Page 222

He looked away and cleared his throat. “I mean… Yeah. Yeah, I guess.” He peeked sidelong at her. “Is that bad?”

Her shoulders sank. “Look, Travis… I think you’re a really great guy?—”

“Oh gods,” he said with a hard chuckle. He pushed off the counter and started to pace. “I totally didn’t see this coming. Ireallydid not see this coming.”

“Let me finish. You’re not letting me finish.”

He turned and faced her. Waited.

“I think you’re a really great guy,” she began again, “but…”

Yeah, there was always abut,wasn’t there?

“I’m sick,” she concluded.

His brows went up. Okay, he hadn’t expected that. He’d expected more of, like,You’re not my typeorWe’re too differentorI decided I don’t like you after all. Sorry about that.

His brow creased. “I already knew that, Jewels.”

“I need you to really think that through, though. If we make it out of here…” She sighed and looked to the left, staring at nothing. “I’m never getting better, Travis. There is no cure for what I have. The doctors…when they diagnosed me, I asked for an estimate on how much time I have. I asked for three separate opinions, just to be sure, and each doctor gave me the same answer.”

Travis’s mouth was so dry, it felt pasty. He crossed his arms again, his fists hidden beneath them. “And what…what did they tell you?”

Her eyelids slid shut, her face twisting with pain. “Two years.”

Every coherent thought left his head.

A cruel and mocking silence filled the room.

Two years… That meant she had Stage Two. The second-worst stage.

“I was diagnosed near the end of last year.” Which meant she now hadlessthan two years. She opened her eyes and slid them his way. “I meant what I said,” she began with a hoarse whisper. “You’re a really great guy.”

When she didn’t elaborate, he told her, “Thanks?” Was that the right thing to say? He was ass at talking, wasn’t he?

She smiled a little. “I’m not going to lie, my first impression of you was…” The laugh she let out was musical—the kind of sound he would gladly listen to every day. But her eyes were shining with emotion. The sad kind. “Not great,” she finished.

He flinched. That…was not what he’d expected to hear. “Ouch?”

“I don’t mean it like that,” she said quickly. “What I mean is…when I agreed to go out with you, I honestly believed you were the kind of guy who…” Her cheeks reddened. “That we would just…”

He questioned her with an upward flick of his brows. “Just what?” he pressed. “Fuck?” He didn’t blame her—he’d volunteered himself at the House of Souls when she’d claimed she wanted some good dick. He’d never really been the dating type, either. Getting laid was all he’d cared about.

She winced. “Maybe?”

He shrugged. “That’s okay—I actually thought that, too.”

“That wasbefore,though,” she said. “Before all of this. Before everything that happened in Angelthene with the ice cream and the knives…”

“Ice cream and knives,” he repeated with a chuckle. “What a date, hey?”

Her smile was wistful. “I really do like you, Travis. Which is why…” She picked at her nails. “Why I don’t think it’s fair of me if I let this continue.” Ouch again. “Let’s say we started, I don’t know, catching feelings for each other, or something.Realfeelings.” Was that not what he already had? Real feelings? Was he an idiot for believing that Jewels actually liked him? All this time, was she really just another girl who’d heard the raunchy rumors about him and wanted to hit the sheets with the Devlin Devil? Hadanythingchanged, or was he just delusional? “Then what?” she concluded.

He couldn’t hide the frown on his face. “Then we…catch feelings?”

“Then you lose me in less than two years.”

He blinked. “Oh.”