Little Red

FORTY THREE

"What the hell is going on in here?!"

Dani jumped at the sound of her father's voice and winced at the anger in his tone as she turned her head to see him standing in the doorway of the dining room. Convincing her mother that it would be a semi-good idea to invite Trevor in for dinner had already been hard enough, so she knew that convincing the same to her father would be much harder...and him standing there with rage in his eyes had only proved her theory correct.

"Ellie told the trumpet man to eat with us!!" Frankie said as he pointed an accusatory finger at his sister.

Dani's jaw dropped as she stared at her brother in mock disbelief and betrayal. "Tattletale!!" she exclaimed, in which he just poked his tongue out at her.

A feeling of dread then settled in her stomach as Trevor suddenly stood from the table, and Dani watched with careful eyes as he walked over to David, who raised an eyebrow at him.

"Look, man. I didn't mean any harm, alright? I was just trying-"

"Too late. You already did. Dani, what the hell were you thinking?" David cut him off in a bitter tone before turning to his daughter.

Dani frowned at the look of disappointment in his eyes. "I...I was just-... I mean," she looked away from his gaze, "I'm sorry."

Michelle frowned and grabbed her daughter's hand as David's features softened, but before he could speak, Trevor turned away from his daughter to glare at the man who had caused her reaction.

"Why the hell is my daughter so afraid of you?! What the hell have you been doing to her?!" he asked and turned to his ex-wife. "Is this seriously who you remarried to?!"

Dani's eyes suddenly narrowed as she looked up at Trevor and shouted, "It's a hell of a lot better than you!" at the same time as her mother.

And ignoring the slight feeling of guilt at the hurt look in the man's eyes at her words, Dani then shook her head and said, "Dad would never hurt me! You don't know him, and you don't know me! Are you forgetting I was traumatized by a wolf for half of my life?! Why aren't you asking what he did to me?!"

Michelle frowned again and rubbed her daughter's arm as Trevor looked away in shame while David clenched his jaw.

"I don't know what your problem is," he said while looking at Trevor. "But this is the second time you've accused me of doing something I would never do to my daughter. I've been there for her. I've been there to hold her as she cried from waking herself up out of a nightmare. As she was going through heartbreak from her first break up. Me, Trevor. Not you. So whatever high horse you've convinced yourself you deserve to ride, I suggest you convince yourself to get the hell off of it."

"Is that how you convinced yourself you weren't at fault for the death of your first child?"

Dani's eyes widened as silence erupted in the room and David stopped in his tracks from walking over to sit beside her at the table.

Meeting his gaze, Dani shook her head and whispered, "No...please don't."

"I wasn't going to say anything about it," Trevor then said as he turned around. "You know, cause I actually did have some morals...but then I saw how you were with her in the hospital and I couldn't help but think: Is he trying to redeem himself of being a horrible father by attempting to be a good one with mine?"

"Trevor!" Michelle finally spoke. "Quit it! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

He met her gaze and shrugged. "He wants to go low, I'll go lower. I'm not here to play nice, Michelle. My daughter has faced death twice since meeting him and I'm not going to make it a third."