Page 121 of June First

He looks beaten. Brutalized.

Oh God, what happened?

I push away from Ryker, his queries of concern mere gibberish as my brain tries to process what I’m seeing.

Brant is hovering just inside the entrance of the ballroom, his jaw bruised, blood crusted on his skin. And I want to run to him, ask him what happened, tend to his wounds, but…but there’s something else.

His eyes.

His eyes are pinned on me, glistening with pain.

Rivers of tears have sliced through the dried blood smearing his cheeks, and I’m desperately confused, taking a slow step forward and shaking my head.

Brant starts walking toward me, his hand lifting, cupping his mouth.

He shakes his head right back at me.

His face morphs with anguish, and I know.

I know something is horribly, devastatingly wrong.

My skin prickles with dread as I watch him approach me, and only then do my eyes slide over to his left, landing on a familiar man in uniform.

But it’s not Theo.

It’s Kip—wearing that same pained expression.

It’s Kip.

Why is Kip here? Where is Theo?

Why is Brant walking over to me, tugging at his hair, still shaking his head with tears in his eyes, as if he’s trying to tell me something that’s too awful to be said with words?

The crowd seems to part as the two men approach me on the dance floor, while I just stand there, frozen like a statue.

Time stops.

Everything around me moves in slow motion.

A song is playing, something happy and upbeat.

And then it hits me.

It hits me.

My heart drops out of me, straight to the floor, and so do I.

I buckle.

I collapse before they reach me.

I collapse into a pile of horror, screaming with disbelief.

I’m screaming.

Brant races toward me, too late to catch me. But he still tries, sliding to his knees and wrapping his arms around me, holding me close as I disintegrate.

We sob and we shake, clutching each other while people gather around and the music cuts out, the happy song replaced by my horrible screams.