Page 72 of The Unravelings

“You didn’t think I’d show today, did you?” I ask cautiously.

JJ sits back and rubs his chin. “I wasn’t sure you’d come back after—” He licks his lips. “After I found you. Why did you?” He leans in now, putting his elbows on the table and keeping his eyes laser-focused on me.

I shift in my seat. Why did I come back? Oh, you know, I have to spy on you and the others and make it into your stupid gang so I can finally take down Franco once and for all. Of course, I can’t say that. Not yet. Not until I know I can trust him, which may never be.

“Because I had to,” is all I say, raising a brow when he nods a few times.

“Is it because of this?” he asks, holding up a small piece of paper with Oliver’s name on it. The same piece of paper I put into the jar to join their gang at the graveyard party. “I didn’t know you had done this until Simon asked me if you two were in.” He looks from me to the strip of paper. A curiosity springs into his eyes. He sets it down and slides it across the table until it’s right in front of me, and he taps it a few times. “You want in?”

My throat tightens as I stare at my shitty writing. “I do.” I nod, trying to sound confident, but it’s all evaporating quickly.

JJ takes the piece of paper back and shoves it into his pocket. “Okay.”

“Okay? You’ll get me in and then what? What’s the catch, JJ?” Everything comes with a price, and I know this one will be big.

“To earn your trust back. You think we did something we didn’t do. I want to prove it to you. And I want to know why,” he quickly says. “I want to know a lot of things about you, but I figure this is a start, right?”

I weigh my options. I can’t lay everything out on the table for him. Hey, I’m an agent of the law, looking to take you all down. So, let me into your gang.

So I do something dumb and ask a stupid question.

“Do you remember the promise we made to each other? That after college we’d…”

“Disappear. Change our names. Leave Franco behind?” he responds quietly, nodding his head. “Yes, I remember.”

“If you still had the chance, would you leave all of this?” There’s an empty feeling plummeting into the pit of my stomach when he blinks at me several times and digests my words. His Adam’s apple jumps when he nods once, not daring to utter a word. “That’s why.”

I don’t elaborate further. I leave it at that. Giving him a sliver of the truth to understand why I’m truly here. To take them down. Franco, especially.

“What’s your major?” JJ whispers, brows furrowing. “I never asked.”

“Criminal justice.” My fingers wrap around the coffee cup, focusing on the warmth spreading through me instead of the spark of intrigue igniting in JJ’s eyes. “And you?” I clear my throat.

“Criminal justice? Huh…” He trails off slowly. “Mine is computer science with a focus on cybersecurity and a minor in mathematics.”

The ghost of a smile spread across my lips.

“What are you working on?” I ask, coming to sit next to JJ in the library of our high school with a stack of ridiculously heavy history books in my arms. “I swear they’re trying to kill me with all this knowledge. Why can’t we look on the internet again? Ugh,” I grunt, setting the books on the table and sitting next to JJ.

His dark eyes dart to me and take me in with a frown, pulling his lips down. “Algebra,” he answers, scratching his head.

I make a face, opening one of my books. “I wish I could help…” I trail off. “But I have my own mess. Plus, I suck at math.” I wave at the stack of books.

“Being here with you helps,” he murmurs, offering me a shy grin as a blush blooms up his neck and ears.

“I feel like I’m interrupting,” Mack chuckles, throwing a chair back and plopping down with no books in his hands across from us.

JJ raises his brows, silently asking Mack what the hell he’s doing in the library. I swear the man never studies but gets straight A’s. It’s honestly sickening how someone can barely glance at a book and ace everything.

Mack shrugs. “It’s my free period, and I’m bored.”

I snort. “Maybe you should study then,” I tease. “That will make you unbored.”

“Studying is for losers.” He winks and leans his elbows on the study table. “Let’s be rebels, Buttercup.”

“And what kind of rebellion are you trying to leave me out of?” JJ huffs, setting down his pencil with defeat. He knows that with Mack here, we’ll never be able to focus.

Mack grins and stands. “Come on, then, my fellow rebels,” he quips, waving a hand. “Come forth into the fuckery!”