He stood, settling his fists on the desk. “Are you telling me I sent my daughter into the lion’s den?”
“No,” I said. “Of course not. None of this was intentional.”
“You should have come to me immediately.”
I sighed. “She asked me not to.”
“And why the hell would she ask you to do that?”
“Because she was afraid you’d remove my spleen with a spoon.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Get the fuck out of my office.”
“Mack—”
“Now!” he bellowed.
I stood, heading back down the hall, sliding my phone out of my pocket as I went.
* * *
Teagan
I was about to set my bowl into the dishwasher when my phone buzzed and saw Cash’s name pop up on my screen. I answered immediately. “Hey.”
“Hey, baby. Get ready.”
“For what?”
He filled me in on his conversation with my dad and I let out a frustrated groan.
“I thought we were going to talk to him together.”
“Yeah, well, your dad wanted me to watch you this week and I didn’t want to lie to him anymore. There was also the fact everyone kept saying the longer I waited the worse the beating was gonna get.”
“Teagan Elizabeth Reed!” my father bellowed followed by the front door slamming.
“He’s here,” I breathed out. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay, Turtle. Love you.”
“Same.”
“Teagan?” Dad bellowed again.
I hung up and closed the dishwasher, then made my way to the foyer. “Yes, father of my heart?”
“Take it down a notch, butthead,” Mom said.
Back in the olden days, when my parents were dating, Dad had called her his Pixie in Distress, or PID, so she’d come up with butthead, which apparently meant boyfriend using tongue to help excite and delight. When us kids had found out that little nugget, we’d all been thoroughly disgusted, but it did seem to help calm my dad down when he was on edge.
Dad scowled as he faced her. “Do you know what’s going on?”
“Yes.” She slid her hand up his chest. “Do you want to have a little chat before you bring down the hammer?”
He squeezed her hand. “I think I’d like to discuss with my daughter why she felt it was a good idea to lie to me for the past three months.”
“It wasn’t a lie, Daddy,” I countered. “It just wasn’t really any of your business.”
