June, Reimagined (12)

A guy and girl stood at a stove with their backs to June, the guy, shirtless, only slightly taller than the dark-brown-haired girl.

“Get your disgusting paws away from me, Angus MacGowan.” The girl shoved the guy in the chest. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t eat animals.”

“You’d change your mind if you took a bite out of this one,” Angus said. “I’m tasty, Amie. I promise.”

The girl, Amie, had the same hair color and domineering height as her brother, Lennox—Amelia Gordon. June knew her instantly, even from behind.

“You’re a filthy pig,” Amelia said.

“I do have quite the hog,” Angus said, and oinked in Amelia’s ear. Then he grabbed her hips and pulled her close. “Come on, Amie. Let’s make piglets together.”

“The only thing I’d get from you is a venereal disease.” Amelia shoved Angus away again. “If it were up to me, I’d get rid of all the animals in this house. Dead or alive.”

“This is a pleasant breakfast conversation.” A girl sat on the kitchen counter hugging a cup of tea, thick black-framed glasses perched on her nose, her short blond hair pulled into a half ponytail. Last night Lennox had mentioned a female tenant named Eva, and June deduced that this must be her. “I’m not sure what’s making me feel worse, my hangover or this conversation about dead animals,” she said in an English accent.

“This hog is very much alive.” Angus ate a spoonful of eggs from the pan and immediately spit them out in the sink. “What the hell did you put in this, Amie?”

“Just salt.” Amelia took a spoonful for herself and gagged. She reached for the saltshaker, shook a sprinkling into her palm, and tasted the grains. “Fuck.”

Angus then tested them himself. “Bloody hell. You put sugar in the eggs.”

Simultaneously, a burning smell permeated the kitchen, and bread the color of night popped up in the toaster.

“Fuck!” Amelia pulled out the smoking toast and tossed it in the sink. Then she took the pan of ruined scrambled eggs and dumped them into the garbage. “I can’t even make bloody breakfast! It’s toast, for Christ’s sake. Everyone can make toast. I can’t spend the rest of my life in this godforsaken town cleaning toilets and changing sheets, talking to the bloody dead animals on the walls.”

Angus wrapped his arm around Amelia. “How about we get naked and I give you the best damn orgasm of your life? That will cheer you right up.”

Amelia detangled herself from his grasp as Eva jumped down from the counter and went to the fridge. “I’ll make breakfast.”

“Can I help?” June offered from the doorway. “I’m pretty good with toast.”

Amelia brightened immediately and bounded toward June, a smile now on her face. “You’re awake! After yesterday, I wasn’t sure what state you’d be in. But look at you, all healthy and rested. I’m so glad you’re here.”

June was startled by the warm welcome, after Lennox’s greeting the night before. “You are?”

“You have no idea,” Amelia whispered in June’s ear. “Coffee or tea? I’ll try not to fuck it up.”

June requested coffee as Angus approached with a lazy smirk that showcased a small, endearing gap between his two front teeth. Despite his size, with his tightly buzzed light-brown hair, he looked almost innocent. Almost.

“It’s good to see you again, Peanut.”

Then June realized why Angus looked familiar. His chest had been covered yesterday, in a Knockmoral Fire and Rescue jacket, but she remembered noticing his bright-blue eyes when he loaded her on the gurney.

“June,” she said, her cheeks heating. “You work with Lennox?”

“Volunteer.” Angus flexed his muscles. “They only call me in for the dangerous assignments.”

Amelia laughed. “You drive the ambulance, Angus.”

He winked at June. “Anytime you want a ride, just say the word.”

“Put a shirt on,” Amelia said. “You’re scaring the new girl.”

Angus brightened. “I have a better idea. Why don’t we all take our shirts off? Then no one will be singled out.”

“Go back to the sty you came from.” Amelia threw a towel at his head, and Angus caught it deftly, with a rosy-cheeked smile.

“But then who would unclog the toilets? Or change the light bulbs? Or fix the leaky sinks?” Angus crept closer, until he was standing right next to Amelia, his lips a breath away from her ear. “Just admit it. You need me, Amie.”

“What I need,” Amie said with a shove, “is to not be surrounded by animals all bloody day and night.”

“Can’t help you there, lass,” Angus said. “You know how Lennox feels about the place.”

“I’m well aware of what he prefers,” Amelia groaned.

Eva O’Neill properly introduced herself to June as she whisked eggs in a bowl. “So you’re the American plot twist that showed up yesterday. Just when things were getting dull around here.”

“Plot twist?” June asked.

“Watch out for that one.” Amelia gestured toward Eva. “She’s too observant for her own good.”

“It’s a prerequisite for being a writer,” Eva said, pouring eggs into a sizzling pan. “That and a penchant for cigarettes, diet soda, and insomnia. Are you sure you want to stay here, June, now that you’ve met the inmates?”