Page 37 of Unraveled

“Then, we’re not going anywhere.”

“I can just ring for a ride.”

“And I’ll wrestle you for that phone if I have to.”

“Rubbish.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You wanna try me? Because I’ll do it. We’re not leaving here tonight until you talk.”

“You sound like a stubborn teenager.” Nic flicked away another one of the bugs.

“Maybe.” I popped a shoulder. “But I don’t feel that way. I feel so much older than that after everything I’ve been through.”

Nic sighed and looked over at me. “You really feel that way, don’t you? You and Tucker both.”

“I think it’s all four of us. Annie and Jet, too, in a way. Maybe not as extreme for them, but they went through so much of everything with us.”

He nodded. “I can see that. Death can do that to people.”

I frowned, his words so cryptic. “You’re deflecting, you know.”

“How?”

I shook my head in frustration. He was going to go down fighting, but this was one fight I had to win.Something was clearly torturing him, and he had to let it go. Or at the very least start talking.

“Nic…I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to give me the same consideration I gave you.”

He waited, his eyes cold, hurt, and for once, his expression open.

“What happened to you, in London, before you came here? Why does everyone only know this cold, mysterious guy?”

“I’m not cold to you, am I?”

“Sometimes.”

His brow furrowed. “I don’t mean to be.”

“You can make it up to me,” I offered, hearing his regret.

“How?” he asked, his expression wary.

“By promising me that you weren’t trying to listen in on Tucker and me earlier for one thing.”

His deep blue eyes widened. “No, I can promise you that. I was looking for you to see if you wouldn’t mind leaving soon, and then I heard you and panicked…

He shuddered at the end, and I frowned. “But there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?”

He didn’t reply, his continued silence confirming my suspicions.

“I saw the look on your face, Nic. I need you to explain because I can’t ignore it.”

Nic let out a long, low gust of air. “I do owe you that much, I suppose. You were honest with me.”

“When you’re ready…” I gave his arm a gentle squeeze, relief settling over me that he was finally going to let someone in.

Nic leaned to the side and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. A circle was implanted in the leather fromthe inside, out, but it wasn’t the same kind of circle most guys’ wallets had, and I groaned when he pulled out a ring with a diamond even larger than the size of mine.

“Oh, Nic…”

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