The Entitled (The Entitled Duet #1) - Cassandra Robbins Page 0,52

shake.

Holy shit! My heart pounds. “Daddy? Is that you?” Kicking at Reed, whose eyes have blinked open, my pulse races.

“Of course it’s me. I decided the case can wait a few days, and I can work from home. I’m sorry I missed your party.” My door handle jiggles again. “I’m home now. At least, I think this is my apartment.” He sighs, annoyed.

I look over at Reed who is now fully awake and pulling on his slacks. He shouldn’t be wearing them. The discharge spot has dried, but it’s stiff and obvious.

“Um, Daddy can you give me a moment? I’m just waking up…”

Tripping over Reed’s jacket, I catch myself on my dresser. It rattles, with all my perfumes.

“Tess? What’s going on? Are you all right?”

Pulling my drawer open, I grab the top shirt. It’s pink and tight. I need a bra, but I’m too frazzled to deal with that.

“Will you relax? It’s going to be okay.” Reed has his hands up trying to calm me. All it’s doing is reminding me that he is in my room and it’s morning.

“He called me yesterday and said he wasn’t coming,” I whisper, slightly hysterical at the glaring reality that my dad is home.

Reed looks around my room and at me, running his hands through his dark curls.

“Tess, what has happened to my apartment?”

I jump up and down, shaking my hands like a crazy person until Reed stops me. “Pull it together, Kitten,” he whispers in my ear.

Taking a deep breath, I respond, “Um… Well, Mom… and a friend of mine have been redecorating. Where is Mom?” Trying my best to distract him, I’m still hoping for a miracle.

I get down on my knees to pull Reed’s shirt out from under my bed. “Here.” I almost throw it at him.

Thankfully, he is holding it together better than I am. He shakes his head at me and slips his arm into a sleeve. I’m completely losing it. Obviously, stressful situations are not my strong suit.

“Your degenerate mother is passed out. What the fuck has she done to herself? She looks like a truck smashed into her face. Open this door. I need to speak with you.”

Shit, shit, shit. I spin around freaking out. Again, I search my large room. The morning sunlight is slowly poking through the clouds, its light seeping in through my one big window. And for the first time, I hate that my room has such an open floor plan. There is nowhere for someone as big as Reed to hide. And with his feet firmly planted on my plush carpet, something tells me he is not in the mood to hide in my walk-in closet or bathroom.

“Oh my God, Reed! He is going to freak!” I mumble, shaking my hands again as if they are asleep.

My dad is known to be a major fit thrower if he doesn’t get his way. Also, he has certain ideas that he thinks are right. One is me. He expects perfect grades, so I don’t end up miserable like him. In other words, he does not want me getting pregnant and trapping Reed like my mom did to him.

Reed grabs my hands, stilling them. “Just step aside, Tess.” He sounds aggravated, then tosses me my black yoga pants that were draped on the edge of my chair. I look at his crumpled white dress shirt from last night, and yes, thankfully it’s covering his stain. My eyes go wide, grabbing his bicep. “Are you crazy?” I hiss. “Try to get under my bed.”

He rolls his eyes. “Fuck this, Tess. I’m not hiding under your princess bed.”

“Tess? Open this door now. Is Reed in there with you?” My dad pounds; the pictures on my wall move with the force.

“Screw this!”

I watch in slow-motion horror as Reed unlocks my door. Before I can even grasp what is happening, I’m looking at my father’s face. He looks good for a guy who has been traveling nine hours.

My dad is a handsome man. I look a lot like the girl version of him. Right now, he looks like he is going to attack Reed.

“Daddy, this isn’t what you think.” I hold up my hands.

His fists clench and unclench as he throws the door open and stalks into my room, straight for my wrinkled pink sheets.

My mind spins with excuses, but nothing comes out of my mouth. Reaching for the sheet he rips it back, tossing the pillows across the room, inspecting the bed. My face must be bright