Author's Note:
Song Credit: Lovers Death, Ursine Vulpine w/Annaca
This Chapter contains some mature language and sexual themes. This story is rated mature so discretion is advised.
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Addy's walk home had been a nervous one, she didn't want to bother Jax, he was enjoying some of his first father/daughter time and interrupting that over a feeling didn't seem appropriate. Besides, she was able to set up a proximity alert, she would know if Darren was coming and she was confident she could handle whatever it was he thought he wanted to start with her. He would regret it, she had been clear, and now that she finally had her head back on straight, she would have no problem reiterating it.
No matter her bravado though, she couldn't deny the tiny spark of fear that burst through her at the idea of running into him in a dark alley, all alone, without some method of protection besides early warning. Deciding that a non-lethal would need to accessorize her belt from now on. Hundreds of years of human progress but a jolt of electricity was still a very effective method of self defense, dropping assholes to their knees for centuries.
As she mused over her options, eyes roaming the street, old paranoia assisting her in her vigilance, she approached Cal's. Red and yellow lights started to pulse at the edge of her vision, telling her he was nearby and for all her confidence moments before she rushed to the door of the bar, pushing it open. Heedless of the increasing color vibrancy and pulsing that should have served as warning. Stumbling into her second home, nearly tumbling into a patron who reached out and caught her.
"Watch where you're going Addison!"
Her mouth went dry as she realized what the rapid color had been trying to tell her, what the voice and hands at her waist were screaming. Darren was here, she had run straight into him in her haste to escape him. She pushed herself away, leaping backwards into the door and banging her head against it. Hands up, ready to defend herself with any amount of force that might be required. Instead she heard a quiet chuckle and she settled on his relaxed face, not concerned by any means over her discomfort.
"Jumpy aren't you? Must have a guilty conscience."
Darren stood with his well starched, long sleeved pink shirt and beige front pleated pants, blonde hair pushed away from his face and parted to one side. Same as always, looking at her with a single raised brow, bemused. She heard another cruel snicker and she turned her attention to the woman standing next to him. Addy hadn't noticed her before and was a bit shocked to see her there, surprised barely covering the basics of her reaction.
She was shorter than Addy by several inches so she only went up to his shoulders, dark hair worn casually down around her face. She was also younger than Addy, which might help explain why she was here so early in the day, a heady flush of alcohol already heating her face and glassing her eyes. It wasn't a judgement, Addy herself spent most of her early 20's at some stage of indulgence regardless of the hour, it was merely an observation. What was truly interesting about the woman clinging to her Ex's arm was the smug expression she wore. She knew who Addy was to him, and felt superior about it, a curious revelation that was interrupted by a snigger above her head.
"Addison, it's rude to stare, I'm happy to introduce you to..."
"My name is Addy." She snapped her eyes back up to Darren, squaring her shoulders and straightening her posture, shaking off the once standard prey body language he used to like from her. She wasn't prey, she was just as much a predator as he was, and it was time he knew it, reclaiming her identity was only the first step.
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The Navigator
عاطفيةJax had meant it when he promised Addy she would never see him again. He was a man of his word, but when a power that is out of this world sent him home he became determined to make things right. Their love had burned hot, consuming all of her, but...
