Page 45 of The Unravelings

“Happy to be of service,” he says cheerfully, bringing my gaze back to him. “And I really do mean that.”

Smooth fucker.

“Oh! Oliver, before I forget! And this is good for you, too, JJ. The blood drive is in a few days. It’ll help improve your grades.” Right. The professors will give A’s to anyone who participates.

“Thanks. I’ll think about it.” I offer her a tight smile. Honestly, the last thing I want is to get poked by a needle, but I need to investigate it thoroughly. It’s odd they push it so hard on the student body.

“We highly encourage it. Not only is it for the hospital, but we need as many bodies as we can get to beat Cali State in the competition.” Temperance smiles one last time before clicking a few times on her computer. “Well, that’s the end of our session. I’m sure JJ and you can discuss your tutoring sessions in the hall.” She waves a few times. “Oh! And send in my next appointment, please.”

Just like that, I charge out of the room, zooming past JJ and leaving him as quickly as I can. If I’m quick enough, he won’t catch up to me.

But I’m not that lucky. Story of my life, I guess.

13

Olivia

“Damnit, Spitfire!” JJ hisses right on my tail as I’m trying to exit the damn building without this confrontation again.

Isn’t one showdown in a week enough? Ugh. Apparently not with him. He wants to talk this out or kill me? I’m not fucking sure. All I know is, I want the hell out of his orbit ASAP.

“Leave me alone,” I grumble. “Isn’t it enough you’ve forced me into stupid tutoring sessions after tampering with my grades?” I growl, stopping abruptly and turning toward him, and locking my gaze on his.

There’s that softness again. The twinkle in his glossy eyes that’s filled with desperation and wanting. Feelings I don’t quite understand coming from him. Not after what he did. Even if he denied it before.

But I’ll never trust them again. Even if I have to pretend.

He huffs, looking up and down the hallway with a frown. Before I can shake his hands off my upper arm, he pulls me into an empty, dark office and pushes me up against the wall with force.

“What the hell?” I hiss, trying to push him off me, but it doesn’t work. He grips me hard, holding me in place as he looks me over.

“I knew there was something about you,” he whispers longingly. “When I saw you at the fight in the bathroom. You were so familiar, yet not… I couldn’t put my finger on it. But now, I know…” He trails off, emotions clogging up.

“So, you really fucked with my grades?” I grit out, ignoring the way he feels being so close to me.

His breath hitches. “You disappeared, Spitfire.” He swallows hard, squeezing his eyes shut. “I can’t believe I’m saying that name again.”

“Then don’t,” I spit out, trying to get out of his grip again, but he holds tighter. Rougher.

“Livy,” he murmurs with desperation. “I had to get your attention somehow. You were holed up in your room, and Simon wouldn’t let me through. You weren’t answering my texts or calls. And I couldn’t find you after you took off. We need to talk. I need to know everything. You said we killed you and I—” His mouth flops open and closed a few times as he holds something inside, but I see the pain of my death written on his paling face. “This doesn’t feel real.”

“Wasn’t that your first clue that I didn’t want to talk?” I ask stubbornly. “There’s a reason I avoided you. A reason you didn’t know I still existed. What? Are you here now to finish what you all started? Huh?” I raise my brows, a fire brewing beneath my skin and aching to take him out and run away. But I stop when hurt flashes across his face and confusion contorts his features.

Over the last five years, I’ve been taught to observe people and truly try to understand them. I’ve been trained in combat and weaponry. I’ve learned to read people like a damn book. And JJ? He’s confused as hell.

Just like me.

I don’t fully understand what I’m feeling on the inside as my stomach sinks further toward my feet. My mind twists and turns over the memories. They play relentlessly. Torturing me with the look in his brown eyes as he held me by the shoulder and aided in my would-be death. Vicious. Lifeless. Fucking soulless.

He wasn’t the same JJ staring back at me. Eyes glistening with tears and regret.

The scar across my throat burns as a reminder of the trauma I suffered through. I survived. The fire. The knife. Everything that was said that night plays in my mind like a wicked reminder of what I’ve been trying to forget.

“Finish the job?” he croaks. “I don’t understand. But I want to. I want to understand everything. I won’t even hold it against you, Spitfire. That you were gone, and we thought you were dead, and we mourned you. Still mourn you. Fuck. Please,” he begs with tears falling down his cheeks. “Please talk to me. Tell me why. Tell me how. Tell me everything.”

My knees weaken with each emotion he lets out. More sobs rise in his throat, spilling between his quivering lips. A vulnerability sits there, staring back at me when he leans his forehead against mine. A shiver runs through me at the contact, and I realize I’m witnessing a man falling apart, unrestrained, holding tightly to me as if I’m the lifeline keeping him in this world.

A lump forms in my throat, but I swallow it down. I can’t allow other people’s emotions to infect me and cloud my decisions. Numbness spreads across my flesh, starting at my toes and working up my legs. Confusing thoughts erupt in my mind, contorting deep inside me.