Page 108 of June First

It was great.

And it’s the exact reason I’m here right now—can’t have Peach finding her way into any sketchy closets, getting pressured into performing despicable acts with that son of a bitch, Ryker.

Dumbass name.

Kip follows me through the lot as the four teens toss their cigarettes to the cement, snuffing out the cherries with their shiny shoes and glittery heels. They look terrified, silencing their conversations and pretending to check their phones. I nod at them as we pass and enter through the back door, sighing at their reaction.

I hate it.

Most of the cops in my department love the power trip…the air of intimidation that comes along with a badge and a uniform. They plod around with puffed-out chests, somehow thinking the loaded weapon in their holster is making up for the inadequacy between their legs.

Not me—I really fucking hate it when people cower when I walk by, or avert their eyes when I try to send them a smile. I hate that they avoid me when I’m only trying to help.

Kip gets it. His passion for saving people is just as great as mine, ever since he lost his parents in a suspicious boating accident. He’s not about meeting ticket quotas or terrifying civilians into submission. He just wants to make a difference.

This is why we make damn good partners.

The sound of shitty mainstream music fills our ears as we move through the rear of the venue, peeking into empty rooms, making sure there are no teen moms in the making. Static from our radios penetrates the otherwise quiet hallways.

Kip takes it as the perfect opportunity to ambush me with his unwanted advice about my sister.

“You’ll need to start loosening that leash soon, so you don’t lose your mind when she breaks away for good.” Kip’s words of warning trickle through me, and I respond with a grumble. He adds, “You can’t keep an eye on her forever.”

“Says who?”

“Says the guy who tried to do that very thing and failed. Jocelyn despised me for two solid years because I micromanaged her personal life and scared away her boyfriend at the time.”

“Good for you. If the pussy ran, he wasn’t good enough for her.”

Kip lets a grin slip. “One hundred percent.”

We fist-bump.

“But that’s not the point,” he continues, taking long strides beside me, his thumbs hooked into his belt loops. “The point is she hated me. Didn’t talk to me for years because she was pissed off and resentful, and that hurt like hell after already losing our parents. I had nobody.”

I rub a palm down my jaw with a sniff. “Yeah, well, Peach isn’t prickly like that. She’s too soft to stay mad at me for long.”

“That’s because she hasn’t found a guy you actively want to murder yet. Wait and see how she reacts when you try to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong, and the guy she loves breaks her heart.” He spears me with a pointed look. “She’s going to break your heart in return.”

The thought sends a nasty shudder down my spine.

Glancing at my partner, I notice that his sharp, angled features seem to mellow at the flash of worry in my eyes. I clear my throat, trying not to appear ruffled. “I got it covered, partner. Peach isn’t going anywhere, I can promise you that. Family is everything to her. Mom and Dad, me, Brant…” My skin hums with subtle intuition. An irritation, really, like tiny needles tiptoeing all over me.

I scratch at my arms.

“If you say so, Bailey.”

The music gets louder as we round a corner then traipse up a staircase that leads to an upper level. I realize Kip is making some valid points, but I’m a stubborn bastard, and my stalwart love for June has always trumped reason. Ever since I was a rascally kid, I’d wanted a sister. A little princess I could protect. I thought it’d be easy to keep her safe from dragons and black magic, keep her tucked away inside a stone castle, but sometimes the enemy isn’t always black and white. Sometimes the monster slips through undetected, disguised as things we don’t expect.

Sometimes, the monster is already inside.

To this day, I still feel the guilt and sense of responsibility from when I discovered little June crumpled in a pile of dead leaves at the bottom of our beloved tree house. Those feelings tether me to my mission in a profound way. Bone-deep. I’d promised to always protect her, and I let her down the instant some immature girl batted her pretty eyes at me. June almost died that day, and I know I never would have forgiven myself.

So all I can do now is make up for it.

Every good deed, every life saved chips away at that hollow block of shame.

And Brant? Well, he’s always been my trusty sidekick. My partner in crime, but more so in justice. A brother through and through, despite his inability to accept that title.

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