chapter 19
The damage to the estate was extensive, but Bernard said the cleanup wouldn’t be started until the morning. Addy and Gage walked to his room after the meeting. She was sitting on his couch waiting for him to finish showering and changing his clothes. The sight of Matt trying to hurt Gage kept replaying in her head. She could still feel Renee’s hands around her neck. Addy squeezed her eyes shut to try to force the images from her mind as tears streamed down her face.
Gage crouched down in front of her. His shirt was off and he was covered in bruises. His back also had a large bandage covering the wound Matt, their friend, had inflicted on him. “We’re gonna sort this entire mess out and do whatever it takes to stop these people.”
“Renee and Matt have been our friends most of our lives—Josh helped raise us. How am I gonna tell Kim about Matt?” She hadn’t seen Kim since the fighting ended. “She loves him.”
“She loves you more, and they tried to hurt us. We’ll all help her get through it.
Addy went to stand up and winced in pain. She thought she had some broken ribs, but didn’t wanna say anything about it to Gage. During the fighting, the adrenaline pumping through her dulled the pain, but hours later it was killing her.
Gage gently pulled her so she was leaning against him. “Are you hurt?”
“My ribs are a little sore but they’ll be fine. C’mon and walk me home.”
Walking through the garden was terrible. Most of the benches were overturned or destroyed. Chunks of the grass and bushes were torn up. Once beautiful statues had pieces broken off of them or were tipped over. They watched their new Akori allies patrolling the grounds of the estate and Addy was still surprised at how many of them there were.
“Everything’s changed so much.” Gage looked around them. “Between Stubbs blasting those doors down and my healing power, I’m starting to think there’s a lot more to this. How did we not know any of this was going on?”
“Jax said Fate hid it all. I understand him wanting to protect Jax, but—I mean those Mesen who attacked us, they were like an army. If Jax didn’t have those other Akori here, I don’t know what would’ve happened.” Addy started thinking about Matt and Renee again.
Gage took her hand and they walked the rest of the way in silence.
Once inside her place, she excused herself to shower. In the bathroom mirror, she saw that the bruises on her left side were deep shades of black and blue. She started a hot shower and climbed in, carefully scrubbing her bruised and cut up body. She was in a lot of pain when she went to find something to wear so she just slipped on a loose white cotton nightgown that went down to her knees.
Gage was sitting on her patio. “It looks like it’s gonna storm,” she said, stepping outside into the darkness.
He reached for her hand to pull her down to him, but she resisted because of her injuries.
He let her hand go. “Sorry. I just thought—”
“It's not that.” She was more than sore, her ribs were on fire. She had to see Molly first thing in the morning, and maybe even go to the hospital.
Carefully, Addy sat down on Gage’s lap, pulling her feet up so she was completely in his arms. She leaned against his chest and rested her head on him. Visions of the attack were on a constant loop, continuously replaying in her head.
Practice fighting was completely different from really trying to hurt someone. The Mesen just Scattered when they were fatally injured, so it wasn’t like killing them, but they still felt the pain and bled. If she ever had to fight against other humans, she doubted she’d be able to kill them.
Gage started smoothing his fingers through her wet hair. “What’re you thinking?”
The breeze was cool, but Gage’s body was hot, and the combination made her shiver.
“I never thought we’d be fighting people in our own home—I never thought we’d actually be fighting anyone, anywhere.” She leaned forward and looked at his face. “I cut Matt open and pounded Renee into the ground until she was unconscious.” She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Stop thinking about it, you did what you had to. If you hadn’t stopped Matt, he might have Scattered me, and Renee could have killed you.” He placed his hand on her head, making her rest it back on his shoulder. “We did what was necessary at the moment to make it through. We can’t second guess it.”
It hadn’t occurred to her that she could have been killed. Jax and Bernard were humans also. Either one of them could’ve died during the fighting. She was thankful they were both safe.
Addy put her hand on Gage’s chest; she could feel his steady breathing and heartbeat. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” Gage ran his hot hand along her arm and shoulder. It tingled like he was melting ice under her skin.
The last thing she wanted was to get up, but she was in some serious pain. “It’s late. We should probably go in so you can get back to the main house.”
It was excruciating, but she managed to get inside without his help. Once in the light, he could see the pain on her face.
Gage sat down on the bed and gently pulled her in front of him. He carefully lifted her nightgown to expose her side.
He made a pained face. “The bruises are horrible. You might—”
“I’ll see your mom tomorrow, I promise.” She didn’t want him to worry, plus she really intended on seeing Molly first thing.
Gage stood up, pulling the blankets back, and helped her into her bed. He looked worried.
She tried to give him a smile that seemed genuine. “Get back to the house, I’ll be fine.”
He put his hand on his forehead, staring down at her. “I can’t leave you like this, Addy.”
He reached out to touch her and she instantly knew what he was gonna do. It was the whole reason she’d tried not to let him know she was hurt. Addy jerked away from his hands causing pain like she’d never experienced to surge through her body.
She choked back a scream. “Don’t do that! It uses your power. You could Scatter.”
“Hey.” He turned her face to look at him. “Calm down.”
Each breath was a new experience in pain and she was trying to keep them even. “No more using it. Promise me you won’t!”
Thinking about him Scattering the way she had seen all those Akori and Mesen do earlier was too much to take. Gage went to the patio door and she thought he was leaving. Instead, he locked it and turned the lights out. He took his sandals and shirt off and slipped into the bed next to her.
Addy was lying on her right side and he scooted up behind her back, wrapping his arms around her carefully. She slowly adjusted her body until she was as close to him as she could possibly get.
“It’s just that I don’t know how I’d make it through this if you weren’t here,” she said, closing her eyes, forcing herself to stop thinking about the pain.
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Gage slipped his hand up the side of her body, beginning at her hip. “I promise not to use my power on you again—after this.”
Addy felt the energy flowing through her before she could react and everything went black.