Page 55 of Royal Fling
“I know that, idiot. I meant do you want soda or something?” Dad huffed.
“Soda, please, yes,” Leo said.
“And to think you speak for a living.” Dad shook his head and chuckled, pouring three tumblers of whiskey and passing a can of cola to Leo.
“Why are you all up so late?” Dawson asked.
“Yes,whathave you been up to?” Leo added.
“What kind of question is that? Why would anyone be up late in their own home?” I said with an eye roll.
“My home, you mean,” Leo said.
Dawson slapped his arm.
“Babe. Don't be so rude.”
“I'm not. I was just saying.”
“I was out. I just came back,” I said.
Leo raised his eyebrow at that but didn’t say anything else.
“And I was out with some friends,” Dad added and took a sip of his scotch.
Leo looked from me to Dad to Dawson, then back to me.
“Who were you out with?” he asked.
“Mind your own beeswax. Why do you care?”
“Well, it couldn't be your mom. You wouldn't be out so late with an elderly woman.”
“Hey,” I said. “She's not elderly. And you’re right. I wasn’t out with her. I was out with Beth.”
Leo swallowed a chuckle but didn’t dig any further.
Did he know something? Beth better not have told him anything. I’d sworn her to secrecy.
“And you? What kind of friends were you seeing at two in the morning?” Leo turned to Dad.
“Don’t forget I am your father,” Dad said without giving anything away.
“Okay, Darth Vader. We know you’re our father. Still doesn't answer my question. What was your geriatric ass doing out this late, and what kind of friends were you with?”
Dad bit his lips and furrowed his brow, slamming his glass on the counter.
“Baby!” Dawson shouted before Dad could have a go at Leo. “Stop teasing them.” Turning to us he said, “Sorry guys, he's always a little bit hyper after a flight.”
Leo huffed.
“As if. They’re also being suspicious as fuck, so I need to know what they're hiding,” he said.
“I'm not hiding anything,” I answered, maybe a little too defensively, and to cover for that, I had a sip of my Scotch.
“Sure. Sure,” Leo muttered. “I will get the truth out of you, one way or the other. You're hiding something. Both of you.”
I growled at Leo. I’d had enough of his probing.
