Page 117 of Unraveled

“You know she’s right, man,” I encouraged when Jet still hesitated.

Eventually, he sighed and shifted so Annie could slide off his lap. “Fine. You’re right. I promised.”

He looked out at my truck where his cousin was still waiting and then paused at the edge of the porch to reach back for Annie’s hand, pulling her into his arms. She squeaked in surprise but relented to his kiss as he buried his fingers in her already tangled hair, whimpering a groan when he finally pulled away.

“Just a reminder who these belong to.” Jet smirked against her lips, tapping them with his finger before heading down the porch steps.

ANNIE

I stumbled a bit with the abrupt departure of that heated kiss and reached out to lean against the large beam of therailing beside Tucker, sensing him watching me. But my eyes followed the broad, sand-covered shoulders of my man. That kiss had been like a fucking brand, and Jet had just marked me as his before going to meet his cousin.

Tucker pulled Izzy close for his own goodnight kiss, and my fingers pressed to my lips, my thoughts falling back to those last moments on the beach with my boyfriend…

I winced as Jet took in the crack in his driver’s side window as we reached his Mustang. “I’ll replace it.”

He just shook his head and opened the door. Nic’s book sat on the seat, and he picked it up, studying the cover. “Mine… Funny how well the title fits.”

“Yeah.” I shifted the duffel bag back to the floorboards and climbed in, wincing at all of the sand we were going to get in his poor car. “It’s part of what set me off. You were supposed to be mine.”

He looked down at me from where he stood beside the car and leaned over the driver’s seat, locking his eyes with mine, a harshness crossing his expression that was so intense, so unlike him. “I am yours. Just like these are mine.” He brushed his thumb over my lips, possessive.

I nodded. “I know, babe.”

“I know you do.”

I shifted, grabbing his face to stare into his eyes. “Listen to me, Jet Thanos. That kiss meant nothing. Any doubts you have right now, throw them away. My lips are yours. Only yours. Always.”

He nodded, the tension receding, and tossed the book into the backseat. Sliding in behind the wheel, he then dropped a possessive hand on my leg and winked. “Let’s get home. I think your shower’s calling.”

Shaken from the memory as Tucker brushed past, I startled to find my eyes locked with a troubled sapphire blue stare from across the yard, several seconds passing with me trying to read Nic’s expression, but he looked away as Jet reached his side. My brow narrowed into a slight frown, wondering if they’d work it out. Hoping they would.

I was starting to understand Izzy’s take on family. When it came down to it, I didn’t want to get between Jet and his.

As if knowing I was watching, he looked up, and I could see that brilliant, easy smile of his telling me everything was going to be okay.

“You ready to come in, sis?” Izzy watched me from the doorway. “Or do you want to wait out here for Jet? I can stay with you.”

“Let’s go in,” I decided. It wasn’t going to change anything for me to watch them talk. No matter what Nic told Jet tonight, no matter what his side was, it was like I’d told Jet before. Like I’d swear a thousand times over if he needed me to.

That kiss meant nothing.

Chapter 37

ISABEL

One, two, three, four. Five, six, seven, eight. One, two…

I counted off the rhythm in my head, like second nature, it could just flow in the background as I went over the moves to my dance. My fingers tapped with the beat against my thumb at my side as I worked on breathing, doing my best to stave off the swarm of butterflies in my middle.

This was it. Today was the day. The next step for my future all depended on the next twenty minutes.

Oh, God.A swoop of nausea swept over me, pulling at my features, and a few seconds later, I felt hands rest on my shoulders, prompting me to open my eyes.

“You. Are. Going. To. Nail. This.” Leo’s look was so sure that I was almost ready to believe him. “Uh-uh, I see that doubt still lurking in that head of yours. Now, stop it. This is just another day in a studio where the second that music plays, thatrushwe get will hit, and that phenomenal talent of yours is going to take over and steal the fucking show. Come here.”

Turning me, he steered me by my shoulders from behind and walked me over to a floor-length mirror propped against a wall. “Look at this girl in here. She has been through so much, but she never stopped fighting, and instead of letting her trauma swallow her whole, she used it to fuel her passion. She is a warrior. One that I’m damn proud to know. One that is going to kick ass today when she gets out of her head.”

I stared in the mirror like he asked, atmyself, trying to see what he saw, and the longer I looked, the more I saw it. From the broken bones and the scars—the emotional and the physical ones—to every bit of heartache and bruising it had endured, my body had survived so much.Ihad survived so much.

---