Page 14 of Ruin Me, Daddy

“Uh-huh. How many bottles of whiskey have you gone through so far?”

Ice eyed the open bottle on his kitchen island. “Still early, yet.”

“Uh-huh. I’ve got a few things to wrap up here at the office, but I’ll be there as soon as I can sneak past Sonja. We can head over to my gym, get in a workout before we head out to the club.”

“I’m not in the mood to work out, Beckett.” Not that he ever really was, but Beckett wasn’t the type to take “I don’t feel like it” for an answer.

“Too bad. You’ve got about an hour, be dressed to get sweaty when I get there.”

“You’re a bossy sonofabitch.”

“I’ve heard that a time or two in my life. One hour, Elias.”

When the phone went silent, he glared down at the blank screen. The temptation to ignore Beckett’s directive was strong. Doms were, as he’d been told, the biggest brats, after all.

But more than just being a pain in his ass, Beckett was also a giant fucking nag. And, Ice could admit, working some of his frustration off was an infinitely better choice than drowning his poor liver.

Again.

CHAPTER 6

SILVER

Room service was handy for many things. Currently at the top of Silver’s list was ordering an assortment of desserts to ease the sting of rejection from a man she had no business wanting in the first place.

Seated cross-legged on her bed, surrounded by no less than six different varieties of cake, Silver scooped up another bite of tiramisu and shoved it in her mouth as she watched the players in a romantic comedy she couldn’t remember the name of yell at each other over some grand miscommunication.

Too bad life wasn’t like the movies. If it was, she’d be able to march herself back over to Ice’s place, tell him what an asshole he was and how much he meant to her, and everything would magically work itself out. It wouldn’t matter how messy, or complicated, or just plain wrong it all was. They’d get their happily ever after and nothing else would matter.

Which was a ridiculous fantasy for multiple reasons. Number one being that she wasn’t even sure she wanted happily ever after with him. Or anyone, for that matter. The only thing she was absolutely sure of was that she didn’t want it with Ace. If she could, she’d go the rest of her life without ever seeing or talking to him again.

As if on cue, her phone lit up on the bed. Another text from Ace, probably, demanding to know where she was, why she wasn’t answering him.

Who are you whoring yourself out to now, bitch?

The cake she’d been enjoying lodged in her throat as she reached for her phone.

But to her surprise, the message wasn’t from her asshole ex. It was from an unknown number, and despite her general melancholy, she found herself laughing as she read it.

Unknown Number

Hey! It’s Lottie. Don’t tell Daddy, but I got your number from the club records. Hope you don’t mind. Are you coming to the club tonight? If you are, we should grab some dinner upstairs. My treat!

It was such a normal, everyday sort of text, it made her ache with longing.

She had friends. Mostly ‘industry’ people, but also a few friends back home she’d kept in touch with over the years as well. And Ice, of course, who was still her closest friend despite this… whatever was happening between them at the moment.

But over the years, she’d let herself get so wrapped up in Ace and his drama, she’d neglected most of those friendships. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone out to dinner with a girlfriend. Or gone out to dinner, period, without it being business-related in some shape or form. Other artists to collab with, record executives to schmooze. When was the last time she’d just done something for the fun of it?

She hadn’t planned to go to the club tonight, because she wasn’t sure she was ready to face Ice again so soon. But maybe if she went with her new friends and just stayed out of his way it wouldn’t be too bad.

Just to see the auction, of course. No ulterior motives here. Not a one.

Silver

I’d love that. What time?

Lottie

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