Page 17 of Red Queen (Red Thorns Crew 3)

Her father spoke up. “Yeah, I think you should leave.”

My head whipped up and my eyes finally cleared. Everything came into focus as I stared into the face of a staunch, serious Korean man. Wow, Dani looked a great deal like her father. The same kind of skin tone. The same kind of hair. The same kind of slanted eyes and lower lip pout. On Dani, it was adorable. But, on her father?

It made him look like he wanted to rip my head off.

Her father wore ratty blue jeans and a pair of sneakers. He had a gray blazer over what I could only assume was a Cheeto-stained white shirt. The man looked like hell. Bags beneath his eyes. His lips downturned into a serious frown. The whites of his eyes were more red than anything else. And when I looked over at her mother, she didn’t look much different. With her plump features and big brown eyes, I saw where Dani got those massive doe eyes from.

She was the perfect combination of her parents.

Dani put her hand on my arm. “You can stay if you want. You don’t have to leave.”

Her father spoke again. “We need to talk, Danika. Alone.”

I nodded. “Do you want coffee? Because I have to leave in order to get it.”

Her mother’s voice was soft. “Please let us have some time with our daughter.”

While I understood their requests, I wasn’t moving until Dani asked me. She was my main priority right now. And whatever she wanted, I’d grant.

Dani sighed. “Coffee would be nice, thank you.”

I paused. “Are you sure?”

Her father rounded to her side of the bed. “Of course she’s sure. Now get the hell out of my daughter’s bed.”

Her mother gasped. “Peter!”

“Rena, a strange man is in bed with our daughter. And look at him! He looks worse off than she does! How do we know you didn’t do this to our daughter?”

I managed to slip off the edge of the bed. “I would never lay a finger on your daughter like that. You have my word.”

The man snickered. “Well, forgive me if I don’t believe a word that comes out of your torn-up face.”

Her mother put a hand on his shoulder. “Pipe down. You’re going to have the nurses in here kicking us out in a second.”

Dani caught her father’s attention as my feet finally planted themselves onto the floor. I spotted a chair in the corner and walked over to it. I lifted it and walked it over to her mother, setting it beside her, offering her my hand. She took it so I could help her settle against the cushion.

“Would you like any coffee, ma’am?” I asked.

She smiled up at me. “Rena, please. And that would be nice.”

Her father harrumphed. “You can drop the coffees off and head out. We’ve got it from here.”

Dani cleared her throat. “Max doesn’t leave.”

Her mother’s eyes studied me. “So you’re Max.”

I nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

She smiled. “Good to know.”

I looked back over at her father, who was practically shooting daggers out of his eye sockets at me. My eyes fell to Dani one last time and the sweetest smile ever crossed her face. I wanted to walk back over and give her a good morning kiss. One of my favorite kinds of kisses from her. But with her father two seconds away from ripping my skull open, I decided against it.

“Sir, would you like--?”

“Out,” he said curtly.

Dani sighed. “Dad, please stop it. I can’t do this with you right now.”

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