Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (24 page)

“Hold on.”

He went into his closet and she could hear him digging
around. After a minute, he came back with a shoebox and sat back down.

“What’s that?” She watched him open the lid.

Addy looked in the box and it was full of junk from
when they were kids. Pictures, movie ticket stubs, cards, ski lift tickets, and
bracelets from carnivals.

“My mom always used to toss things in here she said I
should keep.”

She reached in and picked up a picture. Gage, Matt,
Renee, and Addy were standing on the top of a ski hill. Gage was holding Addy
up by the back of her jacket. It was the first time Fate let her go
snowboarding with the others. She was only seven. There were more like that
from birthday parties and holidays. There was one that Molly took of Gage
holding Addy’s hands when she was still learning to walk. He was only about six,
wearing a blue shirt with a dump truck on it.

Gage was digging through the box, and she examined the
items he removed. He pulled out a small pink pouch and handed it to her.

“Open it.”

She loosened the drawstrings and carefully emptied the
contents into her hand. It was a silver chain with a black and white cat charm
made of gemstones. Addy raised her eyebrows and looked at him.

“It was supposed to be your birthday gift the year I
missed your party.”

She stared back at him skeptically.

“It’s
true
—why else would I have that, Addy? I
got it at the gift shop in the ski lodge. When we got home you didn’t talk to
me for a week. I just never got around to giving it to you after that.”

He reached for it and put it around her neck,
fastening the clasp.

She shifted her eyes down to the sparkling cat charm.
It was exactly what she would have picked out herself.

Gage looked like he was waiting for her to say
something.

She crawled over to him so she was sitting on his lap,
tipping the box accidently. “It’s perfect.”

 They picked up the contents of the shoebox, talking
and laughing at the different things they remembered. She had been so angry with
him for not being a part of her life for the last few years that she’d
forgotten how much a part of it he used to be. He was in almost every one of
her memories in one way or another.

Seeing pictures of Matt and Renee stung, flooding her
with feelings of anger and sadness at what they’d done. She could tell Gage
felt the same uneasy feelings looking at their faces.

Putting the lid on the box and standing up, he pulled
her to her feet.

 Gage twisted his fingers around the sides of the shirt
she was wearing, pulling her closer and smiled down at her. “Despite what’s
happening around here—tonight was perfect.”

Standing on her tip-toes, she slid her hands up his
shoulders and through his hair, and pulled him to her level. “I almost feel
guilty.”

She softly kissed along his neck. His arms tightened
and he leaned into her.

When her lips reached just below his ear, he suddenly picked
her up, carried her to his bed, and tossed her down.

She slid over, expecting him to follow. Instead, he whispered
goodnight and headed for the couch.

“Where—
Gage!”
She sat up, staring at him in
disbelief.

“When this is over.” He smirked, switching the lamp
off.

“When this is over?”

“Your words—
not mine.”

With an exasperated sigh, she collapsed back onto the
pillows, pulling the blanket up over her head.

Chapter 22

Pounding on the door startled them both. It took a few
seconds for it to register and Addy looked across the room at Gage, who was
sitting up on the couch. He looked as disoriented as she felt.

“Gage?” A muffled voice said through the door.

Gage jumped up and pointed at Addy. “Stay there.” He
went to see who it was.

She looked at the clock; they’d only been sleeping
three hours.

He cracked the door and it was pushed open all the
way. Juliette walked in with some of the Akori guards that Tanner called Team
Jax. Bernard followed behind them.

“Addison!” Bernard exclaimed, looking shocked to see
her in Gage’s bed.

Juliette rolled her eyes. “You
really
didn’t
see that coming?”

Gage pulled his shirt on. “I stayed on the couch.” He
pointed at his pillow and blanket.

Juliette had a serious expression and she cut her eyes
to Addy. “We’ve been looking for you.”

Addy was still sitting on the bed covered up. “Is Jax
ok?”

“This isn’t about Jax.” Juliette diverted her eyes.
“We’ll wait outside while you get dressed.”

Gage closed the door behind them. “This place is like
a nightmare anymore, I swear.”

“Weren’t you saying it could only get better?” Addy
jumped up and grabbed her clothes, heading to the bathroom.

After that scene, she was feeling way better about
Gage having more self-control than her when they went to bed. She actually
wasn’t sure how much of it was self-control and how much was simply payback. Once
he turned the lights out, she’d been awake for a long time fighting the urge to
pounce him on the couch. When she could tell by his level breathing that he was
asleep, she finally gave up and closed her eyes.

Admiring her necklace in the mirror, she thought about
the night before. The memory of Kim running off with Matt and the other
prisoners resurfaced, causing dread to wash over her. She hurried up and
finished dressing.

When she came out Gage was ready to go, standing by
the French doors leading out to his balcony. It was gloomy and windy outside.
She stood next to him, slipping her arm through his.

“What do you think they want?” Addy asked in a whisper
as if they might hear her through the door.

 “At this point it could be anything.” He leaned his
forehead against hers. “Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.”

Addy felt out of place in her dress, carrying her
heels, when she walked into the library. Tanner and Stubbs were seated at the
table. To her relief, Tanner was still wearing the same clothes he had on last
night too.

“So I’m not the only one who was roused from my
blissful slumber,” Tanner said in an irritated voice.

Gage nodded at Tanner and they exchanged commiserative
looks.

“Sit.” Juliette pointed to a chair.

Gage, Bernard, and Addy joined them around the table.
There was a tray of coffee and Addy poured herself a steaming cup.

Juliette got right to the point. “Why were you
exchanging text messages with Matt the evening before you came to see Jax?”

“Me?” Addy about choked on her coffee. “I wasn’t!”

“We found messages on his phone from you,” she said
with a sharp, accusing edge to her words.

“Kim had her phone that night,” Tanner said, looking
directly at Juliette. He circled his eye to Addy. “Remember—she asked for it to
take the pictures?”

Addy explained how Kim had borrowed her phone to take
the picture of the symbols on the backs of their necks and went into her room
with it. She felt like she was just punched in the gut.

Gage reached over and took a drink of Addy’s coffee.
“What’d the messages say?”

“Exactly what the girls had been doing and where they
were,” Juliette said as she slid Matt’s phone over to Gage.  “There were some
pictures too.”

He grabbed it and scrolled through the messages.

Addy leaned over and saw the picture of her and Tanner’s
symbols. Then she watched as Gage scrolled through the pictures of her and Tanner
together. “Why would she send
those
?”

Juliette looked at the phone. “Probably so they’d know
what the Akori Shepherd looked like. Kim gave Matt enough information to figure
out there was another male Sanders. That’s probably how the Mesen knew about
Jax before he ever made it to Tremain.”

Gage’s face was tense as he viewed the pictures of her
smiling and posing with Tanner. She leaned over and put her hand on his knee.
He changed his expression and reached down, putting his hand on top of hers.

They went through more text messages Kim and Matt had
exchanged. She’d been telling him everything for the last few weeks. Matt had
taken and sent out pictures of the Overseer’s Stone, too.

“The pictures Matt sent out of the stone went to others
we suspected of being spies for the Mesen,” Patrick said.

 Bernard leaned forward, placing his elbows on the
table. “Well, as disappointing as it is, at least we know who told the Mesen
where to find Jax.”

“And who took the Overseer’s Stone,” Stubbs said.

Addy poured herself more coffee and looked across the
table at Tanner to see if he wanted some. He was focused on what Bernard was
saying and not paying attention to her. She was about to kick him under the
table when he slid his cup over for her to refill without turning away from
Bernard. She realized that he did things like that a lot.

“I just don’t get what Kim was thinking,” Gage said,
shaking his head. “Addy’s been such a good friend to her, we
all
have.”

She sat for a minute not saying anything, sipping on
her coffee. It was just unbelievable that Kim had been passing information to
Matt about everything she did. “We need to find Kim. She’s just a human—obviously
one who isn’t making the best decisions.”

Gage looked from Addy to Bernard. “I agree. As much as
I hate to say it, she’s just not safe with Matt.”

“With help from some of Bernard’s contacts we were
able to get a location on her cell phone, but we can only narrow it down to
about a square mile area in Miami.” Juliette told them. “Some of our people
headed out to start the search this morning.”

“I’m going.” Addy stood up. “She’s my problem, I
brought her here.”

“Addison I don’t think you should leave your brother.”
Stubbs looked around at the others for support.

Juliette ignored him. “Kim
is
your problem,”
she said to Addy, “but we’re all going because the rest of them are our
problem.”

Bernard cleared his throat and looked between Gage and
Tanner, raising his eyebrows.

“Of course, I’m going,” Gage said to Bernard

Tanner moved his eyes to meet Addy’s and nodded. “I’m
in, girlie.”

A large group of Akori came into the room and Juliette
and Patrick started firing off orders. Some would stay to guard Jax and some
would go to Miami with them. Bernard and Stubbs were asked to stay behind and
coordinate the operations from the estate. Tanner, Gage, and Addy were told to
hit the vault and pick up weapons and black combat gear like Team Jax wore.

An hour later, Tanner and Addy were climbing into Gage’s
Jeep while he punched the location Juliette gave them to search into his GPS. They
pulled down the driveway with the rest of the group. It was only about 15
minutes to their destination.

They discussed how Kim could’ve possibly gotten the
prisoners out alone as they drove. Matt and Renee should’ve been pretty banged
up still. Addy was surprised they were able to get away, especially without
being seen. They decided that Kim must have had help breaking them out.

“The Team Jax fashion is surprisingly comfortable,” Tanner
said. He had a large quiver of arrows and a bow on his back. “I bet he designed
it himself.”

Addy couldn’t help but laugh. “I can totally picture
him and Juliette debating how many pockets for knives would be necessary to
achieve the desired fashion and functionality balance.”

The navigation directed them to turn left at the next intersection.
Gage pulled into the parking lot of a large cinderblock warehouse. Patrick had
the area divided into a grid pattern and assigned each group an area to search.

It was storming outside and the forecast called for
rain the rest of the day. Tanner called Patrick and let him know they were in
position. They were told to stay put and wait because another team thought they
might have a lead a few blocks away.

Addy hadn’t told Gage about what her, Tanner, and
Bernard had discovered the day before, and even though Bernard said not to talk
about it, she really wanted to get him up to speed.

“Tanner, I think we should tell Gage what we figured
out yesterday,” she said.

He sounded surprised. “Sure, if you think it’s ok.”

“I do,” she said, turning around to look at him.

He nodded and shrugged his shoulders.

Addy shifted in her seat and looked at Gage. “We found
the guest book from the last Reunion Ball and it said your
dad
was
there.”

He looked over and smiled. “Yeah, I know.”

“Oh.” Addy didn’t know what to say, she figured he
would’ve told her something like that before.

Gage reached over and laced his fingers through hers. “My
family is one of the oldest Akori families—he was at every ball.”

 Tanner leaned forward from the backseat. “That’s not
all.” He began to tell Gage how Eva made Oren the Overseer after the ball and
that they believed the stone prevented the Akori from using more powers.

“I would say that’s crazy, but with everything going
on it makes sense,” Gage said. “Addy, do you remember hearing Stubbs say Matt
made
Kim let them go last night?”

She had to think for a second. “Yeah, I think so—
why?”

“Could he have been saying that Matt used his powers
on Kim? I mean, if we’re assuming there are more powers out there then it’s
possible,” he said. “Juliette changed her direction pretty quickly after Stubbs
said that.”

Tanner nodded. “That sounds like a possibility to me.”

Addy was happy to have a potential explanation for
Kim’s betrayal. “Now if we can just get her away from—”

Tanner’s phone rang. He said a few words and hung up.
“They found them.”

He directed Gage to drive a couple of blocks away. Juliette
and the rest of the group were gathered in the parking lot of a tall red brick
building that resembled a warehouse.