Little Red

THREE

The feeling of a hand on her shoulder caused Dani to gasp and jump in shock before she looked up to meet David's worried stare.

"Hey, you alright there? Your mother called us in for dinner three minutes ago," he said with a frown.

"Uh...yeah. Yeah, I'm...I'm fine. I just...uh...you know what? I'm fine. I'll be there in a second," Dani stammered while quickly placing the letter back into the envelope.

Unfortunately, her rushed actions had not gone unnoticed by a certain someone like she had hoped them to.

"You sure?" David asked as he examined her face. "What was the letter about?"

Dani nodded and got up from the chair, making sure to tuck the envelope into her back pocket as she did so.

"It was just an uh...an invitation to some party. Nothing major. Come on, let's go eat!" she told him and pulled him by the arm towards the dinner table where an awaiting Frankie and her mother were sitting.

David had let it go for the time being, but Dani could tell he hadn't believed her cover-up.

And she was dreading when she'd have to tell him the truth.

She had managed to dodge every question about the mysterious envelope that her mother had thrown at her, but she could tell that David had grown more suspicious with each answer she'd given them. It was only a matter of time before he'd come up and ask her what the letter was really about.... and a knock on her bedroom door had proven her theory correct.

"Come in," Dani said as she turned around from her desk, making sure to keep the letter out of view from prying eyes.

David opened the door and walked in before closing it behind him to lean against it with his arms crossed, and Dani rolled her eyes as she already felt annoyed by his dad-like stance.

"What?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.

David raised an eyebrow back. "Don't pretend like you don't know what I came up here for, young lady," he said in a patronizing tone that caused Dani to squint her eyes at him.

"Young lady? Who do you think you are? My father?!" she spat.

David winced at the insult before he sighed and shook his head. "I didn't come up here to argue, Dani-"

"No, but you did come up here with the accusation that I'm lying to you and Mom about what was in a letter addressed to me, didn't you?" she cut him off with narrowed eyes and watched as he stayed silent, which only further confirmed what she'd already known.

"Exactly," she then said with a nod. "I already told you that the letter was a birthday invitation. Nothing more, nothing less, so you can leave now."

David scoffed as he changed his stance and said, "Oh really? That must've been some birthday invitation if you look like you saw a damn ghost after you read it."

Dani rolled her eyes again.

"Tell me something, Dani. Why'd you rush to put it in your back pocket when I asked you what was wrong? Why didn't you want anyone else to see it?"

"Because it was a stupid birthday invitation!!" she told him with her hands thrown up in exasperation.

"Oh, cut the crap already, Dani! I know he wants to see you!" David revealed with a glare.

Dani tensed at his words, which he noticed as she furrowed her brows in confusion. How the hell did he find out?

David nodded. "Yeah. It turns out along with letters, the County Jail also calls you just in case something goes wrong, and you don't receive the letter," he said and shook his head. "You're not going to see him."