Page 5 of Unraveled

“Whoa, what?”

“What, what? The David part?”

“No.ThatI figured, but did you just say Mateo?”

“Yeah. He got taken in, too.”

There was a honk outside, and Katy hopped up when she glanced out the window. “That’s my ride. See ya, Jet.”

I nodded with an absent wave as she left, my mind now spinning. At least two of my friends were in jail, if they hadn’t been bailed out yet, and who knew who else might be, too. I could just imagine what Megan and Emma had to be feeling. Emma might have broken up with Mateo last night, but I doubted she wanted him to end up in trouble.

Shit. I never even called her back.I groaned, opening my phone again to send her a text.

NIC

Finally.

I settled into the private cubicle I’d secured at the library, hoping I could finally drown out all the chaos in my head now that I was properly alone, and I opened my laptop, my work greeting me like an old friend.Thatwas something I could control. No matter how unbelievably frustrating everything in my life had become, I couldn’t stand the thought of not being productive.

The one thing in my life that hasn’t changed.The bitter thought slipped through. Not that I had any intentions oflettingit change, either. My career was just about the only thing I still had any control over. There was room to move up in the company, and if all else fell through, I’d already put together one successful business. I could do it again if I had to. Even here.

Needing to relocate had been necessary for my own survival, and at least, here, there was family. I could have chosen a different part of Europe, but that wouldn’t have been a far enough escape. This drastic approach was my best bet.

After flying through several of my IT tasks, I pulled up Ridgeside University’s website along with a few others in order to research everything I’d need to do to be accepted.

So I can start my new life in Texas.

I stopped, the thought catching me off guard. I’d contemplated the move before this weekend. I’d given it loads of consideration over the past month even, but I’d never stopped to look at it like that before.

My new life.

The words sounded strange…hopeful even?

Maybe.

How odd that the place I’d been so resistant to visit might hold the key to my survival. Because here, I wasn’t constantly surrounded by the past and what I couldn’t escape.

I might actually have a shot.

London by accident, Texas by choice.My decision was final. I was taking control where I could, and this area of control was something I refused to relinquish to anyone now that I had a firm grasp on it. It might be lonely, but that was my own doing. My life had unraveled once. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Izzy had definitely taken me by surprise, though. She was like a kindred spirit, a person who understood things about me whether I wanted to be understood or not. And her pain…it was different from mine but no less potent. Probably even more so.

I wondered if that was part of the reason we could connect, and I knew that was why I didn’t divulge to her all the details of my own issues any of the times she’d asked. If I did, she would only hurt more, and then thisnewlifeI was attempting to start wouldn’t really be new. It would be riddled with the old.

Then there was Jet. When I wasn’t being adick, as he had put it, I felt a certain pull towards my younger cousin. He was so full of life. Even before my life had gone to hell, I would have killed for a spirit as free as his. Jet was easy to be around. A solid bloke. But trust came hard now.

I’d be the first to admit that I was jealous of my cousin. The bugger was only about to be nineteen, and he had better friends than most people would know in a lifetime, a complete and loving family, and the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Even if I found Annieexceedinglyfrustrating, I could plainly see her devotion to Jet and her friends. Jet deserved someone like her, in the way that she loved his every trait and flaw.

Not everyone is so lucky.

Coming to America was my escape, but so many people seemed to expect something of me here. Something I no longer had to give.

They’re going to be disappointed when they realize their expectations can’t be met. Like I said to Jet, apparently, I live to disappoint.

And a part of me hoped I’d disappoint Aunt Helen the most.

---