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.
"That doesn't explain the numbers changing, though." June knits her brows together, but I don't respond. Dad would've wanted me to have Parker's back. I owe it to him.
I'll just have to fucking kill him later when I get home.
“Why did you react like that?” I wonder out loud next. "To the kiss."
She sighs. “I… I was scared. Remember when my mom saw us kiss?”
I nod. I don't need a reminder—I remember it all too well.
"I kept thinking about that," June admits guiltily. "I knew how upset she'd be. She wanted us to be a family. She would think this was so fucking wrong."
"But she's gone now, June." I stand and face her. Her hands are folded behind her back, and she won't quite meet my eyes. I can tell that guilt's still plaguing her, forcing her to fight this. "She can't stop us now."
"But she would've hated this," she argues, glancing up at me. "She wouldn't want us together."
I don't know what to tell her. Of course, she's right. Her mother would've been against this. Against us.
"I don't care," I finally mutter, caging her body beneath mine. "I don't fucking care anymore, June. I want you. Tell me you want me too."
"I can't," she breathes.
"Why not?"
"Because..." She chews her bottom lip. "Because if I