Page 1 of Ruin Me, Daddy

CHAPTER 1

SILVER

South Fucking Carolina.

If she’d made a list of places where she would have expected to find one of the most badass rock gods the world had ever known, South Carolina would have been toward the bottom of that list. Especially somewhere like Charleston, with its rainbow-colored homes and adorable little shopping districts. It wasn’t that she had anything against South Carolina, specifically, it was just so… cute.

But there he was, lounging in a booth in one of the south’s premier kink clubs, an easy smile on his face as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

As if he hadn’t given her the most spectacular night of her life, dropped an emotional nuke on their friendship by telling her he’d been in love with her since fucking high school, and then fallen off the face of the Earth for several months.

Bastard. Dickwad. Jerkface.

That was what she’d taken to calling him in her mind ever since she’d gotten word that he’d taken off on a ‘sabbatical’ and would be unreachable for the foreseeable future. But the rest of the world knew him as Elias ‘Ice’ Turner, lead guitarist for Deviant Whispers, the band he’d founded back in high school with his best friend, Adrian ‘Ace’ Alvarez.

Rounding out the band was Crash, who they’d brought on to replace their original bassist right before they’d signed their first major deal. And last but not least, her. Their drummer extraordinaire, Amanda Sterling. Or Silver, as she preferred to be called by most people. That pipe dream of a band had grown and changed over the years to become one of the greatest rock groups of all time.

If she did say so herself.

His hair was longer now, and had reverted to its natural dirty blonde instead of the salon-perfect icy white she’d gotten so used to seeing over the years. That, combined with the beard he’d grown out made him almost unrecognizable, even to her. Which was probably intentional on his part. Unlike Ace, their lead singer and Silver’s asshole of an ex-boyfriend, Ice preferred to fly under the radar when they weren’t touring.

Still, it was a bit of a shock to see how much he’d changed since she’d last seen him. It wasn’t just the physical changes, like the beard and the scraggly hair and the new tattoos she could see peeking out from under his unbuttoned flannel—the flannel itself was new, too—but there was an edge to him she didn’t recognize. He’d always been a bit cold and aloof, hence his nickname, but something was… different.

Wrong.

Even from a distance, she could see it. Feel it. And she was woman enough to admit that wrongness was making her more than a little hesitant to approach him.

But she was on a mission. The rest of the band was relying on her to get Ice back to California, pronto, so she was going to get herself up out of this booth, march her ass over to him, and tell him what was going on.

As soon as she finished her whiskey.

“Can I get you anything else, sugar?”

Tearing her eyes away from Ice, Silver forced herself to smile for the pretty waitress. Lottie, as her name tag said, barely looked old enough to drink the whiskey she’d served Silver half an hour ago with a bright smile and a thick Southern drawl that whispered of old money despite the fact she was working as a waitress in a sex club.

Not that Club BDE wasn’t a gorgeously upscale sex club. Half of the top floor, which Silver had confined herself to for the time being, served as a small restaurant complete with fully stocked bar. Plush booths lined the restaurant half of the floor, and a look over the railing revealed an array of kinky fuckery taking place on the bottom floor in what she’d heard referred to as ‘the pit’.

St. Andrew’s crosses, spanking benches, and even a set of stocks were strategically placed around the pit so that no matter where you were seated you could observe what was happening downstairs. Vivian, the adorable receptionist with the mermaid-colored hair, had also explained that there were themed rooms along the other half of the top floor that could be reserved for any length of time if a couple had a particular fantasy they were looking to live out.

All in all, it wasn’t the worst place to be stuck drinking really fantastic whiskey while stalking her best friend. She’d still rather be back in California, tucked away in her cozy mansion, sulking about the fact that the two men who claimed to love her were currently her greatest sources of heartache. But this was a decent alternative, all things considered.

Lifting her half-empty tumbler, Silver smiled. “I think I’m good, thanks.”

“You sure?” Mischief twinkled in the pale gray of Lottie’s eyes as she twirled a lock of dark hair around her finger. “The stuffed mushrooms are delicious. Or I could send a drink over to the hot viking you’ve been staring down all evening.”

Silver jerked her gaze back up to Lottie from where it had drifted back toward Ice’s table during their conversation. “I have not been staring him down.”

“Uh-huh. Well, if you want to send him something to let him know that you have very definitely not been watching him all evening, I’d be happy to assist.”

Heat crept into Silver’s cheeks. “Have I really been that obvious?”

“Nah.” Lottie grinned. “Nobody else can really see you, I just noticed because I’ve been watching you.”

Ah, fuck. She should have known it wouldn’t take long for someone to recognize her. “Oh?” Silver kept her tone casual, despite the unease creeping up her spine.

It wasn’t that she minded being spotted ‘in the wild’ as some would say. This just wasn’t the best timing for a fan meet-and-greet.

“Not like, in a creepy way,” Lottie rushed to assure her. “It’s just that it’s not every day we get a woman coming in here all by herself. Even the Dommes usually buddy up if they don’t have a partner already. So I find you a bit fascinating, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

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