Free Troublemaker (Troublemaker, Book 1) by Ava Parker

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