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“Let’s get some rest,” she said gently. “Things will seem better in the morning.”
But morning took forever to come.
The more desperate she was to sleep, the more her body refused to give in. She spent hours tossing and turning. Every time she closed her eyes, Jewel relived the moment when she picked up Kross’s loaded gun, pointed and shot.
The weapon had bucked in her hands.
She hadn’t expected it to be so loud.
When Kross stuttered and fell, she’d hoped for him to be alive. Maybe critically injured or something, but alive.
She’d killed a man.
And even if that jerk deserved it, Jewel wasn’t sure what that meant for her, for who she was.
* * *
She hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep until she woke with a start. The alarm on the nightstand read four a.m. It was the usual time she got up in the morning to take a quick shower and head over to Sweet Treats.
Jewel crept out of the guest room and slipped down the stairs so she didn’t wake Sky and Joon. The newlyweds had cut their honeymoon short for her and generously offered to let her stay with them for a few days.
She was grateful, but she didn’t want to impose.
Jewel had given into Sky for one night. Today, she’d head back to her place and make sense of her life.
But first, there was someone she needed to see.
Jewel scribbled a note to tell Sky where she’d gone and then headed out. The breeze was cool against her hot skin. The sun had yet to rise, but the edges of the world were tinged with a balmy purple shade.
She strode freely, realizing after a couple blocks that she was in nothing but the tank top and shorts Sky had lent her to sleep in last night.
Maybe killing a man had fundamentally changed her, made her braver. Or maybe this shift had been in the works since she started hanging out with Sky, Joana and Carrie.
A few minutes later, Jewel spotted the guesthouse and stepped into the foyer. A man was snoring behind the desk. She snuck up the stairs and stopped in front of Finn’s room.
It took a moment to gather her courage and knock.
Finn had disappeared when the police arrived last night. She understood. He was a foreigner who shouldn’t be involved in the first place. Jewel kind of wished he’d stayed.
Why?
She wasn’t quite sure.
Since meeting Finn, her life had been a rollercoaster. In a way, Jewel wanted to determine for herself what was real and what was fake.
The door opened and Finn appeared, looking down at her in disbelief. “Jewls? I mean, Jewel. Hey, what are you doing here?”
She studied him—the messy brown hair, the squinty hazel eyes that were ringed black and blue, the square jaw that shared the same purplish color. It was obvious he’d taken a beating.
They were both lucky to get out alive.
“Can I come in?”
“Yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair and pushed the door wider.
Jewel stepped into his room, recalling the short hours that she’d spent here with him. Talking. Sleeping. Hugging. He’d broken so many of her walls. Even if it was for selfish purposes.
In a way, she owed him for that.
