Page 12 of No Broken Promises

“We bleed blue.” I shrug. “You’re my brother and I’ll always have your back.”

Carter nods, and I leave him with his brothers who have each other to lean on. I hug my sisters, and I say a prayer for the lost soul of the man I hadn’t yet gotten a chance to make my friend.

In the chaos and aftermath of Keegan's death, I forget all about Parker. Okay, not really. To be honest, I don't have time to check on her. I swear that when everything calms down, I’ll take the time to have a conversation with her. To explain why I’ve had to stay away. To tell her what Danny had wanted. Maybe then, we can go back to being friends. At least, that’s the lie I tell myself in the aftermath of Keegan’s death.

It all starts when my phone goes off at three in the morning, on my day off.

“Sorry to wake you,” the dispatcher says gleefully as soon as I answer. “But we need you. Actually, we need Daisy.”

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and watching the dog in question glare at me from where she is lying at the foot of my bed, with my fucking pillow, I wait for dispatch to relay their reason for calling.

“We've got a missing child. Mother states she saw the boy around nine p.m. when she put him to bed.”

My heart drops into my stomach, and my limbs turn to lead. I am out of the bed, with my phone on speaker, while I get dressed a few seconds later. The scratchy wool pants that I usually complain about don’t bother me. Nor does sliding into my bulletproof vest and uniform shirt.

“Fuck.” I grunt as I stub my toe on my dresser. “Come on, Daisy. Time to go to work.”

The German shepherd's ears perk up, and she stops chewing on my pillow, which I hadn't even noticed before. Jumping down from the bed, her claws clack on the wood floor as she makes her way outside to do her business before we have to leave.

“Is there a CAD call up yet?” I yawn, unable to stop myself as I shove my feet into my boots. Our Computer Aided Dispatch is the only way to get all of the information for a report remotely, with just a few clicks of the keyboard.

“Yep. All the information I've got so far is in there.”

I rub my eyes after I walk outside into the chilly air and whistle sharply for Daisy to stop whatever nonsense she is up to in the backyard. Her collar jangles, and I hear the crunching of leaves as she takes her time walking through the yard to the cruiser. I’ve lost my patience and give her two short bursts of a whistle, back to back. “Time to go to work, girl.” At her signal to work, Daisy stops messing around and stands at the ready by the cruiser less than two seconds later.

She jumps into her spot in the back seat of my cruiser as soon as I open her door. When I climb into the front seat and readjust the gun on my hip, I pull up my CAD, which is attached to the center console.

“Fuck.” I rub my face and slam the car into gear, backing out of my driveway. I peel down the street and all the way through Birch with my sirens going.

The address on the CAD is familiar. Far too familiar.

I am not the only police car to pull into Parker's driveway, either. Her uncle, Sheriff Jake Findlay, is climbing out of his rig as I pull in. While I am in uniform, or as much uniform as I could grab in the middle of the night, Findlay is in a pair of sweats and a hoodie.

“You brought the dog?” He doesn't bother making eye contact.

Instead, he keeps his eyes on Daisy who has jumped out of the cruiser. She trots to my side and sits, ready to get to work. Satisfied, Jake turns his attention to Parker's open front door. I don't know what to say, and time is of the essence, so I start toward the entrance to her house.

“Find him, Remy.” Jake's voice breaks slightly on the order, and I nod, even though I am not sure he is even looking at me.

Not one for making false promises, I don't say anything. Honestly, I am afraid to. Parker doesn't meet me at the door. I let myself in, with Jake on my heels, and hear something clatter in the distance.

“Parker?” I call her name, only to hear her curse. She practically runs from the upstairs, clutching a jacket like it is her lifeline.

“Here.” She gasps, completely out of breath. “I grabbed his jacket from the dirty laundry.” Her eyes go from me to Daisy at my side and then back. “You… You have her? You have Daisy working at BPD? I didn’t think she was going to be working.”

For just a second, silence stretches between us. Daisy is the only thing that we ever saw eye to eye on. Danny was assigned Daisy as part of his training. After he died overseas and Daisy was injured, the Marine Corps retired her, and because of Parker, she was able to come home with me. I never found out what Parker did, either. One day, I was being told that I couldn't adopt her, and the next the paperwork was approved and I was picking her up from the kennels on base.

The moment of understanding between us passes almost as quickly as it starts, and Parker’s eyes slide to Daisy once more.

“She’s a working dog,” I explain after clearing my throat. “Daisy doesn’t want to sit at home retired, not when she can work.”

Her voice breaks, but a layer of steel underlines her words. “She'll find Nox.” Parker thrusts the jacket into my hands and walks directly into her uncle's open arms without looking back. “Uncle Jake,” she cries. “I don't know what happened.”

“Parker.” I pause, trying to remind myself that she’s not mine. “Mrs. Hayes,” I correct myself, trying to force a professional distance between us.

When I say her married name, Jake snorts and rolls his eyes at me.

“You have to tell me exactly what happened.” I continue doing my job, which I almost point out to Jake, even if he doesn't want to listen to it.

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