Page 72 of Red Rose (Red Thorns Crew 2)

I gritted my teeth. “I’m not walking away, John. And I’m not dropping this, Dad, until we get to the bottom of it. Blood doesn’t mean shit. Not if you’re the one coming for me.”

Dad smiled. “You know what? Good for you, Max. That’s the first thing you’ve ever said that I respect. And that I agree with. Blood doesn’t mean anything when stakes like this are involved.”

My nostrils flared. I knew that man was guilty of this. I knew he was behind it. I just didn’t know how to go about figuring that out. But now that I knew where the endgame was, maybe I could walk it back from behind. Start at the punchline, and trace it back to this point.

To where I had been jumped. To where I had been cornered on a fucking night out.

To where Dani got roped into this fucked-up nonsense.

“Max.”

John’s voice pulled me from my trance. “What?”

His hand fell against my shoulder. “Let’s go. There’s nothing for us here.”

Dad pointed to the door. “He’s right. You should go.”

I shook my head. “No. He’s not right because we should go. He’s right because there’s nothing for us here. Never has been.”

John glowered. “Max. Shut up and come on.”

Dad nodded. “Have a nice drive, you two.”

John practically tugged me into the hallway before I gave in. I drew in a deep breath as we walked through Dad’s mansion, with pictures and artwork and crown molding looming over our heads. I was lost in my thoughts as we walked out to John’s car. And I knew he was, too. John wasn’t silent too often. But when he was by choice? I knew something important was on his mind.

“Food?” I asked.

John unlocked the car. “How the fuck can you think about food right now?”

I ripped open the door. “I’m hungry. I didn’t have much pizza. I could go for something.”

“Yeah. Sure. Just tell me where to go.”

As we pulled down the massive driveway, I kept an eye on my side mirror. Just in case Dad was having us followed.

23

Dani

I was stuck in that place between being awake, but still being numb to the world. My 8 a.m. class had gotten cancelled due to the professor having a family emergency. So I had an extra two hours to sleep this morning. Which was well needed on my end of things. I’d stayed up much too late last night trying to polish up my paper and get it submitted. I wanted that thing in my professor’s inbox by the time he got back from his family emergency. I wanted him to see how serious I was about this class, even if I did have to ask for an extension on the paper.

And I hoped he saw that when he got back.

I cleared my throat as my body came to life and I rolled over. I pulled the covers up to my chin, curled my knees into my stomach, and settled in for a little more sleep. Five more minutes. All my body needed was five more minutes.

But I heard my phone vibrating underneath my pillow.

“No, no, not now.”

I heard Hannah yawning as I stuffed my hand beneath the cold cushion.

I tried pressing the side button to snooze my alarm, but it kept vibrating. I peeled an eye open and wiped the crust from my eyelashes as I pulled my phone out. Narrowing my eyes as the morning sun blinded me, I flopped onto my back as my phone continued to jiggle in my hand. The string of numbers flashing on my screen gave me pause. Someone was calling me, but I didn’t have their number saved.

Who in the world is calling me?

“Pick it up or shut it up,” Hannah groaned.

I rolled my eyes as my phone shot the person to my voice mailbox. But the second I put the phone on my chest, it started vibrating again.

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