The Princess and The Game's Rebel (Book 2)

Parent Drama

|Zach's POV|

I don't remember falling asleep last night, but I clearly remember the conversation I had with my dad. If I continue to lie and hide things from him, when he finds out, I'll be in really deep shit. If I tell him now, he can't punish me for something I did out of his care. Right? Well, that's what I'm going with.

My alarm went off at 5:30am as usual. I quietly made my way down to the gym and started working out. My dad came in near the end.

"Morning," he mumbled.

From the look on his face, I could tell he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Then again, he could still be upset from the night before.

"Hey dad."

I finished up my workout and was about to go get ready for school, but I needed to talk to my dad and get this out the way. I patiently waited for him to finish his run. He was surprised to see me standing there.

"Everything ok?" he asked, grabbing a towel.

"You have a few minutes?"

He went and sat on the bench and motioned for me to say what I had to say.

"I haven't been completely truthful with you or ma about how I earned my money back in Florida. I kinda lied last night when I told you I had a job."

"I know you did."

"It wasn't a complete lie though. I did do some sports betting and technically it's a job. It's not like it's illegal."

"I never said it was. You weren't just doing sports betting though, were you?"

I stood there stuck on stupid. Am I that easy to read or does he know something else.

"Zach, I don't need you lying to me. I get that you don't want to face my consequences, but you should also think about that before you make the decisions you do. I asked you last night to be upfront with me. Granted, maybe I caught you off guard. That doesn't excuse the fact that you lied directly to my face, does it?"

"No sir."

"If you're having a conversation with me now to own up to the fact that the story your mother told me is true, fine. Don't continue to lie to my face though and just brush it off as if the only thing you were doing was sports betting. To be honest, I don't believe that's the full story."

He's right, it's not. I mean, I did some other gambling here and there among other things, but he didn't need to know.

"Why can't my life in Florida just be left in Florida?"

"Son, you can't run from your past. If something happened, I need to know."

"Nothing happened," I mumbled.

He shook his head, got up and went over to the weights.

"Is the conversation over?" I asked.

"What else do you need to tell me Zach? You're beating around the bush."

"It's a long story. I can explain everything to you when ma gets back."

He gave me a look before nodding his head.

"You want to talk to the both of us about it, fine. She'll be back on Friday and I'll be back Saturday. You have until Sunday to get your story together and I'm telling you now, it better be the truth."

"Or what?"

He dropped the weights he was holding and made his way over to where I was standing. I didn't mean to say that out loud.