Page 90 of Unraveled

“I’m so sorry, Mom,” Annie murmured into her shoulder. “I didn’t know.”

“Because I never wanted you to.”

Several minutes passed where we cried, but we eventually sat back, each of us wiping tears from our cheeks, and I looked at Mom, seeing her so differently now. Seeing her for the survivor she was. For everything she’d been through back then and everything since with losing Daddy.

“I get it. I understand where you’re coming from and why you’re scared for me, but you have to believe me that Tucker isn’t like that. Youknowhim, Mom. He’s not my trauma story. He’s my ever after. What you had with Daddy.” I reached out, and Tucker took my hand. “Please support us. I need your blessing, Mom. I need you there.”

She nodded, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “You’ll have me. I promise.”

I pressed my lips together. Just…happy. Even though my heart was now breaking over what she’d had to go through.

Mom squeezed Annie’s and my hands, and we took her cue, standing as the guys pulled us back into their laps.Mom shifted to her knees, and then Dimitris held out his hand.

She paused, staring for a moment, but then let him help her up before taking her seat again by Jenna. She looked awkward and unsure after what she’d just revealed, and my heart went out to her a little more. But before I could try to reassure her, Jenna took her hand, gripping it between them and looking at my mom in a way that said she was so proud. That she had her back, and my chest lurched watching it.

“Now, what was it that y’all have to share?” Jenna turned her attention to Tucker and I, and Chuck leaned forward with a discerning stare.

“That we apparently need to know.”

My stomach dropped, and for a moment, I froze. I knew panic had set over my features when I caught the looks on Annie’s and Jet’s faces, but I’d promised our parents my story.My trauma. I just hadn’t known Mom was about to unravel with sharing her own. I looked behind me to Tucker, desperate, asking what to do, and one look at my expression had him placing a kiss on my brow.

“You’ve got this, princess. You promised.”

There was double meaning in his words. There was the promise I’d made Mom just minutes ago and the one I’d promised months ago, the last time Ryder had gone too far. After today, I finally believed Tucker was willing to sacrifice his family for me. No resentment.

I just wondered if his family would feel the same.

Annie took my hand, feeding me the last bit of courage I needed, and I looked around at our parents, my gaze landing on Chuck’s. “It first started over a year ago at the beach house…”

Chapter 28

ISABEL

I was so emotionally drained that even my body felt tired. After dealing with the fallout of my reveal where Mom had alternated between tears and being ready to make heads roll, and Tucker, Jet, and Stef having to talk Chuck down from searching out his nephews, the idea of graduation was just exhausting.

There was just too much to process, and even though I was now standing in the high school gym, the room buzzing with the excitement of my classmates, I felt like I was in a fog. Tucker’s presence behind me right now was the only thing keeping me halfway present.

“You okay?” He ran a hand down my arm, bringing me back as my mind drifted again, and I nodded before I frowned, looking around.

“Where are Annie and Jet?” Hearing the chuckle at the back of his throat, I glanced over my shoulder at him, finding him looking down at me with an amused grin. “What?”

“Nothing. Just that I know you’re out of it if you missed their exit.” My brow furrowed, and he grinned wider. “There was a whole deal when Jet realized Annie was in a dress…” He trailed off, and it took me too many seconds longer before it clicked.

“Oh. Oh! Here?” My eyes darted around the gym, and Tucker laughed softly.

“Locker rooms.” I looked over just as they were coming out, and Jet pressed Annie up against the wall to devour her in a kiss before pulling her back out into the crowd.

Annie was blushing and shooting Tucker warning looks from hell as they approached, while I just gaped that they’d been daring enough to sneak off with everyone around.

“Cat got your tongue, Izzy?” Jet tapped below my chin, his grin wide with amusement, and I snapped my jaw back up, making the guys laugh.

“Oh, my gosh! We’re graduating. Can you believe it? I’m so freaking nervous.” Emma came rushing up with Megan.

“You’re nervous?” Annie fidgeted with the red zipper on her gown. “I’m the one that has to give a speech.”

Tucker rolled his eyes. “Like you can really be worried about that after dragging me up on stage at Breaker Hall a few months ago. You made a whole scene, and now you’re afraid of a speech?”

“You’re gonna own the stage, sis.” I gave her a smile.

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