking at the
five girls.

Renee whipped around to face her brother. “You
can’t
tell?”

“See what you do!” Addy was on her feet shouting at
him. “You rub it right in her face until she can’t take it anymore.” She turned
to Kim. “And you just keep going back for more. It’s like both of you enjoy
hurting each other.”

Matt tried to speak, but Gage gave him a look that
said he should probably keep his mouth shut, which unfortunately for Gage, drew
Addy’s attention to him.

Addy shifted her gaze to Gage who looked like a deer
caught in the headlights. “And
you
let him do it right in front of her.
You may be free to do whatever or whoever you want, but he’s
not
.”

Gage took his own advice and didn’t respond, but she could
tell he was stunned at her outburst.

“Meanwhile, I’m out here in my
pajamas
getting
my hair pulled out by these—
bitches!”
Addy rubbed the sore spot on her
head. Feeling rage building up, she looked directly at Tweedledum, taking a
quick step toward her. “I should wreck you!”

The two girls looked around Addy at Matt and Gage as
if they expected help.

Gage walked past Addy, brushing his fingers lightly
along her arm. His touch mixed with the adrenaline pumping through her body felt
like needles piercing her skin and she pulled her arm away.

“Leaving now would be a good idea,” he said to
Tweedledee and Tweedledum when he was between them and Addy.

They protested and Gage said a few more quiet words.
Addy could hear one, or maybe both of them crying and they started to walk away.

Renee broke up the rest of the group that was standing
around gawking, warning them to keep what they saw to themselves. If Fate found
out, he’d send Kim home.

Only Matt, Addy, Gage, Kim, and Renee were left.

“This is ridiculous,” Addy said when the girls were
out of earshot. “First Matt’s beating up some poor guy just for dating Kim, and
now she’s fighting over him.” She threw her hands up. “We’re
not
dealing
with it anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” Kim said, without lifting her head up.

Addy sighed and dropped her shoulders. “It’s not just
you Kimmy.”

“Matt, are you listening?” Gage asked him.

He didn’t answer.

Matt was staring at Kim with so much intensity it
creeped Addy out.

Kim suddenly picked her head up, looking curiously at
Matt.

“Matt!” Renee shook his arm, snapping him out of it.

He glared at Renee. “I know,” he said through his
teeth.

Kim, Matt, and Renee were glancing between each other
without saying anything.

Addy peeked at Gage who appeared as confused as she
felt. He apparently felt left out of whatever was going on too.

 Renee nodded her head suddenly. “Maybe you two need
to stay away from each other.”

Matt gave her a pointed look.

“Hey,” Gage said, reaching over and nudging Matt’s
shoulder. “If Fate finds out what’s been going on he’ll send Kim
home
.”

Matt nodded at Gage. Addy could tell by his face he didn’t
like the thought of Kim leaving. He kneeled down in the sand and began
whispering something to Kim and she nodded her head a few times. Then Matt sat
down and wrapped his arms around her.

“Unbelievable.” Addy rolled her eyes.

Gage shifted his eyes to meet hers and shook his head,
turning his palms up.

Addy turned, heading for the estate. “I’m going back
to
bed.”

Chapter 9

Fate had taken a turn for the worse and for the last week,
Addy was spending all of her time during the day in the library or by his
bedside reading to him. She began researching anything that had to do with
humans involved in Akori practices. She was trying to keep her promise to figure
out what was wrong with Tanner. If nothing else it was at least a good
distraction.

Addy couldn’t find anything that seemed connected to
Tanner, but she did read some disturbing stories about humans who’d been marked
with Akori symbols. In the stories, the symbols caused them to become ill, and
in most cases die. She took the books to Fate’s room and read the stories to
him. He was amused by her horror at the tales and he told her that just like
most things written by the Akori, it wasn’t true.

The only escape Addy had from the building pressure at
Tremain was Tanner. She’d been meeting up with him at the beach every night.
They just sat in the sand and talked about anything that came to mind. They
didn’t talk about their personal lives, but she mentioned that her grandfather
was sick. The subject of why he was there in the first place was carefully
avoided for the most part. Her time talking with him at night gave her
something to look forward to all day as she muddled through.

At the same time all of that was going on, Addy was trying
to push Gage out of her head. Actually she really wished she’d never let him in.
She expected him to be pissed at her for yelling at him on the beach, but he
didn’t seem to be fazed by it. If anything, he was nicer since it happened. Anytime
she saw him he was really friendly, not distant like he’d been before.

Between her grandfather’s failing health and
researching Tanner’s issue, she didn’t really have the time to figure out what
Gage’s intentions were anyhow. She was sure he wanted to be her friend and she figured
that was enough.

 Despite what Kim said, Addy wasn’t necessarily
avoiding Gage in general. She was just going out of her way to avoid being
alone
with him. Way too much random embracing occurred when they were alone and Kim
couldn’t seem to grasp the concept that it was a bad thing.

Kim and Matt were closer than ever. They said they weren’t
together
, but Kim told Addy that Matt promised not to see anyone else
anymore. Tweedledee and Tweedledum hadn’t been back as far as she knew, which
was fine with her. It took all of the willpower Addy had not to tear into
Tweedledum the night by the fire. The only thing that stopped her was
remembering what Bernard taught her about choosing her fights carefully and not
hurting people just because she could. Gage stepping in between them was
probably a big factor too.

Addy sat tapping a pen on the table in the library as
she read through another useless book. Frustrated, she slammed it closed. She
checked the time and decided she needed a break. It was the middle of the day
so she let Molly know she’d be back shortly and walked next door.

When they parted ways the night before, Tanner told
Addy he had friends coming to stay with him at the resort for the next two
nights, so he wouldn’t be able to meet up. She was bummed, but figured she
could use the extra sleep. Between being up early to be by Fate’s side, and
staying up late to hang out with Tanner, she was running on about 3 hours of
sleep a night—if that.

At the front desk of the resort, Addy asked for Tanner
and waited while the extremely courteous woman working at the counter called
his suite.

“Mr. Sutherland said he’ll be down shortly. You can
wait over there if you’d like,” she said, pointing to a sitting area.

Mr. Sutherland?
Addy laughed to herself as she walked
over to have a seat. The place was even more incredible inside than it was
outside. A waterfall started about 20 stories up and cascaded down into a
sparkling pool with a fountain in the middle.

Along the edge of the pond, she spotted the most
beautiful violet flowers she’d ever seen and had to fight the urge to go pick
one.  She stepped carefully when she noticed that parts of the floor were glass
blocks. She could see water flowing and fish swimming under her feet as she
walked across them. The entire place was packed with tropical plants and trees
of every size and type. Birds of all colors even flew overhead freely.

It was only a few minutes before she spotted Tanner. He
looked great. The beach definitely suited him, whether he liked it or not. She
stood up as he got close and waved.

“Hey,” he said, stopping in front of her. “I’m
surprised to see you, girlie.”

 “I’m sorry to just show up. My grandfather’s sleeping
and I needed a break.”

“It’s alright.” Tanner smiled and raised his brow. “Just
remember to schedule an appointment next time.”

“Will do,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Tanner tipped his head toward the door. “Wanna take a
walk?”

She nodded.  “Sure, but it has to be a quick one.”

“The beach turned out to be better that I thought,” he
said as they headed for the door.

 “So it doesn’t suck?”

“Not entirely.” Tanner reached down and plucked one of
the pretty purple flowers she’d spotted by the pond and handed it to her.

The extremely courteous women at the front desk gave
them a disapproving look, making Addy giggle and walk faster for the door.

 “So the friends I have over are the guys from my band,”
he said, once they were outside. “We’re going over a recording contract that
was offered to us.”

Addy nudged him with her shoulder. “Congratulations—that’s
awesome. I wish I had more time to hang out. I’ve never even heard you guys
play.”

 “Yeah, me too.” Tanner nodded and peeked at her out
of the corner of his eye. “Don’t you find it a little odd that—”

Addy put her finger up to stop him, turning her head
to listen.

They were almost at the edge of the property and she
heard someone calling her name. She moved forward a few steps and saw Gage
walking quickly toward them. He slowed for a split second when he saw Tanner,
then started again.

“Addy, it’s—” He stopped mid-sentence, glancing at Tanner.
“We need you at the main house.”

She looked from Gage to Tanner and bit her lip.

“Go on, girlie,” Tanner said, making a shooing motion.
“We’ll catch up later.”

Without waiting for her to respond, Gage grabbed her
hand and they started to run. She looked back, but Tanner was already out of
sight.

She choked back a sob as they reached the front door
of the estate. “Is he…”

Gage wiped a tear that was trickling down her cheek. “I
haven’t seen him. My mom just said to find you.”

They went up the stairs together, but he stopped as
she started to go inside Fate’s wing of the estate.

Addy stopped when he did and turned to him. “Come with
me—
please.”

He nodded, following her inside. He really didn’t have
much of a choice since she was still clutching his hand.

Her grandfather’s friends Bernard and Stubbs were
standing outside his bedroom door. They both looked up when she entered.
Bernard gently tapped on the bedroom door and Gage’s mother Molly came out.

“Addy…” she said and immediately began to cry.

Seeing Molly cry caused Addy to hold her breath trying
to keep her composure. She was feeling lightheaded when suddenly Gage was
shaking her. She gasped for air and tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Alright, honey, you need to pull it together and get
in there,” Stubbs said, holding a tissue out to her.

Bernard stepped closer to her and took the tissue from
Stubbs, wiping her face. “You’ll be ok. We’ll be right here if you need us.”

Addy nodded and took a few deep breaths.  Letting go
of Gage, she went inside.

They were alone and Fate was lying propped up on his
bed. He looked like he was asleep. When she touched his hand, he opened his
eyes slightly and smiled.

“My favorite girl,” he said. His voice was almost too
low to hear.

Addy couldn’t speak. She had a lot she wanted to say,
but nothing would come out. She knew this moment was coming because he’d
prepared her for it for years. Now that it was here, it was nothing like what
she thought it would be.

“You’ve done a good job, been a good girl.” He was still
speaking so softly she could hardly hear him. “I hope you had a good life here
with us.”

She stood speechless. She wanted to tell him that she
had a wonderful life because of him. No words would come out of her mouth.

“I should have—” He struggled to catch his breath.
Tears streamed from his eyes.

He was having a difficult time speaking so she just
rubbed his hand and kissed his forehead.

Molly came in to check on him and Addy took a step
back to give her room.

“Oh Fate,” she said, “You can let go, it’s ok.”

Addy wanted to scream at her not to say those things,
because it was
not
ok. She could only stand there, frozen and unable to
speak. All the thoughts swirled through her head. Fate was dying right in front
of her. She wanted to move, but her feet were glued to the floor. The words
just repeated in her mind, she could taste blood in her mouth where she was
biting down on her cheek to avoid crying.

Molly went to the door and Addy heard her tell the
group that was gathering in the hall they needed to come say their goodbyes. Bernard
and his wife Doris came in followed by Stubbs. A few other Akori who spent a
lot of time at Tremain took turns coming in and out. They each whispered things
to Fate. He nodded a couple of times in response, but didn’t speak.

Gage came in next. He walked to the edge of the bed,
leaned down, and whispered something. Fate smiled and nodded his head. Gage
turned to leave but Fate reached for his hand.

“You were right,” Fate said in a weak voice. Gage
leaned back down and whispered something that made Fate smile while more tears
trickled down his face.

When he turned to move away Addy couldn’t look at his
face, but she could feel Gage’s eyes on her. Instead of walking over to the
door, Gage took a couple of steps back and pulled her into his arms. She buried
her face in his chest and all the tears she’d been holding back came rushing
out.