Keeping Gemma (Holiday Cove 2)

I’d been up all night, unable to sleep in bursts of more than half an hour, each time waking up in a sweat coated panic. I’d examined every angle, listened to the recorded conversation with Talia a dozen times, and came up empty handed every single time. Either I could sell him the business outright and pocket a lump sum. Or I could wait, and risk him getting me tangled up in some charges against my old buddy Rick.

And if that failed, I’d likely be left with no resources to keep my business—assuming I still had one—going and rebuild after the second scandal ripped through in less than a month.

My friendship with Rick wasn’t incriminating on the surface. I’d never participated in his scams, but I’d known a little about his illegal activity, smuggling goods—and occasionally people—in and out of Mexico. And even though I wasn’t sure what charges the police could get to stick against me, that didn’t really matter. O’Keefe had already shown he had enough power to dig something up and I knew that Rick would go away for a long, long time. I didn’t want to be the one responsible for him getting caught.

I heaved a heavy sigh and let the blinds slap closed again. I hummed a dull tune as I massaged the back of my neck with my good hand, working out the kinks that had balled up from several nights of uncomfortable and fitful sleep. My side was healing but the process was slow and tedious. The injury made everything more difficult and being drugged up only made it harder to think.

Boomer and Holly arrived in time to save me from pure insanity as I stalked through the house, wracking my brain for ideas on how to get out of the trap I’d unintentionally stumbled into. Jack drove us all down to Holiday Cove and we went to Carly’s coffee shop.

“Hey, handsome!” She shouted, ignoring the customer at the counter for a brief moment to greet me as I walked in behind Holly. “Hey, guys!”

We all waved and got in the back of the line. The morning rush was in full effect and it took a good ten minutes for her and her part-time employee to get us through the line and to the register.

“Whew. What a morning! Is there a convention in town that I don’t know about?” She asked, sagging against the counter for a moment.

Jack smiled. “Well after today you’ll have two less people to worry about. Holly and I have to get on a flight home.”

“Aww.” Carly looked at me, a flash of concern in her eyes. “That doesn’t make me feel better. I’d happily wait on you two all day. At least this one’s back up and about.”

Jack clapped me on the shoulder and we all put in our order. We stayed at the counter as Carly worked, shuffling to the side when a new customer came in and the part-timer took over the register.

With our breakfast in hand, we made our way to one of the few cleared tables. “I bet you guys are happy to be going home,” I said, setting down my oversized muffin and cup of coffee.

Holly lit up. “I miss the babies.”

I laughed. “I bet they’re going crazy without you.”

“Yeah,” Holly chewed her lower lip. “Knowing Hunter, we’ll have quite the bill for damaged toys and furniture…”

Jack laughed and wrapped an arm around her chair. “Princess will be there, keeping him in line.”

She didn’t look convinced.

“You gonna be okay here?” Jack asked, shifting his attention toward me.

I shrugged. “Sure.”

When I’d woken up, for the tenth time, I’d decided not to tell Jack and Holly about my late night visitor. There was no need to worry them when they had a full day of travel ahead of them. I’d tell them once they were back in Germany. By then, I’d be closer to making a decision and would have more to offer.

Or I’d be in jail on a homicide charge.

“I’m gonna miss this place,” Jack said, looking around the bustling place. “I think we should move here when we get back from Europe.”

“Works for me,” Holly said, smiling up at him and then over at me. “I’m sure Player won’t argue.”

I offered the best smile I could, hoping they took my lack of enthusiasm as nostalgia over their upcoming departure.

We all finished our breakfast and coffee and Holly stopped at the counter to give Carly a goodbye embrace. Then we headed out to Jack and Holly’s rental. The ride back up the bluff was silent other than Holly’s subtle sniffles. She and Carly had become very close over the past month, which made their goodbye a lot harder.

When we got back up to the house, Jack and Holly glanced at the protesters. “That’s still going on?” Jack asked, turning to look at me in the passenger seat.