The estate was overrun with Akori that Addy didn’t know. It was worse than when she tried to claim the Overseer’s Stone after Fate died. They were everywhere, talking and laughing as if they’d always been there. Her home had definitely changed. Through the window, she could see Matt, Kim, Gage, and Renee sitting together on the terrace. Matt was waving his arms around telling a story and the others were laughing. He playfully nudged Renee, who pushed him back. Addy wondered if she and Jax would ever be able to have a normal sibling relationship like them.
Grabbing a sandwich, she sat at a table eating and occasionally looking out through the glass at her friends. Going outside to sit with them had crossed her mind, but she decided she could use some time alone.
The sight of Gage made her feel like she was 12 years old again. She remembered watching him work on his motorcycle in the driveway through her bedroom window. She’d always thought he was so perfect, from his hair to the way he threw a punch.
Before the last couple of weeks, Addy hadn’t given being with Gage so much as a second thought. The fact she woke up earlier in her room next to him was beyond belief.
All of her memories up until a few years ago included him. Every birthday party, every time she was sick, even when she learned to ride a bike, Gage was there. He was even the one who taught her how to tie her shoelaces.
Addy remembered running up the sidewalk in the garden when she was four. Her shoes were untied. She stumbled a few times and finally tripped, falling down and skinning up her hands. Gage must have been around nine then. He picked her up, telling her to tie her laces tighter. When he figured out she didn’t know how, he sat down and taught her.
The sound of a plate clanging on the counter startled her back to attention. She glanced out the window at her friends and decided she really should go see them. She cleared her table and headed for the door.
“Wait up, girlie.”
Addy turned and smiled as Tanner walked up to her. “You know, there’s still time to become a roadie and get the heck out of here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He tipped his head and looked at her closely. “You seem like you’re feeling a lot better today.” He looked toward the window. “Gage doesn’t look like he’s brooding anymore.”
She smiled and shook her head at him. “He wasn’t brooding.”
A big grin spread across his face. “Let’s get you a dictionary later so you can check out Gage’s picture right next to the word brooding, ok?”
Addy couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re terrible!”
“You like it,” Tanner said, smiling. “By the way, Jax came to my show last night. He’s actually a really cool guy to party with.”
She rolled her eyes. “It's good to know the Overseer knows how to party.”
“He wants me to start working with Bernard on hand to hand combat.” Tanner told her he was excellent with a bow, and was captain of his archery team in school. “I can hit a target without even looking at it if I focus hard enough. Jax says it’s because of the Akori Shepherd memory thing.”
“Jax would know.” Addy sighed, knowing she shouldn’t be so negative—Jackson was her brother after all. “He wants his friend Juliette to train me to use weapons.”
“Wow, don’t sound so pumped about it.”
“Between us,” Addy leaned close to Tanner and whispered, “I don’t even know most of the Akori here—they’re all people Jax brought in.”
Tanner glanced around at the room full of Akori, and then settled his eyes on Addy. “Brought in for what?”
“Protection from the Mesen that tried to attack his house—the ones he wants us to keep quiet about.” Addy crossed her arms and looked around. “He thinks the Mesen would kill me and him to stop him from claiming the Overseer’s Stone.”
“Jax is just being overdramatic, girlie.” He tossed his arm around her shoulders. “There’s probably nothing to be worried about.”
“They attacked Juliette last night after someone from here told them she was heading back to his house.” Addy lowered her eyes to the floor. “The Mesen killed my parents—not humans. I don’t think he’s exaggerating about them.”
“Girlie.” Tanner tipped his head near hers and whispered. “Look at me.”
She took a deep breath and turned her eyes toward him.
“I may have been wrong,” he said, tightening his arm around her. “There probably is something to be worried about.”
“You’re not exactly helping to ease my anxiety,” Addy said, poking him in the ribs. “I thought you were going for the reassuring, everything’s gonna be alright, kind of talk.”
“I thought you’d appreciate my honesty.” Tanner dropped his arm from her shoulders and smiled at her. “We’ll train and watch our backs—that’s all we can do.”
Addy walked with him out to the terrace where her friends were sitting.
“Hey,” Gage said, smiling while he pulled up a chair for her next to him.
“Hi.” She sat down, waving to the others.
Gage casually reached over and took her hand, catching her completely by surprise. Addy scooted over and motioned for Tanner to share half the chair with her. Even though her friends didn’t really know him yet, she felt close to him and wanted them to accept him as part of their group.
Kim looked at Gage’s hand wrapped around Addy’s and raised her brow. “Decided to get out of your own way?”
Addy ignored her and focused on Renee, who was looking at her expectantly.
“Well? Any updates from your brother?” Renee asked.
“The stone is back,” Addy said, looking for any peculiar reactions from her friends. She wanted to choke Jax for making her feel suspicious of everyone. “Jax said whoever took it freaked out when they thought he’d be able to track it down and returned it.”
“I don’t even get why someone took it in the first place,” Gage said.
Tanner shrugged and leaned forward to look at Gage. “Maybe it was to stop Jax from claiming it.”
“They didn’t stop him for long if that was the plan,” Addy said. “Jax is gonna claim the Overseer’s Stone tonight.”
“Who are all these new people?” Renee asked, looking around them. “Almost every room in the house is full.”
“I couldn’t tell you.” Addy glanced at Tanner out of the corner of her eye. She was pretty sure Jax didn’t want her repeating what he told her about the new Akori being his friends.
“They could just be here because they’re curious about Addy’s brother,” Tanner said.
“You okay, man?” Gage stared at Matt, who looked like he was zoning out.
Matt perked up and shook off whatever he was daydreaming about. “Yeah, I’m cool,” he said tossing his arm around Kim’s shoulders. “Up late, that’s all.”
Renee looked around and Addy knew she was about to begin whispering. Her gossiping was one reason she and Addy never hit it off.
“I heard Addy’s brother is extremely well connected. Everyone thought he was part of the West family, which is like the Akori equivalent of the Kennedy family.”
“I’m sure a lot of rumors are going around about him,” Addy said. “Unfortunately, most are probably true.”
“Well, he’s pretty good looking.” Renee raised her eyebrows and smiled. “He’s very popular with the Akori girls.”
“I bet he is. He’s not exactly shy.” Addy told them, still feeling gross about checking him out. “He answered the door at his house looking like he fell off the cover of a trashy romance novel—bare chest and all.”
“Think you could get him to do it again?” Kim asked, smiling at Renee. “It’d be so much easier to understand how you guys felt meeting him for the first time if we could see it for ourselves.”
“That could be hazardous,” Tanner said, motioning to Addy. “I almost slipped and fell in the puddle of drool she left on his porch.”
Addy tried not to laugh and bumped her shoulder into Tanner, almost
knocking him off the chair they were sharing. “That’s only funny in a world where he’s not my brother.”
Tanner’s phone rang and he frowned as he checked to see who it was. “I gotta take this, I’ll find you later,” he said to Addy and walked inside quickly.
Gage squeezed her hand before he let go and stood up. “I gotta roll too. I’m supposed hit the weights in the ballroom with Malcolm.”
“Hold on, I have practice in a few.” Addy got to her feet. “I’ll walk out with you.”
They started down the stairs that went to the garden. Once they were alone, he put his arms around her shoulders and walked behind her.
“You owe me a night out.”
She leaned over to look at him. “How do you figure?”
“Remember? You blew me off a couple of nights ago.”
She smiled. “Oh.”
The path split, one way went to the villas, and the other went to the main level entrance to the ballroom where Gage was going.
“I don’t have my bag,” she said. “I’ve gotta go to my place to change.”
He steered them down the path to the villas. “Malcolm can wait.”
Back at her villa, Addy changed into the new black and gray Lycra pants and top she bought at the mall with Kim. She pushed a headband on and gathered the length of her hair into a messy ponytail. She grabbed her shoes and socks and headed for the living room.
Addy leaned against the frame of her bedroom door, watching Gage play with Moose on the floor. Between the handholding in front of their friends and waking up next to him, things were getting complicated fast.
“Uh oh,” he said, smiling up at her. “What is it?”
She shrugged. “I’m confused, I guess.”
He tipped his head. “About?”
She turned her palms up. “Everything.”
“Narrow it down.”
“You and me,” she said, biting her lip.
“Me and you?”
She nodded.
“I’m not being obvious enough for you?”
She smiled innocently. “Guess not.”
Gage stood up, taking her shoes from her and tossing them on the sofa. “You told me to stay away from you until I knew what I wanted.” He grabbed both of her hands and pressed her between him and the wall, lowering his head near her shoulder. “I know what I want.” His breathing tickled her neck, making her pulse pound.
Addy relaxed against the wall, letting his body completely cover hers. “What are we doing here?” Her voice came out so softly that she thought he might not have heard her.
“You needed to change your clothes for practice,” he said, running his lips lightly along her neck. His hand slipped down and pressed into her back, driving her hips into him.
She turned her head just as she was about to give in to what he was doing and squeezed her eyes shut. “I need to put my shoes on.” She immediately wanted to kick herself for saying it, but it just didn’t feel like the right time for that.
With a little defeated sigh, his lips brushed against her collarbone and he backed away.
Addy was completely disoriented as she dropped on the sofa and put her shoes on. It was a chore to get her mind back on track, but she had to stay focused on what was happening with her brother and the Mesen. Being near Gage was a huge distraction.
She caught his eye when she glanced up. He looked as completely dazed standing there as she felt. She gave him a little smile and felt her face getting hot. “When this is over…”
He flopped down into her recliner and exhaled. “I know—bad timing.”
“Just a little,” she said, standing up. “Jax is claiming the stone tonight, maybe afterwards we can—”A loud noise stopped her and she looked around. “What in the world…”
Moose jumped off the couch and hurried to look out the window as she and Gage ran for the door. There were Akori everywhere, running and yelling.
Chapter 20