Page 143 of The Unravelings

“The best,” JJ whispers back, staring at me with hope in his eyes.

A hope to stay over? A hope to amend our situation so we can repair the broken parts of us? A hope that we’ll one day go back to the people we were before the fire came? I have no clue.

“Please stay,” I say, pulling the comforter off my body as a loud boom of thunder erupts outside, shaking the building for the millionth time.

JJ simply nods, kicks off his shoes, and takes off his pants with a grimace as they stick to his skin from the rain. “Be a good boy,” he whispers to Waffles as he lifts his shirt over his head and throws it into the pile of his wet clothes on the ground. His fingers brush over the tattoo sitting proudly on his ribs. Forever. The tattoo we got together, each saying a different phrase. “I mean this,” he says, tapping the tattoo three times. “I will mean it for the rest of my life. We pledged ourselves to one another.” He takes a deep breath. “You still…”

Without thinking, I pull up my loose shirt, exposing the tattoo on my ribs, and run my fingers over it. “It’s still here,” I murmur, staring up at him as he takes it in.

He nods wordlessly, locking the door, then climbing in behind me and pulling the blankets over us. His arm wraps around the front of my body as he pulls my back into his front with a heavy sigh.

“Thank you for letting me stay. I’ll keep you safe. Forever,” he murmurs directly into my ear as he gently lays a kiss on my cheek.

My cheeks flush, no doubt turning bright red as I snuggle into my pillow with a sigh. Having JJ at my back should be a mistake. Someone I shouldn’t trust. But there’s a sense of security with him here at my back, too. The past engulfs me in the best comfort I could ask for.

“No funny business,” I mutter into the pillow with a huff, trying to calm down the beating of my heart.

His breath blows against my neck when he chuckles and shakes the bed. “None at all. We’re sleeping. And I’m protecting you,” he murmurs.

“Good,” I huff, closing my eyes.

“I’ve missed holding you, Spitfire,” he whispers into my neck and holds me tighter. “You were greatly missed. By all of us. I promise, I’ll prove to you more that we weren’t in town.”

The funny thing is? I fucking believe him. JJ isn’t one to look you in the eyes and tell a lie. He’s truthful. Blunt, sometimes. But I feel it in the way he holds me. The way the words fall off the tip of his tongue. JJ did miss this. Any maybe… Maybe I’m beginning to question everything that happened to me that night. Was it them? Or people who looked like them? With the same shade of eyes.

Peeking an eye open, I turn to look JJ in the eye, leaving my body against his. “Can I have someone look at the footage? To double-check?” I search the depths of his brown eyes, but he doesn’t seem worried when he nods.

“Of course. I can forward it to you. I’ll give you anything, Livy. My heart. My soul. Everything. If it brings you back to us. If it clears our names. I’ll do it,” he whispers with conviction, holding me impossibly tighter as he says it.

“Okay.” I swallow hard as the word comes out. “Ca-can you make me a fake ID, too?”

“You give me the name you want on there, and I’ll get it done.” Just like that. No questions asked. He hasn’t even asked why I’m Oliver right now.

The look in his eyes. The promise that sits there is way too tempting for me. So without another word, I turn my head and close my eyes, drifting off to sleep with the warmth of a protector at my back and a rightness in my chest. Of course, this complicates things more than it should. Like why I’m here and who I’m pretending to be. I’ve never failed at a mission. Sure, Veritas has had its issues. They’ve fumbled. We’ve fallen. But every mission I set my sights on, I win. I take down the bad guys. Eventually.

But what if they’re no longer the bad guys? What if they’re the people I should put my trust in the most?

Only time will tell.

“Livy?” he hums, splaying his fingers over my stomach.

“Yeah?” I groggily ask.

“Why is your nose bruised? Did someone hurt you? Because I’ll fucking kill them,” he grumbles protectively.

“Oh, that?” I hum sleepily. “I sparred with Wilder at their gym.”

I’ll give JJ credit. He doesn’t immediately tense up at my words, but the soft curses falling from his lips tell me he thinks I’m in danger. Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. Who the hell knows anymore? Certainly not me.

“They’re dangerous, Spitfire. You shouldn’t be alone with them.”

Well, too late for that, I want to reply, but I don’t. I keep my sexcapades to myself and don’t let it slip that I’ve already had Malic deep inside me. Oops. And that I might want to do it again. Or pretend to, so I can get my damn glasses back.

Whatever. JJ doesn’t need to know any of that information right now. Or ever.

“I’m capable,” I huff. “But thanks for the protection.”

JJ blows out a breath. “I’m trying to keep you safe, remember?” he mutters. “Wilder and Malic are an unknown here. Their boss is unknown. They were never a threat before, but now they’re starting to come after Franco. Be careful around them. Especially as Oliver,” he warns in a serious tone, losing the tension in his muscles. “You know if you pledge with us, you won’t be able to go back there, right? That’s the Shades’ gym. They’re our enemy. That’s their territory.”