Page 37 of No First Kisses

“There’s a problem, and I wanted you to hear it from me before someone opened their mouth and caused a world of shit to crash down on you.” His eyes are hard, the same way they were when he stood and watched our unit come back from our first deployment. The same glint in them that was there since his son, and one of my best friends, told him that he’ll be going back overseas again and again.

“What’s going on?”

“Darren Ortega was released from prison yesterday.”

His words hit me like a wrecking ball, sucking all the oxygen from my lungs.

“Obviously, it’s not what anyone would have wanted, with what he did to Charlotte. But the parole board granted his last request, based on good behavior and whatever else his lawyer was able to drag up to pad his file. No doubt he offered up someone higher in the chain of shitbag drug dealers than him.”

“Stop.” I hold up a hand, needing silence. Needing to process what in the hell I’m going to do. What I’m going to tell Poppy about the shitstorm that’s about to come down on us. “I need a minute. And probably half a sick day or something to deal with this shit.”

This is so much worse than anything I could possibly have imagined. I was worried about it being something to do with me and work, but this? This is something that is going to destroy me.

“You can’t go near him,” Chief says quietly. “I’m telling you now, we’ve got guys on him, making sure that if he steps out of line or there’s even the slightest chance that he’s dealing again, he’ll go down. But you’re too close.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I’m not too close. Not anymore. I was too close to Lettie. You know, my fucking sister. The one he got so high on heroin that she overdosed because she’d never fucking done drugs before. And then, instead of taking her to the hospital where she might have gotten help and survived, he left her on our front porch without even ringing the goddamn doorbell. Barely breathing. She was only sixteen years old, Chief. So, no. I’m not too close to that asshole. Not anymore.” But even as I stand there, trying to keep my heart from lurching out of my chest, I know I’m lying.

The first thing I’ll be doing is driving by his old haunt. I’ll have to work fast, before he gets his hooks back into the game. But I need to make sure that anyone who might be willing to help him knows what the consequence is.

Namely, me. I’m the consequence. And I’m not a puny little eighteen-year-old anymore who doesn’t know his ass from shit.

“I mean it, Pierce. Stay the fuck away from him, and let the other detectives do their jobs.” Chief walks away without saying anything else, and I finally collapse against the side of my truck like I’ve wanted to do since he said Ortega’s name. Then I let the memories wash over me and almost throw up.

“Lettie, where the hell are you? Mom and Dad are pissed, and you’re missing your own birthday party.” I snapped the phone shut, ending the voicemail, grimacing when I heard something crack.

“She’ll be here,” Mom said with a sad smile. “I’m sure she will be.”

“Don’t worry, Mama P.” Poppy squeezed my shoulder and then let go to help her finish setting out all the food. “She’ll be here. I thought she said that she was going to have coffee with that guy, Darren, after school. He asked her out for her birthday.”

“If she’s not here in ten, I’ll go out after her.” I promised my mom. Poppy might not be able to see the tension in her face, but I could. The tight way her smile didn’t meet her eyes or the slight tremble in her fingers while she put the last bit of icing on Lettie’s favorite type of cake.

What Poppy didn’t know was that Lettie fought with Mom before school. She screamed and railed and told our parents that she didn’t want to live with them anymore. All because they didn’t want her to go out with some random guy on her birthday.

Not for her sweet sixteen.

“Hey.” Emily had her face pressed against the window, and Finn was right next to her.

“There’s a car outside.” Finn finished her thought. “There’s a guy.”

We were already moving to the door.

“Oh, Mom.” Emily gasped loudly. “He just dropped Lettie on the ground and left.”

I opened the front door to find Lettie there, on the grass, unconscious.

“Lettie?” My mom pushed me out of the way, and my dad was right behind her.

There were already tears in her eyes when she dropped to her knees and looked back at me.

“Call 9-1-1, Lo.” Dad felt Lettie’s neck for a pulse.

“Lo?” Poppy pulled my phone out of my hand, and I couldn’t do anything but stare at my sister’s face. She wasn’t breathing. I could already tell. Her chest wasn’t moving.

Mom was crying, and her hands started to press into Lettie’s chest, doing the same compressions that we just learned in the CPR class.

Next to me, Poppy was on the line with emergency services.

Behind us, I heard my little brothers and sister freaking out, wanting to come outside to help Lettie.

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