Addy and Kim spread out a large blanket in the sand and used their shoes to hold the corners down. Matt snagged a big umbrella from the resort next door and stuck it in the sand to cover part of the blanket.
Addy was lying on her stomach getting sun, and she could hear Kim and Matt in the water splashing around and laughing. They’d been at the beach about an hour and Gage still hadn’t shown up.
Gage’s behavior toward her had been odd since the estate relocated, but last night was the cherry on top of his Sundae of Strangeness. She’d written off his behavior the night after healing her as just being overly emotional about using his newfound power. Last night was different though, and she’d been up late thinking about him and what he’d said.
Most Akori were pretty quick to invade each other’s personal space with hand holding and touching, but she’d never seen Gage act that way. He’d always been much more reserved than Matt, who was typically the one all over her.
“I hope you’re wearing sunscreen, girlie.” A familiar voice startled her from her deep thoughts.
Addy looked up and Tanner was inches from her blanket. He didn’t look like the same guy she and Kim spotted on the beach their first day there. He was barefoot and shirtless, wearing only shorts and sunglasses. He skin was tan and tattoos covered the tops of his arms and shoulders.
“I’m sorry about bailing on you last night like that,” she said, looking around for her friends. “I just had to deal with—things at home.”
“No big deal. You forgot your sandals though. I grabbed them—they’re back at my place.” He motioned toward the water. “You don’t swim?”
“I do, I just felt like getting some sun.” Addy sat up and put her sunglasses on. She grabbed the sunscreen realizing she was feeling a little crispy and started applying it to her shoulders, stretching to get her back.
“Here,” Tanner said, squatting down and taking the bottle from her. He began rubbing sunscreen on her back.
“Oh,” Addy said, turning a little further toward him. “Thanks.”
“My band has a show tonight over at the resort. Since I can’t leave, I got them to let us play. It’ll be a lot mellower than what we usually do, but it’ll be good. You should come by.”
Addy smiled as she watched a couple of girls walking by checking him out. “You’ve made some friends over there, I take it?”
“Spending a lot of time and money at the bar has its advantages.”
She spotted Gage walking toward them, closing in fast. He was wearing sunglasses, but she could tell his gaze was fixed in their direction.
“Thanks,” she said, taking the bottle of sunscreen. Her stress level spiked as she tried to figure out the best way to explain who Tanner was to Gage.
“There’s my cue to exit,” he said, glancing back in the direction she was looking.
“Tanner…” She felt terrible that he felt like he had to leave. “You can stay. I’ll explain—”
“I gotta roll anyway.” He smiled and stood up, rubbing the excess sunscreen on his arms. “Don’t forget about tonight,” he said, pointing at her as he backed away. He passed Gage, giving him a nod as he turned around.
“What’s tonight?” Gage asked, sitting down on the blanket and glancing back at Tanner.
She didn’t respond to his question and continued watching as Tanner walked away—he had a ton more tattoos on his back.
“Addy?”
“Huh?” She turned her attention from Tanner to Gage.
He glanced up and down the beach. “Where’d Kim and Matt go?”
Addy shrugged her shoulders. “They were in the water last time I checked, but you know them—he leads, she follows.”
Neither one of them spoke. Instead, they sat quietly and watched a group of little birds run back and forth in the sand avoiding the waves. They were pecking at the small pieces of seaweed that washed up each time the water receded. She was thankful to have them as a distraction because the awkward silence was killing her. She was wishing she’d just lied and said she had other plans. Addy began plotting in her head how she was going to pay Kim back for putting her in a painful situation when Gage interrupted her.
“Come swim with me.” He stood up and grabbed her hands, pulling her to her feet.
Addy started to refuse, but he kept ahold of her hands and pulled her toward the ocean. His hot and cold behavior seemed to have switched to the hot setting again and confusion was setting in quickly. She had no clue what he wanted from her.
The water was cold, and by the time it was up to her midsection, she was covered in goose bumps. He just kept leading her deeper, laughing at how cold she looked.
They stopped when the water was almost at her shoulders. The waves were rough, making it hard to stand and Gage pulled her toward him to stop her from being knocked around by the water.
“Ok, when I say go, jump into the wave,” Gage said, standing beside her.
She smiled at him suspiciously. “Is this one of those things where you say to go, but only I go, and you stand there laughing at me?”
“Get ready,” he said with a smile. “Go!”
They both jumped forward and were thrown backward from the force of the water as it rolled by them. Gage had obviously done it before, but Addy on the other hand wasn’t prepared. She ended up with water up her nose, and sand in her bathing suit bottoms from scraping along the bottom. She tried a few more times and the result was basically the same. They both popped up from the water laughing each time.
Addy was completely winded from laughing and being pulled underwater. Gage pulled her up so her arms were around his shoulders and she was on his back to catch her breath. Gripping him tightly as a wave crashed against them, she retraced how she actually ended up in the ocean clinging to Gage. Her murderous thoughts aimed at Kim began fading.
Gage looked back at her. “You’re pretty terrible at this.”
“Whatever. You only pick games you’re good at.” She tried not to laugh, but couldn’t stop herself.
He continued smiling at her over his shoulder. “Still using that excuse, huh?”
Addy wrapped her legs around his waist and let go of his shoulders to pull her knotted hair out of a ponytail. Gage took it as an invitation to lean back and dunk her under the water. He pulled her back up so she was in front of him and held her against him while she wiped the water from her face.
“Ok, that was just mean,” she said, trying to look serious.
Gage just smiled at her innocently and adjusted his arms so she was somehow closer to him than she’d already been. Addy had never experienced anything like the way his hot skin felt pressed against hers as the cold water swirled around them. A boatload of feelings she’d never had before were surfacing that scared the hell out of her. She was still breathing hard and if she didn’t get away from him soon, she was never going to catch her breath.
On the shore, she saw a few kids sitting in the shallow water. They were getting knocked back with their legs flailing in the air each time a wave crashed.
“I wanna do that,” she said, pointing at the kids and breaking free from him.
She made her way to the shallow water with Gage following her. They sat side by side like the kids and waited for the next waves.
“You’re doing it wrong!” One of the little boys shouted at Addy. “Like this.” He pointed for her to move her legs like he had his.
Addy smiled at the boy, then turned and stuck her tongue out at Gage. “At least he helps me.”
“You definitely need help,” he said, raking his fingers through his wet hair.
The waves continuously crashed. They were thrown back several feet each time and then dragged out to where they started by the receding water.
Eventually, the kids moved near them and tried sitting in all kinds of positions to see which pushed them farthest. Addy’s stomach hurt from laughing at the silly things they were doing.
“You finally found something you’re bet
ter at than me,” Gage said, getting back into position.
Just as the next wave hit, he gave Addy a small push that put her off balance and caused her to be almost washed ashore on her back. He pulled himself through the water with his hands so he was lying on his stomach next to her, smiling triumphantly.
“Maybe I was wrong.” He stuck his tongue out at her.
The second she looked at him they both cracked up laughing.
“You are so immature.” She rolled her eyes at him, smiling.
His blue eyes met hers and his smile slowly faded. “Last night outside of your place,” he said, resting his head on his palm, “I didn’t mean to—”
“And this is what I’ve been dealing with since I was seven,” Matt said from behind them.
Addy was leaning back on her elbows, so when she tipped her head back, she was looking at Matt upside down. He was pointing at her and Gage. Kim was next to him smiling, but when they made eye contact, Addy could tell she was anything but happy.
Beside Matt stood two girls, the humans who were at the fire on the night she met Tanner.
Gage was already on his feet when the blond one asked if Addy was his sister.
“Right, because they look so much alike,” Kim said, grabbing Addy’s hands and helping her up from the water.
They walked back to the blanket and sat down while Gage and Matt talked to their friends.
Addy put her sunglasses on and looked over at the guys. “Where’d you pick up the third and fourth wheels?”
“They spotted us walking and latched on.” Kim shook her head, clearly annoyed. “The blond one, who I’ve decided to call Tweedledum, asked Matt where Gage was. Being the pal that he is, Matt offered to show her.”
“Matt really is a great guy,” Addy said. “I think I’m done here anyway—wanna head back?”
Kim just nodded and Addy could tell she was pretty upset. They packed their things and folded up the blanket.
“Don’t let him see you’re bothered about it,” Addy said. “Smile like it doesn’t matter to you what he does.”
“But it does matter,” Kim said. “Maybe that’s what you do to Gage, but I’m not like that.”
Addy was surprised she’d say that to her. “Gage is barely even my friend. He’s totally free to do whatever he wants.”
Kim shrugged and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, ok.”
Glancing over, she knew she had to go say bye to him or it would look like she was mad. She took a few deep breaths and put on a happy face.
Addy realized the idea it didn’t bother her to see Gage talk to girls was over. He’d shaken up everything she knew about her feelings for him and she was really paying for it with the twinge of jealousy she felt watching him smiling at someone else. She mentally kicked herself repeatedly for letting him do it as she made her way over to the group.
Addy stopped in front of them, still smiling. “We’re heading back to the estate.”
Gage turned to her looking a little disappointed. “Already?”
The idea of staying ran across her mind, but she shook it off and answered. “Yeah, I’ve got some plans.”
Addy wasn’t sure if she was going to see Tanner play or not, but leaving because she had plans sounded way better than saying she was leaving so she didn’t have to watch him talk to Tweedledum.
Matt put his arm around Kim’s shoulders. “I guess there’s a band playing at the resort next door tonight. We’re all gonna go check them out later.”
Kim wasn’t as good as Addy at hiding her emotions and couldn’t keep her irritation to herself.
“Have fun,” Kim said, pushing Matt away and heading through the sand toward the estate.
“Damn,” Matt said, watching Kim walking off, “what the hell’s her problem?”
Addy ignored him and painfully turned to Tweedledee and Tweedledum—still smiling sweetly. “It was nice to see both of you again.”
After waving to Matt and Gage, Addy walked back to the estate. Her cheeks hurt from flashing so many fake smiles.
Kim must have walked fast, because she wasn’t visible in the distance. She was probably more upset about Matt than Addy realized. He always acted so careless with Kim’s feelings, but they both knew they shouldn’t be so close.
The situation with Gage was getting out of hand too. Addy needed to stay away from him as much as Kim needed a break from Matt. He’d switched gears so quickly when Matt showed up with Tweedledee and Tweedledum that Addy’s head was still spinning. It was all too much and she had no clue what he wanted from her.
The idea of going to see Tanner play at the resort was scratched since Matt and Gage would be there with their new friends. After showering and changing, she decided just to go up to the main house and get some dinner.
Fate was on the terrace when Addy walked up the stairs. He didn’t usually eat dinner outside, but it was a nice evening. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and sat down at the table with him. Moving the estate there had taken a lot out of him and he was using a wheelchair because he’d become too weak to walk. She figured Molly must have brought him out.
Addy looked down at the garden. Matt and Gage were just walking up from the beach.
“Everyone seems happy here.” Fate watched the boys walking toward the main house. “How do you like it?”
Addy shrugged. “It’s nice. The ocean is beautiful.” She was still watching Gage as she spoke.
“Yes, it truly is,” Fate said with a smile.
She sat with her grandfather for a long time talking about when she was a child. They laughed as they tried to list all the different places they’d lived and he finally explained why he’d always kept them living in such cold spots.
Apparently Akori didn’t generally like the cold weather, so he kept the estate in cold locations to discourage them from coming to live there. He said he wanted her to live in a family atmosphere, without a bunch of strangers coming and going.
“I always wondered about the snow. Gage and I used to think it was to punish us.” She smiled just thinking about it. “We’d be extra good when we knew it was time to move.”
“Our little troublemakers tried to be good, huh?” Fate smiled, patting her hand. “You used to be like his shadow. If I could find him, I could always find you too.”
“Yeah, then we grew up—things changed,” she said, looking down at her hands. “Plus, five years is a big age difference.”
Fate reached for the teapot, but Addy shooed him and picked it up to refill his cup. He sipped it for a few minutes without speaking. She almost didn’t know what he was talking about when he finally looked at her and spoke.
“Perhaps five years was a large difference at one point, but maybe it’s not as much anymore. Friends, especially ones you’ve known your whole life, are very important. You’ll learn that as you get older.”
Chapter 10