Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (29 page)

Addy waved to her and she quickly waved back, smiling.

The salon was completely white on the inside with
bright red accents. It looked very clean and sterile, not like the one in the
mall she and Kim visited. They went through a similar routine to the one she had
the day before she found Jax, but it was much more fun with Kim. Juliette
wasn’t exactly bubbling over with excitement to be there.

Aimee stopped them just outside the front door as they
were waiting for the valet to bring the car around. She gave Addy a hug which
felt somewhat out of line considering they’d only met once. Aimee asked her if
she was going to Tanner’s show later that night. Addy hadn’t even been invited,
which wasn’t surprising since she and Tanner hadn’t even spoken in over a week.
By the time the car was brought around, not only was she going to the show,
Aimee was picking her up.

Juliette was quiet on the ride back, leaving Addy with
nothing better to do than mess around with her hair in the mirror. It was
slightly darker than last time, and she actually liked it better.

Addy cleared her throat and broke the silence. “Has
anyone ever come back from being Scattered early because they regained their
powers sooner?”

“No, it doesn’t work like that.” Juliette glanced at
her, and then looked back at the road. “If a
child
is Scattered, they
come back sooner, but not an adult.”

 “So it’s not even possible?”

“No, it's
not
possible. You
really
have
to find a way to deal with what happened. We have much bigger issues than your
boyfriend being Scattered.”

Addy cringed at her sharp words and they didn’t talk
the rest of the ride back.

Jax pulled in the driveway ahead of them and parked in
the garage. “You look almost as good as I do,” he said, walking up to the car
and opening Addy’s door.

“Thanks,” she said, rolling her eyes behind her
sunglasses.

Juliette tossed her keys in her purse and slammed her
car door. “It looks like we’re going
clubbing
tonight.”

Jax looked at her over his sunglasses. “Is that so?”

“We ran into Aimee, Tanner’s friend.” Addy slung her
purse over her shoulder. “You know her. I met her a couple of weeks ago and she
asked me to go see him play tonight. You don’t have to go—she’s picking me up.”

He raised his eyebrows and glanced at Juliette. “Tanner’s
band, huh?”

“Like I said, I can fly solo. You’re the one who wanted
me to get out,” Addy said, heading for her villa.

Chapter 27

Twisted Memories was playing
at a different club and she was relieved not to be going to the same place
she’d spent her last night out with Gage. When Aimee got to the estate early to
pick Addy up, she insisted on taking a trip through her closet and helping her
select what she was gonna wear. She picked a strapless fuchsia mini dress with
black and fuchsia platform open toe heels. Thanks to that, Trisha, Aimee, and
Addy looked like they planned their outfits around each other. It was similar
to what Trisha was wearing when Addy met her the first time. Her hair was down
and wavy, and she had on much heavier eye make-up than usual.

The place was jammed, and the
band didn’t even start for another hour. People were crowded onto the dance
floor. An L-shaped section of tables had been reserved for their group.

Unlike the other club that
looked like a warehouse, this one had a trendier look. There were two floors
and the stage was upstairs in a loft style area, with a railing overlooking the
lower floor. Packed tables were placed around the outer edge of an already
crowded dance floor. Bunches of multi-colored lights hung low from the ceiling,
and were bent into all types of funky designs. The lower level had a large
winding bar made of glass with some type of distressed metal framing around the
perimeter.

Just like before, she wasn’t
carded and the drinks were just dropped off in front of them. They took turns
trying different sweet concoctions. She settled for a pink one with a bunch of
cherries floating in it.

The Akori didn’t observe the
drinking ages humans set for themselves, so even though she was human, Addy had
always been allowed to try alcohol. She usually passed on the hard liquor, and
only drank beer with her friends occasionally.

Trisha glanced from Aimee to
Addy. “So Addy, whatever happened with you and that guy? You seemed pretty into
each other.”

She took another long sip of
her drink, deciding what to say. “It just didn’t work out.” The words caused a
shooting pain to radiate through her chest.

Kim was the first real girl
friend she’d ever had, not counting Renee because she and Addy didn’t really
hit it off, and Kim was nothing like Trisha and Aimee. The directness of the things
they said and asked made her uncomfortable, as if she was always under a
microscope.

“That’s too bad, he was a
cutie,” Aimee said, standing up. “Does that mean you’re back to Tanner?”

Addy choked on the cherry
she was eating. “
What?
No, I was never, we were never—not
ever
.”

The girls exchanged doubtful
looks and Addy felt under the microscope again.

Aimee raised her eyebrows.
“Well
something
happened after he started hanging out with you. He used
to be a
total
dick.”

“Complete
dick
.”
Trisha nodded.

They went on to say he was
moody and basically uncaring. At times they said he’d say things that were
pretty hurtful, like he had no feelings. Addy doubted Tanner could ever be
anything but wonderful and was surprised by the way the girls were talking
about him.

Gossip was something Addy
really hated. She quickly waved them off and stood up, placing her empty glass
on the table. Trisha and Aimee grabbed her hands and dragged her out to the
floor. It was hot and the lights flashed to the rhythm of the music. The girls
may not have been her kind of friends, but they were fun. She actually felt
normal for a change.

They were dancing with a
group of guys when Tanner came up, grabbing her and spinning her around.

“I’m surprised to see you
here,” he said, shouting over the music.

 She threw her head back
dramatically, turning her palms up. “And why’s that?”

“I hardly see you anymore,
girlie.” He spun her around so he was behind her, talking in her ear. “You avoiding
me?”

“Maybe
you’re
avoiding
me
,” she said, tipping her head and smiling, “and you’re just trying to
make it look like it’s me since I turned up here unexpectedly.”

“It’s amazing how you see
right through me.” Tanner laughed and dropped his chin on her shoulder. “Now
it’s all awkward, huh?”

“No way,” she said, turning
around to face him. “Nothing’s ever awkward with you.”

They hadn’t talked in over a
week and she realized just how much she missed him. She was dying to tell him
about the scroll she saw Jax with in the library and how Matt tricked Gage into
healing Kim to get her help.

 Addy laced her fingers together
behind his neck and pulled Tanner over to her so she could talk without
shouting. “Tomorrow morning I’ll be over at your place for breakfast. Tell
Oliver I want raisin toast.”

She watched the sweet way he
smiled and nodded back at her and immediately decided there was absolutely no
way he was ever cruel and uncaring like the girls described him. It just wasn’t
possible.

The music changed and they headed
back to the table. Another pretty pink beverage was dropped off in front of
Addy and she quickly picked it up.

Tanner pointed at her. “Slow
your roll there, girlie.”

She crinkled her nose at
him, taking a big drink.

He shook his head and
smiled. “I gotta go finish setting up.
Behave
.”

Several more people the
others knew came over and tried to talk to them, but the music was so loud it just
all blended together. When the band came on stage, it got even louder. She was
finishing her drinks much faster than usual and she was beginning to feel it.

Even after seeing him for
the second time, she still found it difficult to wrap her head around what Tanner
was like on stage. He was such a contrast from the guy she met on the beach. She’d
pegged him as some struggling wannabe, who’d never be able to handle the mess
he was getting himself into. That turned out to be completely wrong.

The lights went down and
Tanner sat on a stool by himself with an acoustic guitar. He started singing the
song she heard him playing on the beach to the girl. Looking around, Addy
wondered if she was somewhere in the club watching him too.

Aimee tapped her on the
shoulder and pointed into the crowd. “I didn’t know your brother was coming.”

Addy turned around to see
Jax walking through the sea of people toward her.

“Neither did I,” she said,
rolling her eyes.

Jax gave a head nod to the
group and put his arm around Addy’s shoulders. “Having fun?”

“I didn’t know you were
coming.” She wasn’t all that thrilled to see him and hoped if she just ignored
him he’d go away.

“It was a last minute thing.”
He pointed at her drink. “How many of those have you had?”

“Not enough.” She smiled sweetly,
turning her back to him.

Jax began making his way
around the table talking to people and she lost sight of him, which was fine
with her. She was happy to enjoy some time away from him and the estate.

The server placed another
drink down in front of Addy, and then pointed over to a tall thin guy a few
tables over. Aimee and Stan laughed as she politely smiled at him. The first
thing Matt told her when he started taking her out to clubs was never to accept
drinks from strangers. Addy didn’t wanna yell over the music for the server to
take it back so she pushed the drink to the side and went back to watching
Tanner.

Between the talking, dancing,
and drinking, the night was becoming a blur. By the time Tanner was done on
stage and joined the group by the tables, she was seeing double.

“Never seen
you
around before,” the guy she recognized as Tanner’s drummer said.

Addy noted that he still felt
wearing a shirt was optional.

“I’m Addy,” she said,
“Tanner’s friend.”

“Spencer,” he said as he
looked her up and down. “Also Tanner’s friend.”

They chatted about the band
and his tattoos and then his piercings. He said he’d known Tanner since they
were in elementary school.

As the conversation
progressed, he started inching his way into her personal space. Addy decided he
was too close and started getting creeped out by his bare chest and oddly
placed piercings. She began glancing around for someone to rescue her.

Tanner was just a few feet
away. She was about to reach over to get his attention, but he turned toward
Spencer before she could even lift her arm. Tanner casually leaned over and
said something to him. Spencer nodded his head to her and moved on.

“He’s harmless,” Tanner said,
smiling. He turned back to the group he was talking to.

Back on the dance floor
whirling around, she was suddenly pulled into a pair of unfamiliar arms. The
blue symbols on his hands told her they belonged to an Akori. There was a ring
like the one Gage wore on the ring finger of the right hand. It had a gold
W
over a silver Akori symbol. Addy remembered seeing those hands before at the
last club she’d watched Tanner play at. She didn’t recognize him, but he knew
who she was.

He stared down at her. “Well,
it’s Addison Sanders, how
strange
running into you here.”

She tried to back away, but
the floor was so jammed that she couldn’t put much space between them. She
pushed him but he was pushed back by the dancing masses.

Dressed all in black, he was
tall and thin, with neatly cut black hair and dark eyes. In human years he
looked like he was about her age, but there was no telling how old he actually
was. She realized he was the guy who sent the drink and immediately regretted
not sending it back with the server.

“Fate did a great job
keeping you hidden away, not to mention that watchdog
brother
of yours,”
he said with a smirk. “You’re a hard girl to get some
alone
time with.”

 “Do we know each other?”
Addy took a long look at his face, but her vision wasn’t the best in her
current state.

“Ashford Worthington—I
believe you’ve met my father
Preston
.” He kissed her hand. “You can call
me Ash.”

The name sounded familiar
but she couldn’t place him. All the bodies around them were moving to the music,
pressing them together.

“
Let’s dance
,” he
said, slipping his arms around her waist.

For some unknown reason, Addy
suddenly thought it sounded like an alright idea, considering it was basically
what they were already doing. He started running his hands along her shoulders
and before she knew it, he was pressed up behind her.

“
You want to get out of
here
.” He whispered in her ear, stopping his fingertips on her waist and urging
her to move.