Page 33 of Ruin Me, Daddy

She’d just looked so fucking perfect standing there in the moonlight, something in him had broken. The part of him that had kept those words at bay for so long had snapped right in two at the sight of her.

Now the words had been said, and there was no point beating himself up about it. His energy would be better put to use making sure she had coffee when she finally dragged herself out of bed, and preferably something to eat as well.

Silver, he’d learned early on, was an absolute terror in the mornings if she wasn’t fed and caffeinated in an appropriate amount of time.

Unfortunately, his supplies were running low. So he made himself coffee, and ordered breakfast to be delivered before carrying his cup to the living room where his current morning read awaited him. It was a habit he’d started back when the band had been in their early days, waking up before everyone else to lose himself in a good book for a little while. There weren’t many moments of quiet or privacy when touring in a cramped bus with three other people, and unlike Ace and Crash, he needed his quiet time. Letting himself get whisked away to lands of dragons and magic, or tagging along with a grizzled private investigator as he hunted a killer was often the only way for him to find that quiet.

But today, the book wasn’t working. Every few sentences, he’d find himself staring at the bedroom door, waiting for Silver to emerge. When he realized he’d been reading the same page for over twenty minutes, he gave up and tossed the book aside.

Mug in hand, he walked out onto the large back deck. Bright blue skies greeted him, and he closed his eyes, letting the warmth of the day soak into his skin.

His imagination opened, letting in the memories of the night before. Silver, up on the St. Andrew’s cross, naked and ready for his discipline. Silver, wrapped around him, begging him to let her come as he’d fucked her up against that same cross.

Silver, with her hands in his hair, sobbing his name as he’d teased her into a frenzy. The way she’d seemed to light up the night with the flush of pleasure on her cheeks as she’d grinned down at him. And then her on her back in his bed, writhing under him and screaming herself hoarse as he’d eaten his fill over and over again, until his tongue had practically gone numb.

Fuck.

Restless with wanting her, he stomped back into the house and drained his coffee. He needed something, anything to take his mind off Silver and his out-of-control libido, even if just for a few moments.

His gaze landed on the old acoustic guitar tilted against an empty corner in the living room. He hadn’t brought much of his equipment with him, but that guitar, the one Ace’s dad had given him the day Deviant Whispers had signed their first recording deal, went with him everywhere.

Picking it up, he carried it over to the couch and settled with it. Softly, in the hopes he wouldn’t wake Silver, he strummed an old familiar tune, one he remembered Ace’s parents dancing to in the kitchen when he’d been too young to realize the strength of what they had.

Had he been too young, or had their love simply been so foreign to him that he hadn’t known what to make of it? He remembered so clearly watching them with a kind of awe, waiting for the moment the spell would be broken.

But it never had been. Even when Richard had spun his beautiful wife in a circle and she’d accidentally knocked an entire pitcher of lemonade on the floor, showering them with the sticky sweet liquid and shards of glass, he’d only laughed and helped her clean up. There’d been no screaming, no swearing, no raised fists like in Ice’s house.

Now, thirty-plus years old and in love with a woman he could never really have, his throat ached with the remembering. How could a couple who loved like that raise a man who treated his woman the way Ace treated Silver? There was no doubt in his mind that if Richard had any inkling of how bad things had gotten between them, he’d have some choice words for his son.

Thinking about Ace had his thoughts drifting back to that night at Black Light. When Silver had sworn so fiercely she was done with Ace, for real this time. Unlike all the other times before, he’d been compelled to believe her.

He still didn’t know what, exactly, had gone down between them. But he was damn sure going to find out before he got on that plane back to California.

The songs changed as his mind wandered, one flowing into another. Some were hits he’d helped other artists write, some were those old ‘dancing in the kitchen’ songs. And, eventually, the music was something altogether new. He paused, just long enough to jump up and grab some paper and a pencil.

It took him a while to sketch it out, to get the sound right. But it did what the book and the ocean had failed to do, and he lost track of the world around him as he let the music take him under.

Silver

She couldn’t remember the last time she woken up feeling so well and truly rested. Like all the stress had been drained from her body as she’d slept. Even with the aches and twinges making themselves known in various muscles, she felt good. Really good.

Rolling onto her back, she grinned up at the ceiling. If this was life with Elias Turner, sign her up.

But even as she thought it, a pang of guilt followed the words. Last night had been a one-time thing. Well, a two-time thing if she counted Roulette. Getting tangled up in him, wanting more than either of them were able to give, was a recipe for heartbreak on all fronts.

And now it was morning, which meant their time together was over. Time to get back to the real world.

Even if the real world kind of sucked right now.

Music drifted in through the slightly cracked bedroom door, pulling her from the bed as guilt and worry gave way to curiosity. She knew every song Ice loved to play, and she could almost always pinpoint his mood based on which song he was strumming.

Dressed only in one of his t-shirts, she made her way out to the living room, her caffeine-deprived mind struggling to place the tune. Almost haunting in the melody, she knew it wasn’t one of theirs. Ace would never go for something so tragic and lovely.

The song ended abruptly, interrupted by Ice muttering something under his breath she couldn’t hear as he leaned over and scribbled on the piece of paper in front of him.

Ah. That was why she didn’t recognize the tune. It was brand new.

Entranced by him, she held back, watching as he shifted the guitar on his lap and began the song over again. The music snuck inside her, wrapping sneaky tendrils around her heart and squeezing until she wanted to weep. Even without words, the song spoke of love and loss and longing.

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