After I rip Lexi off me and she spits an insult at me, I’m on my stepsister’s trail. I lose her in the crowd, only catching a glimpse here and there. But I know June—have known her my whole life, in fact—and I know when something bad happens, she needs one thing. To breathe.
I burst out of the club in time to see her taking off down the street.
“June!” I yell after her, and she stops for a split second before disappearing into an alley. I’m hard on her trail, and in a minute, I’ve caught up to her, grabbing her hand and stopping her. "Wait, please.”
She rips her arm out of my touch and stumbles backward, and I can hear her sobbing.
“June,” I say softly. “What the fucking fuck are you doing here? What's wrong?”
“Fuck you!” She turns to face me, eyes burning with anger as we face off. "You don't know? You really need me to spell it out for you?"
I’ve never heard my stepsister curse, and it’s a little funny, but I manage to stay serious. “June, why the hell are you getting so fucking upset?” She stares me down, but I'm not done yet. "Am I not allowed to go out anymore? Not allowed to have some fun when you've fucking shut me out for weeks?"
But then my mind catches up with my heart, and I realize—she’s jealous. She’s angry. So she has to care about me.
“June,” I repeat her name because it feels too good on my lips to stop. "June, you're being a little fucking brat. You're the one who hasn't answered a single call."
She flinches.
“Haven’t you seen my calls?” I demand, thinking of the two dozen times I’ve dialed her number. “Why didn’t you call back? Why did you ignore me? I tried so fucking hard to reach you, and you never responded.”
She raises her hands to her face and wipes her tears angrily. Her mascara is running, and she’s more beautiful than ever, my wild little thing. I step closer, and she doesn’t move away.
“You do care,” I mutter. "So why not pick up?"
“Of course I care.” She sighs and glares at me. “Are you stupid? I’ve always cared for you. You’re the one playing games with me!”
I’m about to ask what the hell she’s talking about when she finally explains.
"I've called you too. At least ten times. And you never picked up, either."
"What the fuck do you mean?" I furrow my brows. "You never called."
"I did!" She produces her cell from her clutch, and there it is, my name and a whole bunch of missed fucking calls. I pull out my phone too and show her my calls to her number, and she shakes her head in disbelief. "That's not possible. I never got any of those calls."
I furrow my brows and check her number. "This is your cell, isn't it?"
"No." She shakes her head. "Is this yours?"
She shows me a number on the screen. Everything's right except the last digit.
"It's not." I groan. "How's this possible? I had your number before, and you had mine. And now it's suddenly different."
"I have no idea." She slumps against the wall, eyes still wet with tears. "I don't know anything anymore. You were going to fuck that girl, weren't you?"
"No," I tell her resolutely. "I don't want to fuck any girl."
Her eyes beg for more, and I sigh, sitting down on the sidewalk and burying my fingers in my hair.
"How did we get everything so fucked up? What happened here?" June wonders aloud.
I have a feeling I know what happened, but I'm not ready to put it into words just yet, so instead, I just ask, "Did you have fun with Parker these past two weeks?"
June glares at me. "I didn't want to spend time with Parker. I wanted to spend time with you."
"Then how did our wires get crossed?"
“I don't know." She shrugs. "I kept asking Parker about you. He told me you wanted nothing to do with me. I asked every day, Kade!”
My blood curdles when she says that, my fists clenching. That bastard lied. He lied to her, and that’s why I’ve been losing sleep for weeks while he went out with her. I wouldn't put it past him to fuck up our numbers, too. Prevent us from talking to one another.
I’m going to kill Parker.
“I didn’t know, June,” I say, gritting my teeth with anger. “I didn’t know he told you that. I thought you were ignoring me. You were dodging my calls, spending all your time with my brother. And the way you reacted when we kissed... I thought you were done with me.”
"I'm never done with you," she mutters. "How could Parker do that?"
"Maybe he just got confused,” I lie smoothly, protecting my brother’s ass. But I know already this is his fault. Parker's always been a bit of a trickster. He'd do anything so things would work out in his favor.