Page 38 of Unraveled

He turned the ring in his fingers a few times, the diamond dazzling as it glinted in the light. “This…” He sighed. “Was the worst decision I ever made.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “Did she say no?”

Nic shook his head. “I never even asked her.”

Wait… What?“Why not?”

He pressed the ring tightly between his thumb and index finger, squeezing the thin band of gold like it was the reason for all his pain. “Because the night I planned to ask her, I came home to find her in bed with my best friend.”

“Oh, my God.” The words left my mouth on a breath. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, which was good. From the look on Nic’s face, he wasn’t really with me anymore, anyway.

Chapter 13

NIC

I would remember that night in explicit detail for the rest of my life, and now, I was going to relive it, for Izzy, so I could keep the one person in my life that I felt connected to besides my father.

“Anna and I met in my second year at Oxford. The new term was just starting, and I was running late for a class. When I entered the room, I accepted the reprimand from the professor and apologized for my tardiness. He simply motioned for me to take a seat.

“There were only two left available. One was along the outside of a row, almost to the very back, and the other was in the middle of the front row. The latter of the two wouldn’t have been my first choice under normal circumstances, but right next to that front row empty seat was Anna.

“She was staring at me, tapping her pen in irritation because I’d interrupted the lecture. Her gaze dared me to even try sitting next to her. So, of course, I did anyway. I shrugged off her glare and had to pretend to focus onthe professor, but the whole time I was watching the fascinating girl next to me from the corner of my eye.

“She kept absently twirling the cinnamon strands of her ponytail around her finger, twisting it up, then letting it go to fall against her arm, and I remember having the strong, peculiar urge to run my fingers through those dark, silky strands.

“I never thought ponytails were sexy before that day. I’m usually a hair down around the shoulders type of bloke. But not on Anna. I found out later that she wore her hair up because she couldn’t stand to have it in her face when she worked.

“She was always so focused, that bottom lip of hers pulling between her teeth as she furiously typed her notes during lecture, though she did tense a few times when my arm wouldaccidentallybrush against hers.

“She was so intense, a no-nonsense type. At least, that’s what shewantedeveryone to think. I suspected there was more to her. She was intriguing, a mystery and a puzzle I had to figure out. I was dying to know more.

“I quickly learned that I wasn’t the only bloke she was cold with. She didn’twanta boy to distract her. She was only there to learn. Her education and her goals were her top priority. Most blokes backed off with her icy glare. I was the only one brave enough to continuously shrug off her deflections.

“Each class, I’d flash her one of my oh-so-charming smiles that I used to have no problem using. She didn’t smile back. But after the first few weeks, I could see the interest in her eyes. They were gorgeous… Green, with a honey ring in the center. The first thing I noted and committed to memory when she finally looked at me forlonger than a second or two at a time. Her interest was there. I could see it, but she wasn’t going to be easy to get.

“It took me nearly three months to convince her to let me take her on a date. Just one date, but one was all it took. Once out of that no-nonsense, school setting, we hit it off, each flirtatious comment and smile chipping away at her icy armor until I had her smiling and laughing, even cracking a joke or two of her own. We stayed out nearly the entire night, talking about anything. Everything.

“After that, every spare minute outside of work, class, and revising, we were together. She might have been all about her studies, but when she set it aside, she knew how to have fun. And, Christ, could she make me laugh…” I paused, allowing myself the moment to remember. Until I realized I’d started to smile. That emotion didn’t belong to her anymore.

“She was perfect, to me,” I admitted. “And I was the luckiest prick out there to have found her. To haveearnedher. She was my match.”

The ring still clutched between my fingers, I felt the band dig into my skin as I tightened my grip. Like it was an anchor as I forced myself to relive our story. How she’d lifted me to great heights and then let me go, leaving me to crash and break. Totryto survive.

My chest aching, I drew in a breath, knowing I needed to continue.

“About the time our first anniversary passed, Anna inherited a house right outside London from her great grandparents, and she asked if I’d like to move in together. Waking up to her every morning was brilliant. Herperfection and laughter were like a drug as we made it our home, and it was only a few months later when she started tossing me little hints.

“She’d talk nonstop about how much fun she was having helping her sister plan her wedding, pouring over websites and bringing home magazines to get ideas as she put together boards and samples to show her.

“At first, I thought she was just excited about the project. Anna could get very wrapped up in things when she was excited, but I realized it was more than that when she started talking about how styles of wedding dresses would look onherin front of her friends and leaving pages with engagement rings open for me to see.

“She’d sometimes point to one she liked and say, “Look, Nicky. I bet Mira would have liked this one better than the one Rob bought her. The setting is so gorgeous, don’t you think?” And then I’d look over and agree, even though every single one of them had Anna written all over it. Mira’s taste wasn’t quite as extravagant.

“I didn’t let her know I’d caught on, though. She was twenty-two, and I was only twenty, but I knew she was the one I wanted. I would have given the world to ask her then, but I just didn’t have the funds to get her the ring she deserved, and I refused to ask my father. Giving her something like that needed to come from me, not my dad’s pockets.

“Around that time, a mate of mine from Oxford, Mark, came to me about developing some software we’d talked about in passing a few times, saying he had a potential buyer if we wanted to give it a go. I was intrigued, largely at working on the project but the potential payout tippedthe scales, especially if it was my ticket to affording a ring. So, Mark and I threw ourselves into the work.

“We had an ace of a time with it, but it required a lot of hours, even more so when Mark and I started up an actual business with it, working on smaller projects on the side. It quickly became my regular job outside of uni. The more I worked and the more profit we made, the faster I could buy Anna that ring and even help with the wedding. Her father couldn’t afford ours with Mira’s coming up so soon. At least, not the wedding Anna would really want. Which made that main project so crucial. That big sale was the ticket for giving Anna and I the start we needed. What she deserved.

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