Page 9 of Rhythm Of Redemption

“Well, yes, I suppose so.” It was the truth, but that didn’t make him feel any better about saying it. Coming here had been a bad idea. He’d just wanted to warn her about the slippery path her daughter was standing on the edge of. He hadn’t come here for a row.

“So, you don’t think any of this is your fault? Hmm?” She glared at him with a defiant lift of her chin, challenging him to disagree with her. “Anyone with half a brain could tell she was underage, even those morons on the door.”

“Don’t go blaming my staff.” She was right, of course she was but it wasn’t all their fault, Dani knew she was too young to be there but she’d done it anyway, and from what Matti had told him, it wasn’t only his club she’d been to. “Your daughter and her friend knew they were too young to be there and had no problem lying their way in. So who is really to blame here? If your daughter hadn’t illegally entered my club, then none of this would have happened. I wouldn’t be here, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?”

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her eyes blazed; an angry pink flash stained her cheeks as she glared at him. He panted heavily. His heart pounded in his chest, adrenaline ricocheted around his body, and he’d never been more aroused in his life.

They eyed each other like a predator watching its prey, their chests heaving and falling in unison, each waiting for the other to make their move.

“What’s all the shouting about?” Dani appeared on the stairs, dissolving the tension hanging between them.

“It’s nothing.”

“It didn’t sound like nothing.” She sauntered down the remaining steps. “What’s he doing here, and what are you arguing about?”

“We’ll talk about it later.”

He couldn’t help but notice the way she’d rolled her eyes at him. He shouldn’t have come. What had started out as good intentions had only made everything worse.

“Why can’t you tell me now?”

“Okay, I had a call from Mrs Ellis … She’s heard about what happened and has suspended you pending the outcome of an investigation. She thinks you collapsed because of some drug overdose.” Lou threw her hands up in the air. “Don’t you even care?”

Dani shrugged noncommittally.

“Don’t you realise how serious this is? She could expel you, and then what? You’ve got exams in a few weeks. What about your A Levels and when you apply to universities? How is it going to look on your C.V. if you’re expelled over drugs? No decent university will even look at you.”

“Argh.” Dani’s hands fisted at her sides. “It wasn’t an overdose.”

“No? Well, try telling that to the university admissions department.”

“How many more times? I’m not going to university. I hate school and can’t wait to leave.”

“So, what are you going to do when you leave school then, huh?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care, as long as it’s away from here.” She raced up the stairs and into her bedroom. “I hate you,” she cried out before slamming the door.

“Are you happy now?” Lou speared him with a look that could stop traffic. “This is all your fault.” She turned to leave but stopped in her tracks. “Why are you here, anyway?”

Should he tell her what he’d come here to say? Was now really the right time to warn her about her daughter and the path she was heading down? She looked like she had enough on her plate without him adding to it.

“I suppose you came here to buy my daughter’s silence, did you? To find out what she told the hospital staff last night?”

Don’t say it. He clenched his lips tight to stop the words from escaping.

“Well, despite what you think you’ve just seen, we are not some kind of dysfunctional family. We are honest people and if the police ask us what happened, then both Dani and I will tell them the truth. So, why don’t you take whatever it is you’d intended to bribe my daughter with and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine?”

“Really?” He ground down on his back teeth. Keeping schtum was proving harder than he’d thought.

She speared him with an icy glare. “Really.”

He turned to leave, but something was bothering him. “Look, I know it’s none of my business, but maybe you need to cut her a little slack. Not everyone is academically inclined, and there are other options out there other than university, you know.”

“You’re right.” Her glacial tone cut through him like a sword of frigid steel. “It is none of your business. You don’t have children, do you?”

“What makes you say that?”

She gave him a superior glare. “I can just tell.”

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