Page 25 of Red Queen (Red Thorns Crew 3)

Peter sat on the edge of the bed. “Princess, can you please tell us what happened last night?”

8

Dani

I held his hand tightly, but I kept drawing a blank. What in the world was I supposed to tell my father about something like this? I mean, I sure as hell wasn’t telling him the truth. I wasn’t telling anyone the truth. The truth would stay between Max, me, Rupert, and the rest of the Red Thorns. It surely wasn’t something I was telling my parents. The look in my father’s eyes was desolate, though. My mother was practically begging me with the worried downturn of her lips. My father threaded our fingers together as he tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear. And as I drew in a deep breath, I started with the truncated truth I had quickly concocted in my mind. Because I couldn’t lie to my parents anymore. I felt guilty enough already that I had scared them so badly. Adding lies to that would do Max and me no good.

Especially since I wanted them to accept Max.

“Well, we were at Max’s father’s house. He has a pool in his backyard,” I said.

Dad nodded. “Uh huh. Was there any rough-housing going on or anything?”

No. There were just thugs and business tycoons and gunfire and I watched a man die. You know, the usual stuff a college girl gets herself into.

I paused. “Not really. I mean, Max’s friend Rupert was there. His father was there. I don’t think John was with us, right?”

Max shook his head. “No. He wasn’t. John doesn’t swim.”

Mom interjected. “Who’s John?”

Max grinned. “My brother. He’s got some lasting issues from a coma he slipped into due to some serious trauma a few years back that prevent him from doing things like swimming and riding a bike.”

Dad’s face hardened. “Seems like a lot of people get hurt around this guy, Dani. Are you sure he didn’t--?”

I shook my head. “Dad, it isn’t like that. Not at all. I’m telling you, Max is the one that saved me. It was just an accident. There wasn’t anything that--”

Max cleared his throat. “It was my father.”

My blood ran cold as my head whipped over to face him.

“Max, what are you doing?” I whispered.

He snickered. “Summarizing our eventful night. Just stand in my corner with this one, okay?”

Dad narrowed his eyes. “Wh

at are you talking about? What the hell is going on? I demand to know what’s going on this instant!”

Mom placed a hand on his shoulder. “Peter, calm down. We’re only going to cause a scene if you don’t calm down.”

He shrugged Mom off. “I don’t give a shit about the scene anymore. If it gets me answers, then so be it. You talk to me now. What the hell happened to my daughter?”

I panicked. “Daddy, stop. I’m telling you the truth. This isn’t what--”

Max cleared his throat. “My father has always been a pain in the ass. We’ve had bad blood for years now, and your daughter got dragged into something that had nothing to do with her. That’s what happened.”

I stared at him. “Max, shut up. Now.”

His eyes grew cold as he slowly looked at me. “You let me handle this.”

Dad stood up. “What kind of bad blood? Did your father do this to my little girl?”

Max sighed. “Yes. He did.”

Mom gasped. “What in the world? Did he try to kill our daughter?”

Dad roared. “That’s it! I’m calling the police. I’m calling the police and having you arrested along with everyone else!”

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