Gray: Meg, please answer your phone or at least text me!
Gray: Meagan. Fucking text me back!
Gray: Stop acting like a child.
My mouth dropped open. “A child? Oh, no he didn’t.”
The phone buzzed in my hand as I swiped it without looking at who was calling.
“How dare you treat me like a child! I’ve made it perfectly fine on my own without you trying to boss me around. I don’t care to talk to you at this moment, so if you’ll excuse me I—”
“Meagan? It’s your father.”
Fuck. My. Life.
Swallowing hard, I quickly sat down. “Oh hey, Dad. Did you land in Dallas?”
“Yep.”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I cursed under my breath as I tried to calm my pounding heart down.
“Great. I’m sorry your layover is so long.”
“What did he do?”
Son-of-a-bitch. “He didn’t do anything.”
With a fake laugh, my father mumbled something away from the phone before saying, “He obviously bossed my daughter around and that doesn’t sit well with me. I’m glad to hear you had the sense to set him straight.”
Oh. My. God.
“I had the sense to set him straight? What in the hell is wrong with men? How dare you think I’d actually let a man boss me around! I’m not a child. I do know how a man should treat a woman. My own father!”
“Wait a minute here, Meagan. You answered the phone clearly pissed off at Grayson and now you’re taking it out on me.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong. He overreacted to a situation I had under control and I certainly don’t need you telling me how to live my life anymore, Dad. I followed that plan my whole life and have no desire to continue with that.”
Silence filled the phone as I realized what I had just said. “You think I tried to tell you how to live your life?”
I almost wanted to laugh at his statement. My phone beeped as I pulled it away and saw it was Grayson. “Dad, I have an appointment in a few minutes I need to get ready for. I’m sorry, I’m just angry and I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I really am looking forward to spending the weekend with you.”
“Okay, sweetheart. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
My heart hurt as I pictured my father upset. “I love you, Daddy.”
“Love you too, pumpkin.”
The line went dead as I pushed out the breath I had been holding in. “Damn it,” I whispered as I tossed my phone onto the desk.
Dropping my face into my hands, I took in one deep breath after another. Mitchell would be here in a few minutes and I needed to put my own problems on the back burner to focus on him.
Ten minutes passed and Mitchell arrived early. My phone was sitting in front of me as we got caught up on things going on at school. When the text popped up on my phone, I felt all the air leave my lungs.
Gray: Tried to call again. I won’t be at dinner tonight. Sorry.
Grayson
I HATE STAKEOUTS. It was probably the only thing about my job I hated.