Troublemaker (Troublemaker, Book 1) (9 page)

I place my hand in his
. Just that alone is enough to make me explode. He helps me to my feet and leads me to an open space off to the side of the table, not letting go of my hand.

And for some reason, I feel
something I’ve never felt with another man before.
I feel safe.

He puts one of his hands on my back and the other on
my hip. I have no choice but to grab onto his sides, lightly, as we start to dance. My fingers burn from the feel of his lean, hard body. I lift my head up to meet his eyes.

He’s smiling and showing off his beautiful white teeth for
me. “We’ve come a long way in the last few days.”

“It’s just a dance,” I say. But the heat pouring out of my body makes it way too obvious that this
is more than
just a dance
to me.

“Just a dance?” he asks, pulling my body into his just slightly closer. Not so much to make me uncomfortable, but just enough to make we want him
about ten times more than I did a second ago.

There, I can finally say it to myself.

I want Cage West.

Bad.

He leans in closer and his voice deepens. “Why don’t we make it more than just a dance then?” His eyes begin to close as he brings his lips in close, just millimeters away from mine.

Before I have a clue what’s happening,
Cage’s body tenses up as he pulls himself away from me.

I turn my head and start to follow the path
of Cage’s gaze as I hear just about the worst voice I could hear right now come from behind.

“McKenzie?
What’s going on here?”

I look and see… my father. He
’s wearing a blue short sleeve button down shirt with his trusty American flag pin. His leathery, tethered hands are full with a suitcase in one hand and his phone in the other.

Please kill me now.

My voice is beyond shaky. “Hi dad, I… I thought.”

I flinch as m
y father drops his suitcase on the walkway. His eyes glance over at Cage, then back at me. “Were you ignoring my calls?”

I
quickly look over at Cage who looks nothing like his usual self. Then I direct my eyes back to my father. “No dad, I wasn’t, I...” My heart is pounding from the fear, not that this feeling is anything new to me when I’m around him.

Cage
takes a step towards my father. “It was my fault, sir. I kept distracting her.” He reaches out his hand to greet my father’s. “I’m Cage, Cage West. I’m renting out your apartment for the summer.”

My father pauses for what seems like forever, then reluctantly returns his hand to meet
Cage’s. Their handshake is intense, sending forearm muscles bulging in both of their arms.

My father
ignores Cage completely and looks back towards me, then pauses to scan our property with his eyes. “I came back early,” he pauses and looks up at our roof, “I received a text from Chief Madigan down at the station.” Now my father’s eyes focus in on me in a way that only his can. “He said there was some trouble here the other night.”

I hang my head in
total shame. How could one of the best moments in my life somehow spill over into a complete nightmare right now? “I’m sorry dad, I can explain. I was just having a few friends over and then…”

My father’s face turns an angry red as he interrupts me. “And then what, McKenzie?” He holds his hands out, waiting for my reply. But I’m frozen, totally and completely frozen. “Answer me McKenzie Miller!” he shouts.

I see Cage’s helpless eyes watch me as I lower my head down.

“Mr. Miller, please, I can explain.
It was my fault. In fact, your daughter did everything she could do to stop me.”

My father refuses
to look at Cage. I look over at Cage’s face as he cracks his neck to the side and throws his hair back with his hand. He has the same look in his eyes that he had when we drove past Chase in my car.

This is going about as well as I would have expected something like this to go.

Cage scratches his forehead and has a look of total frustration and disbelief. “Well then, I’ll leave you two alone,” he says, looking at me first and then my father.

He
grabs his iphone off the table and shuts off the music. He chuckles to himself and shakes his head as he walks off, almost brushing shoulders with my father as he passes him in the narrow walkway. I can hear the rumble of the engine as he starts his car, and then he’s off.

And I’m still here.

My father bites down on his lower lip as he stares at me, something he always does when he’s angry with me. He takes one more glance around the property before he picks up his suitcase.

“You, McKenzie,” he pauses as if he’s too furious to finish, “are an embarrassment to our family.”

His words crush me. They always do.

“I’m sorry dad, I really…”

He puts up his hand to stop me. “Don’t disrespect me with your excuses.”

“Dad, I’m not trying to…”

His voice gets louder. “McKenzie, I don’t want to hear it.” He shakes his head briefly as if he can’t stomach the idea that I’m his biological daughter. “
I
will handle this in the morning.”

My throat feels like it’s closing in on me as he walks into our house. I close my eyes for a second, praying this is all
just a horrible dream.

* * *

It’s almost 2 o’clock in the mornin
g. There’s no way I’m ever gonna fall asleep. I never got Cage’s phone number. I can’t text him, I can’t call him, I can’t do anything with him.

Except obsess.

Sounds like a plan. Maybe I’ll just lay in my bed for the rest of the night, obsessing about what went wrong. Or about what could have gone so right…
if
my father never came home.

I want so badly to sneak out of my house
right now to try to find him. But who am I kidding? My father will pretty much kill me if he catches me doing that, and I’m not even sure Cage would want to see me after everything that happened tonight.

As crazy as I feel inside, I really don’t have any options. T
he best I can do right now is to try to get a little sleep.

* * *

I wake up the next morning and consider whether or not I even want to get out of bed at all. I want to talk to Cage so bad, just to tell him I’m sorry. Not that any of this is my fault, but still.

I walk downstairs, still in my pajama pants and t-shirt. My father is sitting
at the kitchen table, his back turned to me. There’s a cup of coffee by his side and he’s got the newspaper in front of him.

I cautiously make my way towards the fridge to get some orange juice. I can see from my peripheral vision tha
t he’s looking up from the paper, and at me.

“Good morning,” I say, pouring the juice into my glass.

“Morning McKenzie,” he says. He appears strangely happier than I would expect, which almost scares me more than when he’s just obviously enraged.

“You still jetlagged?” I a
sk, sipping from my juice.

He nods his he
ad but doesn’t respond. He’s completely silent.

“Dad, I…”

He shakes his head from side to side as I start to talk. “Save your words McKenzie.” He takes a sip from his coffee as he pauses. “The tenant has to go.”

I almost drop my glass on the floor.

“What?
Why
?” I ask.

“How do I begin to count the reasons, McKenzie?”

“Dad, it wasn’t his fault. He’s actually a really…”

He chuckles
sarcastically, cutting me off again. “You know nothing about
his
type, and I didn’t work so hard raising you to have you just throw it all away on, on…” He shakes his head, apparently at a loss for words for just how bad he thinks Cage West really is.

I slam my glass on the counter, the kind of thing I’ve only done once before with my father. “This is so ridiculous. You don’t know anything about him. He already paid us for the entire eight weeks.”

My father doesn’t respond to me slamming the glass, which almost makes me more uncomfortable. He slowly looks towards me before he opens his mouth to talk. “I want him out in an hour.” He gets up from his chair and walks towards me. He comes in close and hovers over me. “Are we clear?”

I can’t breathe.
I can barely stand up. “Dad, I don’t think it’s fair to…”

“ARE WE CLEAR?” he shouts at me. I flinch and put my hands out in front of my face for protection.
A single tear rolls down my cheek.

“Yes, dad. Yes, we’re clear.”

My father adjusts his shirt and relaxes his demeanor. “Good, glad to hear that. Come on, you’re coming with me to tell him.”

I shake my head, “Please dad, no.”

“You know the deal McKenzie. If I have to ask you again, I will not hesitate to…”

“Okay,
” I say softly. “Okay, I’ll go.”

I stand up tall, wipe the tear from my face, and brace myself.

“Let’s go, I have a busy day. And I’ve wasted more than enough time on this as it is.”

We walk outside and make our way
to Cage’s unit. My father is standing in front of me as he knocks on the door. I seriously might pass out, so I lean on the handrail just in case.

Cage
’s door swings open and their eyes lock. Cage turns to me briefly, but I look away, unable to face him.

“I need to ask you to vacate our property. You have until 9:00 a.m. to gather your belongings and exit the apartment.”

“Seriously, why?” Cage asks, shaking his head.

My father reaches into his pocket and pulls out a personal check. “Here, this is to compensate you for your unused time here.”

Cage takes the check and stares at it for a moment, then raises his eyebrows. “This is for real? You’re kicking me out?” He looks at my father, then over at me for an answer. I lower my head slightly, my lips won’t move.

“Please, Mr.
West. Let’s not make this complicated.” My father looks over his shoulder and into the unit. “I’ve asked you to leave by 9:00. I will expect full compliance with the law in this regard.” My father has stopped all eye contact with Cage at this point.

Cage
shakes his head and stuffs the refund check in his pocket. He looks over at me. “Kenz?” He throws his hands out for an answer. “Is this really what you want?”

I.
Can’t. Breathe.

My father looks over at m
e. “Go ahead McKenzie, tell him…

tell him
what needs to be said.” He gestures with his hand for me to do as he says.

Cage steps out of the doorway and comes towards me. “C’mon Kenz, it doesn’t have to be this way.” I feel lightheaded from the blood rushing through my head.

I’m sandwiched between both of them. The thick air is swallowing me whole, and I can’t seem to feel or hear anything at all.

My eyes shift between Cage and my father. I lower m
y head down and swallow hard.

I’m sick with fear. I’m in a no-win situation and there isn’t any chance of escape.

But I can’t keep quiet any longer.

Finally I open my mouth and say the words that change everything.

THE END OF BOOK 1

STAY TUNED FOR BOOK 2 IN THE SERIES, COMING SOON.

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