Unholy Gestures

Chapter 11

We were not fine. 

The rain had not died down during the night, but I just used the constant sounds falling onto my window to help me fall asleep. Unfortunately, I wasn't asleep for long.

"What are you doing here?" A booming voice came from the front room. I could hear it all the way from my room down the other end of the house.

Sighing, I get up and throw on a jacket. I really should have expected this. I just thought they would get a later flight. But it's Cole, why am I surprised.

"I'm here to take my wife home." I open my door and glance down the hallway, I could see that Jarrod's door was also open, so he was the one at the door.

A squeak made me turn my head, Jax was opening the door of the guest room.

"We'll be fine'?" he asks, rubbing his eyes. Apparently I wasn't the only person Jarrod woke up.

"Yeah, yeah, tell me later. Did you check what the time was?"

"She is home." Jarrod states, his voice laced with anger.

"It's about 4 am."

"Far out, only a couple hours sleep and he shows up."

"She is not home, her home is with me, in the city." I roll my eyes, does he really think that he has some claim over me?

"You don't have to go out there. Let us handle it." Jax says, walking down the hall.

"Addi, you will have to stay here. If he actually sees you here, it might upset him more." Mum says from behind me.

"Like I wanna go see him. I don't want to look at his face, hear his voice. I don't really get a choice though. Unfortunately he is still my husband." Upon hearing Cole and Jarrod's argument get louder I add, "and I think he isn't going to listen to anyone."

"Are you ready to face him?" She asks gently.

"Hell no. Do I have to? Yes."

"Good luck. I wish that you never had to go through this. What I would give for this to never happen." I smile sadly. What I wouldn't give to not be here.

"Cole, do you really believe you have the right to be here right now?" Jax asks.

"Well, I have more of a damn right than you do. Why are you here?"

"Because I am her friend. And closer to her than you are right now. You better leave before-"

"Before what? You fight me? I'm not afraid of you Callahan."

"Before we call the cops. I don't know if you're aware of this, you're being very loud and disruptive. Not to mention on property that you are not welcome on and therefore can be considered trespassing. You don't want you image to be tarnished with a criminal reputation do you?" Jax finishes.

"He's right Cole. It's best if you leave." I say, entering the front room. The door was open and Cole was standing in the frame. Jarrod, dad and Jax were standing in front of him so I couldn't fully see Cole.

"Addi." He breathes, trying to push his way into the house, giving me a look behind him, into the rain.

"Don't." He freezes. "Don't try to come inside. Just leave." He looked broken. Why does he look broken? He wasn't the one injured, he was the one who broke me. how dare he act like I'm doing anything wrong.

"Addi, please, let me talk to you."

"What is there to talk about? You kissed a random girl right in front of me! Actually, not random. You knew her."

"It's not- "

"What? 'It's not like that?' Or 'she came at me'? To think I defended you. They warned me. They thought you were different. I defended you. I believed in you. I love you. And you threw that away the moment you said, 'screw it' and kissed her." I rant, tears beginning to cloud my vision. "You need to leave now."

"Addi, I can explain."

"Explain what? Is there something that I missed? Maybe that it wasn't the first time? Screw you Cole. Screw you." I turn and leave the room; I couldn't bare being near him.

"Good going Cole. Just leave now. You've done enough damage." I hear Jax say before the sound of his footsteps come echoing down the hall.

"Addi, I told you to stay behind. I didn't want you to be hurt."

"I got him to leave, though, didn't I?" I sniffle. He sighs.

"A, you did. At least after tomorrow he won't know where you are. No more surprise visits."

"Yeah, luckily."

xX---Xx

The rain was still pouring when we arrived at Jax's. He lived inner city Melbourne, only an hour's drive away from my parents and a ten-minute walk from Claire's.

"It's been so long since I was here. What was it, a month before the wedding? Claire forced me into a car and drove me here."

"Yeah, she said she had a surprise."

"That surprise was just me."

"Just you? I hadn't seen you for years until that party. Honestly, I hadn't really thought about you that much."

"Nice to know I was that important to you, that you forgot me." I laughed. "It was really only four years. And it wasn't like you'd moved to a new country to study medicine."

"Nope, only to Sydney."

"Then, you finally transferred back to Melbourne and met Claire again." I say, smiling. Our group was back together. It was always the three of us. When he left, it was just Claire and I, we never forgot Jax.

I mean, maybe I did forget. Four years was a lot longer than what I'd thought. So much had happened, I'd met Cole and his friends, I'd moved out of my house and in with Claire, eventually on my own when she met Hunter. Although, I didn't live on my own for long. I'd met Cole around the same time as Claire met Hunter, I was jus less trusting. Guess it was from my years of experience.

"And now you've only got two more years of studying." Jax groans.

"I always wanted to become a doctor and six years of study didn't seem bad. Now I see you and Claire finished with your courses and I wish I took something different." I laughed at him.

Claire and I both took a Bachelor of Media and Communications. We always had a dream of working together and us having the same dreams of where to work encouraged us. Now, she technically doesn't even need to work. Or she could just get a job from Hunter. She qualified in what he does.

"Don't laugh at my misery." He scolds, trying and failing to hold back a smile. Resulting in a grimace.

"I will always laugh at your failings, dear Jax, or have you forgotten that too?"