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Dad nodded. He forced a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m fine. As fine as one can be anyway. What do you feel like eating?”
He picked up his own menu, scanning it for something good. He seemed tense. Stiff. Something wasn’t right. I felt it.
“I’m not sure. I could go for some pasta alfredo. Maybe a Caesar salad too. How about you?” I snuck a peek at him over my menu.
“Yeah, alfredo sounds good. I haven’t had that in a while.” Dad set his menu down, signaling to the server that we were ready to order.
The server hurried over, plastering a friendly smile on his face. We both gave our order. I asked for a coffee as well, feeling like I could use the boost. I snuck another glance at Dad. What was up with him? Something was off.
We made small talk while waiting for our food. Dad asked me more questions about classes and how the SUV was holding up. I wanted to ask him what was going on but knew that he would get to it when he was ready.
Then he did, and I never saw it coming.
We were about halfway through dinner when Dad suddenly asked, “So, are you going to tell me where you’ve been staying?”
I gaped at him like a deer in the headlights. It took a moment to screw my face up into a normal expression. “In my dorm room. Where else would I be?”
Big mistake. I knew that I was caught, yet I tried to lie anyway. My father wasn’t the kind of man one lied to successfully.
“Raina Ann Monroe. This is a bad time to lie. I’d advise you to choose your next words wisely.” Dad shook his fork at me. The use of my middle name always meant this was no time to screw around.
I swallowed my bite of pasta and took a drink of coffee to wash it down. “What do you know?”
“I know that you haven’t been at the dorm recently. I want to know where you’ve been staying and why you didn’t tell me. Something is going on with you. I want to know what it is.” Dad continued to shovel food into his mouth.
My appetite began to shrivel. Pushing my noodles around my plate with my fork, I said, “Don’t flip out, okay? I’ve been staying with Havoc Alexander and his friends.”
I braced myself for his angry reaction. It took him a minute, like he had to process what I’d just said.
His fork hit his plate with a startling clatter. “Excuse me? Have you lost your mind? Why, Raina? Why would you get involved with the Alexander kid?”
I sucked in a deep breath. I was already in deep shit. Might as well be honest. “Nikki wasn’t working alone. I received a threatening message from someone after she died. Havoc and his friends are helping me find out who it is. It seemed safer for me to stay with them. I didn’t want to worry you until I had more information.”
Dad stared at me, his frosty expression chilling me to the bone. He cracked his knuckles before lacing his fingers together. “Why didn’t you tell me there was someone else involved?”
“You had enough to deal with already. It’s okay, Dad. I’m a big girl. I can handle this. I promise to let you know if I find anything out.” I wasn’t sure if that was entirely true. It depended on who was behind this shit.
“And what does the Alexander kid want in return for all this? I’m not an idiot, Raina. I know there’s more going on than you’re telling me.” Dad’s furious glare turned into a bitter scowl.
I twirled some noodles around my fork, dropping my gaze to my plate. “I need you to trust me on this. I know what I’m doing. I’ve watched you for years. Trust me, I’m not stupid enough to let them manipulate me. If anyone is doing the manipulating, it’s me.”
Dad rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? I don’t like this. I don’t like any of it. I want you to come home. Stay with me at the house. If someone else is still out there, I want to know you’re safe.”
I stuffed a bite of noodles in my mouth, buying myself a minute to choose my response. Finally, I said, “I am safe. I promise. Havoc isn’t as bad as you might think. Sure, he’s a dick, like most guys his age, but he knows how our world works. He’s gone out of his way to make sure everything is all good.”
I doubted that my casual reply would be acceptable. It was all I had to offer.
Dad chugged the rest of his wine. “What’s in it for him? No, wait, I don’t even want to know, do I? Do you understand how much trouble this could cause with Maverick? Does he know you’re staying with his kid?”
“No, I don’t think so. Don’t worry about him. Nothing will happen to cause more problems between the two of you. I promise.” I gave him a tight smile, willing him to drop this conversation.
“I don’t like anything about this,” he continued. “I want you to come home.”
We both knew that he couldn’t force me to do that. He wasn’t the type to control me. He’d raised me to be a fighter, to stand on my own two feet. He would always want to protect me regardless but I needed to do this my way.
“If anything happens to make me feel unsafe, I will. For now, I’m staying where I am. You’re gone a lot, Dad. I’d be there alone all the time. How will that keep me safe? You can’t just leave one of your men there to babysit me all the time. Besides, Havoc’s place is a lot closer to campus.”
He couldn’t argue that. With a deep frown, he picked up his fork and continued eating. “Fine. Stay there as long as it’s safe. I fully expect you to keep me informed of anything you learn about the person working with Nikki. And if anything changes, you come right home. I mean it, Raina. I’m trusting you here. Don’t let me down.”
