Page 69 of Sinners Retreat

Kindra

I’m seated at the small breakfast nook when I hear a light tapping on my door the next morning. The sun has barely broken the horizon, but I didn’t exactly sleep peacefully last night.

After setting my coffee on the table, I fling a light robe around my body and rush to the door. Cat is already halfway down the boardwalk by the time I step into the sunshine.

“I’m up!” I call toward her, and she spins around.

She shuffles back with a sheepish look on her face, probably fearing I’ll reprimand her for waking me. Her eyes only widen when I grab her arm and pull her into the villa, then close the door behind her.

“You will not believe what happened after the two of you left last night,” I say.

“If I had to guess, I’d say you had more kinky tie-down sex,” she says.

I sit at the breakfast nook and grip my mug of coffee close to my chest. The heat from the ceramic rests just over my heart,where another sort of warmth blooms as I prepare to tell her what happened.

“He said that he’s falling in love with me,” I say.

Cat squeals and begins jumping up and down, and goddamn me, I can’t help but join her. I set down the mug, leap from that chair, and grip her hands, and like two absolute brain-dead ninnies, we jump in a circle and squeal.

“Oh my gosh, Kindra, please tell me everything,” she says once we sit down. “What did you say when he told you?”

I pull the mug to my lips and take a long sip. “Well, I didn’t know what to say, so I just...snored.”

“You what?”

“I was shocked, okay? I’d just told him that I’m HBK, and he set it up like he needed to tell me something horrible, but then he said he was falling in love with me. That isn’t exactly something I prepared a response for, so I pretended I was asleep.”

She jumps up and comes to my side, then wraps her arms around me. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. He said he’s falling in love with you, and I’m so happy for you!”

I stiffen in her arms, as I’m not normally the hugging type. Sensing my discomfort, she releases me and takes a seat again. Her face glows, and her cheeks have to hurt from smiling this widely. It’s as if someone had professed their love toherlast night. That’s how happy she is for me.

And then it hits me.

This is what having a friend is like. This is what it could have been like all along, had I not been such a prickly bitch. It feels nice to have someone in my life who is truly excited about my little wins, and I don’t know why I’ve run from this for so long.

I reach across the table and grip her hand. “Thanks for being my friend, Cat, even when it wasn’t easy.”

Tears spring into her eyes, but she swipes them away. “Oh, stop it. I didn’t make it easy, either. Though I had good intentions, everything I’ve done has ended in a mess for you.”

She’s not wrong. But everything has come out right on the other side, so I can’t complain.

“Is that why you’re up so early?” she asks. “Too excited to snooze?”

“After he left, I couldn’t sleep. Then I fell asleep, but I couldn’t stay asleep. Around five, I gave up and made coffee.”

“Sounds like you need something to occupy you. Would you want to go on the hike this morning? That’s why I came by. At the end of the hike, you can push some Cattle off a cliff. It’s not the most luxurious way to murder someone, but I figured it’s better than not murdering anyone at all. I’m running out of time.”

While a hike at the crack of dawn’s ass isn’t at the top of the list of things I wanted to do today, I don’t have the heart to tell her no. She’s been kill-blocked at every turn—through no fault of her own—and I want to be there for her when she accomplishes her first murder.

“Of course I’ll come with you,” I say. “Just let me get changed.”

As I’m easing into a tank top and some jean shorts in the bedroom, I hear another knock at the door, followed by Cat talking to someone with a deep voice. While I have a newfound appreciation for our friendship, the girl could fuck up a wet dream. If that’s Ezra on my doorstep, I can’t risk her blabbing that I heard what he said.

I hurry to the bathroom to piss before rushing back to the main area and, just as I feared, Ezra is seated on the couch. Judging by his outfit—a pale-blue button up, khaki cargo shorts, and hiking boots—he planned to hike this morning as well.

“I came to see if you wanted to join me on the hike, but I see someone beat me to it,” he says. “Mind if I join you girls?”

“Not at all,” I say, and why does my voice sound like it’s risen three octaves? Do I always sound like this when I talk to him? I clear my throat. “Will your brother be joining us?”

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